Last week I was working at the HQ of a large corporate when one of the secretaries came up to me and asked me if I would help her interpret her benefits statement. She had worked for the organisation all her career and had prudently taken all bonuses in share options. She intended to gift the proceeds to her grand children as her legacy.

She was clearly puzzled by the latest figures and couldn’t understand the corporate “double speak” in the benefits package narrative which was supposed to be explaining them to her. It was left to me, someone she barely knew, to break the news to this loyal member of staff that her share portfolio, which was worth £35k according to the figures last financial year, was now worth £7.3k. You can imagine the look on her face when reality dawned.

The arguments about dealer’s bonuses in big banks may be making the front pages, but they are very much the side issue here! How many people are out there right now receiving the same sort of message delivered by a similarly dispassionate route I wonder?

Bullying in the workplace is defined as an abuse of power. Information, it is often said, is power. How is it being used where you work?  Bullying may not always be overt. It may not even be intentional at times. Failing to understand the importance of internal communication and the link between employee engagement and brand performance, however, is tantamount to bullying when it has such devastating results as in this simple cameo.

Employee engagement should be a fundamental focal point for anyone with responsibilities for people within any organisation. It can’t all be driven from the centre and face to face communication, especially in tough times, should be given top priority. So, how are line managers shaping up to the challenge where you work or is everything being left to faceless names at the centre to cascade the weekly news, whether it’s life changing or not?