PR 101

On March 27 Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation, Inc. announced in an internal memo that management had come to the painful conclusion that an undetermined amount of employees were going to be laid off. The continuing recession dictated the company had to cut costs.

Within approximately five minutes of that memo going out, reporters were calling the company to inquire about the layoffs. That memo had not been made public by any of Rockwell’s official channels – it’s senior management, its public relations staff or anyone else with the authority to do so.

Therein lies the key rule of employee communications: never, ever tell your employees anything you don’t want to be made public. Employee communications should be treated exactly the same as external communications. There is no longer any difference, if there ever was.

Employees are your ambassadors. It is important that they trust the company, its management and the direction the company is going. An employee who feels he or she is being kept in the loop will usually feel the company cares about them. That in turn will ensure they will say good things about your company. That is a very effective third party endorsement.

Put another way, employee communications serve management best when it shows empathy for, and understanding of, employees.

Rockwell understands that. The memo announcing the layoffs was written as if it was going to be made public – because senior management knew it would be. The memo was composed in a way that relayed Rockwell’s key messages. Writing the memo with the key messages ensured the company had no need to issue an additional press release. It also ensured every employee received and disseminated the same message.

Rockwell showed its moxie in another way. It was honest with its employees about the state of the company. That’s smart internal communications. The days that a company could only tell its employees happy news are long gone. There are just too many outlets from which employees will hear about the state of their company. Employees expect candor and honesty from their bosses. Not giving them that risks creating a disgruntled workforce. A disgruntled workforce can severely wound a company. It can make the difference between recovery and failure.

When I worked as a reporter in Detroit, I was always struck by the difference between General Motors and Ford workers. While both companies had their labor issues, I never heard a Ford employee knock the company to an outsider. It seemed to be a family atmosphere. Inside the family, they might be trying to punch other’s lights out. But, they always presented a united front to the outside world. General Motors employees, on the other hand, seemed to have contests to see who could say worse things about their employer.

I think that came down to the attitude each company’s management had toward its employees. Ford was, and is still very much, a creature of the Ford family. They treat their employees like part of the family. GM does not.

As the American auto industry struggles for survival, it seems that Ford has turned the corner and will again prosper. As an outside observer, I fell that is because Ford employees trust their managers. They know what they are hearing is the truth.

Which brings up the next point, making sure the right people receive and believe the messages. Just because it comes from management doesn’t mean employees are going to believe it. It has to be endorsed in the cubicles and on the shop floor.

I speak from personal experience.

Before I became a reporter, I had a number of jobs. I worked for a utility, first in what was called underground (think manholes) and then as a lineman climbing towers. I have also worked in a toy factory, a soda bottling plant, a grocery store and as a bike mechanic.

In every case, I had a foreman. But, on every crew, there was also a worker who had a least as much influence as the foreman. This worker was usually a veteran employee. He or she had worked the job for years, knew the ins and outs, know what one could get away with and what had to be done. This was the person I and everyone else went to with questions. Usually, this person has outlasted several supervisors.

The smart supervisors always made sure they enlisted this person as an ally. If they didn’t, jobs did not go as well as they could have. Just because a supervisor wants something done in a certain way doesn’t mean it is going to happen. The people who are going to carry out the task have to buy into the mission. Put another way, in the Army, officers give orders, sergeants make decisions.

So, it behooves anyone seeking to communicate with a company’s employees to identify those people and bring them into the circle. This is a great way to kill rumors. If the shop floor leaders know what’s going on, they can quash all of the untruths that spread when change is afoot. This used to be called the grapevine. If they trust you, they can also give you an accurate picture of what’s going happening on the shop floor. You will avoid many problems if you know how your employees feel about company issues.

In fact, I recommend drawing a communications chart that includes those people. You leave them out at the company’s peril. Because they can be the roadblock you never see.

Which brings me to my next point, just as you should have a business plan, marketing plan, a communications plan and a crisis communications plan, you should also have an employee communications plan. The format is essentially the same as the other plans: it should have a mission statement; how employee communications will help the company achieve its overall goals; its own goals; strategy and tactics;  a budget; and an evaluation function.

The evaluation should include input from employees – in fact, that’s the most important part. It can be done informally by talking to employees, committees of employees and management can be created or surveys can be done. I usually recommend a combination of the three.

Think of your employees as internal customers. Keep them happy and your company has a much better chance of prospering. Cut them out of the loop, don’t communicate honestly with them and you are laying the foundation of a disaster.

Next week I will talk about the best channels and ways to communicate with employees.

I post this every Monday. As a new feature, if you have questions you would like me to answer, please email me. I am always looking for topics and input. My email address is in the next paragraph.

My background: I worked as a reporter for 25 years in central Illinois, upstate New York, suburban Detroit and Milwaukee. I now help clients with marketing communications through my company – JJC Communications LLC. If you want to know more about my company, and myself, click the link. It’s a cliché, but it’s true for me: no job is too big, no job is too small. I have worked with companies on the Fortune 500 list and I have worked with companies that have one employee. The service I provide is the same for all.