Introduction, Sources of Employee Communications

Employee communication is often defined as the sharing of information and ideas between the management of an organization and employees and vice versa.

It is essential for an organization’s success that there are many different channels available to communicate with your employees as well as your customers. Social media definitely has certainly increased the scope of communication.

With the advent of social media, the number of options for communication has increased. You can share information among your employees almost instantaneously. As the speed of communication increases the challenges for communicating effectively also change.

Email, face-to-face communication, live chats there are so many different channels for effective employee communication. But also, what works for one organization may not work for the others. You need to identify what mode of communication works perfectly within your organization.

Employee communication has changed over the years, in the past decade most parts of the communication was face-to-face. Now we have a plethora of different channels of communications.

Effective communication is where your employees are well informed and all the functions run smoothly in the organization. Organizations need to create a world-class, engaging communication program. They should leverage feedback received from the Human Resources department to improve their internal channels.

Modes for employee communication

There are multiple channels that can be used for employee communication, but

1. Traditional methods

Traditionally communicating with your employees has been a top-down process. Management creates policies, procedures, etc. and they are circulated amongst the employees. These traditional methods are only one way of communication.

To achieve desirable results it is important, channels of communication should be two ways. Papers and memos and traditional ways are all good, but the world is evolving and so should your practices.

2. Email

All most all organizations across the globes communicate with their employees via emails or instant messaging for their daily communications. From updates to latest organizational developments your employees can stay informed and up to date at all times.

The advantage of emails messaging is the speed of communication and the ability to communicate with everyone in the organization at the same time. A big disadvantage though could be people assuming the tone.

3. Cell phones and social media

Your employees carry a very powerful tool of communication with them and that is the cell phone. These days phones are no longer attached to the desk. Cell phone technology enables your employees to stay in touch with whatever that is happening within the organization even if they work remotely.

One powerful platform that organizations have adopted as a part of employee communication is social media. Your employees can access these platforms from literally anywhere. These sites are definitely increasing the usage of handheld devices also allowing everyone to be constantly in touch with anything that goes around within the organization.

Importance of effective employee communication

Employee communication is no rocket science, but if not done correctly can surely have a negative effect. But let’s not go that way, let’s keep things positive, here is how having effective employee communication benefits:

• Employee engagement: If you communicate regularly with your employees and in an effective manner, they are much more engaged with the organization and have a more positive attitude towards their work and the organization.
• Consistency: If your employees understand know what they are wanting to achieve in a particular in the organization, you as an organization can see a much more consistent approach and less tendency of people coming up with interpretations of what they think of what you have said.
• Feedback: Regular communication invites people to get into a healthy discussion. Communication is a dialogue after all and dialogue would need two people communicating, expressing their concern or giving feedback. This facilitates a culture of sharing ideas and knowledge.
• Understanding of organizational goals: Effective communication helps employees understand how they can align their professional goals with that of the organization. They can understand how they can fit into a bigger picture.
• Change is the only constant: If the employees are communicated to effectively about the change around them, they respond positively to it. It also helps identify champions in your organization, ones who are willing to accept change and rise.