Many companies make communicating with non-desk employees a low priority.
It’s a huge mistake not to engage your frontline employees in the vision and values of the company, in the brand promise the company makes to consumers, and what the brand stands for in the world.
They are the very employees who deliver on your brand promise—or not. You can spend zillions of dollars on advertising and raise your awareness through the roof, but one surly drive-thru attendant can ruin the customer experience.
Direct managers tend to be the default channel for most communication with this group. However, we know there are several challenges built into this method. Not all direct managers will share information simultaneously, so some employees might know about a major change before others.
That message also is filtered through the lens of each manager, so inconsistency is an issue. Perhaps even more important, there’s no way to know whether managers have successfully delivered the information.
Instead, build channels directly from corporate management to the non-desk audience. There’s a significant downside when corporate leaders leave this population out of the loop.
One Tribe national study with employees of large companies indicated that non-desk employees interpret the common absence of communication from corporate headquarters as a lack of respect for them and their role in the company.
Seizing a competitive advantage
Communicating directly from top leaders to the non-desk audience isn’t easy, but it can be done. What’s more, it can provide a competitive advantage in terms of employee engagement.
When non-desk employees understand management’s vision for the company, when they understand your leaders’ business objectives, and when they feel respected and valued by those top executives, they can be more effective and productive employees.
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Does most of your employee communication flow through email and the intranet? If so, then you should develop a strategic communications plan to reach the employees who aren’t sitting in front of computers all day.
Four commonly recommended tactics follow:
1. Loop them in. Commit to at least one channel through which non-desk employees will hear from management. These might include a mobile app that employees download on their personal devices, an employee magazine mailed home or printed table tents in breakrooms.
2. Ask them what they think. Having corporate management talk to this audience is a good step, but you also must create opportunities for these employees to share their comments and views. Two-way communication methods—from the ability to comment on changes in the company to soliciting ideas for improving systems and processes—demonstrate management’s respect and the desire to understand the realities of these employees’ jobs.
3. Make them heroes. Spotlight manufacturing workers and celebrate their contributions, through regular bio pieces in a company publication, recognition programs or contests that highlight performance.
4. Take the CEO to the people. There’s no substitute for giving employees a chance to meet face to face with top management, and it’s particularly meaningful to the oft-ignored non-desk employees. Look for opportunities to have members of your leadership team visit stores, manufacturing plants and other locations outside corporate headquarters, so they can rub elbows with the people doing the most important work of your company.
Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin is the CEO of Tribe, an internal communications agency based in Atlanta. A version of this post first appeared on the Tribe Good Company blog.
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