Communications
1. What it is
Communications is the company-wide feed and internal-communications platform.
Employees browse a single feed of posts, announcements, and must-reads; communicators
plan, draft, and measure everything from the same app — including newsletters and
Broadcasts that also go out by email, push, and SMS or voice call where your company
allows them.
- Enablement: requires a licence. An admin enables it from Admin → Apps → All Apps;
it is not turned on automatically. - What it is not: Communications does not manage emergency alerts — those are
owned by Safety Hub, which shares the approval-workflow primitive but has its
own severity model and escalation path.
2. Standing it up
- Go to Admin → Apps → All Apps, find Communications, and enable it.
- Decide who can post Announcements and Must-Reads. Go to Settings → General
and set Who can post Announcements & Must-Reads (default: Admins and
Leadership). This one setting governs both types — choosing Off removes
both from the composer for everyone, including admins. - If you need Broadcasts (messages that also go out by email — and SMS or
voice call where your company allows them), give the communicators who should
send them the Broadcasts → Create permission, or make them Communications
app admins or contributors. The Broadcast type appears in Compose only for
people who may send one. - Make communicators who should manage newsletters, campaigns, audiences,
approval workflows, and settings — without being full company admins —
Communications app admins, under Apps Marketplace › Communications ›
Admins & Contributors. - Newsletters are on by default. To hide them, turn off Publications
(Newsletters) under Settings → Modules. - Confirm by opening the app as a non-admin employee. They should see the feed’s
All, Unread, Must-read and Pinned tabs and a working Compose button.
If someone can’t find Broadcast: it needs both the app entitlement and the
Broadcasts create permission (or a Communications app admin or contributor role).
Without it, a person who can post announcements and must-reads does not get the
Broadcast type — Compose says why under its Type card (“Broadcast isn’t
available to you — it needs permission to create broadcasts”).
3. How it fits together
Four message types. Compose is one page with a Type card — each type asks
a little more of the people who get it. This is the central design concept:
- Post — in the feed. People see it the next time they open the app; it
interrupts no one. Ranked under announcements. - Announcement — notifies right away, in the app and on phones. Ranked above
posts. - Must-read — people acknowledge by a due date. Creates an audit record per
person. The due date defaults to 30 days after sending; automated reminders go
to people who haven’t acknowledged 24 and 48 hours after it is published, and
after 72 hours (by default) their managers are told how many of their team
still haven’t. - Broadcast — reaches people who aren’t in the app. It notifies in the app and
by push, adds email (your company’s default channel) — and SMS or voice call
where your company allows them — and is also posted to News for the same
people. It asks people to acknowledge unless you untick Require
acknowledgment. Broadcast has its own page in Compose (channels, what each
channel says, SMS cost); picking it carries over what you have written. This
is what was formerly the standalone Broadcasts app.
Announcement and Must-read share the same permission gate (the Who can post
Announcements & Must-Reads setting). Broadcast is a separate permission
(Broadcasts create, or a Communications app admin or contributor role). This
lets you grant “may announce but may not broadcast” — a common configuration.
Where people see it. Every type lands in News and Inbox. On the composer’s
Where people see it card an author can also book the message into extra
places — slots on screens people already use. Each slot comes with its own
rules: one message at a time on it for a person, tied to the object on that
screen where there is one (this shift’s date and site, this open punch, this
person’s enrollment window), dismissible by the reader, and always time-boxed
(7 days at most on Home, 90 days for the others). The places shipped today:
| Place | App | Where the reader sees it |
|---|---|---|
| Top of Home | Home | Across the top of Home for the people it reaches — one message at a time |
| Store home | Home | Pinned on one store’s home, when the message goes to a single store the author manages (needs the Home briefing turned on) |
| Shift detail | Shifts & Scheduling | On the shift they are about to work, below the shift summary |
| Shift card | Shifts & Scheduling | A one-line marker on the shift in their Shifts list (off by default — an admin switches it on) |
| After clock-in | Time & Attendance | On the Time & Attendance screen while they are clocked in |
| Benefits overview | Benefits | On their Benefits page, beside the enrollment window |
A Post or Announcement can Skip News and Inbox and show only in its places.
A must-read, a Critical broadcast, or any message that asks for acknowledgement
always reaches News and Inbox as well — a place only adds to that.
Three communicator faces. Beyond the employee feed, Communications provides
three admin/communicator surfaces:
- Plan — Ideas (topics you might send; nothing there is scheduled) and
the Plan page (what is going out, and when), with three views: Month
and Week show every scheduled comm across types, and List is the
plan itself, one year per plan. A summary line says how much is planned,
written and still needs content, and which weeks have nothing going out.
