No doubt about it: These are very tough economic times, and U.S. business leaders are making many difficult decisions. Are there any silver linings to these recessionary clouds?
Perhaps we can soon find some consolation to the unrelenting bleak news. Consider the following opening statement of a May 28, 2009, story titled, “Employees Doubly Motivated by Open Communication,” and published on www.marketingcharts.com.
“Employees are twice as likely to go the extra mile for their company – and almost four times as likely to recommend it to others – if they are satisfied with the ways in which it communicates difficult decisions,” according to a recent Ouch Point survey from Opinion Research Corporation.”
Upon reading the above statement, I was struck by its relevancy to my first HRTools.com Insight, “The Value of Communicating with Your Employees.”
I certainly agree with these findings and the strong implications for improving a business’s bottom line. From my perspective, U.S. businesses today can hardly afford to overlook the value of an employee communications program. Granted, while communication programs take coordinated effort, businesses can also implement them in ways that are not costly.
I’ll explain further.
Usually organizations with authentic and credible employee communications programs are measurably better off, as substantiated by the findings of the ORC survey and other similar studies. This is why I recommend that organizations develop formalized communications programs. Such programs can shore up organizations in two powerful and compelling ways:
- Employee communication programs strengthen employee commitment and engagement levels.
- Employee communication programs also help fortify bottom-line performances.
Whenever leaders openly share timely and reliable information with employees, in turn, they put themselves in the driver’s seat, which allows them to steer employees in the directions they want to go.
Basically, then, employee communication focuses on both: what employees need to know and what employees want to know, so they can better do their jobs.
So as business leaders develop growth and development plans, they should also align their employee communications programs with those plans. Here are just a few communication program nuts-and-bolts fundamentals to keep in mind. When communicating with employees, remember to:
- Explain where you are going—where you are taking the business—and why. (If you don’t yet have a mission statement, you may want to think about developing one first.)
- Remind employees every chance you get that you want them to be a part of where you are taking the business.
- Keep connected to your employees and stay on top of emerging issues.
- Avoid communicating mixed and/or contradictory messages.
In the beginning, I also suggest that employers initially target their communication audience to include everyone—meaning all stakeholders. In other words, I would not make a huge distinction between reaching my target market, which might be shareholders, potential shareholders, employees or potential employees, etc. Your first priority is to share as much of your mission, including knowledge and direction, to as many people as possible. Your start-up objective, therefore, should be to elicit interest at all levels.
Once you’ve cut your teeth, and you are communicating your mission and directional objectives, you can then begin showing employees how you need their help to get you where you want to go. Your messages should include reasons for why employees will want to follow your plans and directions. This approach is how you get employees excited. Excited employees are more likely to remain engaged and committed to your organization, which means higher retention rates and lower turnover costs.
Or look at it this way: many of us know some highly compensated employees out there who are also miserable workers. I suspect that if they were asked, many would say that their work has no meaning, no purpose. Or, similarly, some workers might express that they get no recognition from management. As a result, when times get better—and they will—these highly compensated employees may start feeling as though they’re just clogs in the wheel, and they can be easily poached away.
As I continue this series, you can expect to learn more about the business case for the bottom-line values of employee communications programs. Meanwhile, here is another resource tip that you can use for your employee communication initiatives.
Did you know that www.microsoft.com has cost-free templates for downloading? Here’s one for an employee newsletter found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx.