The revamped Early Bird employee-news website is here, along with a new schedule for the Early Bird newsletter.
The news site will sport not only a new look but new features and categories as well as a robust search functionality, making it easier to find the information you want, when you want it. With the site launch, you’ll see a change in how often you receive the Early Bird e-newsletter beginning this week.
University Communications and Marketing had been sending the Early Bird e-mail every weekday morning, but starting today you’ll see it in your inbox only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Meanwhile, UCM this month also plans to debut a new Faculty and Staff Hub, a central location for faculty and staff resources, tools and important work-related updates and reminders.
Why are these changes happening, and what does it mean for departments that rely on the Early Bird to communicate important information to colleagues?
What to know about the new site, newsletter and Faculty Staff Hub:
The Early Bird website will help employees find the info they need, when they need it.
The Early Bird formerly was hosted on a basic, blog-style platform that offered limited search functionality. Stories were essentially listed in chronological order, and few employees visited the site. In fact, many employees tell us they didn’t know it existed and that they instead relied on the daily newsletter to get work-related news. The challenge was that if an employee missed reading the newsletter, they may have missed important University news.
UCM developed the new site as part of a broader strategy to provide more accessible employee news and information on more engaging and functional platforms.
Biweekly newsletters support strategy to boost employee engagement.
Our data shows that employee engagement with the Early Bird newsletter has been declining over the past several years. Fewer faculty and staff members are opening the email and clicking through to the stories. Based on feedback from you, as well as a 2022 internal communications audit, we believe a combination of factors contributed to the declines, including e-mail overload and the inclusion of stories that many employees didn’t find relevant to their roles.
As we focus our office’s resources on managing the new site, we’re reducing the number of e-newsletter sends per week in an effort to boost both newsletter and website engagement. The new e-newsletter schedule is in a pilot phase. We will carefully measure engagement over the next six months and then, based on that data, determine whether we will continue sending the email two days per week or try something different.
Information relevant to the majority of employees and with clear, actionable info will be prioritized for the Early Bird news site and newsletter.
Stories on the website will fall into one or more of 10 news categories, accessible through the menu at the top of the site.
Early Bird stories are vetted through our team’s editorial process. UCM writers and editors consider your story ideas as well as pitches from our team members and publish stories that are generally relevant to a large percentage of the employee community.
The Early Bird e-newsletter will include links to the most recent stories published on the website, as well as the list of upcoming events that has traditionally appeared at the bottom of the newsletter.
Stories or links that have previously been included in the newsletter or on the site but that data shows are relevant only to smaller subsets of the employee audience may be shifted to the Faculty and Staff Hub or other channels that will more effectively reach those intended audiences. We are happy to consult with you about the best way to share your information.
The redesigned Faculty and Staff Hub will direct you to resources while the Early Bird site highlights University news.
The Early Bird news website contains a mix of narrative news stories crafted and curated by UCM writers, editors and contributors that inform and provide context to important information meant to help you succeed in your role and enjoy a positive work experience. Stories aim to help you understand governance and decision-making, convey University priorities and celebrate accomplishments and achievements.
Meanwhile, think of the Faculty andStaff Hub as an interactive guide that will lead you to the resources and tools you need to be successful in the workplace. Rather than curated narrative news stories, you’ll find well-organized links, updates and reminders. Links, tools and resources on the existing Faculty and Staff Hub will be carried over to the new site. On the hub’s homepage, you’ll also see a feed of the top Early Bird stories, as well as a feed of high-level University events and links to the Early Bird and the University Events Calendar.
Submit information through consultation and request form.
It’s more important than ever to submit story ideas through the UCM consultation and request form. With recent personnel changes and a revamp of editorial-team roles, an emailed request to a specific team member may be overlooked.
