Slack for HR

What is Slack?

Slack is a workplace communication software that allows your office to easily send messages, whole files, and other information. Its instant messaging capabilities have made it popular because it provides faster and often more casual communication compared to email. Slack boosts productivity and is a great way to convey the feeling of your company's culture in a virtual environment.

There are two methods of communication on Slack: via Slack channel, which is like a group chat, or via direct message, which is more like a text message. Once you send a message, the other people will receive a notification and can then respond in real-time.

Simply download the app to your computer or any mobile device to use Slack. Slack also has integration capabilities. Slack integrations include many apps like MailChimp, SalesForce, Google Analytics, GitHub, and over 1500 more.

You can use Slack for free, but you won't get to keep all your messages or use integrations. If you decide you want to upgrade, there are three options: Pro, Buinsess+, and Enterprise Grid.

What does the pricing look like? Well, the Pro package begins at €6.25 per user per month when you purchase annually, but €7.50 if you pay monthly. Business+ includes more features but costs €11.75 per user per month annually or €14.10 monthly. For information about the Enterprise Grid, you'll need to contact a direct representative of the Slack team.

Let's do the math: If you have around 1000 team members using Slack and purchase the Pro plan, you could be looking at €75,000 a year. So you might be wondering, is it worth it?

How do HR professionals use Slack?

Managing teams of people can be an overwhelming task, especially when there are so many different ways to stay connected. However, Slack stands out from the crowd due to its many great features.

There are two types of channels on Slack: public channels and private channels. The messages are publicly available for the entire team to read in a public channel. Public channels can be things like #General, which might include general work-related topics, or #Random, which might consist of anything from sports talk to news around the local town. Including channels like these can really help create a good workspace atmosphere, which is especially relevant for fully remote teams and employees working from home office. Typically departments within the company also have their own public channels.

Private channels are not open to all team members. Someone already within the private channel must first invite you to join to access these messages. For example, this could be useful for onboarding, as it could allow new hires to ask their questions in a private space. Whereas for the other employees, this is less relevant, as these FAQs are already common knowledge.

Slack is useful for its messaging capabilities alone, but when it comes to teams, there is a lot more you can do with it - including creating custom emojis. But Slack can also be used to hit your project management goals.

What are the benefits of Slack?

Slack is a great medium to send messages that your team members will care about. You can also make them fun by adding pictures, GIFs, emojis, and express your reply in a comment or reaction. Employees can also check to see if the person they desire to reach is online, away, in a meeting, or even on vacation.

Slack's interface encourages informal communication, and its real-time chat notifications can be more effective than emails. Without the additional layers of formality found in emails, your employees can be upfront and communicate faster.

Faster communication also fosters increased project coordination and encourages conversations. For remote workers, office socialization is especially difficult to accomplish yet becomes increasingly essential in the future of work. For example, new employees who started virtually during the pandemic often have a more challenging time forming relationships with coworkers than employees who were able to onboard in person. Slack can help overcome this hurdle and help everyone feel included.

How do you improve employee engagement with Slack?

There are many benefits to keeping your employee engagement rate high. For one, people who are happy with their jobs perform better. Engaged employees are also less likely to miss work, create conflict in the workplace, or quit altogether. With Slack, there are many opportunities to improve employee engagement.

Did you know that you can build your own bot on Slack? For example, some offices create a coffee break bot. The purpose of this bot is to randomly select two (or three) employees with the idea that they will go and get a coffee together. This gives coworkers a better chance to get to know each other by pairing them with someone they may not have otherwise had the opportunity to hang out with. The result? A stronger team culture.

Slack can also help keep employees engaged if they happen to miss a meeting or a day of work. They can simply post their questions or concerns in the channel, and someone will be able to quickly resolve this or fill them in.

You can use Slack for training too. Say you are a startup looking to learn more about a business strategy. You could assign an article to read in the channel and have a group discussion about it. Allowing employees to take a moment to think and share their written thoughts as a group can lead to a deeper conversation than a meeting might have in this case.

What are the best Slack Apps for HR?

Your favorite mobile apps probably make your day-to-day a bit more fun and organized. The same is true for Slack apps. And just like with your phone, you can easily download and integrate them into your workplace's Slack.

One great app you can download is the AttendanceBot. This workflow allows employees to request time off without leaving the Slack application. HR can digitally collect these time off requests, and managers can see PTO all in one place. At flair, we take this a step further - to find out how click here!

Bonusly is another highly recommended app. This allows you to give bonuses with specific amounts to employees or give out recognition via award stickers. Credit for a job well done goes a long way towards building a positive employee experience. Recognition is something that often gets left out when working in a fully remote company.

Assembly is an excellent app for celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and other workplace accomplishments. Celebrating the little things helps your team bond and stay engaged.

Monday.com is perfect for performance management. Monday.com is its own separate project management application, but it allows you to create tasks or new projects right through Slack. Alerts on Monday.com also go out automatically to your HR teams as Slack notifications. This keeps everyone in touch no matter which application they have open.

Standup.ly Bot is a popular Slack app for human resources professionals that functions as a digital assistant. It provides automation of many common workflows, syncs across time zones, tracks project progress, and a lot more.

Aside from this, there are many more great Slack apps out there. With a bit of exploration, you are sure to find one that can help meet your company's specific needs.

What are the best Slack Communities for HR?

What is a Slack Community? A Slack Community is a bit like Facebook Groups or LinkedIn Groups. You can connect with people who have similar interests, discuss new topics and trends, share information, network, and much more. People are happy to interact and engage with questions and posts.

You can find Slack communities to join by searching Reddit, Standuply, Slofile.com, or a regular Google search. Once you find a community you're interested in, you can join it by applying on the community's webpage.

Plenty of these communities is perfect for HR Professionals. Below is a list of my favorite recommendations:

1. #People
2. Resources for Humans
3. Org Designers
4. Secret HR Society
5. Hacking HR
6. Peoplegeeks
7. DBR
8. Recruitment Slackers
9. Techrecruiter
10. HRtoHR

Conclusion

Slack creates a sense of community and lowers barriers to communication. For HR, it's a great tool to send alerts to your team in real-time. For remote work, it's a great tool to simulate corporate culture and help everyone stay social together virtually. For the whole office, it's a great way to keep in touch and increase productivity. There are many Slack app integrations that can lead to a highly personalized experience for your company. Through its public channels, private channels, and DMs, Slack is a fantastic communication tool that should not be overlooked.