Employee Relations:
Communicating With Your Employees
Source: Managing
a Small Business
As the manager of a small business you not
only have the day-today responsibilities of operating the business, but also the
responsibility to establish and administer the disciplinary procedure and to effectively
handle grievances and complaints. Your actions are the major factor in determining the
human relations climate in your firm. Communication provides the "key" to
successfully meeting these responsibilities.
Large corporations recognize this responsibility and use many different media to assure
that employees understand, and are kept informed of all matters of interest to them. Small
businesses often fail to recognize this need, even though, when compared to large
organizations, they have a distinct advantage.
It is certainly much easier to communicate with 5, 10, or 100 employees, than with
thousands. Yet, in spite of their advantage, many small companies have poor and inadequate
communication with their employees.
Part of the problem lies in recognizing what your employees need to know about the work
they're doing, and the company itself, and part of it is that owner/managers often believe
that they do keep employees informed. The more employees know, the more they feel part of
the company.
There are many things on which employees should receive information, either regularly
or when the occasion arises. These include:
- vacation plans
- holiday plans
- benefits
- overtime and other special work schedules and
- any plans about changes in the work or work environment such as:
- new products and services
- moves of furniture or work places
- etc.
In addition, it is desirable to keep employees informed about matters affecting the
company:
- how it is doing, and where it is going
- improvements in company operation
- laws or regulations affecting company operations
- new contracts
- new product plans
Employees want to know most everything about their company, and more importantly,
matters affecting them; keeping them informed, therefore, satisfies an important need.
There are two channels of communications through which employees obtain information:
- The informal communications network which includes any conversations you have with
individual employees or small groups of employees. The informal network also includes the
rumors which spring up when there is concern about something but no direct information.
- The formal communications network includes such methods or procedures as:
a. Any regular meetings you (or your supervisors) may hold with employees to
brief them on matters of interest and to discuss anything of concern to the company or to
them, including problems with production, standards or rules, as well as any concerns they
may have. Such meetings provide considerable feelings of belonging to employees and bring
many suggestions on how specific projects, as well as overall operations can be improved.
b. A small employee manual, which proves useful in the orientation of a new
employee to your company, but also serves as a reference on policy benefits, important
rules, safety programs and procedures for handling grievances.
c. An organized bulletin board with current information. Notices of holidays,
changes of shift or work schedules, new policies, emergency telephone numbers and any
other information that would prove of interest to employees, can be posted on such a
bulletin board. Notice of personal information regarding your employees - congratulations
on birthdays, births, marriages - can also be posted.
d. Posters promoting safety, health, and good housekeeping procedures can also
add to a good communication climate as long as they are kept clean and neat, and changed
regularly. |
