Turning Tech Rollouts into Real Adoption: Why Communication Is HR’s Most Powerful Tool

00:00:00: Announcing a change too early,

00:00:01: too late,

00:00:02: or without channels

00:00:03: for questions, comments,

00:00:04: and feedback

00:00:05: can sometimes create confusion,

00:00:06: frustration, and resistance.

00:00:08: In my experience, focusing on clear

00:00:10: role-specific communication,

00:00:11: visible leadership support,

00:00:13: and ongoing feedback loops

00:00:14: helps overcome these challenges

00:00:16: and ensures employees understand

00:00:17: and engage with the change.

00:00:24: Hello, everybody, and thank you for joining us on this week's

00:00:28: episode of You’ve Got Comms Podcast with Staffbase.

00:00:32: My name is Colin Sarafin.

00:00:33: I'm an Account Executive

00:00:34: here at Staffbase, based out of

00:00:36: our New York headquarters,

00:00:37: and I am joined by none other

00:00:39: than Sonja Lee

00:00:40: from our People Experience team.

00:00:42: Sonja, I'll let you go ahead

00:00:43: and introduce yourself.

00:00:45: Yeah, thanks, Colin. So, my name is Sonja.

00:00:47: I have been with Staffbase for about 10 years now.

00:00:51: Originally from Canada, now I live in Germany at our headquarters

00:00:54: there, and I am our global human resources information systems analyst,

00:00:59: which is a fancy way of saying I manage all of our HR technology at the company.

00:01:03: Yeah, I've been loving it, and I'm happy to be here and share my experience,

00:01:07: and yeah, how internal communications has played a critical role

00:01:11: in a lot of deployments and success for all of our HR technology.

00:01:15: Awesome.

00:01:15: Thank you, Sonja.

00:01:16: And I can speak from an end-user experience.

00:01:20: Our HR tech works great, but the questions are for you.

00:01:24: So, to kick things off, can you tell us a little bit more

00:01:28: about your role as global HR information systems analyst?

00:01:33: A lot of words.

00:01:34: Can you maybe just tell us what that actually means day to day?

00:01:38: Yeah, for sure.

00:01:39: So, as we're a global company in three regions right now, North America,

00:01:43: EMEA, and APAC, that's Australia and Japan,

00:01:47: due to the time zone differences, I focus on top operational priorities

00:01:50: first, as maybe someone needed my expertise several hours ago to be able

00:01:54: to perform their day-to-day tasks in our HR systems.

00:01:57: So, I work on these HRIS tickets first each morning,

00:02:00: which fall into several categories usually, which are system

00:02:03: errors, data updates, reporting, and integration issues.

00:02:07: Then I go through my deadlines list for several projects

00:02:09: that I'm usually involved with, cross-functionally, such as right now,

00:02:12: it would be our global payroll project with ADP,

00:02:15: and also configuring our HRIS workday for our upcoming third merit cycle,

00:02:19: which is for our annual compensation review, as well as building

00:02:22: and testing continuous improvements in our HR systems on a day-to-day

00:02:25: basis, trying to automate and simplify things to the extent possible.

00:02:30: It sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy.

00:02:33: Yeah, definitely.

00:02:35: Okay.

00:02:37: Maybe what's something that people don't often realize about

00:02:40: what goes into managing HR technology and system rollouts?

00:02:44: Yeah, for sure.

00:02:45: So, definitely having

00:02:46: a solid communication strategy and top-down buy-in is everything.

00:02:50: And the foundation for any successful rollout at a company, in my experience,

00:02:53: you learn in a lot of business and HR professional courses

00:02:58: that statistically,

00:02:58: if you don't have full leadership,

00:03:00: top-down buy-in for anything at the company, your idea won't thrive.

00:03:03: It won't survive.

00:03:05: So, initiatives that start from the bottom-up, often

00:03:07: lose momentum if they're not reinforced from the top,

00:03:10: and why executive sponsorship and strategic communications from leaders

00:03:13: first about new things at the company is so important.

