Personalise your communication content in your platform
Your foundU platform offers the ability to send emails or SMS to individuals, admins, or groups using over 100 customisable templates.
You also have the option to personalise your email and SMS templates for notifications that are sent to your staff, operations team, and platform users.
Some examples of notifications that can be enabled include:
- Work anniversaries and years of service
- Manager notification for birthdays
- Position change notifications
- Onboarding & offboarding notifications
In this article, we will cover:
- Navigating the Communications page
- Updating Message Templates
- Types of communications & communication triggers
- Use cases, popular communications & FAQs
If you're looking at adding an announcement or a resource that all admins or employees can see check out this helpful guide here.
Navigating Communication Content
If you have decided that you would like to personalise your communication content you will need to know how to navigate the Communication Content page and find the relevant Message Template to configure.
To access your Communication Content page:
- Navigate to the hamburger menu > Communication > Communication Content. This is where the System message template settings are located.
- Click on the blue column headings to sort message templates via Name, Recipient, and Send SMS or Email.
- Use the Search bar to search for a specific message template. You can also refer to the Description to see the intended use of each message.
Tip: Searching by the Message Template name is the easiest way to find the communication that you would like to configure. - Click on the message type title to customise. There are a few ways in which you can customise your message. See the Updating your Message Template content section below.
In the below example, we are navigating to the Communication Content page and filtering to the Offboarding Message Template.
Please note this Screen Navigation has no sound, please watch and follow along for helpful tips on navigating the Communication Content page.
Edit/configure a Message Template
You can customise email and SMS notifications for employees, operations, and platform users. Some of the customisations include:
- Turning notifications on/off
- Select if the notification is sent via email, SMS or both
- Whether to use the default message or customise your content
Please note: Some communications on the platform cannot be edited as they are pre-configured. If a specific communication is not on the list, it is likely pre-configured.
To update your Message Template content:
- Navigate to Communication > Communication Content and locate the Message Template you would like to update.
- Click on the Message Template heading to edit the Message Template.
- Within the Message Template you will be able to update the following:
- Send Email - Toggle Yes or No to enable or disable this Message Template.
- Use Default Email Subject - Disable this setting if you want to enter your own email subject.
- Use Default Email Content - Disable this setting if you want to enter your own email content.
- Email Attachments - Add documents as an attachment to the Message Template.
- Send SMS - Toggle Yes to send an SMS as well as an email.
- Once you have made the relevant changes select Save.
In the below example, we are navigating to the Offboarding Message Template and updating it. We are changing the subject and setting up Custom Destinations so our IT Manager gets the offboarding email as well as the Payroll Officer so they can commence their offboarding tasks.
Please note this Screen Navigation has no sound, please watch and follow along for helpful tips on updating your Message Templates.
Tokens
When updating your Message Templates you have the ability to use Tokens within your message content. Tokens allow you to write one message that will be unique to each recipient. For example, if you use the name token (#name), each employee will receive an email with their first name included.
The available Tokens range depending on the Message Template you are personalising but they can be found at the top of the Edit Message Template page.
Your foundU platform offers the ability to send emails or SMS to individuals, admins, or groups using over 100 customisable templates. As there are so many different communications within your platform there are a few different types of Message Templates.
Template Types
There are 3 different Template Types for your Message Templates. These Template Types determine where the Message Template is sent to (recipient). These are:
- Dynamic - Message Template is sent to multiple recipients at once. I.e. Message Template is sent to the Admin, Manager and Custom Destination.
- Admin - Message Template is sent to the Admin only.
- Employee - Message Template is sent to the Employee only.
You can see whether the Message Template is Dynamic, Admin only or Employee only via the Communication Content page.
Custom Destinations
Custom Destinations allow you to send Message Templates to other people in your business as well as the employee or admin.
For example, you may have your Offboarding communication go to the employee's manager so their manager can commence the Offboarding process when their employee profile is terminated but you may also require this communication to go to the payroll officer so their final pay can be processed or your IT manager so their assets can be collected on the employee's last day.
In the below example, the Offboarding communication is Dynamic meaning the communication will go to multiple recipients at once but as we have set up a Custom Destination the Offboarding communication will also go to our payroll officer.
We have chosen Admin as our Custom Destination Type so we can choose the specific admin to receive this communication which is Ria.
Tip: Your Custom Destinations will show in the Additional column on the Communication Content page.
All Message Templates are triggered by an action in your platform. Here are the actions that trigger some of our Message Templates.
Platform action triggers
Messages can be triggered when certain actions are performed on your platform. Some examples of platform triggers include:
- An admin has generated invoices in the platform. Once the generation process has been completed a notification is sent to the admin user that generated pending invoices to let them know that the generation is finished.
- Once a manager has approved an employee's availability or leave request the Employee Availability/Leave Request Approved Template is triggered and sent to the employee to let them know of the outcome of their request.
Platform expiries
Message Templates can also be triggered by expires. Some examples of expiry triggers include:
- When an employee's visa and passport documentation is expiring the Visa & Passport expiring template is triggered and is sent to the Manager and employee.
- If an employee has not actioned an offered shift in the set time frame the Employee Shift Offer Expired Template is triggered.