Items with no date wait in Not dated yet, and an admin can drag one onto
a day. AI suggest proposes topics on either page; keep each one as a
plan item or an idea. - Compose — the unified composer, an AI Writer, a Comms Grader, and
newsletter authoring with a block-based editor. - Measure — cross-channel analytics: reach, read-through, and
acknowledgement tracking on a single ledger. Pick any must-read or broadcast
and see an audit-grade roster (acknowledged vs. pending) with segment-level
breakdowns and a compliance CSV export. A Placements table lists every
placed message with Shown (people who saw the card on the surface —
distinct people, never page loads), Opened, Dismissed, Acknowledged and the
median time to acknowledge.
Acknowledgements. Must-reads and broadcasts share a single acknowledgement
ledger. Once a person acknowledges, nobody can edit or delete the record in the
app — it is an audit row. It is removed only by a privacy erasure request for
someone who has left, or, for a broadcast, seven years after the broadcast is
archived. The Measure face reports on both types identically, so you track one
outstanding list instead of reconciling two systems.
Audiences. A shared audience primitive that targets all delivery — feed posts,
broadcasts, and newsletters. Audiences compose existing recipient groups with
set operations (union, intersection, or “everyone”). Once defined, the same
audience is reusable across every comm type.
Content hierarchy. The feed is organized into All, Unread, Must-read
and Pinned tabs, so posts that need action are not lost among everyday ones.
Mark all as read on the Feed clears every unread post at once, except must-reads still waiting for your acknowledgement. With Organize the feed into tabs off, the feed is one list, newest first, with featured posts on top. Personalisation (following a topic) only changes when
a post surfaces, never whether it does.
Reactions. Reactions are drawn as the same icons everywhere. In Settings → Active reaction palette an admin chooses which reactions people can give, from 21: Like, Love, Celebrate, Wow, Sad, Angry, Support, Insightful, Applause, Haha, Taking a look, Rocket, 100, Fire and Star, plus six action reactions (Acknowledged, Need clarification, Concern, Disagree, Needs discussion, Escalate) that also feed Signals on the feed. The choice applies to every app with reactions — the feed, Workspace, chat, Messages, Broadcast, Recognition, Wikis, Sites and the rest — and all 21 are offered until an admin narrows it. A reaction someone already gave stays, and stays theirs to remove.
4. Running it
Featuring a time-sensitive notice
Open a published post’s Post actions → Feature notice to choose its start, end,
and order among featured notices. An optional audience narrows the feature to
people who already have access to the post. Use Preview audience before saving.
Admins, Communications app-admins, and authorized communicators can manage features.
During its window, the notice leads All Posts and carries a Featured label
with its expiry on desktop and mobile. On the mobile landing page and in Home’s
News Feed card, features lead within their existing sections. Stop featuring ends the placement early;
unpublishing the post also ends it. Personal pins and acknowledgment requirements
stay independent, and featuring sends no extra notification.
Sending a broadcast
- Open Compose and pick Broadcast under Type. It opens the Broadcast
page and keeps what you have written. - Write the title and message. Goes to shows the channels: in-app always
goes, and push too unless your company has switched it off; the rest start from your company’s Default Channels (email
unless an admin changed it). Use Change channels to turn email, SMS or
voice call on or off. Anyone can turn a channel off; adding SMS or voice is
for the people your company allows (by default admins and Communications app
admins), and only where the company has that channel on. - Require acknowledgment is ticked by default — it adds the compliance roster
and automatic reminders. Optionally set Acknowledge by (within 30 days of
sending) and, where it is offered, tick Auto-widen channels, which adds a
text with every reminder from the 2nd and a voice call with every reminder
from the 3rd, on channels the broadcast uses — texts to people who haven’t
turned texts off or replied STOP, calls to people who take calls (everyone,
on a Critical broadcast). - Tick Critical — bypass quiet hours only for emergencies (offered to the same
people who may add SMS or voice, or on a template marked Critical). It reaches
everyone right away, even in their quiet hours and past their notification
settings — except texts to anyone who turned texts off, replied STOP, or whose
number can’t receive texts. - Choose Delivery: Send to everyone immediately, Only people currently on
shift, or Defer off-shift people to their next shift (when their next
shift starts within 24 hours; anyone else gets it now). - Select the audience, choose Now or Schedule for later, and press Send
broadcast (Submit for approval when an approval workflow covers
broadcasts). Send a test to me sends you a copy first. - Track delivery and acknowledgement from Measure or from the broadcast’s page.