00:03:17: Okay.

00:03:17: So, when you think about it, when you introduce a new HR system,

00:03:21: process, policy, what have you, what role

00:03:24: do you think communication plays in making that successful ultimately?

00:03:29: Yeah.

00:03:29: I would have to say that communication definitely plays a central role

00:03:33: in the success of any new HR system, process, or policy rollout.

00:03:37: You can have the best technology or framework,

00:03:39: but if people don't understand the why and the how and the impact on them

00:03:43: through effective communication, adoption usually falls short.

00:03:47: Yupp, it makes sense.

00:03:48: Seeing it time and time again.

00:03:50: And what are some of the biggest challenges

00:03:51: you've seen when it comes to communicating HR changes effectively?

00:03:55: It's one thing to communicate it.

00:03:56: It's another thing to do so effectively.

00:03:58: What would you say the trick is there?

00:04:00: For sure.

00:04:01: I would say besides

00:04:02: getting consistent buy-in across all levels of the organization,

00:04:05: especially leadership, another challenge can be message clarity.

00:04:09: HR changes often involve policy details, compliance requirements, and process

00:04:13: steps, which can be overwhelming for employees

00:04:15: if not communicated early and clearly in digestible pieces.

00:04:19: Another can be timing and two-way communication.

00:04:22: So, announcing a change too early, too late, or without channels

00:04:25: for questions, comments, and feedback

00:04:28: can sometimes create confusion, frustration, and resistance.

00:04:31: In my experience, focusing on clear role-specific communication,

00:04:35: visible leadership support, and ongoing feedback loops helps overcome

00:04:38: these challenges and ensures employees understand and engage with the change.

00:04:43: Thank you.

00:04:44: That was a very thorough answer.

00:04:46: I appreciate that.

00:04:47: And, it's funny, sitting in my chair

00:04:52: as one of the employees that receives these kinds of communications from you,

00:04:57: you know, when you look at me, the employee, it's one thing

00:05:00: to just hear about a change, but

00:05:03: what can you do to actually make sure that people understand it and adopt it?

00:05:07: Yeah, great question.

00:05:09: So, for us to make sure employees not only heard about a change

00:05:12: but actually adopt it, again, we focus on clear role-specific

00:05:15: communication, manager involvement, and ongoing reinforcement.

00:05:19: But also, we rely heavily on Staffbase metrics to track engagement,

00:05:23: understanding as well, so we can adjust messaging and support where needed.

00:05:27: This approach helps turn awareness into real behavioral change.

00:05:30: Okay, awesome.

00:05:32: Obviously, you work with our internal comms team, the PX team,

00:05:35: and the internal comms team on Campsite, which for anybody out there,

00:05:39: that is our own internal intranet that we use in-house.

00:05:43: What does that collaboration process look like to actually build

00:05:47: that employee experience?

00:05:50: It's great.

00:05:50: I would say not having it to having a team of internal communications

00:05:55: experts makes everything so much easier, and you can just rely on their expertise

00:06:00: that change will be a lot more effective, and essentially they help us create

00:06:04: communications that are most engaging to certain audiences.

00:06:07: I can just rely on their expert guidance and get what's needed for them

00:06:10: and [then roll a post?] for Campsite and forget about the rest.

00:06:13: Nice.

00:06:14: And how do you decide who communicates what and through which channel?

00:06:19: Yeah, so, it really depends on the role of an audience, I would say.

00:06:22: If it's a small change in our HR systems that doesn't actually require action

00:06:26: from anyone, and it's pretty intuitive to adopt,

00:06:28: even without company-wide training or communications about it,

00:06:31: I usually just make a short post on Campsite

00:06:33: that hits people's emails, phones, and our Slack channel right away.

00:06:37: But if it's a feature that requires action,

00:06:39: more training, and or it's a bit complicated,

00:06:41: we usually ask

00:06:41: our internal communications team for the best communication strategy.

