There are quite a number of businesses in the US, ranging from sole proprietors to massive organizations with thousands of employees. In fact, there are about 11 million small businesses with only 1-4 employees to over 7,600 with 1,000+ employees. What every company shares is the need to communicate – with clients, with one another in the company, and with companies that are working in partnership with other organizations. Globally, the biggest company is Wal-Mart Stores, with over 2,000,000 employees. Other global leaders include The Home Depot, FedEx, IBM, GE and McDonald’s. Is there anything that will universally stop a company in its tracks, regardless of size? Can any single factor spell doom for every field of human endeavor? Yes. The lack of good internal employee communications and training.

There are very tangible costs associated with poor internal employee communications within a company and with both clients and vendors. They can include missed deadlines, the failure to deliver a product or service in a timely manner, high employee turnover, loss of both sales and productivity, business negotiations that collapse, and shoddy customer service. The intangible costs include workplace tension, missed opportunities, a lack of motivation coupled with a lack of trust, and even a lack of discipline.

What’s Wrong with This Internal Employee Communications Picture?

There are a couple different ways to approach a job. One might be defined as the “glass half empty” scenario. Work is a thing one goes to at least five days a week, often for 40 hours or more. It is an endless series of dull and lengthy email communications, meetings that accomplish little while going on for hours and tasks that are onerous.

The “glass half full” folks are engaged and lively, seeking solutions rather than just focusing on problematic issues, believe in sharing information so that everyone is on the same project page, limit emails in favor of human contact, have meetings to actually help a project’s progress, and when possible, deliver before a deadline, as they’re motivated, have pride in the company and are part of a healthy corporate culture.

In both cases, internal employee communications are key. So what if a company perceives that its employee communications policies are lacking. What can management, hand-in-hand with Human Resources, do to turn the ebbing tide?

In a January 26, 2016 article in Forbes by Murray Newlands entitled 5 Proven Ways to Improve Your Company’s Communication, there are five surefire steps a company can take to raise the bar for performance and output:

• Lead by example.
• Keep your company’s mission and vision at the forefront.
• Forgo unnecessary meetings and emails.
• Dismantle the hierarchy.
• Make communication into a habit.

None of these five points are impossible to initiate and maintain, as long as management understands the positive outcomes from this internal employee communications work.

Happiness in the Workplace…what?!

Believe it or not, each year there’s a poll measuring which are the happiest countries on earth to live in. According to the 2017 Happiness poll by the United Nations, Norway came in at #1, Denmark is in second place this year, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and Sweden (which tied for ninth place). The named countries also rank the highest in the world for achieving an amazing work/life balance, where companies are thriving and successful.

And why is this now important in the US and throughout the world? Because the generation known as Millennials are now the biggest segment of the workforce. For them, a balance between a work life and a personal life is of paramount importance. Now the best way to retain Millennial talent is actually the best way to retain all employees. Smart management and human resources personnel will provide two things to keep the top talent from every generation with them: excellent internal employee communications, and training programs that will improve productivity.

There are some simple steps:

• Make the training program industry-specific, so everyone can stay abreast of the industry changes. This, in turn, means that they can stay ahead of the learning curve. Offer constant learning resources!
• Create a plan that has a simple overview and discrete segments that can be absorbed, retained and applied to a job.
• Do not wait for an annual review to get feedback. A once-a-year chat can easily end up with an employee sharing very little in the way of concerns, frustrations and possible workflow improvements.

In The Balance, a personal finance website, Susan M. Heathfield, on millennials in the workplace observed: “Millennials have a can-do attitude about tasks at work and look for feedback about how they are doing frequently – even daily.”

If HR and senior management think about it, open internal employee communications and constant training opportunities will work for everyone, all the time.