What’s in your employee newsletter?
One of the large law firms I worked for in the 1980s had a weekly newsletter.
Because we had well over 200 lawyers and staff employees, this was the easiest
way to get out information about firm policies, holiday schedules, “news,” and other gossipy tidbits. It always generated a fair number of humorous
comments, especially because the person who wrote it had no style and no sense
of humor.
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One month, the “employee of the month” at a certain client’s facility disclosed his sexual preference in the newsletter, which caused
something of a harmless stir.
The chief operating officer of that client never missed an opportunity to remind
employees that customer service was paramount, and after several issues, his
column started to sound like a broken record.
In most companies, the “broadcast e-mail” has replaced the newsletter. At my firm, I now know every time a toilet needs
to be repaired, someone used bond paper instead of copy paper in the large
printer, someone will be late because his dog ran away, or someone wants to
remind another employee that he or she messed up. Delightful.
I wonder how many gigabytes of our server are taken up with “reply to all” responses to broadcast e-mails about the most trivial happenings at Kollman & Saucier.
Whether your company has a formal newsletter or uses modern e-mail technology,
the “do’s and don’ts” explained below apply. Quite frankly, there are advantages and disadvantages to
both.
A newsletter needs to be carefully composed, which is an advantage over a
spontaneous “all staff” e-mail about an irritating company problem. After writing a couple of
newsletters, however, you will find it is quite a chore to compose one. The
disadvantage is that you start to put things in the newsletter just to fill up
space.
Newsletters are more formal, which is an advantage if the topic involves a
serious policy, and a disadvantage if the final draft contains inflammatory or
discriminatory language. It is difficult to say: “I really didn’t mean it” if the policy is contained in Volume 45 of the company gazette.
Whatever medium you choose, be careful when composing policies, messages, and
other employee communications. Ask yourself: “Is this what I really want to say? Can I live with this five years from now? Am
I overreacting? Will anyone really appreciate the effort I put into this
inspirational piece?”
If you have a union, you need to make sure that the communication itself does
not generate a grievance.
Remember, you are creating a written document that could have long-term
consequences. Proofread, rewrite, and rethink before you send it out.
Use proper language whenever composing a newsletter article. Do not refer to “the girls in the office,” “the boys in shipping,” “our minority employees,” “our youthful image,” “our sexy new receptionist,” or similar expressions that could be used to suggest discriminatory intent or
hostile environment. If you want to write colorful articles, make sure that
they are not colorful at the expense of a protected group of employees.
Newsletters should probably have a handbook-like disclaimer that the statements
contained in them do not constitute an employment contract or promise of
employment. That may not prevent a court or jury from finding a promise
contained in a newsletter article, but it could discourage a former employee
from bringing a lawsuit.
The biggest question for an employer to answer is “why am I adopting an employee newsletter in the first place.” Here are the main reasons to have a newsletter:
1. You want to communicate regularly with your employees. Always a good idea.
2. You want to motivate your employees to do a better job. Not always a practical
idea.
3. You want to make sure employees understand company policies, marketing plans,
and other corporate strategies.
4. You want to use the newsletter as a recruiting and/or a retention tool.
Of course, you can have all of these reasons and more. But as I said earlier, it
is likely that you will run out of content eventually.
For that reason, I suggest you place in your newsletter regular items you can
update, like sales figures, industry trends, and so forth. While there are
copyright issues that I am honor bound as a lawyer to mention, you might
consider reprinting interesting magazine or newspaper articles.
All in all, employee communication is desirable. If you decide to go the
newsletter route or stick with electronic communication, just take the time to
compose messages that convey information without creating legal problems down
the road.
