Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

How many hours do you work every week?

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In the discussion that ensued on a post on his blog, "More With Les," the communication consultant and university lecturer Les Potter said something that threw me just a bit. (Or at least it stuck in my craw; the post was in September, and I'm only bringing it up now.) Potter wrote:

During my 30-plus years in corporate communication management, and later, in my consulting practice, I regularly worked the 60-80 hours that Bob mentions. I know communication consultant Robert J. Holland, comments above, is working those hours now.

From those days I, too, learned patience as Marcia advises, because it was as Ron says, a time of having to develop a high tolerance for chaos.

Students need to realize that this is the way it is in the world of work in our profession. You must pay your dues. These hours are not optional. If you are serious about being successful in this profession, you must put in the hours our type of work demands.

What happened to the profession that journalists used to "sell out" to, for the fat paychecks and the nine-to-five hours? When (exactly) did "our type of work" begin to demand such slavish devotion? And if we're going to work 60-80 hours, shouldn't we be doing something that's a little more glamorous or lucrative or both?

But first: Do you agree with Potter's claim that, to succeed in communication, "these hours are not optional"?

Real. Employee. Communication.

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The headlines in employee publications are rarely as arresting as the headlines in The Wall Street Journal. That's because The Wall Street Journal wants its readers to read, to understand, to react. Whereas employee publication editors usually want employees to scan, to vaguely appreciate, and then to go back to sleep.

Not the communicators at Roseburg Forest Products, not now.

The October issue of the Vital Signs employee newspaper carries the front-page headline,

In response to economic crisis, Allyn discusses short-term pressures in light of long-term plans

and the subhead

Things go from bad to worse

and the lead

In a housing market with housing starts the worst we've seen since the Great Depression, Roseburg's executive team is looking at the best way to weather the nation's economic crisis. "This trough is much deeper and longer than we had anticipated," said [CEO] Allyn Ford. "Our priorities are to first, make it through this trough, and then to be well positioned to lead the industry when the market picks up again."

Credit for that Reveille—and the article that clearly explains the company's game plan—goes to Vital Signs executive editor Kris Backes, and writer/editor Eileen Burmeister (a Writing Boots regular).

If all employee communicators met reality as squarely and expressed it as starkly as Backes and Burmeister do—and they don't save their candor for crises either—no one would ever question the value of the employee communication profession.