 In my younger days I spent years as a camp counselor and camp administrator working with kids at a summer camp and one of my favorite activities was to Go canoeing with the kids But I found that over time that it was better for me to be in the back of the canoe facing forward to make sure that the young person in front of me was paddling in the correct direction because it couldn't tell you how many times I'd turn around and see the kid Paddling in the opposite direction or going somewhere crazy because they didn't really know what they were doing in terms of paddling a canoe And it just put us at odds and we'd end up going in circles and making my job three times as hard getting us anywhere And so anyway the same thing is true in an organization and and that's really the topic of our discussion today It's relate all this to employee relations employee relations is just a company's efforts to manage Relationships between employers and employees in it and it really really helps when you're all paddling in the same direction both the Management the ownership and and the employees of an organization are all paddling in the same direction And that's where public relations intersects with this idea of employee relations. So let's take a look at that in this week's video So for public relations and employee relations are a couple of key Aspects to keep in mind couple of key functions to keep in mind So first of all, this is this is has to do with internal communication So we're talking about communicating with people who work or you know it could be employees in terms of We typically think of this people who paid to beat that organization, but this could also be it's true for Volunteers in a not in a nonprofit organization or you know anybody really who's an internal stakeholder Within the organization So we're gonna talk about it as though they are employees as though they are paid to be there But this could also be just as true these things for people who are volunteering in an organization or whatever But we're talking about internal communication communication It's intended to connect and and inform people that work within that organization. This is not just you know, randomly public information It's not advertising. It's not whatever. It's just intend intended to I could communicate to those internal stakeholders people who are What would call on the inside of that organization? This also is very much connected to corporate culture Corporal cultures is that the intersection of you know your physical environment So so where you're literally doing the work where you were physically located to do that the behavior patterns that are that are you know accepted norms within that organization and then the attitudes and beliefs that the That the organization itself and the leadership and the management of that organization put forward all of those things combined to create What we would call corporate culture so part of how we develop and maintain and and Communicate that is through employee relations and an employee communication corporate culture is an important part of employee relations in terms of the The the vibe that we have in an organization and that we want to create what kind of organization We want to create and know what kind of kind of feel we want to have internally And so corporate culture is an important part of employee relations And then also you can't underestimate the their old leadership here in employee relations Leaders set the tone. They also have to be responsive to those around them. But but leaders really do Set the tone for for employee relations and how They're going to go both in the way that they communicate and what they communicate how they behave all these different things So leadership isn't as a critical aspect of employee relations at every level Anybody who has people who report to them or work under them is a leader And so leadership at every level of an organization sets that tone sets that standard It does kind of trickle down from the top, but but it's important at every level So so internal communication corporate culture leadership These are all important kind of aspects or if you want to think of them as kind of the legs of the three-legged stool of Employee relations. That's where it comes from this idea of internal communication corporate culture and leadership all Go into employee relations. So why do we care about this? What are some of the benefits of employee communication and and more importantly positive employee Relations positive employee communication. What are some of the benefits here? First of all It it allows an organization to be effective in the sharing of goals So again to make sure that we're all paddling in the same direction We have to have the same goal in mind and so as an organization We communicate with our employees so that we can communicate these are our goals Sometimes they're very specific or short-term goals like this is our this is our quota for the day Or this is what we're driving for in the next week or two weeks or whatever Sometimes it's longer term goals. What what is our we know? What's the vision of this organization? But and everything in between so but in order to Effectively share those goals and and get employees to share those goals with the organization We need to communicate that with them We need effective employee relations in order to make sure everybody's on the same page Everybody's paddling in the same direction. Everybody knows what our destination is and we can see it there in the distance And we can all work together to achieve that then Another benefit of employee effective employee communication effective employee relations is enhanced teamwork Teamwork is really important people oftentimes it might sound included get get kind of distraught over working in a team Sometimes we think I could do better on my own or whatever But but the reason we work in groups and teams so much is because it is much more effective in the long run So we ought to do so as effectively as possible We want to do so as effectively as possible and effective employee relations can help Enhance that sense of teamwork and and smooth out the rougher edges of working in groups And and so it can enhance this idea of teamwork and make that more effective within an organization You can also raise employee morale can lead to higher employee morale when when employees feel good about what we're doing and where They're working and they don't dread coming to work and being there and you know They just have this positive feeling of what we're doing there where we're headed that they're part of a team that they're you know all of that stuff Leads to higher employee morale, which leads to greater productivity. So there is a you