Le mot juste – now 24/7

I am always keen to promote clear writing, condemn jargon and generally get grumpy-old-manish about the written and spoken word. Contrary to what you might expect in this Internet and web-based world ordinary people (ie, those in ordinary, every-day jobs) are expected to respond to more and more written information expressed in increasingly confusing language. There are a number of web-based sources of spelling and useage but a new one Grammartogo offers subscribers not only guidance to grammer, spelling, writing style and much more but an interactive email service to solve your writing queries (and, often as not, prove your boss wrong).

Reward & recession

To a CIPD reward forum this week on the topic of “Rewarding in a Recession”. The scene was set by John Philpott of the CIPD with a number of highly depressing going-downhill graphs followed by general advice on how to get value for your non-pay benefits from Mark Eaton of Personal Group. Chris Johnson of Mercer then gave an all-round view of what is happening in larger companies. I will post some more detailed comments at another date but here are four key points that I brought away with me.

Communicating the reward package

One aspect of reward that came up several times, from both speakers and delegates, in this week’s Reward Forum seminar was that of communications to employees about the true extent of their reward package. Never easy, but charities and voluntary organisations (the focus of the seminar) can have their own set of difficulties in this area.

In many cases employees are personally and emotionally involved with the organisation’s work in a way not found in the private, or even public, sectors. This, together with their typically longer service, can lead staff to assume a greater right to have their say, if not their way, on matters of pay and conditions. Coupled with, in many charities, a workforce that is geographically spread this makes getting the message across more than usually difficult. In particular, all those non-pay benefits, terms and working conditions can be taken for granted and their actual cost, or true worth, dismissed. This is often accompanied with an exaggerated view of what is on offer in the private sector: all contributing to a general feeling of dissatisfaction.

Many organisations in the sector are some way off introducing a full-blown total reward system but that is no excuse for not trying to get the message across. There is lots written on this subject but one key factor is language. Avoid HR speak. For example, avoid the word ‘reward’ in communications to employees. This is another of those everyday words that HR has appropriated and assigned a different meaning to. It is fine amongst us professionals but to most people a reward is something akin to a prize and certainly nothing contractual. Talk about ‘pay and benefits’ or the ‘employment package’.

One element that can always cause trouble is not coming clean about where you position yourself in the pay market. Aiming to pay at around the median is sound practice for many charities but do your staff understand this? Or do you have to explain this means you expect their to be higher payers every time someone runs into HR waving a better-paying job ad? But do not talk about the median. It is a well-known fact (well, an urban myth at any rate) that only 30 per cent of the population know what a percentage is so guess what percentage understand ‘median. Just say you pay around the average. It is only a white lie.

HR by numbers – measuring workforce performance

The CIPD has announced the latest in its compendium of toolkits. This one is on Human Capital Management (HCM). Mostly I am very impressed with their toolkits. They provide a good deal of clarity and help people understand what the various topics involve (thankfully, without implying that it is so easy that they do not need professional help!). In this case I am not so sure.

It may just be that I have always reacted badly to HCM as a piece of jargon. ‘Human Resources’ as a replacement for ‘personnel’ was meant to imply a wider, less bureaucratic role but soon became just as easy a butt for jokes (and HR is easier to say than personnel) so some tried to achieve the same end by implying that Human Resource Management (HRM) was the ‘something else’ that could take HR to the centre of organisational life. That never found currency outside the HR bubble. Human Capital Management is a term mostly kept away from the workforce, which is just as well as it is meaningless in everyday life. However employee-centred your company’s approach, do you really want to be referred to as piece of ‘capital’ that has to be ‘managed’. So; putting that little rant aside there is a lot of good stuff in the toolkit. So what’s my problem?

Grumpy oldies win a small victory

Congratulations to TESCO who are changing their fast queues sign from “10 items or less” to “up to 10 items”. Apart from being linguistically correct (at last) more people” will understand the new sign than the old  “10 items or fewer”. As you go about your business just notice how often organisations and officialdom use pompous language in signage, announcements and public statements rather than the words they would use to their friends. “The next station is … where this train will terminate” rather than “…journey will end”. Much simpler, especially for those whose native tongue is not English (quite apart from the fact that ‘terminate’ is not true -  they use the trains again). A major disaster? We see fire engines going past – the spokesperson will talk of appliances. Going into hospital? Good luck and enjoy your patient journey.

And so on and so on. Now go and read your HR policies and pronouncements and apply the same test. They are all intended to leave employees with a clear understanding of what you want them to do or to know. But do they do so in simple everyday language that will stick in people’s minds?