Tuesday, January 27, 2009

In-house publication - inform and engage

Even in the age of blogs and intranet, internal publications have their own importance and impact of informing and engaging employees. Renuka Vembu writes.



Employee engagement is assuming increasing importance and companies are formulating varied means of reaching out to every employee. Newsletters, blogs and intranet seemed to have shown them the way. The definition and the approach differs, but the motive remains more or less the same. Weekly or monthly or quarterly, print edition or online version, in-house publications are one of the most common ways of disseminating general company information, and encouraging employee participation in their interest areas.



Companies and their releases

Every company has its own charter for publishing its newsletter-company performance during the interim period, the events that took place and the forthcoming programmes, sharing of general information pertaining to the workforce, quality measures, rewards and recognitions, outstanding performers and innovative ideas, developments that they have made or any future projects they are likely to undertake, social commitments, etc. It also acts as a medium to not only unearth the talents lying within every individual and enlightening them about the company, but also throws a different light by highlighting and providing insight about people who matter and who guide the way-its top management. The softer aspects are often more touching and strike a chord strengthening the emotional bond.



The idea in short is to espouse the values of the company and keep the flow of information and channel of communication open. ORG IMS Research's just launched magazine would highlight various aspects of the organisation including new launches, department initiatives, recognition, regional level meetings and events/ conferences. Max D'Souza, Head HR, South Asia, ORG IMS Research, says, "A glimpse of events across various locations are captured, performers are awarded and recognised and important messages from department heads are conveyed." 'Customer Speak' covers feedback from all our clients on our product, training and project ratings, 'Leisure' is a column which takes all to a lighter moment in the form of jokes, incidents, brain twister, etc., while 'Welcome to Family' is a column which covers all new joinees across the organisation and 'Cherishing people' interviews the oldest employees across teams, he elaborates.



GSK has two quarterly house magazines 'GSK News' and 'Quest.' 'GSK News' is distributed to all employees of the organisation and it focuses on all developments at GSK India (results, important foreign delegate visits/ interviews, product launches) along with informal activities (events, employees' children's achievements, new appointments). While 'Quest' goes only to the marketing and sales staff since its target is to highlight the marketing and sales events. It covers updates of each marketing team whereby each individual employee is aware of developments in the other business units including campaigns and sales achievements. It also covers information on regular training programmes conducted with sales teams.



Participation across levels

What is normally observed is that these initiatives are primarily focused on the employees, their chosen heads for handling the process and execution along with the HR personnel. It seldom has any active participation from the middle-level and top management. Internal publications are looked at more as an outlet for employees to break the monotony from their routine.



Also, in the times of going green, organisations have shifted gear towards the e-edition. Today with companies going global, and the world shrinking, it is imperative to have a touch-point across all locations. Newsletters act as an internal communication strategy and also an internal branding mechanism.



Two-way communication

There are some paradigm changes taking place in the way traditional newsletters were published. From being a paper version to now promoting environment-friendly measures, from an information/communication approach to now a participative/interactive forum, it has evolved with changing times.



Instead of just giving out information, organisations conduct quizzes so that employees are not only abreast of the happenings but are also engaged in it. Categorising the newsletter into different sections also helps capturing employee attention so that they can refer to the one that attracts them the most and is the most relevant.



At GSK, every endeavour is made to encourage maximum participation by way of inviting personal success stories, children's achievement, and sales achievements, etc. This attracts recipients to not just keep it but to read it and further encourages others to participate.



One aspect which most people tend to forget is that the house magazine is a good communication tool as far as the employee's family too is concerned. It gives the family members an overview of where their loved one spends a large part of his/ her time and often gives a face to names they would have otherwise only heard of, asserts a GSK spokesperson.



While organisations have multiple means of disseminating news and views at their disposal, what would prompt them to look at newsletters when the same can be passed through the Intranet and blogs and be more real-time and effective?



Publishing the publication

To invest in a hard copy and come out with regular editions means the returns are justified and the company leverages benefits-both tangible and intangible, out of it. Connecting individuals of all hierarchies across all locations, collating and imparting news, synergising and compiling information and presenting it in a single form/ format is the key benefit of having an in-house publication.

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