A contact in the finance sector has got in touch with an interesting question. Her organisation has been tasked with communicating the dangers of online scams to a specific group, namely seasonal workers.
She wonders if any Forum member who has had success communicating health & safety messages to seasonal workers can advise which communications methods work best?
Answers on the back of a postcard please. Or here, even better.
Researching cultures
Asking for advice
Listening without interruption
Talking openly and clearly
Listening with respect
Speaking honestly
Building trust
Treating with equality
Eating humble pie
Acknowledging wrongs
Accepting other authority figures
Treating with respect
Gifting without expectations
I've done some work with RSE workers over the years and have found either working with the existing pastoral care team and the people in the crews who are viewed as leaders seems to work the best. It's really not that much different to any work crew - identify the people who hold mana and are respected by the worker group and focus on empowering them as a way of delivering information and messages. Educate yourself about cultural differences, particularly around communication and how different groups perceive management - a number of cultures are very uncomfortable raising issues upwards. Take training outside and into the worksite, not in meeting rooms and workspaces. Use simple visual guides like pictures of correct PPE and simple flow-charts for processes and SOP (again with pictures).
Keep any communications to one page.
Use internal social media like internal facebook.
Make use of apps and set up groups such as whatapp, snapchat, intagram
Make team leader accountable for communications
Hi all, thanks so much for these response, very helpful.
At this point in time, I think know what my key messages need to be. As part of my strategy, I am wondering if key messages (ideally in own language) provided on water bottles or T-shirts is an effective idea? Has anyone noticed any examples where 'useful' freebies have been provided? And if that has been helpful?
Also, has anyone done any pre-communicating in the Islands to workers before they come to NZ? Any insights to share here please?
Definitely use the pastoral carer. Your contact's seasonal workers almost certainly have meetings with the group from time to time. Thats a good time to talk about this. Repeat the simple anti-scam message. Give them bite sized pieces of information. Language barriers, cultural barriers and unfamiliarity with new tech concepts can take a bit to digest. Be specific about the scams - many of the young guys are using sexual explicit apps and money transfer apps that are scams that are the same but different than the general NZ public is used to seeing.
Unfortunately we find some of the worst scammers are their colleagues. Simple DOB PIN numbers and lending their card to others is a problem.