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Software Updates: why your users ignore manuals and communications

Sep 22, 2025 | News articles

In HR projects and the day-to-day management of HRIS tools, one persistent belief remains: that users read communications, newsletters or release notes sent after each update… and that user manuals are always up to date. This widespread assumption distorts support strategies and slows down the real adoption of new features.

Discover why your manuals and communications alone are not enough to drive HRIS adoption.

What’s covered:

  1. Why this misconception persists in HRIS projects
  2. The limitations of traditional communications and user manuals
  3. Adopting new practices for effective adoption of new features

1. Why This Misconception Persists in HRIS Projects

Project teams and HRIS managers invest considerable effort in writing internal communications and user manuals. So, it seems logical to assume that these resources do their job and that employees refer to them whenever something changes. This belief is reinforced by the fact that these materials are often the only ones available to inform users.

Yet in practice, the reality is very different. Users don’t read these documents, either due to lack of time or simply because they don’t know where to find them. They only look for them when they’re already facing a problem… often too late to prevent frustration.

💡 Tip: Accept that top-down communications are not enough. Rethink your information channels to reflect the real behaviour of your users.

2. The Limitations of Traditional Communications and User Manuals

Newsletters and release notes by email get lost in already overflowing inboxes. The information usually arrives either too early or too late – out of the context in which it would actually be useful. As for user manuals, they come with several issues: they’re often too long to be read, rarely updated after each software change, and not tailored to different user profiles.

This disconnect between available resources and operational needs leads to partial adoption. Employees continue using outdated practices, unnecessarily contact HR support, and come to see the tool as overly complex and poorly suited to their needs.

💡 Tip: Use short, contextual resources embedded directly within the tool. A targeted message on a specific screen will always be more effective than a 30-page PDF sent by email.

3. Adopting New Practices for Effective Feature Adoption

To break free from this outdated approach, it’s time to integrate the concept of “flow of work” into your support strategy. Users need to be informed right when they’re carrying out a task – in the relevant screen, with instantly actionable help.

That’s exactly what a Digital Assistant like Shortways Assistant delivers. It displays help bubbles or contextual notifications whenever a new feature affects what the user is doing.

The result: no need to search through emails or outdated manuals, the right information is embedded in the tool, exactly when and where it’s needed.

💡 Tip: Configure your notifications to target the right user groups and highlight only the changes that are genuinely relevant to them.

Conclusion

Assuming your employees read every communication or that your user manuals are kept up to date after each software update is an expensive illusion. To maximise the adoption of HRIS changes, prioritise embedded, contextual support, adapted to modern digital behaviours.

👉 Want to go further? Our next article will focus on: 6 Truths You Need to Accept About Internal Tool Communication in 2025.