In-house newsletters go for a makeover

Spare a moment to glance through the in-house newsletter the office assistant keeps at your desk. The ones mentioned above are just a few samples of the interactive, witty and friendly news magazines we collected from companies.

Today, in-house magazines, distributed fortnightly, monthly or on a quarterly basis, are a brand-building exercise for an organisation. They speak about the company, its approach, and make employees voice their views.

Moreover, newsletters are like an extended family bringing employees, their family and friends together. Quite unlike the newsletters dad once brought home, where pages on the company’s financial performance and essays from the top brass of the company dominated over other fun elements.

In fact, companies these days maintain two or three newsletters – each with a specific objective. So, never mind that intranet (e-newsletter) or in-house blogs dominate over other mediums; one cannot rule out the role of print. And the few who still maintain one are only keen to keep the tradition going.

What’s your mantra?

From Out of the Box to Prime Time – Sify, for example, recently revamped its in-house newsletter Prime Time with an all-new, colourful, glossy and young look. So while the ‘Health’ section offers tips on ‘Beat Stress’ diets, one could get an immediate de-stress by taking its quiz on stress.

“Prime Time not only empowers our associates but also their family members by sensitising them to various health issues,” says Anandhapriya Raghavan, Associate Editor, Prime Time.

UST Global’s News @ Noon, on the other hand, gives a global update on events and happenings – Potluck Party, the Founder-Chairman’s birth anniversary celebrations in Kochi and NowU Activities in Chennai.

Ties that bond

In a majority of the organisations it is the editorial team comprising a team of representatives from different departments which decides and sources the content – a good synergy among the other elements in the issue being the challenge.

So, are newsletters read by employees and their family? No prizes for guessing, as maximum readership is when the family/ employee are covered. “We give gift hampers to the articles selected to feature in an issue,” says I. Praveen Kumar, vice-president (marketing), Expertus, where its bi-monthly internal news magazine, Xpluse, is a huge draw.

Then and Now

While opinions differ on who were the actual pioneers of the newsmagazine culture – large factories or IT companies – the fact is how innovative they are getting and the need to keep it going despite the additional expenses.

According to Jai Xavier Prabhu David, Founder and CEO, PR HUB Integrated Marketing Communications, which helps around seven companies bring out its newsletters, in-house magazines have become part and parcel of many IT/ ITeS companies.

From a tool it has become a necessity. “It targets a house as a traffic point. Another intangible benefit is that it helps companies retain employees better, sometimes the spouse acting as a deterrent.” He adds, “Change in language, funky designs, adding topics like health… are some of the latest trends.”

At the same time, a section complains that the printed version is a waste of paper.

“They can be mutilated and we spend huge sums in bringing these issues out,” says S. Srinivasan, Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO), Amtex Systems, which brings out Insight.

Photo: R. Ravindran