00:06:45: An executive sponsor is usually involved to mention the change first to leaders

00:06:48: and HR business partners.

00:06:50: Then we might roll out to them first,

00:06:52: then to employees and contingent workers, such as contractors after as needed.

00:06:56: For bigger rollouts like this, we usually make multiple Campsite posts

00:07:00: and stages, with a comment section and ensure to respond to any comments

00:07:04: and feedback as soon as possible so participants can feel supported.

00:07:08: We also make Slack help channels for all the different roles involved.

00:07:10: So, one could be for the managers and HR business partners

00:07:13: on their roles for the new feature.

00:07:15: And then we also make a public help

00:07:16: Slack channel for any staff member to join and ask questions as needed.

00:07:22: Awesome.

00:07:22: Thanks. And again, I've seen those pages.

00:07:25: I really appreciate all the support.

00:07:27: And we are coming up on just our last couple of questions, Sonja.

00:07:32: So, last two.

00:07:34: Can you share an example of an HR rollout that went well

00:07:38: and what made the communication work specifically for that project?

00:07:42: Yeah, for sure.

00:07:44: Definitely one comes to mind immediately when you say that.

00:07:46: So, it was our second merit cycle last year in our HRIS workday.

00:07:51: It was a rework of our first one and this time, we had new participants,

00:07:54: including new managers and HR business partners

00:07:56: who weren't even there for the first one, or a process for it.

00:07:59: So, we knew strategic sound communication and clarity would be key.

00:08:03: We took the time to really listen to feedback from the first cycle

00:08:06: and acted on it.

00:08:07: That meant simplifying the process wherever possible, streamlining steps

00:08:10: without losing quality,

00:08:11: and shortening our training videos to make them more digestible but

00:08:14: still comprehensive enough to set everyone up for success.

00:08:17: What really made the communication work was how we kept it continuous and two-way.

00:08:21: So, we posted updates for each stage of the process on our Campsite intranets

00:08:25: by Staffbase where participants could comment and ask questions directly.

00:08:29: And we made sure to respond in real time.

00:08:31: And, again, this true feedback loop helped

00:08:34: make people feel not just supported but confident throughout the process.

00:08:38: And they also become advocates for the process as well

00:08:40: and they're excited for it.

00:08:42: So, that top-down excitement and advocacy

00:08:45: to the employees, then the employees start feeling like

00:08:47: this is a great opportunity, this is a great process.

00:08:49: I feel thankful as well.

00:08:50: And so, by the time the cycle launched, participants

00:08:53: told us it felt a lot simpler, straightforward, and well-organized,

00:08:56: which was a huge improvement from the year before.

00:08:59: Awesome.

00:09:00: And final question: If you could give one piece of advice

00:09:04: to HR comms leaders about managing system or policy change, what would it be?

00:09:10: Yeah, if I could give one piece of advice for that, it would definitely be having,

00:09:13: and I think I'm a bit spoiled, working for an internal communications company,

00:09:17: but honestly, just from the other companies

00:09:18: I've been with before, including with government

00:09:20: and other tech companies in North America,

00:09:22: having a solid internal communication strategy

00:09:25: is what truly makes or breaks a change,

00:09:27: especially after seeing the success it's brought us at Staffbase.

00:09:31: You can have the best system or policy in the world,

00:09:33: but if people don't clearly understand the why, the what's in it for me,

00:09:36: and how to take action through effective communication, it won't stick.

00:09:40: So, thoughtful, consistent, and engaging communication tailored

00:09:43: to different audiences and championed by leaders

00:09:45: is what turns a role into real adoption and lasting change.

00:09:50: Well, I'm not sure I

00:09:52: could cap us off with anything more prescient than that.

00:09:56: Sonja, thank you very much for your time.

00:09:58: I appreciate it.

00:09:59: Thank you, everybody who tuned in today for listening to this week's

00:10:02: episode of You’ve Got Comms Podcast, brought to you by Staffbase.

00:10:06: Tune in next time.

00:10:07: Thanks.