Royal Mail communications fiasco

[Stormproof]

http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/Home/Articlex ... iasco.html


The possibility of interpreting Royal Mail's latest slogan as having a menacing tone unfortunately fits perfectly with a company whose communications, both internal and external, have left a lot to be desired in the past few weeks and months says Kerry Hallard, managing director at Buffalo Communications and communications director for the National Outsourcing Association (NOA)

The hundreds of millions of pounds of marketing budget that Royal Mail has spent on branding, re-branding and developing the corporate image of the company has, it seems, come up with a slogan that could not be more appropriate. ‘With us it’s personal’. For each and every employee set to be hit by the change in the final salary pensions scheme, this is indeed very personal.

It was recently announced that Royal Mail plans to close its final-salary pension scheme to all employees in a move that could plunge the business further into industrial turmoil. Royal Mail’s move to close the final-salary scheme for existing employees, along with new ones, is almost unprecedented. Rentokil is one of the few other large organisations to take such drastic action. Usually companies that change pension schemes pull down the shutters on final-salary arrangements to new employees only.

The decision is expected to trigger strikes by thousands of postal managers, in addition to unrest among its 130,000 employees who are already in dispute over pay and working arrangements. The fact that the story has already been in the press and it is only now that Royal Mail will write to employees to outline sweeping changes to the pension scheme, including raising the retirement age by five years, is only one aspect of the disastrous communications fiasco at Royal Mail.

Whenever a company undertakes a fundamental change in procedures that will negatively affect a large number of employees it is not going to be popular. However, the way that it is communicated makes a huge difference when it comes to levels of employee satisfaction. It’s all well and good the Royal Mail having a fantastic logo and beautiful shining new collateral but with a communications disaster like this they might as well not have bothered. The true test of a brand and its values is the way that it is perceived, both internally and externally, and no amount of money can rectify this fiasco now.

It is typical of the lack of joined-up thinking synonymous with big company culture to treat employees with such disdain. Every single element of best practice in communications has gone out of the window:

* There was no internal communications before the decision was revealed in the press. The Royal Mail should have written to employees a long time before the story broke to the press. Although Royal Mail could not know exactly when this story would reach the press, this is something that has clearly been in the pipeline for a considerable period of time, and therefore a response could have been prepared.
* Standard crisis management procedures should have been put in place, including being prepared for this eventuality. Royal Mail is only now meeting unions – there should have been weeks of negotiations leading up to this announcement. It also seems that Royal Mail has made its decision already.
* It was only days ago that the plans were denied – lying and then backtracking is the worst possible communications error. Recently Adam Crozier, CEO of Royal Mail, said: “It is important we safeguard the future of the pension fund for our people, who regard a final-salary pension scheme as a key benefit of working for Royal Mail.â€

[dvbuk55]

Very insightful article.

It's a pity RM didn't employ them as their PR.

[dogfood]

[quote]It was only days ago that the plans were denied – lying and then backtracking is the worst possible communications error. Recently Adam Crozier, CEO of Royal Mail, said: “It is important we safeguard the future of the pension fund for our people, who regard a final-salary pension scheme as a key benefit of working for Royal Mail.â€

[mdtomuk]

LYING AND BACKTRACKING IS ENDEMIC (OR IS IT PANDEMIC?) IN THIS OUTFIT (RM ISN'T A COMPANY ANYMORE ITS A BACKSTREET UNDER THE ARCHES DODGY DEALER OF SHODDY GOODS) , IF I COULD GET MY SODDING PRINTER RIBBONS SORTED I'D GET THIS ARTICLE ON MY MANAGERS DESK AT 0445 TOMORROW MORN!

:cfo :lfo

[barkersboy]

Mdtomuk. Forget it. Your DOM aint speaking for the public. We waste time and energy talking to our managers. The only people making decisions are Gordon Brown and his quangos.

[norbet colon]

Very insightful article.

It's a pity RM didn't employ them as their PR.

It's also very scathing . To quote "the nice cop " on Hellmail -"We have a trust issue !" - RM have always been secretive , defensive , autocratic and above the law but you now have the worst of both cultures . God knows what they would made of the Bad Cop Senior Manager Moderator. Even that right wing propaganda site withdrew him -the best recruiting Sargeant the CWU could wish for .This is the RM Allan not sales !, the spiv culture went out in the early 90's, but we're all backward & living in the past apparently.
New Labour say he's "high -maintenance".