How the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for plain language at work

Communicating clearly is more important than ever before. How has the pandemic accelerated our need to communicate clearly in the workplace? 

An opportunity for employers 

It’s clear that the pandemic has contributed to a push for news organisations and governments to use readability best practices to be transparent with the public. But, it’s not restricted to these authorities. In fact, according to an Edelman survey, many people trust employer communications over the government and the media. The majority of people trust their employer to respond responsibly to the virus and see their employer as better prepared than their country. 

What makes for good workplace communication?

There are several ways employers can foster good communication at work. Generally speaking, according to research, an empowered office environment can increase employee productivity by 25%. Good communication makes employees feel empowered and confident at work. 

Remote work communication

The ongoing global pandemic continues to affect where and how we work. With many companies still operating part-remote, written communication has increased. If written communication isn’t clear, this leads to more enquiries, more crossed wires. On the other hand, clear written communication encourages productive collaboration with the written word to refer back to. 

Regulating communication

A good writing assistant is an excellent tool for internal communications. By building a team on Readable, you can ensure everyone stays on the same page with: 

• Tone-analysed writing
• Error-free text
• Excellent readability 

It’s easy for your tone to get lost in an email. That’s why our tone analysis tools are so useful for connecting with others in your writing. By ensuring your tone is positive – without hedging – your emails will be both confident and kind. You can also measure whether your email has a personal tone. 

By setting a team target for readability, you can make sure everybody understands each other. Making your communications easy to read will save everybody time. 

You can even send your emails to Readable. You’ll have access to a special email address in your account to which you can send a test email. We’ll then email you your score – great for those emails you’re unsure about. 

Readability on Slack 

Slack has boomed in popularity with remote teams. It’s a great way to collaborate with each other with organised ‘channels’ for different topics and the ability to do anything from arranging meetings to discussing projects. 

To be able to collaborate effectively on Slack, you need your communication to be easy to read. In this way, it follows the same principle as email. Luckily, you can integrate Readable into Slack. You can use our integration to assess any message for readability before sending it.