How These Companies Use AlertMedia to Communicate With Remote Workers

Remote work is well past the tipping point—what author Malcolm Gladwell calls ”that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire”—and at the point of no return.

Remote workers now account for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. Even as COVID-19 restrictions loosen up, more of the population becomes vaccinated, and case rates continue to fall, remote work will remain the default mode of work for many organizations. Analysis by Upwork predicts that 22 percent of the U.S. workforce will be working remotely full-time by 2025. That’s a staggering 87 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels.

But whether you’ve been thrust into the world of remote work because of COVID-19—or, like many businesses, you’ve always had remote or field-based employees—managing a remote workforce comes with its own set of challenges.

For HR and business leaders, how to effectively communicate with remote workers to keep them safe, engaged, and productive tops the list of challenges. Whether working from home, the road, or an assigned field location or job site, remote workers aren’t always easy to reach using traditional communication methods like emails and phone trees.

To improve safety and fulfill their duty of care, companies with remote, mobile, and field-based workers are turning to AlertMedia’s emergency communication software. Multichannel, two-way messaging makes it possible to instantly connect with every employee, anywhere in the world, at any time. And with fully integrated global threat intelligence capabilities, organizations can monitor, track, and communicate about emerging threats, so employees are kept safe, informed, and prepared for whatever comes their way.

SAC Wireless Gives Its Remote Workers a Lifeline

At SAC Wireless, a Nokia Company with 25 locations and 2,000 employees nationwide, safety has always been a core part of the culture. Given the inherent safety risks that come with climbing and operating on 400-foot cell towers, rapid, reliable communication is vital to its remote workforce’s well-being.

Before AlertMedia, employees had to call and speak with their regional safety manager to report a safety or operational incident in the field. However, since cell tower construction and maintenance activities often occur during nights and weekends, field-based employees couldn’t always reach or get an immediate response from their safety manager.

SAC Wireless needed a failproof way to enable two-way communication, ensure its employees’ safety in the field, and give all stakeholders—including the CEO and other executives—complete visibility into all safety-related events and their resolutions. To achieve this, SAC Wireless now uses AlertMedia’s emergency communication software.

“AlertMedia’s monitoring team can notify our entire crisis response team simultaneously and even include a conference bridge, helping us immediately assemble and connect key decision-makers,” says Larry Pomykalski, Director of Business Continuity and Fleet Operations at SAC Wireless. “This instant, multichannel notification—which includes the critical background information we need to respond appropriately—eliminates the need for time-consuming, one-on-one communication. It has profoundly decreased our safety response times.”

Greyhound Modernizes Its Driver Communication Strategy

To keep the biggest bus network in the U.S. running smoothly, Greyhound uses AlertMedia to effectively reach its nearly 6,000 employees, consisting of bus drivers, field-based staff, and corporate employees.

Expectedly, Greyhound’s drivers are dispersed, highly mobile, and always on the move. To get critical information out to its drivers, Greyhound historically relied on word of mouth between drivers and an answering system that played pre-recorded announcements. But this lack of effective internal communication led to confusion, frustration, low employee morale, and a less-than-cohesive customer experience.

Now using AlertMedia’s mass notification software, Greyhound can stay connected with its entire fleet of drivers, no matter where they are. Multichannel message delivery—which includes text messages, emails, phone calls, and more—allows Greyhound to instantly reach all of its employees, regardless of where they are, what device they are using, or their communication preferences.

With two-way messaging features—including read receipts, surveys, incoming messages, and notification replies—Greyhound can more reliably communicate with its dispersed workforce and ensure the right people receive the messages they need, when they need them. And with dynamic groups based on region, Greyhound can even communicate with geographically targeted groups of drivers on an as-needed basis to make drivers aware of any local weather, safety, or operational concerns.

“AlertMedia’s two-way text messaging capabilities have been instrumental in improving our communication with drivers,” says Jennifer Saylor, Greyhound’s Manager of Customer Operations. “Instead of having to track down a supervisor or call in to dispatch, drivers can send a quick text—even including a photo if they like.”

Employee Communication and Safety Go Hand in Hand

Communication and safety are inextricably linked. If you can’t quickly reach employees at a moment’s notice—and employees aren’t able to get immediate help in their moments of need—there is no safety. Effective communication is the prerequisite for ensuring your workforce’s safety, but communicating with remote employees requires a different approach than in-person communication.

To communicate with remote workers during critical events, you need to use every channel and mechanism available to you. After all, field-based employees aren’t typically sitting at a desk with ready access to a smartphone or computer to check their email or join a conference call.

With AlertMedia’s modern mass notification software, you can communicate instantly across multiple channels, no matter where your employees are or what they are doing. Whether your remote employees work from home, a job site, or the road, staying connected through AlertMedia’s emergency communication software means they’re never far from support.