Word of Employee Relations Director
Read the Following Articles and Websites About Negative Messages and Business Letters
Writing Negative Messages. Retrieved from: http://homepages(dot)wmich(dot)edu/~bowman/badnews.html
Crisis Communication: Lessons from 9/11
Letters... We Get Stacks of Letters and Business Notes. Retrieved from: http://www(dot)csun(dot)edu/~vcecn006/lettr.html
Writing an Effective Business Letter. Retrieved from: http://www(dot)office(dot)xerox(dot)com/small-business/tips/business-letter/enus.html
Assignment:
Read the case study below:
Bad News Memo or E-Mail: Reassuring Staff After Layoffs (From Dr. Guffy’s case studies)
On the TV show "The Apprentice," Donald Trump seemed to relish announcing "You're fired" to losing contestants. But most employers recoil from having to tell employees that they will be "downsized." To make a difficult job easier, managers sometimes use plain language, euphemisms, and jargon to avoid bluntly announcing that someone has been fired or laid off. In fact, cutbacks have generated new words like "rightsizing" and "re-engineering."
Regardless of the language, today's economic tailspin forces organizations to tell employees that they will be losing their jobs by emphasizing what is best for the company. At e-Bay, 1,500 employees lost their jobs in a program of "employee simplification." At Yahoo the CEO explained layoffs as a way for the company to "become more fit."
No matter how you look at it, people are worried about losing their jobs, and those who remain are worried about whether the company will stay in business.
Experts differ on how to reveal possible workforce reductions. Should managers disclose the news indirectly and quietly? Or should they use the direct approach and announce loudly that they are taking forceful action to strengthen the organization in a dour economy? Some say that executives should use bland language to minimize the public relations fallout from mass firings. Vague explanations and even corporate jargon may be appropriate to reduce the negative effect on remaining employees and on recruiting new employees when the economy rebounds. Opaque language and euphemisms may lessen the impact of layoffs.
Assume you work in the human resource department of BrightWave Technology, a high-tech firm that has decided to lay off 10 percent of its workforce to maintain profitability. Although every department has participated in cost-cutting measures, expenses continue to mount, and sales are not where they should be.
Your boss, Shirley Schmidt, has asked you to draft an e-mail that goes to the staff whose jobs are untouched by the layoffs. The goal is to assure key employees that management is in control of the situation. You need to emphasize that BrightWave maintains a strong strategic vision, and that management is convinced of the firm's rosy future in the tech industry. Still, layoffs are necessary to make the company more financially stable. Ever mindful of its people, BrightWave is taking all possible measures to assist those who have lost their jobs. These reductions will help make the firm stronger, says Schmidt.
Assignment Instructions: Draft an e-mail from Shirley Schmidt, director, Employee Relations, BrightWave Technology. In addressing remaining employees, your message should explain the bad news and strive to preserve employee morale. Decide whether to use the direct or indirect approach. Apply as many concepts as possible from the readings. After you've written the letter, describe how you used the ideas from the readings. The paper should be 3 to 5 pages in length.
Submit your assignments by the module's due date.
Assignment Expectations:
Write a 3-5 page “draft email” from the director, Shirley Schmidt (remember that you are drafting the letter for Shirley Schmidt to sign).
Write a 150 word summary explaining why you used the principles you used in writing the email to Shirley Schmidt.
Apply as many concepts as possible from the readings.
After you've written the letter, write a summary describing how you used the ideas from the readings. Make sure to include proper referencing in your summary.
Word of Employee Relations Director
Name:
Course Title:
Institution:
Tutor:
Date:
January 31, 2014.
From Shirley Schmidt,
Employee Relations Director,
BrightWave Technology.
Dear Employees:
RE: WORD OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS DIRECTOR
I express appreciation to every employee for exemplary support and continued commitment towards firm’s activities amid difficult economic conditions. Our success as a leading high-tech firm is largely dependent and founded on strong workforce through which core objectives as well as envied growth has been possible. We have achieved quite a lot together and the firm values good relations amongst us all to enable future successes. My department has been on the forefront to ensure such profound relationships are upheld and will remain steadfast in periods to come. Transforming our workforce to fit the competitive requirements in the ever dynamic environment is desirable to foster growth and profitability in the current century. Within BrightWave, such practices are applied with great care for mutual benefit of the firm and our employees. Our human resource policies strive to create apt working environment besides attaining high motivation for everyone.
The firm operates in a very competitive industry and establishing comparative advantages over rivals has been vital to our achievements. I would explain that the company’s prosperity has come from favorable management strategies that have enabled sustainability in the turbulent environment. We have taken proactive measures in all departments inclusive of the workforce to realize efficiency and good performance necessary to keep us among top companies in technology. Changes in human resources are unavoidable to a company since some workers retire or join other organizations while others get recruited. The quality of workforce is proportional to output of a company and we have promoted capabilities of employees, which is one way of building core competences, in various ways. We have enhanced technical skills through trainings and giving individuals opportunities for development. The programs have been available to all workers and we look forward to future enhancements. At some point we have brought in new workers to augment our technical ability and in very few occasions had to release some. This has been possible due to generally positive business activity. Despite the challenges faced such recessions and difficult economic conditions, we have striven to retain our competent team. This principle aims at creating stability in workforce. We are passionate of our workers and whenever it was difficult to keep some, we have worked hand in hand with them to uphold their enthusiasm. More often, we have reconsidered them whenever the economic conditions turned favorable.
Downsizing our workforce is the last resort in our endeavors to creating strong and motivated team. Several strategies are applied to find alternatives of keeping them. I applaud the different departments for role played in increasing efficiency and cutting down costs. This has been a viable strategy by creating savings that has helped sustain some employees. In this line I call upon employees to take responsibility in areas of operation to attain maximum utilization of resources while cutting down wastages. In other words, our employees are co-owners of the business through the tasks performed and the management is in full support to enable attainment of common goals. The policies developed by management such as cost reduction and efficiency in use of resources are for common good as a family.
The future of the company is bright and will only provide higher levels of success. Structures that have been up are consistent with the vision and mission of the firm. The management is focused to attainment of objectives and increase profitability. However, realization of these achievements will not come at the expense of long-term relationship we have enjoyed with our employees. Employees rank highest as the most important resources of the firm as fostered in our core values. They help in transforming strategies into desired results and consequently benefit from success attained. The terms of current workforce are preserved and will not be affected by changes that take place within the company. We will offer empowerment programs to enhance competence of our workforce besides developing individuals towards self-actualization. The relationship between the management and the employees will strengthen since the groups draw closer. We will be better placed to attend to issues of employees in more fulfilling manner and in good time. Restructuring will enable workers acquire more skills through new roles and will prepare them for future responsibilities and promotions. This is an opportune opportunity that everyone can benefit from.
Following the current trend within the company, I call upon our esteemed employees to keep the continued support and commit to their jobs without anxiety. The rightsizing program within our staff was conducted in goodwill and for sole purpose of attaining financial stability during this hard economic situation. This is important for firm’s perpetual life that will translate to extended contracts for employees. There are no cases of victimization in the firm and all current employees are assured of their jobs. I urge for abolition of all unnecessary rum...