25 Ways to Use Employee Newsletters

Use employee newsletters to communicate with employees and achieve your objectives.

Here are 25 ways to address problems or take advantage of opportunities, using employee newsletters:

1. Spread your organization's philosophy or vision
   
2. Report changes in that philosophy with employee newsletters
   
3. Announce changes in policies or procedures
   
4. Advise of changes in management or staff
   
5. Recognize special contributions by employees
   
6. Welcome new staff with employee newsletters
   
7. Report on changes in benefits packages
   
8. Deal with frequent questions or complaints about benefits
   
9. Remind employees of the value and availability of benefits
   
10. Explain the introduction of new technology with employee newsletters
    
11. Upgrade job-related skills or expertise
    
12. Introduce or encourage employee ownership stock plans
    
13. Prepare staff for new sales initiatives
    
14. Help employees handle sensitive inquiries
    
15. Introduce new products or services with employee newsletters
    
16. Explain how to sell new products or services
    
17. Maintain contact with distant branches with employee newsletters
    
18. Improve health and fitness
    
19. Greater safety awareness on the job
    
20. Explain the handling of customer complaints
    
21. Provide information about customers
    
22. Explain the rationale behind corporate advertising
    
23. Gather ideas for productivity improvement
    
24. Identify personnel for promotion
    
25. Improve inter-office cooperation and coordination with employee newsletters

Following up on the list, we'll explore, in more depth, a few of the 25 ways that employee newsletters help take care of staff and management communication needs.

Upgrading Skills with employee Newsletters

These days, almost every organization needs to upgrade the skills and knowledge of its employees. Among well-educated employees, professional development days and personal growth programs are common.

Less enthusiasm exists for upgrading the skills of employees with lower education levels. Despite this, external conditions frequently dictate the use of new technologies and more advanced equipment. And with consumers demanding better service in all sectors, customer relations training becomes increasingly important.

employee newsletters, of course, can be used to upgrade knowledge. Use them, too, to explain the importance of enhancing knowledge or skills. By reporting on the issues driving the need for upgrading, newsletters increase acceptance of training programs.

And, don't forget the problem of illiteracy. First, employee newsletters can convey much information using tools such as graphs and illustrations. While the written word can't be avoided completely, it can be made more attractive to those with reading difficulties.

Easing Organizational Change

Do managers change their organizations simply on whim? Does management restructure a company because it doesn't know what else to do? Ask employees of organizations in transition and many answer "Yes". They feel that way because no one explains the why, how, when, or who of organizational change. They feel threatened because change may mean loss of jobs, changes in comfortable jobs, or transfers to other locations.

Use employee newsletters to explain the issues and plans, and whether the changes mean short-term or long-term dislocations. They can address critical issues, provide necessary assurances or warnings, and act as a forum for discussions.

Handling Customer Complaints with the Help of employee Newsletters

With growing interest in customer service, we're learning better ways to handle customers and their complaints. And, research also shows that dealing with complaints effectively keeps customers loyal.

employee newsletters can be used to teach employees proven techniques of complaint management, and to provide updates. Most importantly, though, they can reinforce positive employee attitudes toward complaints, and emphasize that everyone gains when customers get proper responses to their complaints.

Explain Advertising and Promotional Campaigns

A national advertising campaign sends an organization's message to customers right across the country. But, what about employees of the organization? Do they know the rationale and assumptions behind a new advertising campaign, especially one that emphasizes something they do, such as customer service? Too often, employees receive no information about the objectives of campaigns. The result? Confusion and lack of effective activity among staff who deal directly or indirectly with customers.

Use employee newsletters to let employees know about the campaign before it goes public. Some key points: explain objectives and roles, show graphics (newspaper ads or television stills), specify start and stop dates, and advise employees how to handle public reaction.

Get Employee Feedback

Use employee newsletters to bring in information, as well as send it out. Surveys get responses when they deal with issues that concern readers, and when employees expect that their responses will lead to action.

Ask employees for their ideas and suggestions about specific issues. Evaluate those responses, and implement appropriate suggestions. Then report back to employees in the newsletter, explaining not only whose ideas were implemented, but why. And, explain the benefits to all employees and the organization. Then start the process over.

Spread the Organization's Philosophy

Boards of Directors and senior managers may work hard developing strategies and articulating the organization's vision. Yet, employees at lower levels often don't get the message. That's understandable when we consider the tortuous route that information travels in large organizations. As it passes through each level and department, everything from gossip to changing circumstances shapes and reshapes it. There are costs to this change and distortion: the inability to help clients, application of the wrong procedures, projects that fail to meet their objectives, and so on.

Philosophies can and should change, but unless employees understand, that change can lead to problems. employee newsletters can help explain the evolving nature of philosophies, what's driving the changes, and the implications.

Discuss Policies and Procedures in Employee Newsletters

The issues involved in policies and procedures often resemble those for management philosophy. But, several key issues demand separate treatment, such as the consistent interpretation and application of rules.

For example, most newspapers, radio stations, and television stations develop policies about gifts, to protect their reputation for editorial independence and integrity. They might specify that employees not accept gifts at all, or not accept gifts above a certain value. Most policies start this simply. However, questions about complex situations soon lead to modifications and exceptions.

Retaining consistency and integrity in the application of policies is within the scope of practical newsletter applications. employee newsletters provide a forum for debate and consensus building. They also can report on precedents, rationales, or special insights into interpretations.

Explain Benefits in employee Newsletters

Benefits can be a powerful incentive for employees. Unfortunately, descriptions of benefits often use language that defy a layperson's understanding. Facing a barrage of technical terms, terse instructions, and oblique questions, employees may give up rather than try to fill in the forms or understand the criteria.

employee newsletters work well in this context. They can explain specifics in greater detail and in appropriate language. Other applications include: providing information to help employees fill in claims forms, dealing with frequently-asked questions, and offering guidelines for solving common problems. As a result, employees don't waste work time trying to get answers, and employee staff don't answer the same few questions over and over.

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) may be offered as benefits of employment. But without adequate accompanying information, they may become disincentives. For instance, a major, publicly traded company offered an employee share plan, seemingly out of the blue. This led some employees to assume the plan was a form of corporate bailout, at their expense. To avoid this sort of reaction, use employee newsletters to explain the advantages and disadvantages of an ESOP. More importantly, use them to prepare an appropriate atmosphere before introduction, to ask employees about their interest, and to monitor employee perceptions.

Watch Out! 

A survey reported by Industry Week magazine found that employee newsletters rarely met the information needs of either management or employees. In summarizing the survey results, the author noted, "There is very little relationship between the concerns of CEOs and the content of employee publications. There also is not much correlation between what employees say they want to read and what is actually published...." What do CEOs want, what do employees want? Finding the answers and delivering an editorial product that both the CEO and employees want is the mark of a successful newsletter.

This article, 25 Ways to Use employee Newsletters, was written by Robert F. Abbott, the author of A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results, who has owned and operated The Newsletter Company since 1991. He has written and published employee, customer, and member newsletters for companies in a diverse range of industries and sectors. In addition, he is working on a forthcoming book, Ownership Revolution: How Working People are Buying Up Big Business. 

Read sample chapters from A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results

25 Ways to Use Employee Newsletters, Copyright Robert Abbott 2000-2010