Keep it simple : The influence HR can exert with a clearer writing style

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits that can flow to an organization when its employees adopt a clear writing style and explain in particular the improvements that this will bring to human resource management. Design/methodology/approach – Provides examples of organizations that have benefited from adopting clear written communications – and those that have suffered from not doing so. Findings – Details how HR can use clear language to recruit the right people and shape their expectations of the organization. Moreover, HR writing is often the voice of an organization, because of its involvement in contracts and policies, performance and appraisal forms, automated e‐mails about mandatory training and so on. Practical implications – The paper urges the need to find out if an organization has a tone of voice, and to get involved. Identify which are the most high‐profile HR documents and rewrite them. Explore the possibilities of using writing workshops to kick‐start some serious behavioral change. And all the time, measure the effects that better writing has. Social implications – The paper maintains that good written communications are even more important in an age of e‐mail, instant messaging, PowerPoint and other channels. Originality/value – The paper highlights how HR as a function is uniquely placed to make the most of all the advantages that an improvement in writing can bring.