Chapter 11 Employee Relations

1. In the 21 century, employee relations matter lot. Today with few employees to do more work, staff members are calling for empowerment, for more of a voice in decision-making.
   Dealing with the Employee Public
   Just as there is no such thing as the "general public", there is also no single "employee public". The employee public is made up of numerous subgroups. A smart organization will try to differentiate message and communications to reach these segments. There are three hard questions about the way it conveys knowledge to the staff.
   Is management able to communicate effectively with employees?
   Is communication trusted, and does it relay appropriate information to employees?
   Has management communicated its commitment to its employees and to fostering a rewarding work environment?
   The biggest problem is that employees do not know where they stand in the eyes of management.
   2. Communicating Effectively in Sea of Doubt
   There are five principles that reinforce effective communication:
   v Respect: employees must be respected for their worth as individuals and their values as workers.
   v Honest Feedback: by talking to workers about their strengths and their weaknesses this helps employee know where they stand.
   v Recognition: employee feels successful when management recognizes their contributions.
   v A Voice: everyone wants their ideas to be heard and to have a voice in decision-making.
   v Encouragement: money and benefits motivate employees up to a point, but encouragement is more important than money.
   Milton Moskowitz identified six criteria:
   v Willingness to express dissent: employees want to feed back; they want access to management.
   v Visibility and proximity of upper management: enlightened companies try to level trunk distinctions; they eliminate status and hierarchy.
   v Priority of internal to external communication: smart organizations always release pertinent information to employees first.
   v Attention to clarity: employees do not read benefits booklets.
   v Friendly tone: the best company gives a sense of family.
   v Sense of humor: people are worried about keeping their jobs.
   
   3. Credibility: The Key
   Employees cannot be conned because they live with the organization. They generally know what is going on inside the organization; they want to hear the truth. research indicated that trust in organizations increase if management: communicated earlier and more frequently, demonstrated trust in employees by sharing bad news as well as good news, and involve employees in the process by asking for their ideas and opinions.
   4. S H O C the Troops
   How does management build trust when employee morale is so brittle?
   SHOC stands for: strategic, honest, open, and consistent.
   All communication must be strategic: most employees want to answer two questions: where is this organization going? What is the my role in helping us et there?
   All communication must be honest
   All communication must be open: there must be feedback
   All communications must be consistent: must keep the communication.
   5. Employee Communications Tactics:
   Internal Communication Audits: the internal communication audit is the most beneficial form of research on which to lay the groundwork for effective employee communication. it starts by in depth interviews with both management and communicators. Audits help determine staff attitudes and their job.
   Online communication: the age of online communications has ushered in a completely new set of employee communication vehicles from e mails and voice e mails. This communication has the capacity to reach employees in their offices as well as their homes.
   The intranet: in many organizations, the intranet has overtaken over print communications. Still it has to satisfy the following:
   Consider the culture
   Set clear objectives and then let it evolve
   Treat it as a journalistic enterprise
   Market, market, market
   Link to outside lives
   Senior management must commit
   Public Publication
   Employee Annual Reports
   Bulletin Boards
   Internal video
   Face to face communication