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April 11, 2006
French fight and French fries
Virtually everywhere you look, you can see seismic shifts in employment policies and practices—so significant, in fact, that they will require dramatic changes in how we communicate with employees.
For instance, today’s New York Times (www.nytimes.com) has two front-page articles on workplace issues:
Article #1
“Chirac Will Rescind Labor Law That Caused Wide French Riots”
The issue is job security, and it’s caused more than 10 days of protests and unrest in France. It all started on April 2, when French President Jacques Chirac signed a new law which was “intended to give employers a simpler way of hiring workers under 26 on a trial basis without immediately exposing companies to the cumbersome and costly benefits that make hiring and firing such a daunting enterprise. Opposition to the law reflects the deep-rooted fear among the French of losing their labor and social protection in a globalized world.”
Here’s what it means
Companies are trying to gain more flexibility to hire and fire workers at will, and, in turn, employees in nearly every developed country are increasingly nervous about their economic security, whether the issue is jobs, pensions or health insurance. Watch how this plays out in labor relations, and its impact on employee morale and retention.
Communication implication
My firm is increasingly being asked to advise companies how to reassure employees without promising them anything. At one very stable Fortune 500 corporation, employees are expressing anxiety that their pensions will disappear, even though the company does not have plans to change its pension program. “People are reading the headlines and wondering when these issues will affect us,” said my client. “We’d like to allay their fears, but we can’t make guarantees because we can’t predict that we won’t make changes in the future.”
Article #2
“The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order”
McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurants are experimenting with using call centers to handle its drive-through window orders: When the customer asks for fries, instead of speaking to an employee, he or she deals with a call-center contractor many miles away who enters the order into a computer to be filled by employees back at the restaurant.
“Taking advantage of ever-cheaper communications technology, companies are creating centralized staffs of specially trained order-takers, even for situations where old-fashioned physical proximity has been the norm,” says the article. Cost-cutting is not necessarily the main goal—the focus is on improving customer service.
Here's what it means
Remote, contract and temp workers are becoming the norm. There are many people working for your company who aren’t technically employees, yet they’re dealing with customers, employees and other stakeholders every day.
Communication implication
Most communicators are only concerned with communicating with on-the-payroll employees. But if nontraditional workers are so important, shouldn't they be as informed and engaged as those who receive an official paycheck?
Food for thought . . .
Posted by Alison Davis at April 11, 2006 04:53 PM