Communication with your employees is crucial because it boosts morale, engagement, productivity and job satisfaction. The bottom line is communication with your teams affects the success of your business.

Workplace communication is essential to every company. It’s key for better team collaboration and cooperation. Ultimately, effective communication helps drive better results for individuals, teams and organizations. At companies experiencing low employee morale, the breakdown is usually caused by a lack of communication.

I’ve been working recently with a few clients on the lack of communication in their companies. In today’s environment, good communication is even more important because employee populations are so diverse.

You have to listen to your employees and find avenues for them to give feedback and share information. Your employees must feel comfortable that they can communicate in their workplace without repercussions. You must have a policy and plan on how to communicate with people in your organization. There should always be a section in your employee handbook on communication.

Consider ways to communicate with your employees: by email, hard copies, internal internet, posting information in one location, all-hands-on-deck meetings, department meetings or one-on-one discussions.

Conducting surveys, having conversations, and asking for feedback during onboarding or company departures are great ways to communicate. You could send out employee pulse surveys or benefits surveys throughout the year. Pulse surveys are short surveys distributed regularly to check in with employees on job satisfaction, their roles and the work environment.

According to Rocket.Chat, team communication is important because it:

Creates healthy relationships in the workplace and improves self-esteem, job satisfaction and employee retention.
Boosts employee engagement.
Increases the emotional well-being of employees.
Drives innovation by encouraging employees to share ideas.
Fosters transparency to enable employees to communicate effectively and increases efficiency.
Allows employees to obtain knowledge from colleagues and improve their skills.
Leads to productive discussions, which decreases conflicts.

Poor communication has its costs. A survey of 400 companies with 100,000 employees found that poor communication among employees resulted in an average loss of $62.4 million annually for each company, David Grossman reported in his 2011 article, “The Cost of Poor Communications.”

In both the profit and nonprofit worlds, it’s necessary to have good communication skills when talking to facilitators. Those skills include how to be effective in delivery, make a difference and support the mission. Toastmasters International, universities and improvisation classes, for example, provide instruction on public speaking.

Training in communication skills covers tips and techniques for knowing your audience, how groups work together and how to facilitate dialogue. It’s particularly important in multi-cultural workplaces to hone your communication skills.

To be effective, communication must be done across all job levels in the company. You can find out your communication style through assessment tests. Assess your leadership team to determine how effectively they can work together.

If an employee reaches out to a supervisor or Human Resources, it’s imperative to respond as soon as possible. Failing to respond to an employee makes the person feel as though they don’t count, creates resentment and decreases employee morale. Professionalism and courtesy are key. The employee deserves an answer. Whether they like the answer is irrelevant.

Your employees must understand what your company is doing, why you’re doing it, how it affects them, what you’re trying to achieve and what happens if you don’t achieve your goal.

If you’d like more information about improving communication with your employees, contact Melody L. Beach Consulting Group at melody@melodybeachconsulting.com.

Will your company permit post-pandemic remote work?

With the end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency May 11, more employers are asking employees who were working remotely during the pandemic to return to the office, at least for a few days a week.

While some employers are insisting employees return to work in the office or lose their job, others found during the pandemic they could work efficiently and effectively with a hybrid office. Certain businesses are allowing employees to work part of the workweek in the office and part at home, but others want their workforce in-person full time.

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Onboarding, development can ensure employee success

A well-structured onboarding process can keep your employees engaged, improve retention and increase productivity. Onboarding and development are critical programs for new hires. They go hand in hand to launch and position your employees for their role in the company and their career path.

Some managers, however, confuse onboarding and orientation. Orientation is just one part of onboarding. Orientation introduces your new hire to the company and their department, and prepares the new employee to begin working and to be ready for specific job training. It includes filling out necessary paperwork. It’s a one-time event that lasts two to five days and could be done in a classroom or online.

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50+ Job Seekers workshops

The 50+ Job Seekers Networking Group’s workshops are free and virtual on Zoom, with some held in person.

Workshops on Zoom for the next few weeks are:

Thursday, July 20, 6 to 7 p.m.: “Yoodli and You,” Savvy Seeker Series with Joni Laidlaw and Kathy Draper.

If you’re intimidated by the prospect of giving a speech or going through a job interview, Yoodli might have just the thing. Yoodli is an AI-enabled software platform that analyzes your delivery and gives you tips for improvement — in a nonjudgmental way.

Yoodli’s software platform records users as they deliver their presentations, and then points out where they could speak more clearly, cut back on the “ums” and other filler words, and improve their use of eye contact and gestures. Users also can solicit feedback from colleagues and be connected to an expert coach.

Join Joni Laidlaw and Kathy Draper, Yoodli ambassadors, for a demonstration on how this amazing tool can polish your communication and interviewing skills … and learn more about all that Yoodli offers!

Thursday, July 27, 10 to 11 a.m.: “Social Security Benefits: When Should I Start?” Savvy Seeker Series with Steve Lewis and Glenn Frank

Have you been unemployed for more than six months?
Are you finding it difficult to make ends meet?
Do you have medical concerns that impact the number of years you might work?
Have you started thinking about when to take Social Security benefits?

Like many people who have long-term unemployment, you have started assessing your situation and looking at your revenue streams. Is it better to take Social Security now, wait until you’ve reached full retirement age or wait even longer?

That’s why we’ve invited Steve Lewis and Glenn Frank to provide an overview of Social Security, a primer on the options for signing up, a review of the advantages and disadvantages that go along with these options, and how they apply in specific kinds of situations, e.g., people who are divorced or widowed.

And we’ll leave plenty of time for you to get answers to your questions.

Tuesday, Aug. 1, 10 to 11:30 a.m.: G2G (Give to Get) with me.

G2G is an open forum for Q&A breakouts to discuss your job search questions in addition to plenty of time to network and connect with fellow 50+ job seekers. Every attendee will have their name added to the Wheel of Names. You could win a free coaching session!

RSVP here.

The 50+ Job Seekers website is https://50plusjobseekers.org/. For questions, email 50plusjobseekersadmin@mcoaonline.com.

Can I help you?

Contact me by downloading my digital business card by texting HRPRO to 21000 or emailing me at melody@melodybeachconsulting.com.