In their infinite wisdom The Powers That Be in my company have decided that we need an employee newsletter to bring unity among the far-flung divisions and sales staff. It will be my job to put the infernal thing together using the information supplied from the different departments and random people.
I’m not actively resisting the beast, but I’m skeptical of it’s success. Experience teaches me that I will have enough article submissions for the first and perhaps the second issue. After that I will be badgering people for their copy. Furthermore, I’m not convinced that people even like these things, which leads to my question.
Does your company have an employee newsletter? If so, do you bother reading it? Do you look forward to it or line your bird cage with it? What do you like/dislike about it?
I hate our employee newsletter! I read it every Friday and spend most of that time correcting various spelling/grammar mistakes. And these people are my superiors! WTF?
A couple weeks ago, the Bii (what we call our newsletter) had a small piece called, “The Three Words That End In ‘-GRY’: A Riddle”.
Yes it does and most of the time I do not bother to read it. I have, a few times, altered the company newsletter and sent it to a couple of my co-workers (friends of mine of course). For the most part though, I don’t look forward to it. It clutters up my email and never tells me anything constructive. It’s alway “Senior Blah has won a contract for 50 bazillion dollars, thanks senior Blah”.
My husband got them at two different places he worked. There were photos from company picnics and birth and wedding and retirement announcements, and the CEO or Pres would write about how great things were going to be. He rarely read them and usually just tossed them in the trash.
We have one at our work, but it’s always got photos of the same people getting awards. Funny how in an organization of 4000+, the same 8 people are doing all the work. And the articles by the honchos about how we need to “work smarter” and all that crap never change. I quit reading them eons ago.
What an interesting thread! So, to the people who dislike them, what would make them worth reading? I used to help write an e-mail version of a weekly newsletter, and now that I’m temping for a company I really like, I’m trying to find ideas that I can bring to them to make myself more valuable and hireable.
I’ve never seen a single article in one of those which was worth reading. They’re always information-free puff pieces about people you’ve never heard of who work in divisions on the opposite side of the country.
What I’d really like to see is a newsletter which gives me the unvarnished truth about what’s going on in the company - successes and failures both. Which divisions aren’t performing up to expectations, who should keep their heads up for layoffs, &c.
Basically an authoritative replacement for the grapevine, especially valuable for those who are “out of the loop.”
[hopelessly utopian]
A Consumer Reports-style “best and worst bosses” annual feature would also be valuable, for job applicants or those contemplating transfers.
Well, when I inherited the newsletter duties many years ago at a past job, I quickly found that it was one of those newsletters that resemble so many described here: puff pieces, executives backslapping each other, propaganda, and so on. Nobody seemed to be really keen on it, but it was still there because it had always been there. Office inertia is stronger than you might think.
So, what to do? I tried something radical, and made the newsletter into a Weekly World News-style tabloid. All the “hard news” was reported with a tabloidish spin on it (“Product X To Be Released In Time For Next Alien Visit,” for example); and when filler material was needed, I just made it up (“Elvis Spotted In Copier Room”).
Oddly enough, it was a hit, especially with the higher-ups. In fact, it became a mark of honour to be mentioned in it, especially in a headline (“Richard Admits It: ‘I Got To Second Base But Not With My Wife’” would lead a story about a game played by the office softball team, where Richard was the star of the game).
I’m not sure if anybody continued it in that style after I left that job, but it sure was fun while it lasted.
It may not be a solution for you, Homebrew, but then again, who knows?
I used to work for a company called Siemens, and the newletter was called Siemens Scope. I always thought that sounded more like a male fertility device than a newsletter.
And no matter what you do, do not include articles stating how many multi-billion dollar contracts we’ve won. Especially when you lower our raise amounts, and increase the amount we have to pay for our medical coverage. I won’t even talk about the money you spend on the stupid glossy newsletter could better be spent by perhaps springing for a Christmas dinner. Heck, even order pizza for a lunch or something. But don’t tell me that the company is strugling, while sending me notice after notice of all the wonderful contracts we have…Bah!
I do the newletter here. The articles are pretty much written by a lady who doesn’t even work in the same state. The Pres. and VP write some little letter every month about things that they think are important. I think they’ve thanked everyone every month for their effort and to “keep up the good work.” It gets old. We barely have enough to put in the thing, so we often have to make word-searches or connect-the-dots. Fun! I like the idea of going Tabloid, but I don’t think they’d go for it, not to mention that I don’t have time to make witty non-offensive stories every month. I’d end up saying something bad and getting fired.
