Colin Sarafin: Hello, everybody, and thank you for joining us on this week's episode of You’ve Got Comms Podcast with Staffbase. My name is Colin Sarafin. I'm an Account Executive here at Staffbase, based out of our New York headquarters, and I am joined by none other than Sonja Lee from our People Experience team. Sonja, I'll let you go ahead and introduce yourself.
Sonja Lee: Yeah, thanks, Colin. So, my name is Sonja. I have been with Staffbase for about 10 years now. Originally from Canada, now I live in Germany at our headquarters there, and I am our global human resources information systems analyst, which is a fancy way of saying I manage all of our HR technology at the company. Yes, I've been loving it, and I'm happy to be here and share my experience, and yes, how internal communications has played a critical role in a lot of deployments and success for all of our HR technology.
Colin Sarafin: Awesome. Thank you, Sonja. And I can speak from an end-user experience. Our HR tech works great, but the questions are for you. So, to kick things off, can you tell us a little bit more about your role as global HR information systems analyst? A lot of words. Can you maybe just tell us what that actually means day to day?
Sonja Lee: Yeah, for sure. So, as we're a global company in three regions right now, North America, EMEA, and APAC, that's Australia and Japan, due to the time zone differences, I focus on top operational priorities first, as maybe someone needed my expertise several hours ago to be able to perform their day-to-day tasks in our HR systems. So, I work on these HRIS tickets first each morning, which fall into several categories usually, which are system errors, data updates, reporting, and integration issues. Then I go through my deadlines list for several projects that I'm usually involved with, cross-functionally, such as right now, it would be our global payroll project with ADP, and also configuring our HRIS workday for our upcoming third merit cycle, which is for our annual compensation review, as well as building and testing continuous improvements in our HR systems on a day-to-day basis, trying to automate and simplify things to the extent possible.
Colin Sarafin: It sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy.
Sonja Lee: Yeah, definitely.
Colin Sarafin: Okay. Maybe what's something that people don't often realize about what goes into managing HR technology and system rollouts?
Sonja Lee: Yeah, for sure. So, definitely having a solid communication strategy and top-down buy-in is everything. And the foundation for any successful rollout at a company, in my experience, you learn in a lot of business and HR professional courses that statistically, if you don't have full leadership, top-down buy-in for anything at the company, your idea won't thrive. It won't survive. So, initiatives that start from the bottom-up, often lose momentum if they're not reinforced from the top, and why executive sponsorship and strategic communications from leaders first about new things at the company is so important.
Colin Sarafin: Okay. So, when you think about it, when you introduce a new HR system, process, policy, what have you, what role do you think communication plays in making that successful ultimately?
Sonja Lee: Yeah. I would have to say that communication definitely plays a central role in the success of any new HR system, process, or policy rollout. You can have the best technology or framework, but if people don't understand the why and the how and the impact on them through effective communication, adoption usually falls short.
Colin Sarafin: Yes, it makes sense. Seeing it time and time again. And what are some of the biggest challenges you've seen when it comes to communicating HR changes effectively? It's one thing to communicate it. It's another thing to do so effectively. What would you say the trick is there?
Sonja Lee: For sure. I would say besides getting consistent buy-in across all levels of the organization, especially leadership, another challenge can be message clarity. HR changes often involve policy details, compliance requirements, and process steps, which can be overwhelming for employees if not communicated early and clearly in digestible pieces. Another can be timing and two-way communication. So, announcing a change too early, too late, or without channels for questions, comments, and feedback can sometimes create confusion, frustration, and resistance. In my experience, focusing on clear role-specific communication, visible leadership support, and ongoing feedback loops helps overcome these challenges and ensures employees understand and engage with the change.
Colin Sarafin: Thank you. That was a very thorough answer. I appreciate that. And, it's funny, sitting in my chair as one of the employees that receives these kinds of communications from you, you know, when you look at me, the employee, it's one thing to just hear about a change, but what can you do to actually make sure that people understand it and adopt it?
