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July 19, 2005

Don’t waste employees’ time

Let’s pretend that I’ve waved my magic wand and you no longer work for the Senior VP of Blah-Blah-Blah, but for the 500, 5,000 or 50,000 employees in your organization. They’re your bosses now. Your sole mission is to use communication to make their jobs easier and help them succeed.

There are probably 87 things you would do differently (like eliminate those stupid organizational announcements), but let’s focus on one in particular: You would make sure that, from now on, communication doesn’t waste a moment of employees’ time.

How to begin? I know, let’s start with the intranet. You’d explore the answers to these questions:

  • Is the home page and every other aspect of the web site as clear and as easy to navigate as it could be?
  • Can employees find exactly the information they need when and how they want it? Is the intranet an open door to useful and relevant information?
  • Can employees access the intranet anywhere—at work, at home and while on assignment in Copenhagen?

I ask because far too often, the answer to these questions is “No.” For example, a new study, “2001-2005: Research Study Reveals Dramatic Changes Among Information Consumers,” conducted by research firm Outsell, uncovers some disturbing statistics about how professionals find the information they need to do their jobs. Among the findings:

  • Only 15% of professionals today rely on corporate intranets for job-related information (an increase of 5% in 2001). By contrast, 67% search the Internet.
  • There’s an increase in using non-electronic means to get information. For example, 9% consult colleagues for information they need (up from 5% in 2001).
  • Today’s professionals spend 53% of their time seeking information. The time professionals spend gathering and looking for information translates to estimated 5.4 billion hours per year for United States corporations.

What an incredible opportunity. If we could construct our intranets in a way to help people do their jobs, save their time, and make their lives easier, then we’d really be adding value.

Until then, it’s back to drafting the organizational announcement. The Senior VP of Blah-Blah-Blah says the e-mail has to go out to all employees today.

Posted by Alison Davis at July 19, 2005 09:15 AM