Ongoing Employee Awareness
In a society saturated with communications, only 1% of the information we get from the messages we see today will stay with us until tomorrow. A little more information is retained after a structured training event, but the level of recall among the participants will diminish significantly in the days and weeks following the event.
Effective, ongoing awareness requires frequent reminders and reinforcement. The workplace is the ideal environment to situate the communications media which will help you connect with your employees and provide those reminders.
If you’re promoting a new policy, seeking to change employee behavior, or encouraging a more environmentally responsible attitude, you need to place messages top-of-mind in employee consciousness. The typical communication methods used in the workplace tend to be short-term, immediate and specific.
Frequency of messaging is only one variable in the communications equation; to have the greatest effect on attitudes and behaviors, the messages must also be creative and engaging.
Ongoing awareness through educational media can take many forms:
- Materials posted in high traffic areas. These could be prominent wall posters, banners or calendars.
- Job aids that assist employees in their particular functions while conveying a specific message. These could be note pads with header and footer messages, pens, etc.
- Collateral that is distributed directly to employees in the form of brochures, newsletters or reference guides.
- Electronic media such as email reminders, video snippets or Intranet banner ads.
