Sending Bulk Communications - Staff
This article provides detailed information relating to sending Bulk Communications to Staff.
The Staff Search can be used to generate a list of email, mobile numbers or postal addresses for Staff, for the purpose of sending internal bulk communications.
Audience: All
Prerequisites
The results returned, i.e. the Staff Accounts included in the results, of the Staff Account Search, are dependent on the privileges and therefore access the person generating the Search has.
Access to Staff Accounts is granted either via privileges at the Site/Service level e.g. 'Human Resources', or via higher-level global Security privileges e.g. 'Human Resources for ALL Staff'.
When using the 'Download Staff Records' functionality, the Staff Contact details included in the CSV file for each Staff Member is dependent on the privileges the person generating the Search has, as follows:
- Staff with the 'Team Leader' privilege at the Site/Service level and the global 'Team Leader for ALL Services' Security privilege, will only have access to the 'Staff Account Email Address' for each Staff Member in the CSV download file
- Staff with the 'Human Resources' privilege at the Site/Service level and the global 'Human Resources for ALL Staff' Security privilege, will have access to all contact details i.e. 'Staff Account Email Address', 'Postal Address' and 'Mobile Numbers' for each Staff Member in the CSV download file
Staff with the 'Edit User Accounts' privilege also have access to the Staff Accounts Search. The search criteria available to them in the Search and the Staff contact details included in the 'Download Staff Records' file are similar to those available to Staff with the 'Team Leader' privilege.
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
What do I need to know about emailing Staff?
Make sure to read the prerequisites above to ensure the correct access is held to generate the required information.
In order to generate a list of Staff contact details, a Staff Account Search must first be performed.
There are two methods by which to email Staff from the Staff Account Search results List, depending on the size of the list:
- Email all Staff Members in this list (for up to 100 Staff)
- Download Staff Records (for 100 or more Staff)
The 'Email all Staff Members in this List' functionality has a cap of 100 Staff and displays a warning message once the cap has been exceeded.
If the results List contains more than 100 Staff, the List can be downloaded into a CSV file, from where the data can be manipulated and sorted as required for use in a bulk email program.
The following sections outline how to complete both these options.
How do I perform a Staff Accounts Search?
To access and generate the Staff Accounts Search, you will first need either the 'Team Leader' privilege or the 'Human Resources' privilege.
To perform a Staff Accounts Search, go to the Dashboard menu and select Staff Accounts:
Search criteria
Staff with the ‘Human Resources' privilege will have more filter options available in the Staff Account Search, than Staff with the 'Team Leader' privilege.
Select the relevant criteria from the options available and then select the Search icon to perform the Search.
The results returned will only include the Staff that the person generating the Search has access to, via the Sites and Services they have listed in their Staff Account, or via higher-level access Privileges at the Site/Service level or global Security.
Alternatively, to generate a list of all Staff within your organisation, assuming you have the relevant privileges, leave all of the search criteria fields empty and simply select the Search icon at the bottom of the screen.
Once the Search has been generated, the results List will display onscreen. The onscreen results display minimal data, but do include each Staff Member's 'Work Mobile Number' and 'Staff Account Email Address'. If more information on each Staff Member is required, this is available in the 'Download Staff Records' CSV file accessed via the Actions menu.
For more information on this functionality, please review the Staff Account Search article linked below for your reference.
How do I email Staff Members from a list of less than 100?
Please note, this option is only for group numbers of 100 or less.
Once the Staff Accounts Search has been performed the total number of Staff Accounts returned from the Search is displayed at the top of the List results:
Assuming the total number is 100 Staff Accounts or less, navigate to the 'Actions' Menu and select ‘Email all Staff Members in this list’:
The ‘Email Staff Members’ window will open, displaying a message with the number of Staff in the list, and asking if you wish to proceed:
After selecting the ‘Email Staff in List’ button, it will redirect you to your usual email program (e.g. Outlook, Gmail etc) with the Staff Account Email addresses (as listed in their Staff Accounts) prepopulated in the Bcc address section of the email:
If the results List after performing the Search contains more than 100 Staff, a warning message will display preventing further action:
Managing groups of more than 100 Staff is outlined in the next section.
How do I send bulk communications to Staff Members from a list of over 100?
This is the option that is used for both downloading Staff records, and emailing larger sized groups over 100.
This may also be used to source Staff Postal Addresses for bulk communications, assuming the person generating the Search has the 'Human Resources' privilege.
Once the Staff Accounts Search has been performed, navigate to the 'Actions' Menu and select 'Download Staff Records':
This will generate a CSV file export containing information from the 'User Details' and 'Human Resources' tabs of a Staff Account.
Staff with the 'Team Leader' privilege will only have access to the 'Staff Account Email Address' for each Staff Member in the file:
Staff with the 'Human Resources' privilege will have access to all of the contact details for each Staff Member in the file:
N.B. Additional Human Resource information to that displayed above is also included in the file when generated by Staff with the Human Resource privilege.
The data within the CSV file can be manipulated and sorted as required, then utilised in one of the following ways:
- extract the 'Staff Account Email Addresses' for use in a bulk email service e.g. MailChimp, OR
- the file can be linked to a program that produces labels e.g. Microsoft Word using the 'Postal Address' information
How to email individual users via SupportAbility
The 'Edit User Accounts' privilege is required in order to access the User Details tab of the relevant Staff Account to initiate sending an email via your default email program.
An email can be sent to individual users by selecting the email icon below the 'Staff Account Email Address' field on the 'User Details' tab of a Staff Account:
Once the email icon has been selected, this will open in your default email program, allowing you to email the individual:
