For many companies, the ideal way to compete in the marketplace and empower employees is, not surprisingly, information-based.
Certainly, many companies use newsletters and in-house magazines, and others have unofficially relied on word-of-mouth, but those forms of employee communications by themselves now seem antiquated in this age of instant information.
The reality of implementing a company-wide employee communications strategy can be particularly challenging if a company's employees are scattered throughout the U.S., work in shifts throughout a 24-hour period 7 days a week and/or span the organizational hierarchy, as is the case with Union Pacific Railroad, the largest railroad in North America.
The organization tackled the challenge of communicating to all of their employees through the use of systems designed by privately held Rochester, N.Y.-based TargetVision Inc. (TVI) (http://www.targetvision.com). In conjunction with TargetVision, officials at Union Pacific created a system designed to communicate with employees after it acquired two other railroads -- resulting in a work force of 53,000 employees in almost two dozen states.
Prior to implementing the new system, the company relied primarily on a magazine and newspaper mailed to employees' homes. Now, it uses a daily electronic newsletter (UP Online) and ITV (Information Television). ITV allows employees to receive information from both the railroad's Omaha headquarters as well as from local shop, train yards and/or terminals.
"Unlike an insurance company or manufacturing concern, we have employees in over 21 states along 36,000 miles of track," says Jim Beck, director of employee communications. "That's further compounded by the fact that a good many work on the trains and have very little contact [for periods of time] with conventional sources of company information."
Union Pacific has used TargetVision products to communicate with employees via TV monitors placed in high traffic areas such as shops and train and engine crew facilities.
"Our philosophy is to help the companies get the right information to the right person at the right time," says Brian Wade, director of marketing at TargetVision. "For a large company, that is an ongoing process."
In addition to generating its own content that covers content such as industry news, company performance and the ability for departments to target certain areas and flow information just to them, Union Pacific also has purchased TargetVision's programming. It includes national and world news services, sports scores and even local weather reports. This last feature is especially important to many Union Pacific employees.
"Many of our employees work outdoors and want to know what the weather will be," says Beck.
The system has enabled employees to feel part of an organization that is simply too large and scattered to touch or see, and to have their immediate concerns addressed, for example, when Union Pacific entered into a series of mergers. "Anytime a company goes through a merger, what goes through employees' minds is, 'What's going to happen to me?'" says Beck. "We worked hard to ensure that on merger day we could begin to flow information to employees."
Through surveying employees, Beck says Union Pacific has confirmed that they prefer information that is credible, delivered quickly and factually accurate, and the organization has worked hard to meet those needs. A second survey confirmed that the electronic system has met those needs and fostered a sense of heightened involvement with company goals and performance.
"Four months later, when we surveyed employees who ride the trains every day on whether they felt they had sufficient information on the performance of the company, we saw an 80% improvement in satisfaction," says Beck. (Jim Beck, Union Pacific, 402/271-4433; Larry Monheim, Barry Wade, TargetVision, 716/248-00550)