Caroline Russell
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR
Nothing has the potential power to unsettle and demotivate employees more than negative changes in their pay structures.
The immediate impact of a change such as this on your teams can be anxiousness, concern and even anger - which leads to destabilisation and a drop in morale and motivation. But crucially, the longer term implications of a badly communicated change to a pay structure can engender deep, cultural mistrust from employees, potentially leading to widespread disengagement and declining business performance.
Clear, sensitive, brave and honest communication around this type of operational change is crucial – not just to protect against the immediate effects on employees’ emotions and reactions, but also the long-term health and performance of your business.
There is no single set of instructions or guidelines to manage the delivery of this type of information, or a way to make 100% sure that employees come out the other side motivated and driven rather than deflated and disappointed.
As always, when it comes to any type of internal communication, the key to effectively and successfully communicating a controversial or new pay structure is to consider and address the needs of each individual.
Employees will be immediately – and rightly– concerned with the personal impact of the news. Understanding and addressing this explicitly is how sensitive and effective internal communication around pay and payroll starts.
Although communication channels, specific messaging and timescales will be different in each business, we have five universal communication tactics to ensure your employees come out the other side of this type of operational change feeling understood, heard, and engaged:
Of course, not all pay restructures result in negative outcomes for employees. Often pay restructures produce mixed outcomes, with some employees enjoying positive results. In these situations, it’s even more important to ensure a tailored, employee and individual-focused approach to your internal comms. This will ensure clarity, honesty and clear reasoning behind the changes that are affecting people differently.
Indeed, when businesses are performing well, pay structure reviews can also be overwhelmingly positive. In these instances, naturally the pressure on communication is not as acute, but the approach of sharing the impact on employees first, is still sound as this will make the biggest impression on morale and motivation.
Operational changes to your company may, on paper, lead to increased efficiencies. Indeed, a simple Google search will give you templates and ‘to-do’ lists of practical tasks to undertake when communicating a change as controversial as a pay restructure. However, using templated letters and sending long emails about what’s happening, without putting your employees at the centre of your comms strategy, ignores the human and emotional aspect.
Maintaining team morale and engagement is paramount and can mean the difference between success or failure.
Without a focus on your people and how these changes will affect them, alongside transparent communication around the reasons behind these changes, you’re likely to have a demotivated team on your hands which could have a longer term impact on your business performance.
It is the workforce and employee buy-in to the operational changes that is going to make the difference, not the operational changes themselves.
Being direct, honest, and clear about what is happening on an individual level and delivering the message in a caring, personalised and respectful way will build the trust and respect you need to inspire your employees to keep motivated through this change.
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Caroline Russell
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR