Getting Right in Employee Communication for the Upturn
Noticeably, more employees are asking for the truth of their organisations - business performance, goals, and new development plans and so on - showing increasing concern for their own rights and benefits. There seems to be, however, a gap between employers and employees that hinders both sides from communicating. Everybody is talking about communication today. But the problem is - how can we get it right?
A recent survey conducted by a leading global consultancy reveals that organisations, considering the soon-to-be economic recovery, are planning to devote much greater attention to employee communication, with 68 percent of organisations in Hong Kong expected to do so. In addition, communication was selected as the No.1 enhanced initiative in both China and Taiwan as well.1
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Ms. Marieke van Raaij, Organisational Survey and Insights Practice Leader for Greater China of Towers Perrin reveals that change induces fear and insecurity, and well designed and delivered communication helps us manage our insecurities.* |
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The Power of Communication
"Communication becomes increasingly important during times of change. This is a truism across all walks of life, be it within personal relationships or in a professional setting. Change induces fear and insecurity in most of us, and well designed and delivered communication can act as a balm to assuage these fears, or at least, to help us contextualise and manage our insecurities," says Ms. Marieke van Raaij, Organisational Survey and Insights Practice Leader for Greater China of Towers Perrin.
Under the current economic and political climate, we may find it more common to see Hong Kong employees fighting for their rights and benefits through a united approach, for example, demonstration or strike. Dr. Warren Chiu Chi-kwan, Associate Professor and Associate Head, Department of Management and Marketing of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University reveals, "In the old days when the power of union was still limited, Hong Kong citizens had little concern for labour issues. But now, with the growing awareness of labour rights and benefits, it's a trend for employees, or even civil servants to speak up in the public against their employers for equity and justice. We can see employee communication is far more important than in the past."
Ms. Clara Shek, Managing Director of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide believes that media coverage on labour issues raises the public's awareness, whilst the convenience of online social networks enables people to express their grievance easily, and facilitates the launch of large-scale industrial action.
"Everything starts from communication. Organisations therefore shouldn't overlook the opportunities of boosting productivity and profitability as well as engaging people by this means. Effective communication is more critical than ever because it contributes to a more engaged workforce that drives better business results," she adds.
As a management journal reports, organisations in the top half of employee engagement show on average 86 percent higher success rate on customer metrics, 70 percent higher success rate on productivity and 44 percent in profitability.2
Why Not Keep Talking?
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Dr. Warren Chiu Chi-kwan, Associate Professor and Associate Head, Department of Management and Marketing of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University points out that in Chinese management culture, people tend to be passive in communication.* |
Dr. Chiu points out the deficiency of Chinese management culture that Chinese people tend to be passive and weak in communication. It has been a conventional practice that organisations often carry out top-down communication; mainly with the top management delivering messages to the employees who are expected to simply follow the instructions without much say. As such, employees are not used to expressing their own views. Not having enough communication for a long time results in numerous unidentified problems that greatly lower the level of engagement and productivity.
Poor sense of corporate social responsibility is another reason why some organisations neglect the importance of communication, as told by Dr. Chiu. Take the case of McDonald's delivery workers as an example. A few months ago, a couple of traffic accidents involved motorbikes uncovered that the restaurant's delivery workers were not protected by Hong Kong's labour laws as they had been hired on a self-employed basis by an outsourced firm appointed by the fast-food chain. As a result, the employers will be absolved of any liability in case these workers are injured whilst on their duty.
The incident has widely raised the public's concern, whilst reflecting the lack of communication between the restaurant and its outsourced staff. In fact, even for outsourced staff, communication is still necessary. Organisations ought to provide avenues for these staff to express their opinions, so as to mitigate risks and large crises.
"Employers should take up social responsibility instead of merely looking at profit-making. Employees are the valuable assets that have an impact on organisational performance. Organisations should therefore value these assets, listen to their voices and build mutual trust with them. If employees know clearly the direction and future of the organisation, they will feel safe and happy, and that employee relationship will surely improve," Dr. Chiu continues.
Two-way Dialogue
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Ms. Clara Shek, Managing Director of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide highlights the importance of on-going two-way communication between top management and employees. |
To further elaborate on top-down communication widely adopted in Chinese people societies, Ms. Shek believes that such kind of single-side communication needs to be replaced by two-way dialogues between employers and employees. "One-way communication doesn't work. You won't be able to know your people's thoughts unless you make it two-way, keep the dialogue going and spread messages across the whole workplace with collaboration between different leaders in the organisation."
That's the key to good communication. Failure in two-way communication will very likely disengage the people, resulting in lower productivity and more. More seriously, grievance of employees can even lead to industrial action that greatly affects employee relationship.