A broadcast scheduled for later can repeat (every day, every weekday, every week
or every month). Like every type, it can also be booked into extra places on the
Where people see it card — see below.
Choosing where people see it
Every type has a Where people see it card. News and Inbox are always
there: everyone in your audience finds the message in them. Below that, tick any
extra place your company has switched on:
- Top of Home — across the top of Home for your audience, between the
From and Until you set (7 days at most). Only one message can be there
at a time; if your dates overlap another message’s, the card says when yours
can start. - Store home — offered when everyone the message reaches works at one store
you manage. Pick the day it runs Until; a newer pin for the same store
replaces it. - Shift detail, Shift card, After clock-in and Benefits overview —
set the window with From / Until (90 days at most; it always ends). For
a shift or clock-in place you can open Only at specific sites (a region
includes every site under it). For Benefits, choose whether it shows only while
an enrollment window is open for the person. - Break-room screens (Digital Signage, where your company has screens) — a
post can go there only when it is for everyone in the business; a broadcast can
pick specific sites.
To show a Post or Announcement only in those places, tick Skip News and
Inbox: no one gets a notification, and each place takes it down on the Until
date you set for it. Break-room screens have no Until date — they keep it in
rotation for up to 14 days after it is published.
A must-read can’t skip News and Inbox — people have to confirm it.
Readers who are in the audience and whose screen qualifies see the card; anyone
else sees nothing. Dismiss hides it for that person. When the message asks for
acknowledgement the card offers Got it — acknowledge instead, which takes it
down and writes the usual acknowledgement record. On a sent message’s page,
Where people see it lists its current places with End now, for anyone
allowed to end them.
Publishing a newsletter
- Go to Newsletters and create a Publication (the recurring series).
Assign an owner, an audience, and optionally a slug for a public archive page. - Create an Issue (a single edition). The block editor supports six static
block types (Text, Image, Divider, Hero banner, Callout, Button) and eight
dynamic block types that pull live data from other apps — such as recent
recognitions, new hires, open shifts, or upcoming events. - Preview, then Send or Schedule. Dynamic blocks are frozen at send time
so every recipient sees the same snapshot. - Newsletter issues can optionally generate an AI podcast (a spoken-audio version)
and cross-post to LinkedIn.
Managing campaigns
A campaign is a multi-touch wrapper that groups comms items (feed posts,
broadcasts, newsletter issues) under a shared goal. Set KPI targets (opens,
clicks, acknowledgements) and track actuals from the campaign’s detail page.
Reviewing approvals
When approval workflows are enabled, communicators submit content for review
before publishing. Reviewers see a pending queue under Operate → Approvals.
A workflow can cover any of nine kinds of content: posts, questions and polls
that employees write; announcements and must-reads; broadcasts and in-context
messages; newsletter issues; and emergency alerts. Each workflow defines one or
more approval steps with a role requirement. Admins always bypass approval gates.
Emergency alerts are never held: an alert a workflow covers sends at once, and
the workflow’s reviewers are told afterwards that it went out without approval.
Using the Idea Bank
Ideas capture communication topics before they are scheduled. An idea can be
promoted to a campaign or a scheduled comm. The AI Planning Assistant can suggest
ideas, tracked with an AI suggested badge so you can measure how many AI ideas
actually ship.
