Definitive Guide to HR Communication, The: Engaging Employees in Benefits, Pay, and Performance, CourseSmart eTextbook

HR professionals know their programs are pivotal to organizational success, but they also know how difficult it is to communicate those programs effectively. Hampered by legal restrictions, highly complex policies and programs, corporate politics, and old-fashioned notions about business communication, they create communications their audiences simply ignore. It needn’t be that way! In The Definitive Guide to HR Communication, two experienced HR communications consultants show how to dramatically improve the effectiveness of every HR message. Alison Davis and Jane Shannon present simple, powerful principles and techniques every HR professional can use, even those who’ve never been comfortable as writers. Davis and Shannon demonstrate how to treat employees as customers, and use the same strategies, tools, and care your company uses to sell its products or services. The authors help HR professionals understand their customers’ (and executives’) needs and motivations more clearly; package information to promote faster, better decision-making; and measure their effectiveness. They present specific solutions for safely eliminating unnecessary detail and jargon; explaining benefits, pay, and policies; improving recruiting, orientation, and outplacement communications; supporting retirement planning; and improving performance management.

Acknowledgments     xvii

About the Authors     xix

Introduction     1

Part I: Taking a New Approach     9

Chapter 1: Know Your Employees     11

Chapter 2: Treat Your Employees Like Customers     27

Chapter 3: Plan and Manage Communication     39

Chapter 4: Frame Your Message      55

Chapter 5: Write Simply and Clearly     69

Chapter 6: Leverage Visuals     85

Chapter 7: Use the Right Tool for the Job     101

Chapter 8: Make Meetings Meaningful–and Support Managers     119

Chapter 9: Measure Effectiveness     135

Part II: Communicating in Key Situations     151

Chapter 10: Recruiting     153

Chapter 11: Orientation     167

Chapter 12: Policies     181

Chapter 13: Benefits     197

Chapter 14: Compensation     215

Chapter 15: Performance Management     231

Chapter 16: Saving for Retirement     249

Chapter 17: Leaving the Company     263

Endnotes     279

Index     281