In August, transport workers at Watson's Distilled Water launched a strike in request for change of delivery arrangement and a higher commission. Anyway, the source of the problem is again communication, even though the company claimed that it had a comprehensive communication mechanism to interact with its staff.
At last, to settle the dispute, the company promised to strengthen communication between management and staff and phase out new practices in one month. It also sent out questionnaires to obtain staff's opinions and preference for the new delivery arrangement.
"Listening to the ideas and suggestions from frontline staff can make a dramatic impact on a company in so many areas. However, for a company to harness this resource, it needs to be in a position to listen. Channels of communication need to be in place, managers must foster an environment for discussion, and employees must, quite simply, care enough about the organisation and its success to venture their opinions and ideas," Ms. van Raaij responds.
Talking about the case, Dr. Chiu thinks that good management system and policy, transparency and an open culture for different voices serve as the basics of effective employee communication.
"Under a robust management system, we still need competent and persuasive leaders to implement the policy. Senior management plays a vital role in this aspect. Managers, being responsible for direct communication with frontline staff, should strive to ensure messages from the top are clearly delivered downward, whilst voices of employees are listened. It's also important that managers establish solid relationships with employees based on mutual trust," he explains.
Ms. van Raaij agrees and says, "it's the role of leaders to help employees know what is changing and how they're affected. Employees will then have a sense of ownership and feel like they're playing an active part of the process, not a passive bystander."
The Progressive Approach
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According to Ms. Shek, there is a progressive approach that helps organisations achieve their business goals through proactive communication. "We suggest organisations work it out step by step following this route: contact - awareness - understanding - relevance - acceptance - commitment - action - business goal. Many organisations can't reach their business goals at last because they miss some of the steps, or they merely stay in the first two steps and can't move on. That's not effective communication. Go through every single step is the key."
Ms. Shek also illustrates how communication can be done in managing change with a real case - A multinational company plans to downsize and relocate an operation two years later. Although there is still time, the company started communication work two years ago to understand the concern of the affected employees and worked with HR and top management to see what they can do to minimise the impact of the change, including re-deployment plan, communication plan, and follow-up action, etc, for the establishment of a robust infrastructure.
"At the same time, HR executives and consultants cooperated in managing both internal and external communication to ensure that employees wouldn't be affected by rumours or negative news. Throughout the whole process of relocation, the company kept their people informed of the progress by monthly updates to prevent employees from anxiety. By adopting a progressive approach in communication, this company possesses high employee retention rate, whilst both internal and external sentiments towards the change has been positive."
Rethink the Channels
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The strike initiated by transport workers in August reflects the negative effects of poor employee communication. |
Besides a comprehensive communication approach, channels of communication also matter. Ms. van Raaij suggests that organisations rethink their communication channels. She says, "the need is obvious, with the well documented phenomenon of the Generation Y'ers burgeoning through the workforce. Even President Obama has a facebook site after all! However, it is also important to keep in mind the older generations, who may be far from comfortable navigating through some of the more modern communication channels. Companies these days need to cater to both the 'brave new world' and the 'staid old world' where a printed paper memo may be the ideal medium for one employee, and an IM would quickly and easily satisfy another."
According to Ms. van Raaij, some organisations clearly stand out when it comes to creating an environment of communication and collaboration where great ideas can be shared and discussed. "Let's think of the 3Ms and Googles of the world. The way that they're done this is by practically institutionalising communication channels. Whiteboards distributed along corridors for employees to jot ideas down, e-networks for sharing and learning from one another are two simple examples. The type of organisation that you work in will also influence the typical communications channels. It's hard to imagine a Google or Nokia issuing printed memos to its staff for example!"
When it comes to the variety of communication channels, from internal newsletter, notice board, regular meetings, email or intranet, manager's briefing to employee surveys, all the three interviewees hold that every channel has its merits. We cannot tell which one is the best. What we can be sure of is - the more the communication channels, the better.
Still, organisations are suggested to adjust their communication mechanism and policy in consideration of organisation's condition as well as employees' views and needs. "Remember to always get close to your people and make sure messages are clearly delivered to them. It could also be a good idea to seek support from external communication partners to optimise the whole process of communication, but better not to have too many consultants involved at the same time as it will somehow make things confusing and complicated," Ms. Shek adds.
The changing economic climate has posed numerous challenges for organisations and employees alike. Nevertheless, by supporting an environment of on-going open dialogue, mutual trust, together with everybody's involvement, organisations will definitely be able to engage their people in achieving business objectives and getting well-prepared for the possible economic upturn.
* By courtesy of Dr.Chiu and Towers Perrin. |
