Do you suspect it’s time for an upgrade in how people are communicating in your organization? Follow your gut! Explore your organization’s current situation.
Doing so may be a good idea considering the cost of poor communication in business is astronomical. For instance, large companies face an average loss of $62.4 million per year all because of inadequate internal communication. While HR technology could be your friend in reducing this dollar amount, it may be letting impactful information fall through the cracks!
If you do not have any type of remote communication solution just yet, this article may provide reassurance to get one, and even help get boss buy-in for initial investment. On the other hand, if you have one or several tools already… These may not be what your business needs, nor what your people deserve.
Does your organization need a better internal communication tool? If you check the following 4 boxes, chances are, it does.
- You are not reaching your entire workforce.
- Employees have difficulty finding information.
- Leaders do not know how engaged employees are.
- Employees do not feel part of the organization.
1. You are not reaching your entire workforce.
As a company grows into having hundreds of thousands of contributors, it becomes difficult for management to get a message across to everyone. They might rely on mid-level managers, who then rely on site managers to pass along updates. Certainly, this is bound to leave room for error. Eventually, these errors are impossible to ignore.
For all companies, but especially those with a dispersed workforce that do not have great tools for internal communication, having 100% reach is increasingly difficult. Add a level of complication if these are mostly frontline or deskless employees, like at an international bakery chain such as Lagkahehuset or a warehouse operation like Mr. B. After all, non-desk employees usually do not have access to corporate email and if they do, the probability of them reading it is low.
Who are non-desk employees?
Often deemed the modern workforce, non-desk employees are present in every important industry, and include drivers, factory workers, cashiers, baristas, farmers, mail carriers, subcontractors, etc. They are an estimated 2.7 billion humans, or about 80% of the global workforce.
Non-desk employees are busy, typically on-the-go, and hard to reach. The fact that email, the most widely used form of communication, does not effectively reach and engage them is a problem.
People deserve communication being delivered in a way that works for them. With this in mind, going with a mobile employee engagement solution for internal communication may be your best bet. Check out this resource to choose the best employee app for your business.
Moreover, for crisis communication, and getting updates out and delivered promptly, consider upgrading to a corporate communication tool that includes Push notifications and SMS. Do not leave anyone behind!
2. Employees have difficulty finding information.
Maybe you want to share your company values, or teams within your organization want to share manuals, presentation slides, graphs, and videos. Maybe different departments want to share updates. Where would your employees be able to find all of these items? Would these be scattered? The right internal communication tool can help you centralize most company information, and even segment visibility of content if desired!
Above all, keep in mind that people want things fast and easy. Beyond having everything in one [digital] place, ensure your internal communication tool allows for:
- Intuitive navigation. A feature to be able to search for updates could help, for example.
- Flexible accessibility. To fit into non-desk employees’ schedules! Let them explore non-sensitive resources from basically anywhere, at any time with a mobile solution.
Think about it, when employees are lost and for some reason cannot quickly access valuable corporate resources, they are more likely to make mistakes, or waste time trying to figure it out by reaching out to their co-workers.
On the contrary, you can help employees feel more motivated with a communication tool that supports their mobile work and allows them to perform at their best. More about what employees appreciate within internal communication, in our Employee Experience Insights Report.
3. Leaders do not know how engaged employees are.
You are not sure who received what information, nor whether every employee is up-to-date on your company news. Sound familiar? Consider better measure how your employees are engaging with content, and probably levels of overall engagement as well.
Internal communication is one of the factors companies often focus on improving in order to increase employee engagement and therefore impact overall business results. The link between internal communication and employee engagement has been amply discussed by experts worldwide. Indeed, employee engagement insights are a must when designing an effective internal communication strategy and overarching HR, and company goals.
People analytics around message delivery and open rates, number of message views, content and message engagement (likes and comments), video watch times and more, lead to better decision making! In an increasingly data-driven world, your organization needs more data, and a better internal communication tool can help you get it.
Furthermore, understanding how employees engage with communication can help leaders design and plan their communications in order to build a better employee experience and improve worker performance.
Do not ignore other factors that impact employee engagement. A comprehensive employee engagement tool can provide real-time insights into employee onboarding and training progression and other areas in addition to employee communication.
4. Employees do not feel part of the organization.
Your people should feel included! Although it takes the entire workforce to create a culture of inclusion, openness and collaboration, it is upon leaders to choose the right tools to build it. Ensure your communication tools reflect and support this notion.
Your communication channels should leave room for open communication and feedback, not only for sharing top-down information.
Indeed, with the modern workforce, it’s all about well-being and fulfilling employee wants, including the need to feel valued and heard. Employee engagement surveys help fulfill this need as a vehicle for employees to use their voice. Plus, surveys can provide great insights into how your workforce is doing and feeling!
According to the Employee Experience Insights Report of 2021, connection is among the top 3 things employees value on the job. Do your communication tools enable your people to build and strengthen relationships with colleagues at all levels? Interconnectivity within teams or across locations can help spark collaboration and boost motivation. It can also foster the feeling of being a part of something bigger. For example, with internal social groups, employees have the ability to share and interact with others in a way they find fun! Check out some of our top tips for employee engagement on a platform that enables social-media like interactions within an organization.
Bonus tip: Modern organizational communication platforms have customizable branding options! Employee apps like Actimo mean every worker can have a tool that looks and feels like “the company in their hand,” and is SO nice to show off.
Ensure your internal communication tool helps you drive a united, remote organizational culture and even build upon it. If it is not, it’s probably time for a change.
Questions to ask yourself, or your boss, to decide whether you should invest in a [better] tool for internal communication:
- Are you achieving the results you expect with your current communication?
- How many of your employees are engaging with your communication tool(s)?
- Are your non-desk employees satisfied with the communication tools in place?
- Based on what insights do you improve your corporate communication?
- How many resources/people/platforms do you use for internal communication?
- Have you set KPIs for your internal communication strategy and initiatives? (for example for a newsletter)
a) (No) How do you measure the outcome of your strategy?
b) (Yes) How well are your initiatives performing, according to KPIs? - How do you ensure that your employees can share insights, knowledge and success with each other?
If you check most of the 4 boxes above, and your answers to these 7 questions are not looking great, there are opportunities for improvement in your internal communication. Take action! Explore what internal communication tools may be right for your business and company culture.
Consider killing several birds with 1 stone, with a 360° employee engagement solution that allows for open workplace communication, employee training, onboarding and more!
