Employee and Workplace Communications -

Building a training and development program is one thing, but video communications can help training improve employee engagement long-term.

Recruitment and retention is the lifeblood of a growing organization. Finding the right fit means finding a fit for your employee communication structure.

New hire onboarding efforts fails because too many onboarding processes are flawed. Training, clear responsibilities, and useable technology are key.

Change management is often overlooked as a crucial component of any corporate structure. Most managers and business leaders believe that the time to bring in a change agent is when processes are broken, communications have ground to a halt, and the company is losing business. But effective change management needs time and room to grow, and may need to be initiated before cracks appear on the surface.

Employee communications programs and initiatives these days rely increasingly on video communication to drive employee engagement. No doubt your organization was spooked by the low employee engagement numbers coming out every year, revealing over half of your employees don’t feel engaged at work. So you invested in a video communication program to help. Engagement increased, but something’s missing. What indicator of engagement is the piece that makes your employee communications program whole?

New-hire onboarding is not something you can do with one tool or program. No one manager can successfully onboard and welcome new employees by him or herself. It takes a team effort and aligning messages and goals from the top of your organization down to the new hires.

Change management is a necessary and sometimes messy part of HR’s job within any organization. These days, workplaces and companies have to change quickly or be left behind. Employee communications initiatives and software tools can help, but studies show that the best way to engage your employees and move them through transition is with coaching.

Let's start this blog post by saying that I have no idea what 2019 specifically holds for HR Training and Compliance Programs – nor does anyone else. If I were that prescient, I'd invest in lottery tickets and hit the beach. However, there are some general trends and corporate realities that give us an idea of where to look for successful start-ups affecting Human Resources and where start-ups are facing trouble.

Employee communications tools and apps can make a huge difference in office morale, internal communications, onboarding, recruiting, and many other issues Human Resources professionals work with every day. Here are a few tools and apps developments in particular that made waves in 2018.

Often, too often, corporate culture turns toxic and entrenches itself so deeply that the organization can no longer serve its purpose effectively. This usually initiates the most painful form of change management. You're the new kid on the block, new C-suite or director or someone else with some ability to make changes to policy and employee communications standards – maybe you were even hired specifically to do that. What do you do about it? Bear with me for a brief history lesson.

Training and compliance programs are vital to the success of your business and employees. There are many employee training programs that companies incorporate into their culture to boost employee communications, productivity, and engagement.

When we talk about branding and content and its relationship with employee communication, we’re really talking about emotions and perceptions. What your employees feel about the company they work for determines everything from their performance to their willingness to participate in your workplace community.

Conflict is a part of any office space, whether your employees are distributed in different locations or all working under the same roof. Since conflict is inevitable between humans trying to work together with high stakes, conflict resolution has to not only pacify the problem, it also has to lay the groundwork for better employee communication and engagement in the future.

Corporate culture has always been affected negatively and positively by how empowered the voice of the employee is in any organization. Recently, in the wake of the #metoo movement, we’ve seen harrowing examples of management gone wrong, and power running amok.

For some high school and college students, summer is the time to get away from the regimens of classes, lectures and “school” life. For others, the 8-12 week period is the doorway to firsthand experiences of employee communication in real-world employment. Although some organizations offer internship programs year-round, summer is the peak season for intern endeavors.

The summer holidays are nearly upon us. This is the time for vacations, outdoor bar-be-ques, traveling, sun, and fun. Today, corporate culture is forgiving of summer vacations, usually around July 4th and mid-August. The time is now to gear your employees up between their vacation times.

Every article you’ve ever read about bosses starts with this quote:

“Employees don’t quit jobs. They quit bosses.”

After the now-famous meeting of the 17 people who would build the Agile Manifesto in 2001, their revolutionary ideas have infiltrated not just the world of software development, but also all facets of business organization, Human Resources, and corporate culture. How has culture and management improved since the advent of Agile, and how can you use the Agile Manifesto to improve your workplace culture?

The term “office environment” can often be an alternative way of saying frustration and angst, and that is exactly what you don't want it to be. In fact, there is probably a mathematical formula somewhere that shows success going down as these go up. And vice versa.

When you’re in a toxic office situation, it’s easy to blame the boss. Managers have gotten away with uncivil work environments in the name of ‘getting things done’ for decades, but with the rising tensions in the workforce and the winds of change blowing, incivility can cost organizations much more than hurt feelings. In many cases, the costs of incivility spreading throughout a corporate culture outweigh the benefits of ‘getting things done.’