Towers Watson recently highlighted an observed correlation between communication efforts and both employee engagement and financial performance that outperforms peers in their Executive Pay newsletter (“Communicating Incentive Plans Better” – August 14, 2015). That motivated me to jump on my once-in-a-while bandwagon about effective employee communications. In today’s blog, I’ll explore some tips to think about, as well as highlight more opportunities for you to advance your education in this area.

5 Ways to Communicate Better

Towers Watson shared 5 tips to better communications. I am going to borrow those “tips” and expand on them with my own thoughts. Before I do, I want to throw out a couple of things. First, I think stock plan administrators are not often marketing people by training or trade. Some of us become effective communicators, but it’s important to remember that communicating about stock plans to employees is very much about marketing. Yes, we need to communicate the specifics, but we also need to deliver the intended incentive or value proposition to the participant, and that’s the marketing piece. Second, stock plan administrators should not necessarily need to wear the communication hat alone. I often hear administrators say that they feel responsible for driving plan communications. That may be true, but there can be tremendous value in engaging marketing expertise – not only as a fresh set of eyes on the communication strategy, but also because that marketing resource could bring a whole new set of tools to your employee education.

1. Treat employees like consumers.  Companies spend thousands, even millions of dollars trying to figure out how to resonate with their consumers in the shortest amount of time. Capturing attention is valuable, and attracting the attention of your employee is not different than what is wanted from the consumer. Messages should be quick and designed to draw in their attention.

2. Ensure communications highlight the key messages and behaviours the plan is trying to drive. In summarizing this point, Towers raises a critical piece – it’s not enough to just communicate about things like performance metrics. Yes, employees need to know what the measurements will be, but just as importantly, they have to know what it takes to achieve them. In crafting communications about performance metrics (or even simple time based vesting), make sure the content includes not just the end goal, but identifies the path necessary to get there!

3. Show “what’s in it for me?” I’ve been guilty myself of not doing this part. Sometimes we focus on getting factual information out, and overlook or omit the value proposition to the participant. The ESPP has a 15% discount – so what? A great communication takes the “fact” that there is a 15% discount in the ESPP and expands the communication to explain why the participant should care about that (without crossing some of the fine lines I identify in the last paragraph of this section). Remember, your stock plan is only as valuable as your participant thinks it is.

4. Keep it simple. It’s easy to mistake a more advanced audience (like executives) as good targets for an overload of information. Towers Watson shared that discussions with top executives revealed, in some cases, little understanding about how the plans actually work. The reality is that matter who the audience is, keep the communications simple. The communications should not get more complex just because the audience is deemed to be more intellectual or higher ranking in an organization. Be sure to add in graphics, charts, or other visual information that reduces texts and illustrates a concept.

5. Segment. Not everyone learns the same way – some people need to see an example on paper, others can just read about it and understand. It’s imperative that any communication takes into account the recipient demographics. Once you know who is going to be on the receiving end, you can use different modes of communications – and even wording within a communication – to best connect with your audience. With so many tools available (videos, in person meetings, email, text, and more), you should have several choices in delivering your message.

Although I have introduced the word “marketing” to the communication mix, I also want to reiterate that there are some fine lines that need to be considered. It’s important that any marketing (or communication) message be reviewed by counsel to ensure there are no financial or luring promises, over education, or tricky guidance (for example, a marketing message of “The ESPP Can Save You Money on Taxes” is likely not going to fly. Although there could be tax advantages to participating in a qualified ESPP, the company cannot guarantee or represent specific tax savings and it could be risky to suggest such.) It’s time to take communications beyond simple facts and create an overall “marketing” campaign that captures participant attention and delivers on highlighting the value or incentive the stock plan was designed to achieve.

Exciting Education Opportunities

The NASPP’s 23rd Annual NASPP Conference kicks off in less than 3 weeks! We have an entire track at the Conference dedicated to “Administration and Communication,” so check out the list of those sessions to identify your must-attend panels.

-Jenn