By Christine Barney, APR
As seen in PRNews' 2009 Employee Communications Guidebook
Every day more and more experts call for marketers to relinquish control of their brands and engage customers in dialogue. Companies are entering the blogosphere, building Facebook pages and Twittering with record speed. And while these organizations are bravely entering the new world, most fail to adopt this practice at home in their internal communications. The result is that we talk “at” employees rather than “with” them. rbb Public Relations has built its success from the creation of what we call the “employee-driven workplace.” We say, give people the freedom to create their own work environments and clients will stay, more clients will come and everyone will make money. The rewards of this approach include dramatically low turnover rates and training costs, along with exceptionally high client longevity and more profits.
What makes an employee-driven workplace? You may have a fabulous perks package and invest in employee tools and resources and still not be an employee-driven workplace. Often executives bemoan a lack of appreciation shown by employees for all the great benefits they are given. But if someone gives you top notch pair of skis for a gift, and you don’t ski, would you be ungrateful to return them? No. Unfortunately, many organizations “gift” employees in a one-size-fits-all mentality, often with little input on what employees really want and need.
An employee-driven workplace is rooted in the organization’s corporate culture. Many organizations have a culture that reads well on paper, but doesn’t live well in reality. A value statement may promote the importance of teamwork, but when you look at how things are really done, you might see that individuals, rather than teams, reap the most rewards.
So, how do you know if you have the ingredients for an employee driven workplace? Consider the following questions:
• Do you track employee engagement, satisfaction and understanding and then act on the findings?
• How do you share your information and make decisions? Are your communications interactive or primarily top-down?
• Are
your HR policies built on a philosophy of restricting, controlling and
stopping behavior, or investing in ways to promote good behaviors that
drive business objectives?
• Does your physical environment support positive employee interaction?
There are two common roadblocks to creating an employee-driven workplace:
• Lack
of trust – Flexibility and respect are the foundation of an
employee-driven workplace. If you treat employees like thieves and
liars, the result is a nonproductive atmosphere of fear and distrust.
rbb allows every employee, down to the bookkeeper, to choose the
location and hours of work. This situation often begs the question of
how to know that employees are really working. The answer is twofold.
First, every good communication department must have time/productivity
tracking. Second, the results speak for themselves. If the work isn’t
getting done, or is done poorly, it will be discovered. No one can
“cheat the system” for very long. In an employee-driven workplace,
often other employees are the first to call out the slacker who lets
down the team.
• Desire for Control – Employees can better
contribute to profitability when they understand and can control the
areas they touch and see how profits are invested. Many workplace
decisions are made backwards, driven by financial considerations first.
Just as no product is launched without “user” input, employees are best
suited to make many work environment decisions. rbb employees drive
the selection of all work environment needs, from vendors to software
to the physical layout and types of professional development training.
The scrutiny they provide as daily users yields a better value equation
every year. They have support from our purchasing/financial department
who provide open books to ensure decisions incorporate monetary as well
as work goals.
When presented with the employee-driven workplace concept, numerous
objections to adoption arise based on size, structure, cost, etc. The
transition to an employee-driven workplace requires time, patience and
yes, money. It must be built in concert with corporate values and
culture. Companies both small and large have done it. Their stories
should inspire us to find ways to say “yes” rather than “no.” The
employee–driven workplace cannot be dictated or memo’d into being.
While its growth is organic, it needs structure. Intranets with message
boards, discussion groups, and surveys are only some of the tools used
to obtain and most importantly show action on employee input. At rbb
we’ve built our structure with five employee groups: rbb Works for
operational issues, rbb Think Tank for professional development, rbb
Flex for work/life balance, rbb Extras Division for social networking
and rbb News for firm marketing. Every employee participates in a group
and has dedicated hours and budget allocated to managing that group
function. Measurable results include:
• National accolades: rbb is
the top 30 list nationwide of Wall Street Journal Top Small Workplaces
for the last two years and was named 2008 PRWeek Agency of the Year
because of its employee philosophy
• Retention and recruitment benefits: average staff and client tenure is 8.5 years.
• The numbers: productivity, profit margins and employee satisfaction have all continuously improved
A final word on why you should consider adopting the employee-driven workplace philosophy. Consider what really defines your organization’s brand. It is defined most strongly not by what YOU say but what your employees say and do. Without the support of employees, your brand will fail to deliver. With their support, not only will you deliver on your brand promise, but you will achieve strong financial success.
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Christine Barney is CEO/managing partner of rbb Public Relations, an
open book, open dialogue and open office results-oriented, full service
PR firm with offices in New York and Miami.
