ten questions to test the effectiveness of your employee communication plan

8/6/2019 Ten Questions to Test the Effectiveness of Your Employee Communication Plan

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TEN QUESTIONS TO TEST THE EFFECTIVENESSOF YOUR EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION PLAN

Whether youre starting a new equity plan or re-launching/promoting an existing one, effectively communicatingwith your employees is a vitally important step that many administrators forget about, or ignore. But theyshouldnt a strong and well-thought-out communication plan can make all the difference in your equity plans

overall success and its ability to retain, motivate and attract talent.

Its not uncommon for plan administrators to become overwhelmed with the idea of creating communicationsplans for their participants effectively communicating with all employees involved is a huge undertaking. but, its

also vital to the success of your plan.

So, where do you start when designing, or re-designing a plan? Soliums communications team, whichspecializes in building customized client communications, has come up with these ten questions to help guide

you through the development of the best communication plan possible for your current and potential planparticipants.

1. WHAT ARE YOUR OBJECTIVES AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES?

Before you can design your communication plan, you need to know what it is youre trying to communicate

and what results you want to come of it. A communication plan will undoubtedly fail if it does not have clear-cutmessages. Once you have answers to these questions, you can then go on to meet with a communications

specialist to help you develop a plan to facilitate your goals.

Ask yourself:

What am I trying to communicate? What are the goals of this communication plan? How do I want my employees to respond to these communications and what actions do I want

them to take as a result?

2. WHAT ARE YOUR KEY MESSAGES?

Further to Question 1, this step requires you to be more specific about the key message you want to sendyour employees. Most plans will have more than one message, so its also important to introduce an order of

importance to ensure employees receive the messages in the most streamlined fashion. At this point, its also

important to consider how much your audience knows about the topic of your communications.

Ask yourself:

What are the most important messages I want my employees to take away from these communications?

If the employee will only take away one key piece of information from this communication, which one do youwant it to be?

What do I want them to do as a result? What is the best way to introduce these messages, and in what order? Is my audience familiar with this topic, or do I need to introduce background, or educational information?

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Ask yourself:

What are the milestones and key dates involved with my project?

How can I plan my communications to best correspond with these dates?

5. ARE THERE ANY FACTORS, SUCH AS OTHER CORPORATECOMMUNICATIONS, SPECIFIC DEPARTMENTALREQUIREMENTS (E.G. QUARTER-END) OR HOLIDAYS, THATMIGHT INTERFERE WITH YOUR TIMELINE?

When making a timeline for your communication plan, its also important to

coordinate with other departments who may be communicating with yourtarget audience. Overwhelming your employees with many types of conflicting

communications at once may undermine their effectiveness. Also, try to avoidlaunching new projects or communications during busier times of the year, such as

Christmas or summer, as your employees will likely be distracted with other things.

Ask yourself:

Are there other things going on during your intended timeline (other departmentcommunications, holidays/conflicts of schedule, etc.)?

Could these distractions undermine the effectiveness of your project?

6. WHAT ARE THE BEST TYPES OF COMMUNICATIONS FORYOUR GOALS?

Now its time to consider your actual communication pieces. A communications

specialist can help you determine the best mediums to fit your audience andcommunicate your message (for example, a company-wide email, a letter delivered

by regular mail, a plan booklet or FAQ outlining a quick overview of the mainbenefits of the plan and how to enroll, etc.).

There are many types of communications today, both print and digital, and thechoices can be overwhelming. Its best to work with a communications specialist

who is experienced in working with companies like your own to help you determineyour most effective options based on what has worked in the past and whats

available to you.

Ask yourself:

What are my options for different types of communications? What types of communication pieces have been effective in the past with my

intended audience and company culture?

7. WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET FOR THIS PROJECT?

Now that youve determined the best way to communicate your message, youneed to determine how this campaign will fit into your budget. A communications

specialist can give you a pricing estimate for the communications plan you have inmind, but you need to know your bottom line.

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Ask yourself:

What are the costs associated with building the proposed communication plan or

communication piece(s)?

What is my budget?

8. HOW WILL YOU DELIVER THESE COMMUNICATIONS?

Now you must determine the best way to reach your intended audience. Consult

with your communications specialist to determine what has worked in the past withyour target audience and others similar to your own. There are a variety of options,

so its a good idea to consult with a communications consultant (email, hard copy,regular mail, digital communications via your company intranet, etc.)

Ask yourself:

What is the best way to reach my intended audience? What has

worked in the past?

9. WHO ARE YOUR RESOURCES AND KEY PLAYERS?

Who will write, edit, deliver and follow-up with your communications? Maybe youhave an internal communications team that can be assigned certain tasks, ormaybe you have outsourced the entire project to an external firm, or your plan

administrators firm. Either way, when youre working with tight deadlines itsimportant to designate who is in charge of what, who is overseeing the process

and who will be reviewing the communications before theyre signed off. If youreworking with a communications specialist, these tasks and persons responsible

should be outlined in a signed contract.

Ask yourself:

Who is responsible for writing/editing the communications? Who is participating in the review process and who will sign off on final versions?

Who is responsible for the delivery of the communications? Is all this information clearly outlined in a contract, if applicable?

10. WHAT ARE YOUR SUCCESS FACTORS?

With any big project, its important to determine your goals early on and outline how

you are able to measure the success of the project, throughout the process andafter its completion. A communications specialist can help you outline measures ofsuccess for your plan.

Ask yourself:

What are the goals of this project and how can we measure our success in

achieving them? What is success?

For more information on designing employee communication plans,

contact one of Soliums Solutions Consultants today.

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Contact Solium

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Solium Capital, the Solium Capital logo and Shareworks are trademarks of Solium Capital in Canada and/or othe

countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Ten Ques

ABOUT SOLIUM CAPITAL

Solium is a leading global provider of web-based stock plan administration technology and services. Oursoftware helps companies automate and manage their stock option and purchase plans by providing unrivaled

comprehensive regulatory and financial reporting capabilities. Founded in 1999, Solium has offices in Canadaand the United States.

Soliums mission and sole focus is to simplify stock plan administration for everyone through technology

and services. Our innovative and passionate approach tosimplifying and automating tasks, along with our industry-leadingShareworks software, has made Solium a disruptive force in

the stock plan administration industry.

Since our inception, we have emerged as pioneers in theindustry. We are always striving to change the status quo and

challenge and update traditional methods. We take great pride inbeing leaders of change and delivering the most innovative stock

plan administration experience possible for finance and HRprofessionals, and plan administrators and participants.

ABOUT SOLIUM TRANSCENTIVE

Solium Transcentive, a subsidiary of Solium Capital, is the equity

plan provider of choice for more than 850 companies worldwide.To meet the needs of todays equity compensation environment,Solium Transcentive offers a comprehensive range of

technology and advisory solutions, designed to help companiesmanage equity plans and drive efficient and effective plan

administration. Solium Transcentive develops, maintains andmarkets the Express Equity suite of products, which includes

Express Options, Express Stock Purchase, Express Desktopand Express Share Tracking.

erved.

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