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Meta Announces Planned Integration of WhatsApp into its Workplace Platform
Meta’s looking to help businesses maintain connection with staff, many of whom are now working remote, by adding a new WhatsApp integration into its Workplace platform, which will enable companies to share posts from Workplace over WhatsApp.
As you can see in this example, the integration will provide another way to share internal updates from Workplace, which could help to streamline messaging, while also facilitating more engagement and interaction between remote employees.
Meta says that the update is specifically focussed on better connecting frontline workers, who are feeling increasingly detached from management as a result of the pandemic.
“According to ‘Deskless Not Voiceless: The 2021 Frontline Barometer’, which examined the views of 7,000 frontline workers and 1,350 C-suite executives in 7 countries, only 55% of frontline workers surveyed feel connected to their company HQ. And many more of those respondents (75%) don’t completely trust their organizations to be transparent about company news and updates.”
This is one of the key challenges of remote working – when you’re no longer able to be around your colleagues day-to-day, it’s harder to get a sense of where the organization is headed, and any potential strategic shifts or changes that may impact your position. By enabling staff to connect via the secure interaction on WhatsApp, that could enable more direct, personal connection, and help employees speak more freely about their concerns, alleviating undue stress.
It also provides another avenue for sharing key updates and news, improving information flow. And given WhatsApp is the most used messaging app in the world, it’s a logical way to expand communication.
And as noted by TechCrunch, it also expands the usage potential of WhatsApp, which Meta is continually working to further integrate into more interactive elements, with a view to making it a more essential connective app.
Workplace now has more than 7 million paid subscribers, and with more and more organizations moving to flexible working arrangements, it presents an ideal vehicle, in many cases, for facilitating remote work. Because Workplace is built on the same framework as Facebook, most people are already familiar with the interface and options, which reduces required training time, a key impediment to remote staffing.
Adding WhatApp into this mix provides even more options, and while the integration is not live as yet, Meta’s planning to roll out the new option soon, as part of the next major Workplace platform update.
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