Better English Writing - Geddes Grosset Webster’s Word Power 2014
Writing announcements
Writing for work or business
Most organisations have to make regular announcements about important changes - either good or bad. Some have guidelines for such announcements. However, some give managers the responsibility for producing these. You might be asked to write such an announcement, so it’s important to know how to go about it.
We’ll look at the general approach to writing an announcement for both good and bad news and include an example of each.
General approach
As with most pieces of writing, there should be a distinct beginning, middle and end to an announcement. Here are some general points that you can apply to all announcements.
Get your facts correct
What change is the organisation announcing? A new employee, a promotion, redundancy plans, a retirement, a new policy or a company event? Before you write anything, make sure that you have got facts such as names, dates and times correct.
Presentation style
This depends on how you are sending out your announcement.
If it’s by email, then use the standard email format for your organisation, and insert a concise but clear title in the ’subject’ section so that readers will immediately know what the announcement is about.
If you are putting a notice on the staff notice board, the format could be something like this:
To: All staff
From: Senior management team
Date: 7 April 2012
Subject: Notice of change
Write the main body of your announcement first. This will probably take two or three paragraphs.
Once you are finished your announcement, make sure you include a contact name and number so that staff can get back to you if they have any queries, like this:
If you have any queries about this announcement, please contact Joe Bloggs on extension 2222.
Beginning: tell the news straight away
State what the announcement is about in the first sentence:
We are delighted to inform you that Eleanor Rigby has joined the company as a junior member of the human resources team. or
We are sad to inform you that Eleanor Rigby, Head of Human Resources, has decided to retire after 30 years’ service with the organisation.
Middle: develop the news
Develop the story of what led to this change over the next few sentences:
Eleanor joined the HR team straight from university. For Eleanor, HR is a passion. She worked hard and was promoted several times until she reached the post of Head of Human Resources. She leaves behind her a well-organised, efficient and effective department, and we will all miss her.
End: looking forward and being positive
The announcement should end on a positive note, with employees looking to the future rather than to the past. It should also flag up any events associated with the news.
We hope that Eleanor enjoys spending more time on her other passion - playing her violin. She is welcome to come in and serenade us any time!
We are holding a leaving event for Eleanor on 15 December - everyone is welcome to come and say goodbye. Mince pies and mulled wine are on the menu!
Style and tone
Engage or talk to your readers by using ’you’ and ’we’, but remember that you are representing the company - so your style and tone should be clear, concise, polite and objective.
Example of an announcement
So here’s what the final notice would look like:
To: All staff
From: Senior management team
Date: 7 April 2012
Subject: Eleanor Rigby retires
We are sad to inform you that Eleanor Rigby, Head of Human Resources, has decided to retire after 30 years’ service with the organisation.
Eleanor joined the HR team straight from university. For Eleanor, HR is a passion. She worked hard and was promoted several times until she reached the post of Head of Human Resources. She leaves behind her a well-or ganised, efficient and effective department, and we will all miss her.
We hope that Eleanor enjoys spending more time on her other passion - playing her violin. She is welcome to come in and serenade us any time! She will also have more time to spend with her family, friends and her four beloved grandchildren. We heard on the grapevine (well, from the HR department, actually!) that she is giving up one career to take up another, as a part-time childminder.
We are holding a leaving event for Eleanor on 15 December - everyone is welcome to come and say goodbye. Mince pies and mulled wine are on the menu!
If you want to make a contribution to her leaving present, please contact Paul McCaster on extension 2468.
How to announce good news
It’s probably easier to announce good news because you know that everyone will want to read about it.
Your tone and style can be more informal in this context, and you might even want to include some humour.
Example of how to announce good news
Here’s an example of this type of announcement:
From: Senior management team
To: All staff
Date: 7 April 2012
Subject: Good news!
We have just heard that we have won the huge contract to produce recycled
brown paper bags for all the GoodFood supermarkets in Europe!
The senior management team worked day and night to plan and produce a convincing case for this pitch. They were invited to present their pitch along with ten other shortlisted companies at the GoodFood headquarters in Brussels last week. We got the good news this morning.
This means a major expansion for our company. We will be recruiting 50 new members of staff to deal with the extra work. They will mainly be in the production and distribution side, and we are hoping to start advertising and interviewing for the posts as soon as possible. Details of the contract will be posted on the company website today.
Tea and buns in the staff room at 3pm to celebrate!
How to announce bad news
Writing about bad news can be a bit more difficult. Most companies will have an HR department to deal with announcements about redundancies or major staffing changes.
However, you might have to fire or dismiss a member of staff and then tell other staff about this. This could cause quite a shock, so you need to be logical and factual - not emotional. You also need to be sure about what you can and can’t say in this situation.
After the employee who has been dismissed has left the building, and a staff meeting has been held to tell employees about this and to inform them of changes to their duties, etc., you can follow up with an announcement - either by email, or on the staff notice board, or both.
Example of how to announce bad news
Here’s an example of this type of announcement:
From: Manager, Production Department
To: All staff
Date: 20 September 2010
Subject: Termination of employment: James Brown
I am writing to let you know that James Brown, Project Manager in the Production Department, no longer works for this organisation.
James Brown’s projects will be covered in the short term by the other five members of the Production Department, until we have advertised and filled his post.
Because of reasons of confidentiality, I am unable to discuss the details
of this termination of employment. However, I am happy to discuss how we plan to share out roles and responsibilities across the other members of the team. My extension number is 2468.
I am sure that we will all pull together, as always, to keep the production department working effectively and efficiently until we have recruited a new Project Manager.