Employees Want to Know Annual reviews. A leadership change. New corporate policies. A message from the CEO.
Any time you communicate to your employees, you must consider the number one question they are asking: What does this mean to me? We have all been on the receiving end of an email that we read and then wonder why it was sent in the first place or what purpose it intended to serve. Think about your audience. Prepare a key message and Q&A document before writing your email. This helps frame the discussion and considers the employees’ perspective. Consider the source for the communication. Should it be an email from the CEO or HR? Is it best to create a toolkit for managers (again with the messages and Q&A), who can then verbally share information with their teams? Are there subsets of your stakeholder groups who will have unique questions? If so, be sure to account for that messaging and outreach as well. The next time you want to send a message to your employees, take time to frame the message so that everyone understands why they are getting it and how the information or call to action impacts them directly.
Your message will resonate - and your employees may even thank you for it.