ALT Why is it important to improve employee relations? 1. Higher engagement levels 2. Better job satisfaction 3. Higher retention rates 4. Improved worker productivity 5. Stronger workplace culture

ALT What is employee relations? The complex and dynamic employer-employee relationship. It includes strategies and policies to create more positive working relationships, stronger communication, and provide better support for employees.

ALT 73% of leaders think they’re transparent. 41% of employees agree. 77% of leaders think they’re sharing enough context. 46% of employees agree. 70% of leaders think employees can find company goals quickly. 46% of employees agree. Future Forum & Axios

ALT "One of the biggest challenges for employees taking on a new role is not having clearly defined expectations, and that ambiguity can make it difficult for an employee to thrive and identify opportunities where they need support to keep growing." — Amy Jenkins, theEMPLOYEEapp

ALT What is the technology adoption curve? A framework that estimates the rate at which people will accept and use a new technology. The curve is made up of 5 stages of adoption.

ALT 67% of employees want pay transparency at their company. But only 25% of employees know the pay range for their job. Source: Lattice

ALT "You don’t know what’s broken at your company until you ask. And every individual might have a different perspective. While you can’t fix every problem, stay interviews will help you get a better idea of the dynamics of each team." — Sydney Lauro

ALT Organization + Productivity: 1. Editorial calendar 2. Communications audit template 3. Project management software 4. Meeting tools (e.g. calendly)

ALT Content Creation Tools: 1. Video creation + editing 2. Podcast creation + editing 3. Stock imagery 4. Graphic creation tools 5. AI for brainstorming, first drafts + editing content

ALT Strategy + Measurement: 1. Industry reports (e.g. Edelman) 2. Campaign planning templates 3. Measurement tracking + goal setting worksheets 4. Stop, start, continue analysis

ALT Professional Development: 1. Internal comms communities (e.g. PRSA, IABC, ICology) 2. Internal comms conferences 3. Networking tools (e.g. LinkedIn)

ALT Don’t treat employees like they can’t handle the truth. Employees who believe their company is being transparent with them have 8.8x higher job satisfaction than employees who think their company isn’t transparent. Source: Future Forum

ALT M&A Communication Best Practices 1. Audit your comms channels to ensure you can reach everyone 2. Notify managers first 3. Collect employee feedback and pivot when needed 4. Measure constantly! 5. Use empathy maps to humanize communications

ALT "Leaders don’t necessarily have all the answers, but when they don’t say anything, they allow employees to create the narrative. It’s important that leaders are prepared to say “I don’t know” when there isn’t a clear path forward and commit to providing insight as soon as it’s available." — Amy Jenkins

ALT What's the difference between a merger and an acquisition? A merger is focused on bringing two separate entities together into one, taking the strengths from each and bringing them into one. An acquisition is the complete takeover of a company where there might be some merging of functions and departments, but it may result in simply the change in ownership of the business itself.

ALT What is an intranet mobile app? A powerful communications tool that brings the functionality of an employee intranet—an internal network for communication and resource sharing–to mobile devices.

ALT People who feel they have good work-life balance are more willing to “go above and beyond” for their company. Individuals are less satisfied with their work-life balance than those director-level and above. Source: Qualtrics

ALT "Once trust is broken between an employee and the organization, it can be difficult to regain. Exit interviews often uncover instances where trust was eroded, whether through poor leadership, lack of transparency, or broken promises." — Sydney Lauro