Configured Milestones
Milestones allow you to send Message Templates a number of years or months into the future. Some examples of Milestone communications include:
- The Significant Employee Anniversary Milestone Notification allows you to configure the number of years or months from an employee's start date before the Message Template is triggered. This communication is sent to the employee.
- The Significant Anniversary Milestone Notification is a message sent to the admin when an employee has reached a set work anniversary.
In the below example, we have configured a Milestone for the Significant Employee Anniversary Milestone Notification that will trigger this Message Template 1 year from the employee's start date.
If you have enabled SMS or email notifications on your platform, you can easily access a history of all communications sent to employees and operations.
For a comprehensive guide on how to view all platform communications, please refer to our helpful guide here.
Popular communications & FAQs
There are a variety of Message Templates that are triggered when the employee meets a certain milestone in their employment or their age i.e. work anniversary or birthday. These milestone communications once configured can remind admins of important points that happen within your business and for your employees.
Some common use cases of milestone communications might be:
- Reminding an admin that an employee is having a birthday. This might also remind the admin to set up the next junior position for that employee.
- Reminding an admin that an employee has turned 18. This might remind the admin to check that their TFN details have been updated to reflect the employee's age.
- Using a milestone communication to remind an admin of an important anniversary at a chosen date. For example, an employee's 6-month anniversary to do a performance review.
- A milestone communication is sent to an employee to congratulate them on reaching xx time with your business.
Each of the above use cases can be actioned with the below milestone communications. These are our most commonly used milestone communications:
- Significant Employee Anniversary Milestone Notification
| Recipient | Default content |
| Employee | A Message sent to employees when they have reached a specified work anniversary. |
- Significant Anniversary Milestone Notification
| Recipient | Default content |
| Dynamic | A message sent to admin when an employee has reached a set work anniversary. |
- Employee Birthday Message
| Recipient | Default content |
| Employee | A message sent to an employee on their birthday. |
- Employee Eighteen Birthday TFN Reminder Template
| Recipient | Default content |
| Employee | Employees 18th Birthday TFN Reminder |
In the below example, we have set up the Significant Employee Anniversary Milestone Notification to go to the employee once they have reached their 1 year anniversary with the business.
If you need to set up junior positions based on a milestone communication see our Add a position to a new employee help guide article here.
The onboarding communications can be tailored to communicate with an employee's manager and/or CRM contacts once an employee has been onboarded.
Some common use cases of onboarding communications might be:
- Reminding an admin that an employee has completed their onboarding process. This is so the admin can complete the necessary screening and the employee profile can be approved.
- Send an employee a congratulations email when they have completed their onboarding process.
- Updating an admin when an employee has reached a certain step in their onboarding process.
- Send an employee an email to get them started with their initial onboarding process.
Each of the above use cases can be actioned with the below onboarding communications. These are our most commonly used onboarding communications:
- Employee onboarding template (Dynamic)
| Recipient | Default content |
| Dynamic | Send employee onboarding email to specified email addresses. |
- Admin notification employee has completed initial onboarding
| Recipient | Default content |
| Dynamic | Notification sent to admin when platform uses a verify step in onboarding and employee has completed that step. |
- Onboarding Complete Template Admin
| Recipient | Default content |
| Dynamic | Employee has completed all onboarding and now eligible for employment notification. |
- Employee Onboarding Complete Template
| Recipient | Default content |
| Employee | Final onboarding steps completed notification. |
If you would like more information on the onboarding process then please check out our Adding, onboarding, and setting up a new employee help guide article here.
The offboarding communications will make it easier to communicate with various recipients in your business once an Employee starts the offboarding process.
Some common use cases of offboarding communications might be:
- Letting an admin know that an employee has been terminated. This is so they can commence the offboarding process.
- Reminding an admin that an employee's termination date is approaching.
- Notifying an admin when an employee could not be archived on a scheduled date because of a pending termination payslip.
Each of the above use cases can be actioned with the below onboarding communications. These are our most commonly used onboarding communications:
- Employee offboarding template (Dynamic)
| Recipient | Default content |
| Admin | Send employee offboarding email to specified admin email addresses when triggered from employee profile |
- Employee Termination and Archive Reminder Template
| Recipient | Default content |
| Dynamic | Message sent to an admin when the termination date of an employee is nearby. |
- Employee Not Archived Pending Final Payslip Notification Template
| Recipient | Default content |
| Dynamic | Message sent to admin when an employee could not be archived on scheduled date because of a pending termination payslip |
If you would like more information on the offboarding process then please check out our Terminate and Offboard an employee help guide article here.
I received a communication that I would like to change the content for but I can't see this communication in the Communication Content list, why is it not showing?
Please note that some communications on the platform cannot be edited as they are pre-configured. If a specific communication is not on the list, it is likely pre-configured and therefore cannot be edited.
I have configured a communication to go to a specific admin, how can I check that the communication is reaching that admin?
You can easily access a history of all communications sent via the Communications Log. For a comprehensive guide on how to view all platform communications, please refer to our helpful guide here.
I want to use the offboarding message template email, what triggers it to send?
Once configured, the Offboarding email will show as 'Send Offboarding Emails' in the Employee manage menu. You will trigger this button to send when you are ready.