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Squishypig · April 2002

I work in the corporate office for a local restaurant chain with 4 company owned stores. I would like to start writing a quarterly newsletter to the managers of the stores detailing basic HR practices and issues. The first one would be about basic HR practices and why HR needs the documentation and paperwork that we need. The rest would deal with things such as sexual harrassment, minor labor laws, how to deal with romance in the workplace, certain situations that have recently happened and how they were handled, things like that. My fear is that I will have worked very hard (I am a perfectionist) on these newsletters only to have the managers totally disregard them. I know that HR can be a very boring topic for those who do not do it on a regular basis but I feel that they need to know the importance of adhering to established procedures and why we ask them to do what they do.

Does anybody else do these and are they effective?

System · April 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-05-02 AT 09:49AM (CST)[/font][p]It might save you time to use an existing bi-monthly, 4-page newsletter specifically for supervisors and managers - HR Frontline. You can check it out at [url]www.hrhero.com/frontline.shtml[/url]

We've covered several of the topics you mentioned in the newsletter already. You can read the sample issue on romance in the workplace to get a feel for the supervisor-friendly presentation.

Christy Reeder
Website Managing Editor
[url]www.HRhero.com[/url]

Gillian · April 2002

To tag onto the previous reply, having something from a third party means it may be read, and because there is no obvious tie to something that has occurred then no one will think that you are sending a personal message. If you see something relevant, you could always point it out, but it will be someone else's story, not yours.

AnaFL · April 2002

We do use the HRHero supervisors and the executive manager newsletters and they are working well. But I do agree that for many non-hr managers, the topic is quite boring in general, no matter how well written the newsletters are, and although I would not stop circulating them, even if they are not always necessarily read by them, I would add to that with live training. What really worked for our group (manufacturing company) was taking them all to a two hour training session on the topics you mentioned, using an outside trainer, who was very good at what he did, and our group of managers seemed to really remember what they learned, plus they were given a book to keep to refer to. I noticed a definite change in behavior, and I believe that now when they receive the newsletters, they pay more attention because that trainer really livened up the topics taught, and made it applicable to them personally, so it has become more effective. We belong to the SFMA (S.Florida Manuf.Assoc.) and they provided the training, done by an attorney/trainer, for free because we are members, and it was a day well spent for sure!

Good Luck with that!

Ana

Squishypig · April 2002

I was considering getting a second party one but I think that the managers will respond better to an "official" one from the corporate office. And I was not planning on using speicifc incidents from the restaurants but if I saw a pattern with most of them, I would address it in an informing fashion, kind of tailoring it to our organization. And something short, a page or two at the most just because I doubt they would even look at anything longer. Thank you for the advice, keep it coming!

GFann · April 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-23-02 AT 09:40AM (CST)[/font][p] >And something short, a page or two at the most just because I doubt
>they would even look at anything longer.

[b]Squishypig[/b], have you ever seen the Workplace Memos at HRHero.com? They're monthly two-page newsletters for supervisors and executives and feature very brief summaries of HR and business news as well as federal and state-specific case law. You can check out sample copies by clicking on [link:www.hrhero.com/wm.shtml|this link]. Sounds like they might be just what you need.

They're part of a package deal you get with a subscription to the Employment Law Center in your state. You could subscribe to your state's letter and make copies of the Workplace Memo every month to circulate to your supervisors and executives, accompanied by a little note from the home office saying, "Check out the second item; it really applies to us!" We have an item about a restaurant case in the current month's newsletter, in fact.

Feel free to e-mail or call me if you'd like more information.

Good luck!

Gina E. Fann
Managing Editor, Workplace Memos
M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
(800) 274-6774, extension 8037
[email]gfann@mleesmith.com[/email]

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