Sonja Lee: Yes, great question. So, for us to make sure employees not only heard about a change but actually adopt it, again, we focus on clear role-specific communication, manager involvement, and ongoing reinforcement. But also, we rely heavily on Staffbase metrics to track engagement, understanding as well, so we can adjust messaging and support where needed. This approach helps turn awareness into real behavioral change.
Colin Sarafin: Okay, awesome. Obviously, you work with our internal comms team, the PX team, and the internal comms team on Campsite, which for anybody out there, that is our own internal intranet that we use in-house. What does that collaboration process look like to actually build that employee experience?
Sonja Lee: It's great. I would say not having it to having a team of internal communications experts makes everything so much easier, and you can just rely on their expertise that change will be a lot more effective, and essentially they help us create communications that are most engaging to certain audiences. I can just rely on their expert guidance and get what's needed for them and [then roll a post?] for Campsite and forget about the rest.
Colin Sarafin: Nice. And how do you decide who communicates what and through which channel?
Sonja Lee: Yeah, so, it really depends on the role of an audience, I would say. If it's a small change in our HR systems that doesn't actually require action from anyone, and it's pretty intuitive to adopt, even without company-wide training or communications about it, I usually just make a short post on Campsite that hits people's emails, phones, and our Slack channel right away. But if it's a feature that requires action, more training, and or it's a bit complicated, we usually ask our internal communications team for the best communication strategy. An executive sponsor is usually involved to mention the change first to leaders and HR business partners. Then we might roll out to them first, then to employees and contingent workers, such as contractors after as needed. For bigger rollouts like this, we usually make multiple Campsite posts and stages, with a comment section and ensure to respond to any comments and feedback as soon as possible so participants can feel supported. We also make Slack help channels for all the different roles involved. So, one could be for the managers and HR business partners on their roles for the new feature. And then we also make a public help Slack channel for any staff member to join and ask questions as needed.
Colin Sarafin: Awesome. Thanks. And again, I've seen those pages. I really appreciate all the support. And we are coming up on just our last couple of questions, Sonja. So, last two. Can you share an example of an HR rollout that went well and what made the communication work specifically for that project?
Sonja Lee: Yeah, for sure. Definitely one comes to mind immediately when you say that. So, it was our second merit cycle last year in our HRIS workday. It was a rework of our first one and this time, we had new participants, including new managers and HR business partners who weren't even there for the first one, or a process for it. So, we knew strategic sound communication and clarity would be key. We took the time to really listen to feedback from the first cycle and acted on it. That meant simplifying the process wherever possible, streamlining steps without losing quality, and shortening our training videos to make them more digestible but still comprehensive enough to set everyone up for success. What really made the communication work was how we kept it continuous and two-way. So, we posted updates for each stage of the process on our Campsite intranets by Staffbase where participants could comment and ask questions directly. And we made sure to respond in real time. And, again, this true feedback loop helped make people feel not just supported but confident throughout the process. And they also become advocates for the process as well and they're excited for it. So, that top-down excitement and advocacy to the employees, then the employees start feeling like this is a great opportunity, this is a great process. I feel thankful as well. And so, by the time the cycle launched, participants told us it felt a lot simpler, straightforward, and well-organized, which was a huge improvement from the year before.
Colin Sarafin: Awesome. And final question: If you could give one piece of advice to HR comms leaders about managing system or policy change, what would it be?
Sonja Lee: Yeah, if I could give one piece of advice for that, it would definitely be having, and I think I'm a bit spoiled, working for an internal communications company, but honestly, just from the other companies I've been with before, including with government and other tech companies in North America, having a solid internal communication strategy is what truly makes or breaks a change, especially after seeing the success it's brought us at Staffbase. You can have the best system or policy in the world, but if people don't clearly understand the why, the what's in it for me, and how to take action through effective communication, it won't stick. So, thoughtful, consistent, and engaging communication tailored to different audiences and championed by leaders is what turns a role into real adoption and lasting change.
Colin Sarafin: Well, I'm not sure I could cap us off with anything more prescient than that. Sonja, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you, everybody who tuned in today for listening to this week's episode of You’ve Got Comms Podcast, brought to you by Staffbase. Tune in next time. Thanks.