Effective communication at work is essential to the success of any company or team. Without clear and precise communication, misunderstandings can arise that affect productivity and the work environment. Transmitting ideas in an understandable way and being willing to actively listen to colleagues are key skills in any work environment.
The implementation of methodologies and new technological channels to improve team management and workflows highlights the importance of open and effective communication between team members. In addition, today there are online collaboration platforms, project management software and messaging applications, which facilitate communication and collaboration between geographically distributed teams.
We are going to see the most effective communication channels for companies that are most used to achieve employee cohesion through a continuous flow of communication.
Team collaboration platforms (such as Slack): These platforms offer instant messaging, organization of channels by teams or projects, integration with other tools, and the ability to share files. They serve to facilitate rapid communication, real-time collaboration and efficient project management by centralizing conversations and documents.
Project management tools (such as Asana or Trello): These tools allow you to plan, assign tasks, track progress, and collaborate on projects. They facilitate communication between teams by visualizing the status of tasks, deadlines and the distribution of responsibilities.
Video conferencing platforms (such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams): These platforms offer the ability to hold virtual meetings, video conferences, and webinars. They are useful for communicating face-to-face with geographically distributed teams, giving presentations, screen sharing, and collaborating in real-time.
Corporate social networks (such as Workplace by Facebook or Yammer): these networks provide a space for internal communication, allowing you to share news, company updates, collaborate in thematic groups and connect employees from different areas and hierarchical levels.
Knowledge management platforms (such as Confluence or SharePoint): These platforms allow you to create, store and share company information, documents, manuals and policies. They facilitate collaboration by having a centralized repository of knowledge accessible to all employees.
If in your company you use some type of instant messaging channel, you have surely wondered to what extent you are exempt from your superiors being able to read your messages. Well, according to the General Data Protection Regulation, in relation to employees who use the company’s communication channels, these are the key points that determine how far control in communications can go:
Consent: If a company wants to use WhatsApp, or any other communication channel, to interact with its employees, it must obtain their explicit consent. This means that employees must give their permission clearly and specifically.
Use of personal data: When using WhatsApp, the company has access to the mobile phone number and username of employees. Therefore, it is important that employees are aware of what personal data is being used and for what.
Risks: if a company uses WhatsApp without the authorization of employees, it may be reported to the AEPD (Spanish Data Protection Agency), which could result in sanctions. Regarding the monitoring of employee communications without their consent, the company can be reported to the AEPD (Spanish Data Protection Agency), which could result in sanctions.
AEPD Guide: The Spanish Data Protection Agency has published a guide on data protection and labour relations to help organizations comply with the legislation.
Employee rights: Employees have the right to be informed about how their personal data is used, and they also have the right to request that their data be erased.
Specific cases: In some situations, managers may have access to employee conversations. For example, in Slack, bosses can read employees’ messages and private conversations if certain conditions are met, such as the employees agreeing and the company having a ‘Plus’ or ‘Enterprise’ plan. In Teams, managers can see all the messages that are circulating, track employee meetings and calls, and view edits to shared folders.
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