know, something on the bottom line here for the organization Better employee morale leads to lower turnover. It leads to lower Absenteeism leads to higher productivity in the workplace. So higher employee morale should be a concern there You know the old school would say well who cares if the employees are happy as long as they're doing their job But in reality people do their job Better and more effectively and are more productive when they feel good about where they're at and what they're doing in the organization that they're with So and that's especially true as we get into younger generations the Millennials Gen Z. So, you know, those those types of generations Place increased value on just being happy where they work and and being able to buy into the to the corporate goals and so Being able to communicate effectively with them and develop those positive employee relations will lead to that higher employee morale You also see a better adaptation Amongst employees to risk opportunity and change when they are informed when they are engaged when when you have these effective employee relations They'll handle change better, you know, when you have a massive Organizational change or you're changing a process or you know, you're entering a time where there's a risk factor Involved and so things are a little less steady or there's an opportunity that you as Organization want to pursue which will oftentimes again carry with it some risk. Maybe but you're gonna have a better chance of securing employee buying buying and and support and better productivity all again All those things that will lend to the ability to better adapt to these things with more effective employee relations Employees know what's going on. They see it coming and the end they have that faith They have that trust in the organization that that is built into, you know Kind of cooked in with this effective employee relations Then you'll see employee and employee workforce or volunteer force with a better ability to adapt to those things like risk and change And finally you see increased clarity of policies and structures people just know better what's going on They know what the expectations are of an organization They know what the structure is and who they should go to and ask about different things and and so you just see a more Effective workforce in those regards as well when there's increased clarity Because of that a more effective communication Increase clarity within the policies of an organization and within the structure of an organization that benefits everyone as well Just keeps those gears working more smoothly kind of greases things up a little bit So you don't have as many as much downtime you don't have as many people confused by what they should be doing again It's just better productivity. So again Effective employee communication is just not only is it the right thing to do But it's the right thing in a business sense for making things go more smoothly and run more effectively Okay, so we talked about corporate culture a little bit So and the importance of a corporate culture, you know, this so let's take a look at what? Defines effective corporate culture just briefly here. We're just going to touch on each of these things But when we say effective corporate culture, what are we talking about those things that that lead to? More effective employee relations through corporate culture. So first of all constructive relationships We need a corporate culture that emphasizes constructive relationships relationships that allow people to work Effectively with one another and have that positive effect again If there's somebody in the cubicle next door or on the line next to you that you're just like I don't even want to go To that person. I don't want to talk to that person. That slows things down. It's not it doesn't create an effective corporate culture It doesn't create better productivity and it does the opposite of all that so we want those constructive relationships We need a culture that the emphasizes those effective Relationships amongst employee working relationships doesn't yet be best friends with everybody But you ought to be able to work alongside somebody and not hesitate to ask them a question or whatever Effective corporate culture will also empower employees will give them some latitude to kind of Make decisions based on what they know best and you know within the limited framework and within the framework of the organization Allow them empower them to pursue those things that will benefit the organization in that moment So we ought to be empowering employees to to better themselves better the organization and have that kind of impact all over We need a corporate culture that emphasizes morality and honesty Again, this comes back to trust, you know employees want to be able to trust the organization that they work for they want to trust that That not only is the organization doing the best for them as as employees looking up for them and has their best interests at heart But also that of the community where they live and and they you know They're the immediate area that even the environment in which they're living that they're being responsible with that So they want to know that an organization is being straightforward Treating them with respect treating them with honesty and those types of things Connected to that they want an organization, you know an organizational culture that emphasizes social consciousness meaning The organization understands that it's not out here on its own. It's part of a community This organization is part of a community has some responsibilities in that we've talked about corporate social responsibility and in previous videos and Throughout our discussion of public relations the importance of corporate social responsibility That is part of developing an effective corporate culture and a positive corporate culture is is really being cognizant of that corporate social responsibility and and and really Not just giving it lip service, but really following through on that And then diversity we need a diverse workforce corporate culture needs to be diverse and not just diverse in the sense of Racial and ethnic backgrounds although that's that's good too But diversity of ideas diversity of thought diversity of ways of doing things, you know You need as many tools in that toolbox as you can get to do different things You don't build a house with just a hammer you need a diversity of tools to build a house, right? You need a diversity of tools and diversity of employees and diversity of thought to to build an effective corporation as well In fact an effective organization and that should be part of your corporate culture Embracing that sense of diversity in different ideas