A local county government intended to implement reduced sick and vacation leave policies and wanted to do so with minimal employee dissatisfaction. context partnered with Von Culin Associates to design, market-test, and implement revised sick and vacation leave policies. We developed a communication strategy which ensured that employees understood the need for policy change and supported the final policy design. A key part of our strategy was the facilitation of focus groups, where we tested preliminary policy designs and communication messages. Our focus groups revealed the success we'd achieve if we reduced employees' sense of this change as a “take-away.” Our focus group methodology allowed us to gather initial perceptions of the policy change based on rumor and conjecture alone, and then post-test the preliminary designs. Employee perception switched from a sense of the change as “confusing,” “unnecessary,” or “unfair” to “fair” and “very good.” The focus groups solidified the policy design approach and developed in-house supporters for the change. The perceptions and fears about the change gathered in these sessions also served to shape our communication messages. The county implemented the two new policies with broad employee acceptance.