Communication is No. 1
Published Saturday January 31st, 2009
Engagement Effective communication has a direct correlation to bottom line improvement
Disengaged employees can hurt a company's bottom line, and in a time of economic uncertainty it's easy for engagement to drop, says a Vancouver-based consultant.
But the solution is simple: communication.
"We know that in organizations where they're much more closed with their communications, their performance levels are significantly lower, their absenteeism is much higher, (and) their use of employee assistance programs is much higher," says Ken Milloy president of Strategic Connections Inc., an internal communication and engagement consulting firm. "If you communicate effectively there's a direct correlation to bottom line improvement."
With news almost every day of layoffs somewhere in North America, Milloy says workers will naturally start to worry about their jobs, unless they are kept in the loop about how the company is dealing with the economic downturn.
"When you don't, rumours start circulating everywhere and people start speculating," he says. "All that does is lead to a level of disengagement."
Keeping employees in mind when coping with a recession will make a big difference when the economy rebounds says Anna Stuart, a partner with Halifax-based human resources consulting firm Robertson Surette.
"What they do during this recessionary period is going to have a significant impact on employment brand and therefore their ability to attract people when the economy starts on its upswing, and on the retention of their top talent," she says.
In previous economic downturns employees have cut back on salaries, pay-for-performance programs and suspended training initiatives, to contain costs.
"Those kind of things have a significant impact on an employee's perception of how they're valued within their company," Stuart says. "While some of those discretionary cost may be some of the easiest to cut, they maybe some of the cuts that have some of the most long-term negative implication for a company."
Milloy says employers should go to their staff with a clear and compelling direction or story.
"This story needs to include a bit on what the company has to be proud of, a summary of what is happening, a concise picture of where it's headed and how it will get there with everyone playing their part," he says in a press release. "This story must be shared widely, repeatedly and consistently."
This type of activity can be quick and cheap, or expensive and time consuming. Some companies have brought employees together to big regional or national meetings tell its story, Milloy says. But it can easily be worked into the daily routine.
"People spend about 75 per cent of their day communicating with staff anyway," he says. "Why don't we use that time more effectively?
"We'd rather take 10 minutes up front, to save us a whole lot of time down stream, and a whole lot of cost."
Wade Wilson, internal communications director for the province's health department, agrees openly that communicating with employees is worth the time. He says the old thinking that the bosses should keep big secrets from workers is wrong.
"Twenty years ago information was power, and now I think information is like money," he says. "It's a commodity just like time is a commodity."
But even communication may not be enough for some companies. If a business decides layoffs are necessary, Stuart says the managers have to be careful about the way they go about it.
"Everyone understands that there is an economic downturn happening," she says. "What people expect is to be treated with respect."
Providing career transition services is one way to make being laid off easier on the worker, but there are also cheaper actions to take, Stuart says. It can be as simple as giving employees notice on a Thursday, instead of a Friday "so they still have the opportunity to reach out to their network of colleagues for support."
Wilson says keeping employees informed ahead of time will soften the blow if layoffs come.
"People just don't come in and all of a sudden they get laid off one day and they don't see it coming," he says. "If you have open communication and engagement with employees, they can understand the tough decisions that the managers and the leaders and the owners of a corporation would have to make."
Milloy says it's important to tell employees, when they are being laid off, "if this turns around we want you back."
For the employees that remain, Stuart says it's important they are told the layoffs are a decision the company regrets having to make, and the work they do is still valued.
She says companies can engage their remaining employees by talking "through the implications of having fewer people on workload, and who we'll manage that."
Businesses have to be more flexible with the employees replacing the retired and soon to be retired, Wade says.
"The workplace has got to change to accommodate this new generation," he says.
Unlike many baby boomers, most younger workers aren't willing to work long hours, Wade says. They prefer more of a work to life balance.
"They're not going to do what my generation did," he says, "and I don't blame them.
"Part of engagement is flexibility within the workplace."
For a lot of office work, Wade suggests employees shouldn't have to work a regular nine-to-five, if they don't want to.
"There's nothing wrong with that, so long as at the end of the day, or the week or the month, the work gets done," he says.
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