The document discusses best practices for HR managers to optimize the use of Slack in their organizations based on interviews with 10 HR professionals. Some key practices include using Slack to crowdsource user guides for roll-outs, provide instant feedback and praise to employees, house informational resources for employees, understand workplace conversations while maintaining privacy, spark hiring discussions, build company culture, conduct remote training, lower barriers for employee communication, and ensure communication practices fit the company identity. The document encourages HR managers to understand Slack and help shape its use in a way that builds a better employee experience.

1. The HR Manager’s
Guide to Slack

2. You’ve probably
heard of Slack’s
workplace chat.

3. With over 4 millions users
Slack is increasingly becoming a
strategic investment that HR
managers are trying to optimize as
much as possible.

4. Companies are seeing that
chat is changing the way
work gets done.

5. Slack (and other
platforms like it)
centralize
communications.

6. Give better access to
information.

7. And, help processes
run more smoothly.

8. But, simply having Slack isn’t enough. There
are best practices to make it work for you.

9. We talked to 10 HR managers and advisors
who have used Slack to hit their goals.

10. Today you’ll find out how they’re
responding to Slack’s emergence in the
workforce and implementing new ways
to communicate with employees.

11. Use Slack to support its own
roll-out with crowdsourcing
user guides.

12. Katie Burke
Chief People Officer at Hubspot
Our employees created guides to using
Slack on their own with shortcuts and tips
for each other. The wisdom of crowds is
incredibly useful in those instances.

13. Use Slack for employee
feedback and praise.

14. Katie Burke
Chief People Officer at Hubspot
Any instant messaging medium is prone to
rapid reaction and confusion around
context ... But the advantages far
outweigh the benefits.

15. Katie Burke
Chief People Officer at Hubspot
I use Slack frequently to commend
remarkable work. The best feedback is
instant, and if you can hear it via a channel
you already use, all the better.

16. Erin O’Neill
People and Culture Manager at The Penny
Hoader
We have a channel where anyone can send
thanks to anyone for a job well done. If they
use a certain backslash command, it will
actually tie into the performance review.

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Copyright © 2017 Talla
Build a more collaborative
version of your information
resources.

18. We tried using Google Sites to house
information about benefits and payroll. It
wasn’t working as far as how flexibly you
could set up those pages.
Jeryn Carlise
Director of Employee Services at Pereira &
O’Dell

19. Slack really has become the go-to tool that
employee services use to communicate with
the team, and we encourage team members
to use the various channels. There’s one for
benefits. There’s one for onboarding.
Jeryn Carlise
Director of Employee Services at Pereira &
O’Dell

20. We really encourage employees to use
channels to communicate not only with
employee services but other teams who are
happy to jump in if they have gone through
that similar experience.
Jeryn Carlise
Director of Employee Services at Pereira &
O’Dell

21. Use it to understand what
employees are talking
about, but maintain trust.
Encourage understanding
around what’s public and
private in Slack.

22. As always with HR, it is how you use it.
There are privacy concerns. If people don’t
trust you any more they start avoiding the
whole channel.
Maarten Oostenbrug
HR Consultant

23. Spark conversation
about potential
hires.

24. I’ve created various channels where we
can talk about recruiting. The one that’s
been used most frequently is to have a
tech channel where we can talk about
resumes.
Tom Kleber
Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition
at Catalant

25. Copyright © 2017 Talla
Use Slack to build culture.

26. We have a channel where people post
events … and a lunch channel where folks
sometimes throw in there where they are
going, to encourage others to join. So, it
creates a sense of community.
Marilyn Collins
Sales Administrator at NewsWhip

27. One of the coolest things we have is a
coffee channel in Slack— so we created
a bot that will randomly select two
people who are in the channel each
morning and pair them up for coffee.
Tom Kleber
Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition
at Catalant

28. Slack is our #1 channel of communication …
it is loved, adored, embraced. ... Now,
people who are fans of Monet have their
own #monet-appreciation channel. You
can build relationships with people.
Samantha Sutton
Director of Talent and Engagement at
Ginko Bioworks

29. Set up a collaborative
training course for a
distributed team.

30. I took a morning course on leadership that
was all done through Slack. Participants in
the course were literally around the
world. Using Slack as a tool to engage
teams and do training is pretty interesting.
Robert Shapiro
Head of Human Resources at Klipfolio

31. Copyright © 2017 Talla
Lower barriers to
communication, so
employees can
communicate about
small problems
(before they become
big problems).

32. For a lot of people, the action of filing a
formal grievance is really intense and
the thresholds are really high. Slack has
the power to lower the potential barrier
for getting help before its too serious.
Phil Wolff
Product and Communications Consultant

33. Copyright © 2017 Talla
Figure out how
communicating
through Slack fits
into your processes
and company
identity.

34. Figure out what’s right for your
organization and what the power of
{Slack] is. For example, what would take
place on a company email happens now
in our “town square” Slack channel…
Adriana Ganos
Head of Talent at LAUNCH

35. … the fun things that create laughter
during the day and relationships have
now moved to a more electronic
communication.
Adriana Ganos
Head of Talent at LAUNCH

36. Slack presents a host of interesting challenges,
and it’s crucial for HR to understand Slack and
help shape its use in the organization.

37. The lessons provided from these HR managers
and advisors offer immediate items for actions
and ideas for what could come next.

38. If you’re using Slack today,
find out how Talla’s HR
Service Assistant can build a
better employee experience
by automating FAQ
answering, and filing support
tickets for user issues.

39. Contact us:
To request your free trial of the Talla HR Service
Assistant, visit our website.
617-517-4156
sales@talla.com
www.talla.com
Boston, MA& Palo Alto, CA
Start using Talla today.