I'm posting a CW answer so that this doesn't remain open and unanswered, even though the OP said in the comments he figured it out. I just posted an [answer to an analogous question][1] and in doing so found this question. The relevant paper is "[Stable model categories are categories of modules][2]" by Schwede and Shipley. The construction the OP describes (Dold-Kan plus shift) is on page 39, where it is also shown how to make this into an $HR$-module (via the Alexander-Whitney map). Remark B.1.10 discusses the symmetric group actions. This functor $\mathcal{H}$ takes a chain complexes to a *naive* $HR$-module, not a symmetric spectrum. It is not an extension of the usual Eilenberg-MacLane functor, $H$. The authors claim that there is no way to make $\mathcal{H}R$ into a symmetric spectrum that is level equivalent to $HR$. This explains why the Quillen equivalence has to zig-zag through naive $HR$-modules. [1]: https://mathoverflow.net/a/334622/11540 [2]: http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~bshipley/classTopFinal.pdf