5 Leadership Communication Strategies That Boost Employee Well-Being

How does executive communication impact employee mental health?

Employees who perceive their leadership as transparent boast a 12x higher job satisfaction rate. By dramatically increasing communication frequency, cutting jargon, and keeping updates under 100 words, leaders drastically reduce workforce anxiety and build systemic psychological safety.

Data shows employees who perceive their companies as transparent have 12x greater job satisfaction than those with the opposite perception. And greater job satisfaction impacts overall well-being.

But what do companies need to share with employees? Recent survey data from Axios of more than 1,000 people about workplace communications suggests employees want to see leaders send more thoughtful and insightful details, with more frequency and consistency.

Here are five practical and actionable ways for leaders to help reduce stress and anxiety across your organization.

1) First, ask your employees how they like receiving information. Some employees may not have access to a computer all day, so how will you reach them? Does your company centralize its employee communications, and if so, to what effect are your employees accessing those channels?

2) Emphasize the impact of information sharing. Often, we are the translators between executives and employees. Your C-suite is thinking one quarter and yet 3-5 years ahead. They are constantly speaking with customers, other industry leaders, and members of the public sector, all while ensuring the right balance between the needs of their employees and meeting the business objectives. This knowledge can ultimately benefit employees, which will help the company. To start, ask for 15 minutes once a month with your executives as part of a story-mining session to learn the three most insightful things they have learned.

3) Be more frequent. If your executives are going months without meeting with their employees, the perception is that there is something to hide. Increase the frequency and start small. If your executives meet with employees quarterly, recommend expanding to twice per quarter.

4) Communicate shorter, jargon-free, and impactful. Help your executives practice keeping their messages tight and understandable. Our role is to help them use words to communicate so employees understand, not impress with unnecessary vocabulary. For emails or newsletters, research suggests keeping them between 75 and 100 words. Will your audience understand your message within seconds? That’s the test!

5) Be more consistent. The more consistent executives share their messages with their employees, the better. This includes the communication style and channels your executives will use. And executives shouldn’t be afraid to repeat and reinforce their message.

Finally, measure the impact regularly and share the results with your leaders.

Changes will take time and require trial and error to find a solid rhythm. But just like the rhythms you create for your external publics, we also address them for our internal publics. These recommendations are examples, but a tailored communication strategy – backed with first-party data - will bode well for the relationship between leadership and its employees.