Problems with email-only policy communication

Their company newsletter has a 12% open rate. Company-wide emails? 8% engagement. Slack announcements get buried under memes: Meanwhile, employees are asking: "Why didn't anyone tell us about this?" They’re broadcasting into the void. Last month, the communications director watched their CEO spend 20 minutes explaining a major policy change to the leadership team. Detailed walkthrough. Clear rationale. Smart questions from the room. Three days later: "When is someone going to explain this new policy?" Same exact question from five different department heads. That's when it hit the comms team. Distribution is the problem. Months were spent crafting the perfect message. Zero minutes thinking about how people actually consume information. Reality check: - 73% of their workforce works remotely - Average employee checks email twice per day - Most important conversations happen in side channels - People learn about company news from LinkedIn before internal comms Leadership was optimizing for corporate communications playbooks from 2015. But the workforce moved on without them. So the team tried something different. Instead of pushing information down through official channels, they started mapping how information naturally flows. Three discoveries emerged: 1. Team leads are the real communication hubs 2. Staff trust peer updates more than corporate messaging 3. Context matters more than content New approach implemented: - Brief team leads first with talking points - Give them permission to translate corporate speak - Allow conversations to happen organically in existing spaces - Follow up with formal documentation, not formal announcements Results after two months: - Policy awareness up - Employee questions down - Actual engagement with company updates increased Employees don't ignore communications, but ad communications systems are what get ignored. Better emails aren't the solution, building better information flow is.

Nobody wants to leave a good job. Everyone wants to leave a bad culture. One of the silent drivers that makes people quit? Lack of comms at work. Especially for frontline workers. New research by Deloitte has shown that approx 2 out of every 3 frontline leaders BELIEVE they have effective communication strategies. But only 1 out 3 frontline employees actually feel that way. That's a massive mismatch. 🚨 Red flags I watch out for (When I audit Fortune500 frontline comms systems) ❌ Desktop or email only communications Your warehouse workers don't live on company email. Your retail associates share one computer. Your delivery drivers are on the road. You can't treat these as the only form to send "all hands" emails about policy changes. ❌ One size fits all messaging    You send the same message to corporate office workers and frontline teams. "Please review the updated expense policy in SharePoint" means nothing to someone who's never filed an expense report. Your frontline comms need to FEEL like that are designed 1:1 for them. Make it feel relevant. ❌ Corporate tone and jargon "We're implementing a paradigm shift in our customer-centric value proposition." Frontline workers tune out immediately. They need to know the basics like "who, what, where, when, why" with a short summary of "Here's what changed for you today." Cut the fluff. ❌ Information overload without prioritization Sending 15 different updates in one message. Frontline workers need to know the top 3 things that affect their shift, not everything happening across the enterprise. Should you make them feel included? 100%. But start with the ESSENTIAL stuff. THen you can add on. ❌ Relying solely on middle managers to cascade information Playing telephone through supervisors? Info is going to die on the vine. By the time critical information reaches the frontline, it's either delayed, diluted, or completely wrong. So, what should you do instead? 🟩 Green flags I advocate for ✅ Mobile first accessible channels 38% of on site and deskless workers report that mobile phones are the most effective method of communication compared to other channels. ✅ Role specific, actionable content Segment by job function. What a store associate needs to know is different from what a warehouse worker needs to know. Tailor accordingly. ✅ Conversational, human voice Write like you're talking to someone face to face. Would you say it to them in a real conversation? If yes, great. If no? Rewrite until you would. ✅ Consistent, two way communication Set a regular cadence and build in feedback loops. Quick polls, reactions, comment threads. Show that communication is a dialogue, not just execs broadcasting down at the frontline teams. ✅ Direct access to info Give frontline workers their own communication tools. Don't filter everything through supervisors. They should feel empowered to self serve. P.S. What else would you add?

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱. 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻.   It hurts. But it also holds the key to your most strategic work. Here's how. Does this sound familiar: 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 - 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 (𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺!) 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯… 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘕𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘕𝘰 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘕𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘴. 18% 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥-𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. • 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭? • 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳? • 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘳? The truth is, these usual suspects are rarely the root cause: ✉️ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹: Email remains employees' preferred channel according to multiple surveys. Still unsure? Ask yourself: 𝘋𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴? If yes, then the channel probably isn’t the issue. ✏️ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: You're skilled. You did your best work. Sure, writing always improves with editing, but poor engagement rarely stems from wording alone. 📝 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁: You don't control the topic - leadership does. You're communicating what needs to be communicated. This is where many comms professionals either double down on tactics or quietly give up. But this moment is actually your turning point. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲-𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴. Low engagement isn't usually a communication problem. It's a symptom of something deeper: - People are overwhelmed - There's too much internal noise - They don't trust the message - or the messenger - They've emotionally checked out 💡 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁! Suddenly, you hold information leadership needs but can't access themselves. Start with these three steps: 1. Map who's not reading your emails. By team? Role? Location? Pay attention to the ones you 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 to engage. 2. Look at their broader experience. Sick leave, employee survey scores, recent change fatigue. Connect the dots. 3. Talk to people. HR, works councils, ERGs. And most importantly: The employees themselves. Go in with curiosity. Not assumptions. You don’t need a louder message. You need better questions. Next time your email gets ignored, don’t ask “what did I do wrong?” Ask: “what is this telling me?”