Employee Communications Strategy 2000-2003

Agenda Item 10 Executive 25 August 2000 Report of the Chief Officer (Organisational Development) Employee Communications Strategy 2000-2003 Executive Summary Good employee communications will raise the quality of the council s services by involving employees and encouraging innovation to the ultimate benefit of the customer the citizen of York. Internal communications are designed to raise performance. They are measurable and linked to results, necessary for organisational improvement and fundamental to the good morale of staff. They are not designed to make staff happy, nor are they a good turn from busy managers, or a vague and ill-defined added extra. They are continuous and should not only be used in a crisis. Good internal communications can create an environment where staff turnover can be reduced, sickness absence can be cut and low morale can be addressed. If internal communications are poor then that will be seen in services, through duplication of effort, confusion, cynicism and low morale. Employees are citizens and ambassadors The council s workforce, including casual and relief staff, is over 10,000 people more than 11% of the working population in the City (89,803). Around 80% of staff live in the City. The attitudes of the employees to the council not only have an impact on how they do their jobs - they also make up a large part of the external audience and act as ambassadors. An employee with a positive or a jaundiced view of the council therefore has a powerful impact on how the council is seen. The objectives of this strategy are to find the appropriate, flexible mix of communications that will maximise the opportunities for talking to, and listening to, all of the council s staff make a commitment to minimum levels of internal communication that will allow the council to listen to the opinions and suggestions of all staff, making use of the creativity of employees and ensure that staff have the information needed to do their jobs through regular, council-wide staff surveys ascertain the shared values and attitudes of staff, establish comparative data to measure against and act in response to issues raised

Employee Communications Strategy Page 2 work towards a culture within the council that looks to communicate information and create a dialogue as its first impulse, to allow the council to better meet its objectives raise awareness that good communications are expected of all employees and that two-way communications are expected because they improve performance. Proposals The main proposals are to: 1 Issue a published commitment to staff to show the council is sincere in its desire to communicate well, specifying responsibilities of managers and staff - Priority: high 2 Start a rolling programme of staff surveys. An employee satisfaction index should be established using the headline job satisfaction figure as a formal, simple and open way of gauging morale, the success of this strategy and other aspects of the council s management - Priority: high 3 Establish a new corporate distribution network with the help of those directorates with large numbers of non-office based staff - Priority: high 4 Departmental newsletters to be established (where needed) along with editors' group - Priority: high 5 Notice boards keeper network to be established and a supply of blank posters provided - Priority: high 6 Position and re-launch the intranet for medium to long-term role as potentially vital method of employee communications - Priority: high 7 Combine a weekly or fortnightly news sheet with internal jobs vacancies in one publication - Priority: high 8 Produce a quarterly staff magazine with in-depth features, more staff writing, a greater social dimension and more opportunities for dialogue - Priority: medium 9 All staff to be made aware that good internal communications will help their work, supported by training, leaflet for managers and an advisory helpline - Priority: medium 10 Publish answers from management team on matters within their remit to anonymous questions from staff as a pilot scheme - Priority: medium Action Plan Autumn 2000 Talk to research companies, draw up questionnaire with interested parties Work on dummy issue of weekly/fortnightly news and jobs bulletin with Marketing and Communications in parallel with Upfront, consult interested parties Create new distribution network, concentrating on community-based staff First meeting of departmental newsletters editors group Establish notice board keepers group

Employee Communications Strategy Page 3 Autumn/Winter 2000 Spring/Summer 2001 Autumn/Winter 2001 Spring/Summer 2002 Autumn/Winter 2002 Spring/Summer 2003 Throughout Publish commitment to employee communications Poll council staff, publicise benchmark job satisfaction index Publish news and jobs bulletin, distribute through new distribution network Work on dummy issue of /quarterly staff magazine Implement changes to intranet Hold focus groups to pick up issues raised by questionnaire Start communications training for managers Publish bi-monthly/quarterly staff magazine Implement management team question and answer pilot scheme Poll of council staff Publish job satisfaction index Evaluate work so far against first year s results Implement internal plain language campaign Evaluate intranet group s success Hold focus groups to pick up issues raised by questionnaire Evaluate impact of news and jobs bulletin Evaluate management team question and answer pilot scheme Poll of council staff Publish job satisfaction index Evaluate work against first two year s results Evaluate internal plain language campaign Hold focus groups to pick up issues raised by questionnaire Evaluate whole strategy Evaluation of success of methods and nature of audiences Work with Best Value projects on a case by case basis Implement corporate Best Value communications projects Support internal communications aspects of Human Resources Strategy Liaise with Marketing and Communications on internal implications of external work It is intended to fund all elements for the programme from existing resources in the Council. Recommendations 1. Members are asked to agree the Strategy for Employee Communications as set out in this report. 2. Comments are invited on whether there are any additional activities which Members themselves would like to undertake to supplement the proposals in this approach. Author Matt Beer Employee Communications Adviser Extension 1772 Chief Officer responsible for this report Julia Veall Chief Officer (Organisational Development)

