Merit increase communications? This time of year, everyone needs great ideas, fast. So here are a few from past blog articles that should be right on the money for 4Q 2012.
A strategy that fits your budget and culture just right. Don't let yourself get frustrated about low or no budgets for communications. Read "Boost your chances of having a happy, healthy attitude towards communications" for a decision-making chart. It will help you tell the truth (to leadership and your HR colleagues) about how much you can invest and what the real payoffs will be.
Answers that employees pine for. Think employees simply want to know "What's in it for me?" Think again -- it's far more straightforward than that. "How to make your compensation communications great this year!" will prepare you to be heard.
A powerful role for your CEO. Don't kid yourself. Your employees need to hear from your CEO about the company's future and their role in it. Check out the article, "Can your CEO reignite the passion in your relationship?" CEO communications. It's where engagement starts and it's the logical context for compensation and performance management communications.
Time tested tools. "10 tools for communicating a teeny, tiny merit increase budget" is one of a series that has remained popular for three years. I wrote it at the brink of the recession along with, "10 ways to slice a teeny, tiny merit increase budget" and "10 things your managers must tell employees about a teeny, tiny merit increase budget." The articles have even reunited me with a high school friend who's running a nonprofit and called for advice. Odds are, you'll find something useful there, too. (And in my recent blog, "Tips to help you decide how to talk about this year's merit budget" which has also gotten a lot of readership.)
Good answers to a tough question. You will get questions about Cost of Living. Rely on it. So check out "Talking with employees about Cost of Living" for both communications and technical advice.
Margaret O'Hanlon is founder and Principal of re:Think Consulting. She joined Ann Bares and Dan Walter of the Compensation Cafe to speak the unspoken -- "Everything You Do (in Compensation) Is Communication" -- at the WorldatWork 2012 Conference. Margaret brings deep expertise in total rewards communications and change management to the dialog at the Café. Before founding re:Think Communications Consulting, she was a Principal in Total Rewards Communications and Change Management with Towers Watson. Margaret is Deputy Director of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Pacific Plains Region. She earned her M.S. and Ed.S. in Instructional Technology at Indiana University, Bloomington. Creative writing is one of her outside passions, along with Masters Swimming.
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