Creating an employee communications program is crucial to a
productive organization. Many companies are successful
communicating with managers downward, but employee communications
is actually a two-way process. Employees must have the ability
to communicate upward to their managers as well.
A number of negative issues can result from the lack of an
employee communications program including: employee turnover,
reduced productivity, absenteeism, delayed projects, mistrust of
management, failed initiatives and an out-of-hand rumor mill.
WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA (WCF) offers these solutions to
effective employee communications:
Start with Research. All good plans begin with
research. Consider one-on-one meetings, a staff survey or
conducting a focus group. Start by talking with your employees
on their opinions of the organization’s communication process and
what mediums of communication they prefer. Find out what
issues are important to workers and what news would be beneficial
to them.
List Your Objectives. From your research you can
determine your objectives for your employee outreach. Do you
want to increase retention? Do you wish to increase employee
moral? What do you want to accomplish?
Analyze your Audience. Not all information is
appropriate for all employees. You may send one item to your
finance department that is not appropriate to those in the field,
or vice versa.
Consider the Medium. Contemplate what type of
medium will work best to communicate to your
employees. Establish what communication resources your company
has available, their intended audience, their frequency and whether
they are one-way or two-way communication vehicles.
With today’s technology there are numerous ways to communicate
your message, whether via intranet, electronic newsletter, e-mail,
voicemail, video, a Web-based seminar, a printed memo, a monthly
meeting or a conference call.
Electronic methods, such as e-mail or intranet, circulate a
message quickly, but recipients can easily ignore or delete the
message. Audio, such as conference calls or voicemail allows
the speaker to convey emotion, but depending on the tone of voice
the message could be decoded as positive or negative. It is
also difficult to reference audio later. Print is often a
preferred method for complex information. Since it’s portable,
employees can take the information with them, but it’s not always
timely or economical. Video allows for emotion and
personalization, but it can be costly and accessibility could be
limited. Face-to-face communication is the most personal, but
unless all employees can be addressed at once, the message may
change.
Communicate Regularly and Timely. Schedule regular
communication to your employees, so they can learn to expect how
they will receive their information. Convey messages in a
timely manner to stop the rumors before they start.
Ask for Feedback. After the initial launch
of your internal communications program, ask employees to share
their feedback. Was the message interpreted
correctly? Did employees pay attention to the
message? Did they understand the information? Do they
have any other concerns that they would like addressed? Repeat
your request for feedback once or twice a year.
With the feedback you received you can analyze if the message
was properly conveyed and evaluate if you should continue or revise
your communication method. The feedback will also help alert
top management with employee issues and concerns.