Employee Communications Strategy Page 4 1 Introduction: the need for a strategy Why good employee communications are important It is increasingly accepted across all types of organisations that staff can only operate at their best if they know what is expected of them, and that they have the opportunity of making their views known on issues that affect them. Given the challenges of Best Value, the modernisation agenda and the demands of e-government, all councils need to look to involve employees through far reaching internal communications strategies. How good employee communications relate to the council s objectives All of the council s goals and priorities require the council to take action through its workforce. The goals all start with positive activities (creating, overcoming, guiding, promoting etc) that need to be delivered by well managed and well motivated staff. It would not be possible to meet goals and priorities that are constructive and forward-looking with an ill-informed and uncertain workforce. Credibility, commitment and cynicism It is vital that the way the council communicates internally is seen positively by staff. Some previous attempts to address internal communications issues have been perceived as having faltered, leaving a residue of cynicism. This is only to be expected, and to overcome it this strategy must be seen as being a new beginning. However, a strategy is only a starting point. By continually evaluating whether corporate messages are being received at all, and if so how they are being viewed, this strategy aims to build on success and rethink failure. An incremental approach The timeframe for many of the recommendations proposed is over three years and the priorities are indicated in the executive summary. It is of course impossible to change entrenched attitudes overnight, and for this reason this strategy is designed to build trust and improve communications incrementally. The role of the Employee Communications Advisor This is essentially a commissioning role. Its duties are to establish the right systems and conditions for good internal communications, to ensure that the audience is understood and corporate messages are received. 2 Proposals for better communications A published commitment to communicate with staff This strategy must be seen as a new beginning for employee communications. It is unlikely to have many new ideas in it. Some people will certainly view any attempt to improve the situation with disbelief. However, those people are only likely to be swayed by the slow improvement of the working culture and improvement must start without them. The employees who must be won over in the short term are those who are looking for better communication, who believe that it is possible, who if they are doubtful, are sceptical rather than cynical the majority according to the research. A commitment to communicate must come from 'the top' and be seen to be doing so. For this reason recognised aims for internal communication, minimum standards that the council corporately guarantees, need to be published. They could be published through a leaflet or a staff charter stressing that this is a two way relationship - that while the council will commit itself to minimum standards of communication a corresponding commitment from individual members of staff, to at least be fair-minded, would be part of the deal. This would show that the council is

Employee Communications Strategy Page 5 wholehearted in its aim to be a good employer and make the employee communications function directly accountable to staff. Whatever a final set of commitments looks like they must be ambitious enough to be worth saying but not so ambitious that they are incredible. Finally, any commitment will be measurable through the staff survey programme, something that should be stressed to staff Recruitment, Induction and Appraisal The commitment to good internal communications and the staff survey programme should be stressed throughout the whole recruitment process. If the commitment to address the issue becomes a part of the council s public persona then the expectations of new staff will in turn create a better climate for communications. It would strengthen communications and help all staff understand the key aims and objectives of the council if corporate induction was compulsory an idea supported by the focus group research. The need for a formal and compulsory appraisal system was also supported by staff. Anything that requires line managers to address staff about what is required of them in their jobs will inevitably help communications at the fundamental level of individual and team objectives. When taken with staff development initiatives such as Individual Development Plans and business excellence models such as EFQM, the impetus is for line managers to be aware of the importance of good communication. European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) There is a large internal communications element in the EFQM model, which stresses the role of 'People Development and Involvement' and the importance of staff involvement and promoting a culture of trust. At the heart of this concept is the issue of internal communications, not just through directorates but across the whole council, as each directorate operates within a corporate context. As a corporate initiative encompassing some of the council's largest departments, the overall framework for internal communications, as well as the local context, will be examined. This will be related to the council's approach and, as a corporate document, this strategy will be the principal evidence of the corporate direction. The deployment of that direction will be a part of the evaluation on a local level. For this reason this strategy will complement the framework for the approaches to internal communications taken by the directorates, demonstrating the council-wide commitment to the people aspects of the EFQM model. Verbal Communications Information gathered from an individual face-to-face, or in small groups, is the most trusted and understood. Communication of an individual s objectives and where that person s job fits in to the councils goals has to be through the manager. For this reason managers need to be able to see the bigger picture and understand why keeping those they manage informed is important, not just in their teams and departments but across the whole council. Communications support for managers Training: Through HR Development courses could be established, whether provided externally or internally, to address the concerns managers may have about employee communications. There are courses currently in place for change management and team-building, both of which are likely to be key skills under Best Value, with a large role for employee communications. Part of the staff research programme can ask where managers feel they need more training, whether that means in written communications or presentation skills or listening skills. Leaflet talking and listening to your staff: A small leaflet offering managers practical advice on employee communications, from addressing large groups to one-to-one discussions, could be produced. It could deal with issues such as what to do about commercially sensitive matters, union

