Communicating Complex HR and Benefits Topics to a Distracted World
Practicing HR isn’t simple on a normal day, and a pandemic makes the job even more complex. We handle complicated people issues and are faced with multiple audiences with very short attention spans. In this fast-paced session, our speaker will outline HR and benefits communication issues on the horizon, and then share ways to get employee and new-hire buy-in using updated communication methods. Most importantly, we will discuss “next step” methods for communicating with a distributed workforce about open enrollment.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to sell tough ideas to a distracted audience.
- Learn how to use valid motivational theories to break through barriers.
- Learn how to adjust your message and adapt technology to meet audience needs.
- Learn how to consciously adjust your branding to the message you are communicating.
- Recognize that individual departments have defined styles and communication dialects that must be respected.
Karl James Ahlrichs
Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media.
Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.
He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.
In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society. He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.