Introducing new employee in company newsletter?
July 14th 2009
I am drafting our comapny newsletter and am having a bit of a problem. I have to both announce the passing of one employee and introduce her replacement. The layout is such that these items will most likely be right next to each other.
I did not say what position our departed employee held because I don’t want to draw attention to why one of our new employees was hired. Is there some sort of protocol here? This is only the 2nd newsletter we’ve done – and what a crappy thing to have to announce!! Any help would be great. Thanks.
Would it make more sense to not announce the new hires until the next quarter? We’re a very small company, so even with my deletion of the deceased employees position, it will be pretty obvious who her “replacement” is. Is it wise to announce a new hire right away, anyway?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Sorry to hear about the passing of the other employee. That always makes it hard.
If possible, ensure they are not right after one another. Beyond that, announcements are announcements. You did a very savvy thing, btw, by keeping some of the information on the deceased, i.e. their department etc, out of it. That certainly will make the “read” of the two announcements much easier for people.
We lost a key employee last year and one of the things they did in the company announcement was to include the link to the memorial page on the local paper. That allowed the announcement of their death to be relatively short but to allow others to get much more information. That might help here as well.
I think you’ve already covered the biggest issue and I would only add that if you can have some kind of content spaced (even if it’s a promotion or a different employee or whatever) that will go a long way as well.
Hope that helps.
Take Care.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
oh wow, what a predicament. To be perfectly honest, I would welcome and say good bye in the same column. Put something like, We are sad to announce the passing on of oone of our beloved employees……While we will sorely miss “so and so”, we have filled her position with a great candidate and give the info you want to give. That’s my opinion, you may want to try something totally different.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Maybe if you use different fonts for the two sections it might not make it so obvious. How long did the passing employee work for the company? Maybe if one “article” was longer than the other as well it wouldn’t draw so much attention. People will be understanding that those two things had to be in the same newsletter—good luck
July 19th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Well, since it is a company newsletter you don’t want to say too much about the passing of an employee. It is not an obituary afterall. Maybe you can just make a small boxed in section that reads something like: ” Our condolences go out to John Doe’s friends and family. He was a beloved member of our team for # years.” Really short, sweet, and respectful.
And then you can have a longer piece on welcoming the newest team member and give position details. So, even though both announcements may be related and in close proximity to each other you may be able to separate them with layout tricks (i.e. the boxing or different font, keeping it brief).
Good Luck!
July 19th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
As a veteran of company newsletters, I can help with this.
First of all, change the layout. These items shouldn’t be next to one another.
Put a fond farewell to (name of employee who passed) with anecdotes from fellow employees.
Put a news type article next.. and then put in a Welcome Aboard! to the new employee.
If you need more help, feel free to email me.
Good luck with this!