I just came up with a great name for an employee newsletter.
But first, some background:
Last Friday, I was doing focus groups at a big company in the automotive industry. If you want to get a little dose of reality, do some focus groups with blue-collar workers in the automotive industry. I have visible bruises.
In fact, I think it should be required that any person who wants to communicate with a workforce that includes plant, factory, or other blue-collar workers, should have to do at least three focus groups with these people a year.
Believe me when I tell you that you’ll get a whole new perspective on all those fancy communication strategies we like to talk about at industry conferences.
So I’m sitting there, leading the focus groups, and we’re talking about this weekly print newsletter the company does.
One woman spoke up to tell me that she had never even seen it.
“I’m in the XYZ Building, and we don’t get that,” she said.
Would you read it if you did get it? I asked.
“The only way I’d read that was if they put it in the Butt Hut,” she said. “They need to put more materials in the Butt Hut.”
The Butt Hut! No, it’s not the bathroom. It’s the little building where all the smokers huddle to stay out of the elements.
Thus, my new name for an employee publication:
The Butt Hut Report.
Think about it: Aren’t those little informal gatherings of employees where 90 percent of the communication takes place? Isn’t that where real, uncensored information is exchanged? Isn’t that where real people talk in real terms—with no buzzwords, platitudes, or other corporate jargon?
And shouldn’t we try to imitate that kind of communication in our more “official” vehicles? If you were an employee, wouldn't you read something called The Butt Hut Report?
Of course, I'm not married to the full title. You could go with Butt Hut Weekly, or Butt Hut News. The important thing is to get Butt Hut in there somewhere.
The Butt Hut Report. I love it. But if you want to go ahead and steal it, go ahead. It’s yours, free of charge for reading this blog.
Comments (11)
The thoughts around here are more like "That news letter is such a waste of money". "I don't care if John went 241 days injury free or how to Trick or Treat safely". "I want a raise and more vacation time". "My heart is either healthy or I don't care about my health and smoke and drink." In a corporation of 47,000 people we have a quarterly news letter. In eight years I’ve seen about six of them and they all read the same. Call it the Butt Hut and if I don't see some nice butt in it I'm not reading it.
Posted by A N | February 7, 2006 11:31 AM
Posted on February 7, 2006 11:31
Or "Butt Hut Scuttlebutt"? =)
Posted by Laurel | February 7, 2006 11:45 AM
Posted on February 7, 2006 11:45
A N: Were you in my focus groups last Friday? I seem to remember you . . . .
Laurel!! Butt Hut Scuttlebutt . . . or, "Scuttlebutt from the Butt Hut," or HuttleBUTT . . . we're on to something here.
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | February 7, 2006 11:49 AM
Posted on February 7, 2006 11:49
yeah, say that 5 times fast after draining the bar of gin. =)
Posted by Laurel | February 7, 2006 12:55 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 12:55
No Steve, but I’m sure what I've typed may sound familiar because it's the general "blue-collar" point of view. And I don't do focus groups...Butt I might do a HuttleButt group!
Posted by A N | February 7, 2006 1:01 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 13:01
Why not put the Butt Hut Weekly in the john as well? Talk about leveraging your ass-ets.
P.S. I am serious.
Posted by Kathy F. | February 7, 2006 1:21 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 13:21
Alas, we officially shut down our Butt Hutt (and that WAS the name) as of January 1 to promote better health. We did, however, just open an exercise facility, so we'll have to settle for the Fitness Center Forum. Doesn't have the same appeal...
Posted by ShariS | February 7, 2006 1:24 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 13:24
With the kind of not-very-useful newsletter referred to above, you could address both themes by calling it "Little Puffs"
Posted by Tim Hicks | February 7, 2006 1:28 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 13:28
Speaking of butts, when I was communications director for a college in a former life, we had an activities newsletter called "The Toilet Paper." We posted it once a week inside the bathroom stalls all over campus, and it was probably one of the most popular publications we produced!
Posted by Tracey | February 7, 2006 2:15 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 14:15
If you're going to communicate in the John, you can also train your employees there, for example by placing safety posters on the backsides (pun intended) of the stall doors. We, in the Learning and Development community refer to that as "on the John training."
Posted by GlennR | February 7, 2006 7:38 PM
Posted on February 7, 2006 19:38
A couple of year's back I was doing a focus group in the UK to see how well the new company magazine was going down. The designers had reinvented the format to make it a glossy landscape affair rather than the old portrait format.
What did we discover? Readership had literally gone down the tubes as employees could no longer read it on the toilet. Why? Because the new format was too wide for the cubicles.
The moral: beware the narrow British butt syndrome.
Posted by Marc Wright | February 8, 2006 12:50 AM
Posted on February 8, 2006 00:50