Inspire Employees With a Communication Plan

A JobsIntheUS.com poll found that 85% of those surveyed are most motivated when management offers regular briefings on all company news, along with an open door for questions and/or more information.

Do you have a way of sharing information with your employees, and is it consistent?

A recession breeds rumors and worries about one’s job, no matter the size or culture of your company. You can positively impact productivity and morale and settle your employees’ nerves by setting up a consistent communication plan. Here are three tips to help you better communicate with employees:

1. Communicate With a Private Company Blog
A private blog offers password-protected access, allowing you to communicate freely with your employees without making it available to everyone else on the internet. Users of a private blog will typically be required to set up an account with a username, password and email address. Give employees access to the password, and remember to update it when an employee leaves the company. Recruit managers to share their department news, and create an open and transparent community by allowing comments.

Make sure to regularly go over the latest information on free blogs and share any new requirements with your employees. Don’t want to blog? Try an intranet. Even Facebook has a platform for businesses called ‘Facebook Workplace‘.

2. Offer Communication Choices
There are several ways to communicate the latest company news to employees, including creating an actual email every week with a link to your blog and offering a blog alert to opt into and/or the ability to subscribe to a blog RSS feed through one’s RSS reader (this is allowed on some private blogs). Allow employees to choose which option they prefer and be sure to offer training or assistance with this.

3. Get Together Monthly
Get together monthly, whether through a casual lunch ‘n’ learn or a staff meeting, in order to review what’s been posted on the blog along with any new updates. Because some employees will never have time to read the blog and others may need a review, a monthly update will benefit everyone.

Even if your monthly meeting is short, it can be a great opportunity to answer questions, suppress false rumors and just talk in a company-sanctioned environment. Face time with your employees is meaningful, reassuring, and morale-boosting, particularly in the age of the internet. If you’re looking better attendance, serving a few refreshments might help.

Whichever way you choose to communicate, a sure fire way to motivate your employees and indicate that you value them is to use a consistent and open dialogue.