ServiceMaster puts a personal touch on HR articles

ServiceMaster employs a lot of people—about 21,000—and has even more independent contractors—more than 31,000. It also has a ton of brands: Terminix, TruGreen, Merry Maids, AmeriSpec, and the list goes on.

When a brand is that big, there’s a certain expectation that employees are going to be at a distance from upper management. ServiceMaster, through its HR brand Service in Motion and the myHR website publication, bridged that gap with direct, understandable articles that told employees how they can make the most of their benefits. That’s why ServiceMaster is the winner of Ragan’s 2012 Employee Communications Award for Best HR Publication (Electronic).

ServiceMaster used attitude analysis data to determine just what employees wanted from an HR publication, and found that employees were interested in entertaining, short, and to-the-point articles. They also wanted to hear about how they have control over their own decisions.

The resulting articles do just that. They use bullet points and an FAQ format to tell employees what they need to know without any filler.

Employees agree the articles work: Ninety percent of them said the amount of information they get about their benefits is just right. About 82 percent said communications about benefits were easy to understand, while 86 percent said those communications clearly described any actions they needed to take to enroll or change something.

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