How effective communication can boost employee retention

The employee has become senior leadership’s most elusive customer. CEOs sometimes say their most valuable asset leaves the building every night. Half that is true today: Employees are high value, but many aren’t coming into the office anymore and some are leaving the building for good. 

CEOs would normally look to HR to solve for quiet quitting and the Great Resignation. Employees are exhausted by the pandemic and persistent social, financial, and political woes. They are tackling feelings of isolation, skepticism, and a lack of belonging in their workplace.

The current state of work demands a closer look at the org chart and the role of the communicator. The communicator may hold titles ranging from chief communications officer to VP of employee culture to public relations director. While they are often embedded in the HR or marketing department, their default role is sometimes that of order-taker, not strategist. 

The communicator is the heart and soul of the workplace. They are the secret ingredient to employee retention.

One of the effects of the pandemic is that employees are demanding more transparency and authenticity from their employer and evidence that they care, and not just by paying them fairly, but by paying attention to their whole selves: their physical, mental, social, and financial wellbeing. They are evaluating the CEO on a daily basis and publicly holding them accountable on a growing list of social platforms.  

Those involved in employer branding strategies know that it’s an inside-out challenge requiring effective employee communications. It demands transparency from the CEO, better manager-employee communications, and a culture in which employees believe in their company’s purpose.  

All the best-laid plans around benefits, corporate mission, and career opportunities are lost on most employees if they are not communicated properly. A company’s strong earnings or growth trajectory is great for the shareholders, but disgruntled employees can take a company down in a New York minute.

The CEO-communicator partnership is key to keeping a culture strong 

While the C-suite needs to invest more in the communications function, communicators, for their part, need to upskill and reset priorities to better align with the CEO. While writing a good press release, for example, is still a staple of media relations, it is less critical than knowing how to foster meaningful relationships with journalists. 

While a diversity, equity, and inclusion plan is important, a good communicator will ensure that what’s behind the D, the E, and I is airtight before they go out and sing the praises of their company’s impressive DEI strategy. Smart communicators know they need to fix their home’s foundation and clean up some of the messes before they start inviting the people into the house. CEOs must address their company’s DEI issues rather than demand a public relations campaign around half-baked initiatives. 

There has never been a time quite like this for communicators to leverage their unique position as chief storyteller and brand protector to co-create a better workplace experience that makes quiet quitting and the great resignation lowercase words with lower impact. 

A CEO who puts a premium on employee wellbeing will look to their communications leaders to develop these five competencies, and they will play a critical role in their progress.

Relationship building

This lands at the top of the list of competencies that CEOs value most in their communications leaders and that chief communications officers also put at the top of their list, according to the most recent HarrisX/Ragan survey of 500+ communicators and CEOs. CEOs must let the communications leaders into the boardroom and other strategic meetings and incentivize cross-disciplinary engagement with HR and Marketing. 

Business fluency

Anyone in a leadership position should understand their company’s business inside out. They should gravitate to the data and be fluent in business terms ranging from P&L to GAAP. A communicator who can connect what they do with the bottom line is likely to gain the attention and respect of the CEO. An empathetic CEO will cut the communicator some slack as they navigate the balance sheets. 

Strategic project management

A corporate communicator is responsible for a wide range of areas, from crisis management to media relations, from corporate responsibility to financial communications. With a dizzying array of always-on platforms, a strong communicator must be a master at organizing and prioritizing initiatives. Project management skills are under-rated; strategic project management skills are hardly talked about. 

Writing

What ever happened to good writing? CEOs assume their communications department is comprised of great writers. They need to verify. More attention needs to be paid to the ABCs of communication: being able to articulate a message in a clear, concise and engaging manner. 

Storytelling

Every organization and employee has interesting stories to be told. Communicators are best equipped to shape the narratives that humanize the workforce and create a culture in which employees want to co-write their company’s story. The CEO should not always be the central character.

Attracting and retaining great talent is an ongoing project that requires transparent leadership, realistic expectations, and a communications strategy supported by the CEO that signals to employees: I appreciate you.

Diane Schwartz is the CEO of Ragan Communications, a media and training company for communicators, marketers, HR professionals, and digital leaders. Its signature brands include Ragan, PR Daily, the Communications Leadership Council, the PR Leadership Network and Ragan Training.