As HR Professionals, we hear a lot of reasons for people leaving jobs for other opportunities. A great majority of them come back to poor communication. Here is one easy way you can begin communicating better with your employees today.
In an entrepreneurial business, the notion of your employees caring as much as you do is a difficult one for many business owners to buy into. Our goal is not to get employees to care as much about your business as you do, rather, it is to get your employees to engage in the business to a great degree. Employees who engage will innovate, problem solve, collaborate, and take care of your clients and help grow your business.
The reason most people will not engage to this level is they feel disconnected from the business, they feel like they are not part of the team. They do not feel valued because they are not communicated with. Communication is the most written about topic in the history of business…and family, and relationships, and ministries, and everything else that involves humans.
We have a simple suggestion that will begin to change this within your company. What if you could engage with your employees and give them things to look forward to throughout the work year? How would that change the level of engagement from your people? How would that affect their desire to show up for work?
The very simple way of communicating is to create an HR Calendar for the year. Really…. a calendar? Yes, a calendar. When you put some thought into what we are going to do with (and for) our people throughout the year, and then give them a calendar to commemorate it and be held accountable for it, you will have taken a simple step towards becoming a better communicator.
Now, there have been many a calendar that have hung on the wall only to be ignored and not followed. This is not the calendar that you are going to create. You are going to create a calendar that you USE. A calendar that you reference and plan around so that your employees feel valued and communicated with by their company. This calendar is designed to show your people that you have already begun to think about what you will do for them in the next calendar year. You will have taken a proactive step in the right direction of working to meet your people’s needs.
Here are 3 simple steps to create your first HR Calendar:
1. Plan your year
- Decide what you are going to do together as a team. Is there a greater cause you will serve together, how will you get to know your employees & maybe their families?
2. Put it in writing
- Consider ALL of the dates on a calendar that would impact your employees. Open Enrollment, Signing up for a retirement plan, birthdays, anniversaries, EE reviews, work anniversaries, paydays, social gatherings, philanthropic opportunities, etc.
3. Communicate it with a physical calendar
- Put it in front of them so we can all expect what is to come, hold each other accountable to keep the schedule.
Take 15 minutes to write down all the important dates that are in your year. This is going to give you immediate clarity on how you have been prioritizing your people. It may even spur you to begin adding events and details to your calendar that were not on there before. Your people will immediately notice the difference in the level of care you provide for them. It may take them time to buy into the culture that you are working to create. Once they do, the entire environment will change. Your people will begin to want show up on Monday mornings. Invest in your people now. Your future self will thank you for all the time you saved.