Employee Communications Strategy Page 6 involvement or problems of timing. The contents could be informed by the research, concentrating on areas where managers feel weak. Helpline for managers: Publicising the employee communication adviser s telephone number and declaring willingness to discuss any employee communication issue. Paper Communications Newsletter/bulletin/staff magazine Despite the new technology available, the staff newsletter or magazine is likely to remain the best method of communicating in depth with the widest group of staff. The focus group research into paper communications show that staff want a concise, up-to-date, inexpensive looking publication. Different grades want different things, with management grades being more interested in human interest stories and a more social aspect. In order to deal with this the newsletter can itself be split. A weekly or fortnightly news and jobs bulletin could be published, with little or no photography linked to the Internal Vacancies Bulletin. As internal vacancies are invariably widely looked at and they would provide the inducement to read the whole publication. This publication could be photocopied or printed in one colour to keep costs down to a minimum, in line with the focus group findings. The second half of Upfront would go towards producing a bi-monthly or quarterly staff magazine. This would allow for the more social aspect desired by POs and a much greater depth of discussion about the really big issues facing the council. Because of its longer deadlines it could invite greater staff involvement through articles written by employees. It could establish an outlet for staff opinions through a letters page and publishing a Management Team Q&A page. It could have a broader and funnier social dimension. Editorially its message would be that it is not talking to the staff but talking with them. The news and jobs bulletin would carry the weight of things you must know communication: the magazine would look for a dialogue with its readers as its raison d être. Departmental newsletters These exist in some departments and represent an excellent way of dealing with the council s departmental issues. One of the problems inherent in corporate newsletters is the sense of being distanced from the heart of an organisation, and even the best publication will struggle to keep a very diverse readership feeling involved in every story. Departmental newsletters can get around this problem by bringing the publication closer to the reader. A single editor should be given the responsibility of producing a newsletter for each department. The key role of these editors would be to consider what departmental information would be useful and relevant to their readers. They can be given an entirely free hand in how the newsletters should look. Once the newsletters are established, an informal editors group could be set up to meet as needed and discuss relevant corporate issues for the departmental newsletters and departmental issues for the corporate one. Notice Boards Notice boards can easily be overlooked as a channel of communication by those of us who are office based and who use computers every day. However, large sections of the council s workforce are not and do not. On a very local level staff look at notice boards for personal notices, social events etc. The focus group research indicated that the office-based staff pay little attention (although this could be a self-fulfilling prophecy as with no one looking, nothing is put up). Nonoffice based staff do find them useful though, and this group is a key audience. One idea is to have a stock of blank posters, printed on good quality paper with a colour logo, that could be used with laser printers and put up on notice boards. In this way official looking notices could be created reasonably cheaply and at short notice. A group of the staff who actually pin the materials up could be established (if only by e-mail) so that messages can be sent through to them.

