Employee Communication Archives

Best Practice Communication Takes Many Forms

There is no such thing as “the best” communication channel whether considering internal channels for employee communications or external channels to connect with customers and potential customers. All organizations can benefit from having a wide variety of communication channels (both synchronous and asynchronous) to ensure that employees throughout the organization, regardless of role or communication channel preference, are receiving key messages.

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Managing Remote Staff: The Two Most Important Things You Need to Know

In March as thousands of companies around the country had to send people home to work, the idea of telecommuting – or remote work – firmly took hold. Since then, as many companies and individuals have found, remote work can work! In fact, there are studies that indicate that employees working from home can actually be more productive, and more satisfied with their jobs, than employees working in traditional work settings.

I’ve been interested in telecommuting – or what is more commonly these days referred to as remote work – for many years now. My interest prompted me to research and write a book on telecommuting in 1991. Having worked as a freelance business journalist for a long time, while also employed full-time as director of corporate communications in the education, energy, and healthcare industries, I had worked remotely with a variety of editors for many years. Why couldn’t I also work remotely as a corporate communications director for companies in other locations? Continue reading “Managing Remote Staff: The Two Most Important Things You Need to Know”

How To Demonstrate Your Productivity When Working Remotely

I’ve been thinking a lot about remote work lately. Not only because of the coronavirus, and not only because I’ve been working from home since 2008, but because my new book “Managing Remote Staff: Capitalize on Work-from-Home Productivity” was released by Self-Counsel Press, a publisher I’ve written a number of books for.

I received a lot of input for the book from both those who manage remote staff and those who work remotely. Some have been doing this for a number of years; others only since the pandemic emerged and changed the work landscape forever. Companies have historically been hesitant to allow employees to work from locations other than their official workplaces. This is true for a variety of reasons, many revolving around trust, concerns about communication, and the ubiquitous concern managers have of being able to successfully manage employees when they are “out of sight, out of mind.”

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Should Organizations Do Away With Employee Surveys?

Peter Capelli recently wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal suggesting that it’s time to do away with employee surveys. Like similar calls for doing away with performance reviews, there are some very good reasons to seriously consider doing away with them—many people don’t like them, response rates are often very low and, all too often, nothing is really done with the information received which serves to demotivate rather than engage employees.

However, I really wouldn’t agree with just getting rid of either employee surveys or performance reviews. With employee surveys, though, I would agree that many surveys are not done well and may not be yielding reliable, valid, and actionable information for HR leaders, managers, and organizations.

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Why You Should Seek Employee Feedback Before Customer Feedback

Hiring marketing or content marketing talent? It’s quite common for companies and their marketers to seek feedback from customers about their products and services. But there’s another group whose feedback should also be considered. In fact, it should be considered before seeking customer feedback.

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Every Employee a Brand Ambassador: A Message for Healthcare Providers (and others)

Think your clinical staff members—primarily doctors and nurses—are the only ones, or the most important ones to impact the patient experience? Think again. Every single one of your employees and volunteers has an opportunity to influence the patient experience while on the job, and off. In fact, every single one of these individuals has the opportunity to influence patients’ choices when they are considering a new provider or care facility.

While on the job, and off. Continue reading “Every Employee a Brand Ambassador: A Message for Healthcare Providers (and others)”

Looking for Better Employee (And Customer) Engagement? Let Them Play Games!

Training, in general, is a challenge for organizations large and small. But when they introduce additional factors, challenges increase significantly. Consider a large retailer with employees scattered throughout the country. Employees are generally low-paid but have a big impact on the customer. How can retailers (and others) economically gain impact from their customer service training efforts? By having fun!

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Pros and Cons of Employees and Contractors

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

Hiring marketing or content marketing talent?

Staffing is one of the biggest challenges for small and mid-sized businesses. The challenge can be especially acute when a company reaches the stage in which it thinks it needs more help but maybe not necessarily an FTE or when a single FTE might not be enough, but two might be too many.

Just as many workers crave flexibility in their employment relationships—as illustrated by the growth of the gig economy—small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) also value flexibility in their labor relationships. Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft, for example, go to great lengths to ensure their workers are classified as contractors instead of employees. The costs of ongoing disagreements over this classification is something Lyft cited as a potential risk in its recent IPO. Continue reading “Pros and Cons of Employees and Contractors”

Best Practice Insights: Include PR Implications in Decision-Making Processes

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

In recent weeks there have been multiple high-profile instances of company policies garnering unwanted national attention. Continue reading “Best Practice Insights: Include PR Implications in Decision-Making Processes”