Re: Newsletter guidelines (more info)

[Suzette Seveny <sseveny -at- PETVALU -dot- COM>]

If you have to pare it down, I keep stuff like milestones, new employees,
promotions, etc. because they are upbeat and have a positive effect on
employee morale; keep obituaries because they are necessary and will seem
cold and callous without, and eliminate stuff like employee departures
because that is negative (can you imagine if five employees left for one
reason or another in the same time period?  To the rest of the employees it
would look like mass exodus!)  Weddings, engagements, births, etc., are a
lower priority - if you don't have the room, then oh, well!

Sending a short questionnaire to all employees is still a good idea though,
because it looks like you are trying to meet their wants and needs.  If
your mandate, though, is to eliminate personal stuff like recipes, etc.
then that is what you have to do.  Most employees will accept the
newsletter as it is produced, and think that the number of people who
wanted recipes was in the minority.

Just what I would do.
Suzette

-----Original Message-----
From:   Patty Ewy [SMTP:pewy -at- MIDCOM-INC -dot- COM]
Sent:   Thursday, June 04, 1998 1:16 PM
To:     TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject:        Newsletter guidelines (more info)

Gosh I love this list!!

Regarding my request for newsletter guidlines:
Several have suggested that I poll the audience for the newsletter.  At
first blush that is a piece of cake--but then I realize I am not exactly
sure who the audience is.

We are a light manufacturing company with about 1,200 employees.  The
company got a new President about three months ago, and has been doing
some internal restructuring ... new VPs, appointing this guy to head this
plant, etc.  (BTW I got this job because of work I have done with the new
President in the past.  His opinions carry a great deal of weight with
me...)

The President is the one who has requested the change in the focus of the
newsletter.  Don't get me wrong -- we're still trying to emphasize the
importance of the employees with a new section that spotlights employees
caught in the act of doing outstanding work and so on.  At the same time,
I am supposed to be working to cut the costs of the newsletter.  I'm
going to black-and-white only to cut spot ink colors, and posting an
online version for all the support staff with access to computers,
printing fewer copies and asking employees to share them.  Next we're
going to try going to a single sheet (8 1/2 x 11) duplexed.

In this issue, I had six pages.  Front was a profile of the new prez and
announcements (three months old.... ugh) about the new vps.  Next four
pages were mostly company wide news (new plant managers, restructuring in
production, one employee obituary, a couple announcements in about
industry changes we're preparing for, etc.) The last page had the
"significant" employee anniversaries (10, 20 and 25 years), the departure
of one employee (a long time VP).

With the move to the smaller size--I could have six pages this time ONLY
because there was such a backlog of stuff--I simply can't fit everything
into the newsletter.  I want there to be some solid content--industry and
company-wide news--and so somewhere, somehow, I need to draw a line ...
and I'm going to tick someone off no matter where that line is.

So what will have to go?  Obviously, I have to keep the milestone
anniversaries (10 20 and 25 years) and employee obituaries.  What about
weddings, engagements, births, graduations, promotions, new employees,
employee departures...?  Which make the grade in your book?



Patty Ewy
Marketing Communications
pewy -at- midcom-inc -dot- com
http://www.midcom-inc.com