Employee Communications Strategy Page 7 Electronic communications The intranet If staff are going to use the intranet it must offer something to them that they can t get elsewhere more easily. At present, with the exception of the very successful phone book, it does not do that. In the long term the intranet will allow for greatly improved communications, not just up and down but importantly across the council as well. In the short term it has a much more difficult time. As things stand around about 3% of all council staff use it regularly and less than one in five who can access the site do so. Given that the majority of council staff can t access the intranet, this strategy might have its priorities elsewhere but the intranet is clearly the communications tool of the future, and it needs time and resources now so that it will be well placed for future expansion. Question & Answer page / e-mail hotlines Some messages need to come from the highest authority in the most direct way. Particularly during times of change, it is very helpful to staff to have a way of getting questions answered by a relevant member Management Team or another named authority - such as the leader of a Best Value review. A pilot scheme could be established by inviting anonymous questions through the internal mail to a third party. That third party would then filter out asinine or abusive questions (it would be a pre-set condition of having a question answered that it should be reasonably worded and possible to answer). Answers could then be published regularly either on the intranet, through e-mail or in the staff magazine, or even a combination. The hotline would be non-political - questions of policy would be the responsibility of Members and would not be dealt with. Hotlines would also be especially useful in Best Value projects, where change is rapid and trust needs to be established. e-mail While e-mail can lower the quality of communication by discouraging face-to-face contact, this is not the case given the council s residency in several different buildings. There is uncertainty about what can and should be communicated by e-mail and there is room to establish some protocols on the use of electronic communications. 3 Assessing the culture and evaluating the strategy The City of York Council is rightly committed to finding out what citizens think about how it is doing in delivering the services it provides. It is also keen to take that a step further and find out what people s priorities are for the present and the future, so that services can be adapted to meet requirements and difficult decisions are made with a clear understanding of what is required. In doing this the council is attempting to understand the culture, the shared values and attitudes, of the people of York because it needs information to make decisions. In the same way decisions that will affect how the staff work and the way they provide services need to be informed by being aware of the working culture within the council. For this reason it is an essential component of this strategy that there is a systematic commitment made to finding out what staff think, about internal communications but also about the culture of the council, specifically the working environment as experienced by employees. Confidentiality, feedback and action Vital to any survey is the commitment that any criticisms will be welcomed, that there should be feedback on the overall results and that there will be some action in response to the results, or excellent reasons given for inaction. This must be a cast-iron guarantee from the highest level. In order to guarantee the anonymity required to allow people to speak frankly, in addition to the

Employee Communications Strategy Page 8 council s assurances, all research must be seen to be conducted by a third party, preferably a well known market research company such as Mori or Gallup. Results from the survey should be distributed to staff by a pre-set date through a pre-set method, whether that is an e-mail or a specific publication. Taking action as a result of the survey results is more difficult to guarantee. However, being able to show that the results have been considered and reasons given for the resultant decision, should be the bare minimum. A rolling programme mixing quantitative and qualitative methods Ideally the council should poll all staff with a questionnaire annually. it is vital that surveying staff is seen as a commitment over time to convince sceptics that there is a change in culture and not just a temporary blip. The confidence of the respondees is essential and a rolling programme will give that confidence. There would also be a mix of quantitative (the questionnaires discussed above) and qualitative methods (focus groups). A small number of focus groups should be used to help establish what questions to ask in the questionnaire and to gain a greater understanding of the results. An Employee Satisfaction Index Resident s Opinion Survey 1999 says that the majority of York residents (63%) are satisfied with the way the council is running. While the report gives more detail about why this is the case, this single figure is likely to be the comparison point for the future and the most newsworthy result of the survey. In the same way the headline figure on job satisfaction that will be produced as part of the rolling programme of staff survey, is likely to be the first thing everyone looks at. For this reason this figure should be established as a formal, simple way of gauging morale and called the Employee Satisfaction Index. Evaluating this strategy Throughout this paper ways have been discussed to make the employee communication function directly accountable. The use of the published internal communications commitment will tell staff what they can expect as a minimum. The job satisfaction index will show over a period of time which direction staff morale is headed. The research into the working culture and staff attitudes will, over the three-year programme, mark the changes from year to year. Through this commitment to testing the strategy we will also be able to concentrate resources on the types of communication that work best, tailored to groups of staff and evaluated method by method and group by group. 4 Background As part of the research for writing this strategy focus groups were commissioned to look at what staff would like to see in a newsletter, the main findings of which have informed the thinking behind the proposals for written communications. Six focus groups have also met to discuss employee relations in their widest sense, including employee communications, to inform the Human Resources Management strategy. Full details of the focus groups are available on request.