It is possible to have too much of a good thing, including communication. In fact, one of the best ways NOT to communicate is to over-communicate. Too much information can leave your employees feeling overwhelmed and confused. They may even start resisting your communication efforts—and, ultimately, tune you out altogether.
Over-communication can largely be avoided by recognizing and avoiding three common traps:
Getting bogged down in detail—Pension and benefit communication is rife with “ifs,” “ands,” and “buts.” Accept the fact that you can’t cover all the details—at least not upfront. Your job is to cut through the noise, grab your employees’ attention, and hold it just long enough to deliver the key messages. If the nitty-gritty details need to be there, “layer” the information so people can quickly dive down and get what they need—without getting tangled in the weeds.
Allowing your communication program to grow organically over time with no formal oversight or assessment—Commit to conducting a communication audit every few years to find out what’s working and what’s not. A well-executed audit will help you:
- identify the sources of noise and any information gaps;
- figure out how best to fill the gaps and streamline the message; and
- make informed choices about next steps.
Blasting out information to your entire population that not everyone needs to know—Get rid of the shotgun approach. Throwing money at multiple communication channels in an attempt to address the diverse needs of your population will not only drain your budget but undermine the effectiveness of your program. Fortunately, the same technology that facilitates over-communication is also the antidote. Today’s technology lets you harness personal data to deliver short, targeted and tailored communication with real value. Younger employees have different priorities—and different learning styles—than boomers closing in on retirement. High-income earners have different concerns from hourly paid workers—and so on. So use technology to strip away the clutter and deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.
Whoever came up with the popular notion that “you can never over-communicate” was clearly never on the receiving end of a 10-page pension statement. Employees today are bombarded with information. The result: they make snap decisions based on the limited information that grabs their attention. So, focus the message on what’s most important—and take comfort from the fact that even though over-communicating is better than under-communicating, especially in the eyes of our courts, sometimes less really can be more.