Had to pick between a full town hall or just an email about the new insurance plan

So our company rolled out a new health insurance plan with higher deductibles, and my boss gave me a choice: send a long, detailed email explaining everything, or set up a live video town hall for the whole 200 person staff. I went with the email, thinking it would be less messy and give people something to refer back to. Big mistake. The email was 3 pages long and nobody read it. I got 47 replies in two days asking the same basic questions that were covered in paragraph two. My boss said, 'We should have just done the meeting.' It felt like a total fail because I chose the tidy option over the one where people could actually ask questions. How do you guys decide when something needs a live session versus a written doc?

2 comments

2 Comments

sandra9162d ago

Oh man, that's rough. I've been there, and @nora_chen is right, it feels awful. My rule now is if it's a change that hits people's wallets or their daily routine, it needs a live Q&A. The email is still key for the record, but you send a short summary first, then host the meeting to talk it out. People need to hear the tone and ask their thing in the moment, otherwise you're just a wall of text they'll skip.

nora_chen2d ago

Ugh, that's the worst feeling... picking what seems efficient and it totally backfires. I always get stuck on this too. What was in your head when you picked the email? Like, were you worried people would zone out in a long meeting, or was it more about saving everyone's time?