so that you can get all those different perspectives It's only going to make you a more effective organization. So Developing that effective corporate culture then will feed into effective employee relations is an important part of that So there are some obviously some challenges and opportunities and oftentimes those things are two sides of the same coin Where you find challenges you also find opportunities and vice versa a lot of times where you find opportunity You'll find challenge and employee relations are no different It does come with a lot of challenges, but it also comes with a lot of opportunities to improve your organization So one of those is organizational clarity again this idea of everybody rowing in the same direction We need everybody pulling in the same direction or rowing in the same direction moving toward that same goal and for that We need organizational clarity Effective employee relations and employee communication can provide that for an organization can provide that clarity Can and give everybody that common goal and help everybody to move in the same direction and be moving in unison And not working against one another There are also opportunities and challenges that exist within different communication tools and different tools that you can use for employee relations So for example an intranet whether that's a corporate website an internal company website Whether it's an app if you're very spread out and you just you know Maybe not if you're large retail organization, for example, not everybody may have access to the corporate In you know through a computer through to the corporate intranet So a lot of organizations are developing apps internal corporate apps to keep people informed and to keep people connected But you can use that intranet intra meaning within meaning it's not for public consumption It's really just for employees and there are different tools and resources there that are for employees specifically You can use that to help connect people connect Connect them with information connect them with resources connect them with one another keep them informed that company intranet Organizational intranet can be a really effective tool Video storytelling can be very powerful Access to anybody can make a video anymore, right? You almost have in your pocket in your cell phone You have basically a hollywood would have been a Hollywood style camera 10 15 years ago the same quality of camera so everybody can make a movie everybody can make a video It's really easy to share those now So as evidence by the fact that you're watching this video on the on the internet somewhere He does available to you to the internet so we can tell stories though We can tell powerful stories through video and and communicate them in a very powerful and personal way because Everyone has a story and we can share that we can utilize that as a tool in employee relations to allow employees to tell their story So video storytelling can be one a powerful tool there as well one last one It's not the last tool period but one last one that we'll talk about here are different employee programs Obviously organizations offer a lot of programs like maybe health insurance or you know things like that But you can expand that you can offer wellness programs you can offer pet insurance You can offer, you know all kinds of different incentive programs for employees and ways for them to take advantage of those things You and that those pooled resources that can come with large organizations and so we can offer employee programs On a variety of things maybe some travel incentives or whatever it is that your employees Tell you that they want we can offer those programs Collectively in order to enhance the employee relations that we have within that organization So we can communicate through all you know all kinds of our tools are almost an infinite way number of ways that We can communicate so the important thing is that we find what's going to be most effective for our employees our specific Audience internally and that we utilize those to the best of our ability then to enhance employee relations Then finally another opportunity that we have which you know can also end up being a challenge But but an opportunity certainly is corporate social responsibility Again employees are keenly aware that this organization is a part of their community and hopefully an important part of their community And so they want to see that organization doing the best they can for those people who live in that area and are involved In that community and and not just the people but that the Being good stewards of the land around you and you know not dumping toxic chemicals into whatever Land or water resources that you have do they but we they want organizations that are going to be on the lookout for how they can Better their community in every possible way both the people and the environment and and just engage in good corporate social Responsibility they want to work for an organization that they can be proud of and say yes I'm extremely proud to be a member of this team, and that's what you want as well. It's going to be great for your Community relations. It's going to be good for your employee Status in terms of retention and turnover and things like that. It's just good all the way around So corporate social responsibility is an important part of employee relations as well You know in the in the end we need to remember that employee that a company or an organization is not made up of Necessarily these physical pieces not made up of machinery and things like that so much as it's made up of people Any organization is only as good as the people that it has Involved in it and working for it and working toward the same goal So it's important that we give those people our our attention and that we connect with them And that we develop those relationships through effective employee relations and through effective employee communication And that is part of our responsibility. It falls Logically in the realm of public relations. So it's an area that we should as public relations practitioners and students of that be engaged with and involved in and figuring out how we can add to that in a positive way If you have questions about employee relations and my employee communication, please feel free to email me I'd love to hear from you there in the meantime I hope you have a new perspective on employee relations and the importance of those people Within the organization to that organization and the different ways that we can reach them and why that that's just positive for Everybody around both the organization itself and the employees that are involved It's it's a win-win-win all the way around when it's done effectively