Inclement Weather Events

Don’t Leave Staff To Weather The Storm

There’s often very little warning when extreme weather events strike. When they do, they can cause major disruption to employers and staff.

Snow, ice, hurricanes, tornadoes and heavy flooding are becoming all-too-regular occurrences that can bring an organization to a crippling standstill.

Getting to and from work can be difficult - even dangerous - for staff; operations and logistics usually take a hit; and in severe cases, infrastructure or building damage means the normal place of work is out-of-bounds.

More than 100 people died in US storms in 2017, the highest number since 2005, and an estimated $200 billion in damage was caused. (Source: Insurance Information Institute)

Employers have a moral obligation to help employees during these times of stress. Regular, up-to-date communication that is seen and read by all affected staff is critical for minimizing risk and aiding business continuity during a weather crisis.

Inclement weather Events — Being able to contact employees in severe weather is critical.

Tools That Get Attention And Drive Action

The SnapComms channels bypass email completely and are delivered straight to employees’ screens and mobile devices – fast, efficient and powerful, just when you need it most.

You could send an inclement weather email to staff or you could contact them directly on their mobile devices, tablets and computers using visual communication tools. Ideally try to contact them across as many platforms as possible to ensure they receive your message, especially in extreme weather scenarios.

Panic button is the ultimate tool for emergency messaging. This can be triggered by first-at-scene responders. Its default format is full-screen – unmissable!

Desktop alerts are the most popular channel for getting immediate employee attention in inclement weather situations. Urgent and unmissable, this tool can incorporate links, images and text, with options to 'Read Now' or 'Read Later'.

Lock screens are perfect for building awareness and reminders about company procedures during adverse weather situations. Favored by communication professionals for their passive characteristics yet high cut-through.

Desktop tickers (also known as scrolling newsfeeds) are ideal for providing status updates and live reporting without interrupting the normal work flow of employees.

A staff survey is an effective tool for collecting staff responses (for example, “Are you safe?”) and gathering feedback post-event.

Employee Quizzes can be used for post-event learning. 'Did you receive our inclement weather messages?' and 'what could we have done better?'

Discover our range of tools for Internal Communications

Digital Communications — Digital Signage

Use SnapComms Software To:

Raise awareness

Promote your inclement weather policy through Lock Screen visual messaging to inform employees and increase awareness in a non-intrusive way. Plan seasonal communications to staff such as “get your car winter-ready”.

Reassure staff
Minimize knowledge gaps
Drive attendance at staff training sessions

Increase preparedness

Keep resources and advice around inclement weather up-to-date on your intranet and regularly advise staff of updates via desktop ticker. Practice your Emergency Communication Plan using all channels available.

Improve relevance through location-specific comms
Expand coverage by ‘flooding’ your message

Keep staff safe

When an extreme weather event occurs, use Panic Button to get employee attention fast and impel action. Keep staff appraised as the situation develops through desktop alerts which are impossible to miss.

Remove delays in staff receiving essential information
Provide a consistent source of information staff can rely upon
Reach staff at every location, on every device

Improve future planning

Assess how effective your communication strategy has been after the event by using a survey to get staff feedback on what worked well and what needs improving.

Capture staff ideas and suggestions
Enhance your overall communications

Real Results With SnapComms

Improve safety

Staff awareness of inclement weather incidents and how to respond to them is grown, helping keep everyone safe

Reduce risk

Potential for danger to staff and reputational damage to the organization is mitigated through better, more timely information provision

Strengthen resilience

A comprehensive, widely-communicated inclement weather communication plan places the organization in a position of strength if an incident occurs

Business continuity

Better responses to extreme weather events allow organizations to overcome the incident and return to normal operations faster

Fortify defenses

Protection against future weather-related incidents is strengthened through learnings and process improvements

Enhance communication

Real-time reporting tracks message readership and engagement, providing assurances of reach and highlighting areas of deficiency

More Features For Inclement Weather Communications

When your weather event messages need to get out to staff as quickly and efficiently as possible, you need all the extra features to help you achieve it. That’s where SnapComms delivers.

Pre-configure communications by setting up a series of messages in advance. These will help prevent HR or comms teams being inundated with questions during a challenging time, as well as avoid confusion and conflict later.

Targeting allows you to send highly-relevant messages to only those staff who need to see it. Set up employee groups by location, role type or whatever, then send weather-related messages to only those staff in the affected areas, for example.

Scheduling provides additional control over your weather communications. Set messages to be sent at specific times to reach staff when they are most likely to see them. Or set campaign-style promotional messages for delivery at certain intervals to build up employee awareness.

Message recurrence is easy to set up, meaning staff will receive messages repeatedly until they perform a specific action (such as clicking a link or responding with “Yes, I’m ok”). This helps provide assurance that messages are being seen, plus acknowledgement by staff can fulfill business compliance obligations.

Want to learn more about how SnapComms can work for you?

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Case Studies

Holiday Inn Club maintains a culture of calm – even when an epic storm strikes

When extreme weather closed in, the use of SnapComms internal staff messaging tools went into overdrive, providing staff with up-to-date information that was passed onto clients.