Employee comms. – nature hates a vacuum

Nature abhors a vacuum.  It always fills the void.

In your company, if you’re not filling the void – all those formal and informal channels – with timely, accurate and honest information, someone else will.  Chances are, the information will not be helpful and could actually hurt your business.

What’s your most valuable asset?  Your employees, right?  As business owners, we say that all the time.  But, do we live it?

Do we invest the same resources (time, money, etc.) into establishing and maintaining relationships with employees as we do with customers, suppliers, bankers, etc.?  In many cases, the answer is “no”.

An interesting study was released recently by Quantum Workplace, a market research company that surveys employee engagement.

Here’s the logic tree:

• Employees are core assets of any business;
• Engaged employees are more willing to bust their tails for the benefit of the company;
• Employees “engage” when they feel informed, valued and trusted;
• Employees who feel informed, valued and trusted feel as if the company cares about them as individuals; and,
• A company’s commitment to timely, open and honest communication is the best way to ensure employees are engaged.

Back to the Quantum Workforce study.  In a press release dated June 25, 2009, Quantum concluded that  employee engagement is capable of predicting movements in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) four months in advance.

They measured employee engagement levels for 24 months at more than 6,100 companies to reach this conclusion.

Pretty interesting stuff.  From the perspective of a professional communicator, another good data point for why companies should commit themselves to aggressive employee communications, especially in these uncertain times.

Post by Nick Vehr – 6.29.09