Promoting Healthy Workplace Relationships with Franchise Communication Software

Back in 2006, a seminal study by the Consulting Psychology Journal synthesized nearly two decades of research on healthy workplace practices in organizations, employee wellbeing, and organizational improvements.

Working through hundreds of studies, Grawitch et al. (2006) identified give general categories of healthy workplace practices: work-life balance, employee growth and development, health and safety, recognition, and employee involvement.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, all five of these categories hinge on effective communication between employee and employer. Without proper communication channels, employees cannot express their poor work-life-balance; they cannot request more training and development, nor will they learn new skills effectively; health and safety may be jeopardized, as regulations and protocols go unsaid; job satisfaction levels plummet as workers feel increasingly unappreciated; and employees can’t get involved, even if they wanted to.

With that in mind, it follows that organizational culture and productivity levels could be improved by promoting healthy workplace relationships and better communication.

Today’s post explains how our franchise communication is designed to do just that.

If you’d rather skip the read and speak directly with one of our franchise communication software specialists, call 888-302-3676. We can answer all your questions and book a free demonstration whenever it works for you.

Improving Upward And Downward Communication So Problems Get Solved

In their meta-analysis of healthy workplace research, Grawitch et al. (2006) concluded that “consulting psychologists should help the organization to think through the role of downward and upward communication mechanisms in the effective implementation of healthy workplace practices.”

First, some definitions: Upward communication is the line of communication through which subordinates can convey information, to their seniors. In this case, that could refer to communication between franchisee and franchisor, or employee and employer (franchisee).

In contrast, downward communication is the formal chain of command established to direct subordinates and convey information, pertaining to organization’s objectives, policies and strategies.

We’re not consulting psychologists at FranchiseSoft, but we did develop a number of tools to enhance upward and downward communication.

For instance, our Employee Management module simplifies franchise owner communications with all employees. With our solution, your communication is “on device, on demand,” meaning you can access our solution from any mobile device and send SMS, internal direct messages, emails, newsletters, memos, or make phone calls from a single dashboard. All communication is automatically documented to eliminate communication issues and hold staff accountable to any tasks they’re assigned. These perks apply to both the employee and employer, thereby improving upward communication on the whole.

The same is true when it comes to downward communication. Our franchise communication software makes it easy to educate franchisees about the formal chain of command, goals, and objectives, and control how information will be conveyed. And should communication somehow fail, our Franchise Performance module and automatic reporting makes it easy to assist our partners in capturing, measuring, and improving franchise performance–even if they don’t know enough to ask for help.

References

Grawitch, M. J., Gottschalk, M., & Munz, D. C. (2006). The path to a healthy workplace: a critical review linking healthy workplace practices, employee well-being, and organizational improvements. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 58(3), 129.