Employee communication strategies and practices

Lee Electronics: Updated Communication Report

All Sales Targets Met = All Bonuses Paid

When it comes to communicating good news such as the fact that all sales goals were met for the year, the communications management really needs to take advantage of the fact that they're communicating good news. Many employees are commonly used to hearing things like they need to work harder, or they need to more aggressively pursue their sales goals: in this case, this is one of the rare times when the management can praise employees, commend their hard work and essentially signal a time for celebration. This is so crucial because it can have a truly remarkable impact on morale as a whole. This can be truly influential in building employee loyalty and ultimately increasing productivity. Furthermore, the way in which this news is communicated can have a direct impact on making this environment a more pleasant place to work.

The first way in which this news should be communicated is via email. This demonstrates that the communications manager is current with the times. This is the electronic age where people access a ton of information off phones, tablets and laptops. People generally have constant access to their email, even when they're on the go. Furthermore, emailing the employees this news allows all employees to save an electronic copy of the document for their files.

An email will effectively convey the message as a simple bullet point array of facts can be given about the situation. Large chunks of paragraphs in an email just isn't efficient. Nowadays, as the pace of life gets faster, emails need to be used in a more effective manner as a tool for communication. Thus, bullet points which celebrate the fact that all employees have effectively met sales goals and why this is so great need to be used in the most successful way. Furthermore, an email allows a newsletter format to be used so that the general look, style and tone conveyed visually fits that of the company. This is so important as Lee's electronics needs to keep up their brand image even with their inter-office communication. Email needs to be used finally, because in this electronic age, employees generally check their email frequently (at least once a day) and this is almost guarantees that employees will receive the massage within 24 hours or so. "Email is the most commonly used inter-office communication method. Dictate clear guidelines to your team and require that emails follow a specific protocol. Develop an email format that is used uniformly throughout the office to simplify" (McQuaig, 2012). Thus, with this particular email, it would be wise to remind employees that they're not expected to respond to it; it's just for their information. Because most people generally use their email inbox to a strong degree, keeping the message short, sweet and informative is probably the best mode of operation. As one communications expert explains, "Think of it this way: with every sentence you add there is an extra 5% chance we won't read and reply right away. 20 sentences and you might as well never send it at all" (Velhuijizan, 2014). If a message is too long, it's not going to get read, and thus one shouldn't even bother sending it. Another benefit of the email is that it can be written from the perspective of the company president or CEO (even if it actually isn't). This gives all members of the company a sense of importance and a sense of having a closer and more personal rapport with this CEO even if they don't actually have this exact relationship.

The second advised method of communication would be posters put up around the company headquarters. This is such an ideal means of communicating the news based on the celebratory nature of the information. The posters would have more leeway in being fun, and in presenting as a welcome surprise to individuals at work. Bright colors should be used in the posters, but they should also be the company colors. Similar to the emails, the information presented in the posters should be short and sweet and make use of bullet-points. The posters should also take advantage of the fact that the company can use photos and other pictoral aids and should absolutely do that (Fain, 2013). This will help the posters become even more eye-catching, and draw the attention of employees to them.

One of the major benefits of posters is that they force the individual to take part in active engagement with their surroundings and their environment.

"People who are viewing posters are already actively engaging in their surroundings. Whether they are standing at a bus stop or lining up at the local nightclub, people are likely to notice posters out of sheer boredom. A clever poster will have a call-to-action phrase that propels the viewer to take action as soon as possible. This could be in the form of making a phone call, visiting a shop or navigating to a website" (Tolliday, 2014). In this case, employees are being asked to stay current with company news and to engage with a higher level of knowledge and information regarding how their hard work has paid off and that they will be rewarded for their efforts. In this case, the call to action is that all employees need to realize that the strategies and efforts that they've used have in fact been effective and that this is really wonderful and important. Other advantages that posters present is that they can be viewed and reviewed throughout the day, and they can be tailored to the individual departments throughout the firm, while attracting attention throughout the day.