5. Settings
Settings are under the app’s Settings pages, grouped into sections. Key
settings with real effects:
Content & Composer
| Setting | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Organize the feed into tabs | On | Shows All, Unread, Must-read and Pinned tabs. Off shows one list, newest first, with featured posts on top |
| Enable Update composer | On | Shows the Update (post) option in the composer |
| Enable Question composer | On | Shows the Question option in the composer |
| Enable Quick Poll composer | On | Shows the Quick Poll option in the composer |
| Who can post to Everyone | Admins and Leadership | Who can address the entire company |
| Who can post Announcements & Must-Reads | Admins and Leadership | Governs both types. Off removes both from the composer for everyone |
| Must-Read default due date (days after sending) | 30 days | The due date a Must-Read gets when it is sent without one. From Compose, the post then keeps asking, marked overdue, for the days chosen under After the due date (7 unless the author changes it); sent any other way, it stops asking at the due date |
| Automated acknowledgement reminders | On | Sends reminders to people who haven’t acknowledged a must-read |
| Escalate unacknowledged Must-Reads to managers | On | After a configurable window, notifies each pending employee’s manager |
| Allow editing posts, polls, questions & comments | On | Whether authors and Communications admins can edit a published post (any time, until people acknowledge it), and authors their comments (for 15 minutes) |
| Comments enabled | On | Gates new comment writes; existing comments remain visible |
AI Features
| Setting | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Writing help in the composer | On | Suggests clearer wording for posts and comments, in a chosen tone, for the author to accept or reject; also writes alt text for pictures |
| Tag posts with topics automatically | Off | Classifies published posts and assigns topics automatically |
| Suggest past answers to new questions | Off | Surfaces previously verified answers on new Question posts |
| Send new questions to experts | Off | Notifies up to 3 subject-matter experts on the topic 30 minutes after a Question is posted. Only questions with a topic are sent, and none once a suggested answer was accepted or an answer was marked correct |
| Summarize long discussions | Off | Generates a summary card at the bottom of long threads |
| Translate posts for readers | Off | Lets employees read a post in their own language |
| Spot signals in posts and comments | Off | Classifies posts into Risk, Issue, Idea, Question, Decision, Action Item, and Sentiment signals |
Modules (Plan/Compose/Measure toggles)
| Setting | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar | On | Shows the Plan page’s Month and Week views — everything going out |
| Ideas | On | Shows Ideas, the topics you might send |
| Content Plan | On | Shows the Plan page’s List view — what you have committed to say, and when |
| Compose | On | Shows the Compose button |
| AI Writer | On | Shows the AI Writer drafting surface |
| Grader | On | Shows the readability and tone grader |
| Publications (Newsletters) | On | Gates the entire newsletter subsystem |
| Campaigns | On | Shows the Campaigns section |
| Approval Workflows | Off | Gates the approval workflow subsystem |
| Audiences | On | Shows the Audiences section |
| Triggers | On for new organizations (organizations that already had Communications when triggers were introduced keep it off until an admin turns it on) | Gates event-driven automated triggers |
| Analytics | On | Shows the cross-channel analytics face |
Placement slots
| Setting | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Top of Home | On | Offers Top of Home on the composer’s Where people see it card; one message at a time, 7 days at most |
| Store home | On | Offers a store’s home pin — once an admin turns on the Home briefing in the Dashboard Builder, where its “Today at your store” shows it |
| Shift detail | On | Offers the shift-detail slot in the composer and renders placed cards on shift pages |
| Shift card | Off | Offers the list-marker slot; a title-only line on qualifying shift cards in the Shifts list and the My Shifts calendar |
| After clock-in | On | Offers the clock-in slot; renders on the Time & Attendance screen while clocked in |
| Benefits overview | On | Offers the Benefits slot; renders on the Benefits page |
A slot whose app is not turned on for the organisation stays unavailable however
it is set here. Switching a slot off removes its option from the composer and
stops rendering its cards immediately; placed messages are kept and come back
when it is switched on again.
Broadcast
| Setting | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Reminder frequency | Every 24 hours | How often people who haven’t acknowledged a broadcast are reminded (every 2, 4, 8, 24 or 48 hours) |
| Maximum reminders | 3 | How many reminders a broadcast sends (0–10; 0 turns them off) |
| Enable AI authoring assists | On | The AI helpers in the composer — rewrite, translate, start from a brief, channel-native copy, hero image — and the “Describe it and let AI fill the form” bar |
| Weekly AI-drafted check-in for silent tenants | Off | When no broadcast is published in a week, creates an AI-written check-in as a draft for your review. It never sends on its own |
| Default Channels | Channels pre-ticked when someone starts a broadcast, and used for broadcasts created without a channel choice (the mobile app, Ask AI). In-app and push always go; SMS and voice cost money per recipient |
How many notifications each person gets in a week is no longer set here: it is
the weekly notification limit under Settings → General → Notifications.
Notifications & Media
| Setting | Default | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| How often people hear about Announcements | Realtime | How Announcements reach people who have not chosen their own notification setting: as each is published, or in an hourly or daily digest. Other posts and must-reads are not affected |
| Limit how many notifications each person gets in a week | Off | Past the limit, messages still arrive in News and the person’s Inbox but send no push, text or email. Authors see who is past it before they send |
| Notifications per person, each week | 5 | The limit, counted Monday to Sunday across every Communications message that notifies (3, 4, 5, 7 or 10) |
| Track email opens and clicks | Off | Records opens and clicks on Communications emails so Measure shows reach beyond the app |
| Media uploads | On | Whether employees can attach files |
| GIF uploads | Off | Whether the GIF picker is available |
| Link preview cards | On | Whether pasted URLs expand into preview cards |
6. More help
- Communications FAQ — specific setup and operating questions, including
acknowledgement tracking, content moderation, expert routing, and troubleshooting. - Ask AI — the assistant answers questions about Communications from these articles.