The Institute of Directors recently published, in conjunction with KPMG, a guide called Foundations for Growth: Key Questions for the Ambitious Board. (Unfortunately, this publication was produced for IoD members only, and so no online version is available.) In it, they discuss the European Union’s information and consultation directive (ICD), which will be phased in from March 2005. The regulation mandates that "employees have a right to two-way communication on the things that affect them". Rather than bemoaning the imposition of the new law, the IoD sees this as a prime opportunity for employers, saying:

The directive should not be seen as a bureaucratic burden but as the trigger for a review of systems of employee communication. The more companies operate remotely, the more people work off-site, the greater the risk that interaction is lost. The ICD provides a timely opportunity for engagement.

Internal blogs are, of course, an excellent way of engaging employees and communicating not just the things that the law requires their employers to keep them informed of, but also those things that will make people feel valued.

And if they feel valued, they will work better, harder, and with the intention to stick with the company that makes them feel that way. As Joanna Higgins, editor of the IoD's Director magazine writes:

Inspired leadership is not about making employees happy, it’s about making them engaged at work.

The good news is that, with blogs, employers have the ability to do both.

Back to Big Blog Company