It is no secret that employee engagement is a major key to success for any company, big or small. Employee communication is at the core of employee engagement, and is a major determining factor of how well a company is able to capture and maintain the attention of its employees. But how effective is employee communication if it is only perceived as “fluff” and doesn’t function as a transparent vehicle between an employee and their employer? The answer: not effective at all.

During a time of cultural and political upheaval, it is imperative that companies provide environments where their employees feel secure and free to grow. Establishing and providing a stable environment begins with establishing effective and authentic employee communication.

Keep it simple

Communicating to a large employee audience may pose unique challenges, but it doesn’t require complex or elaborate messaging. In fact, simple and straightforward messaging will resonate with employees far more than messaging that attempts to accomplish too much.

Attempting to communicate too much at once poses the risk of distracting employees and expecting them to decipher a message with too many layers will distract from your main point. Employee communication should avoid this at all costs.

Be transparent

Any and all communication directed toward employees should be transparent. A transparent piece of communication should not leave employees with lingering questions of why it is being communicated to them, why it matters, or how they should react to it. Honesty and transparency in communication helps employees identify not only his or her role within the company, but the overall mission and goals of the company as well.

Such identity and alignment with a company ultimately results in a greater sense of production, inclusion, and motivation – especially amongst Millennials.

Create a culture

Transparency in a company cannot be achieved if employees do not have the ability or resources to respond to what is communicated to them. So, how can this be accomplished? By focusing on company culture. Building a strong and desirable company culture begins with actively listening to employee feedback and implementing it to every extent possible.
Company culture isn’t created overnight, but it is an essential investment in attracting and maintaining happy, satisfied employees. Developing a company culture that employees have created, contributed to, and can identify with is the ultimate form of authentic communication in the eyes of an employee.

Don’t sleep on social

Leveraging the power of technology can improve employee-facing communication in a number of ways.

A strong company culture gives way to stronger work relationships, and these relationships can be fostered through the use of social media platforms.

Giving employees a platform through which they can react to and share company happenings with colleagues helps them not only feel more connected to the company, but to one another as they interact about company information simultaneously. Allowing employees this type of outlet gives them the ability to establish build authentic, peer-to-peer communication.

Keeping communication simple, being transparent, creating a company culture, and utilizing social media are just a few steps companies can take to invest in employee communication and create a stable environment for their employees. While these may seem like simple measures in theory, each takes a significant amount of time and effort to make it a successful integration for a company.