Internal Communications Deep Dive - Part 2 of 6

Section 1: How internal communications drives bottom-line results

Key questions:

• What do we mean by employee experience and employee engagement? How does internal communications affect these areas?

• How can an effective internal communications strategy help drive profitability?

External communications like PR and advertising have always taken the spotlight in any communications discussion. Internal communications are somewhat akin to the “dark horse,” because while they are not as visible, they may contribute as much (or more) to the bottom-line than the glitzier worlds of PR and advertising. While external marketing communications aim to drive brand awareness and sales revenue, the ultimate goal of internal communications is to enable employees in two key areas: experience and engagement.

Employee experience (EX) is a popular buzzword in the Human Resources and communications fields, with many frameworks and definitions. Gallup says that “employee experience is the journey an employee takes with your organization. It includes every interaction that happens along the employee life cycle, plus the experiences that involve an employee's role, workspace, manager and wellbeing.”[i]

Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory company, developed a framework that describes EX as an employee’s connection with the organization’s purpose and with their peers/leaders, combined with how they feel about their contributions in their role and the opportunities their role can bring. See their diagram below.[ii]

Employee engagement (EE) is a related but somewhat different concept. Culture Amp, a leader in workforce software, says that “employee engagement represents the levels of enthusiasm and connection employees have with their organization. It’s a measure of how motivated people are to put in extra effort for their organization, and a sign of how committed they are to staying there.”[iii] Oftentimes, employee engagement relies heavily on the relationship that the employee has with their manager, and is a key determinant in the length of their tenure with a company. Deloitte provides a helpful summary to explain the distinction, “Employee engagement was very top-down, the organization deciding what employees needed. Employee experience, by contrast, brings employees into the conversation to look at the work itself, finding out what employees need to do their work, to make them successful.”[iv]

For both EX and EE, internal communications are a central element in bringing these people-centric strategies to life. For EX, internal communications build the connection between employees and the organization’s leadership teams by providing an opportunity for employees to hear key updates directly from leadership, rather than the rumor mill spread of news that can occur at less transparent organizations. Effective internal communications can also help connect people with other teams throughout the organization, eliminating the silo mentality that can occur in larger organizations.

According to a study by the University of Wisconsin, “communication gaps exist between departments because of the lack of knowledge of the interdependencies of each role within the company and why the sharing of information is essential […] If departments operate in a silo, then the business will operate in a reactive mode.”[v] One of many solutions to this issue would be for an organization to develop an ongoing internal newsletter that highlights wins and accomplishments for all sectors of an organization, thereby keeping every group informed and up to date on what is going on outside of their team’s bubble. Another idea could be to provide an intranet hub or platform where employees share ideas and updates on their own (more on this in Section 6 of this report).

For EE, internal communications are also essential. An engaged employee feels connected, respected and motivated. In this way, it is similar to a personal relationship. And just like any other strong relationship in life, an open line of communication is key in developing and maintaining the bond. An employee who is not engaged feels isolated from the company and their team, disconnected from the organization’s strategic goals, and might even be thinking about their next career move. An effective internal communications strategy seeks to prevent these negative feelings by providing transparency, information, and efficient communication platforms that make an employee feel empowered and confident in their day-to-day responsibilities.

So how does this all trace back to the bottom-line? Simple. Employees who have a positive experience and feel engaged will work harder and stay longer. According to a research study conducted by the IBM Smarter Workforce Institute and Workhuman called The Employee Experience Index, “a positive employee experience is associated with improved employee outcomes such as better job performance, increased discretionary effort and higher retention.” Other noteworthy statistics from this study include:

• “Workers with Employee Experience Index scores in the top quartile are more likely to report high levels of work performance than those whose scores are in the bottom quartile (96% for top quartile, 73% for bottom quartile).”

• “Discretionary effort is almost twice more likely to be reported when employee experience is positive (95% for top quartile, 55% for bottom quartile).”

• “Employees with positive experiences are 52 percent less likely to intend to leave their organization (21% in top quartile intend to leave, compared with 44% for bottom quartile.”[vi]

From an EE perspective, there is also a clear link to the bottom-line. According to a study by Gallup, “engaged employees are more present and productive; they are more attuned to the needs of customers; and they are more observant of processes, standards and systems.” Their study concluded that:

• “Highly engaged business units realize a 41% reduction in absenteeism and a 17% increase in productivity. Engaged workers also are more likely to stay with their employers. In high-turnover organizations, highly engaged business units achieve 24% less turnover. In low-turnover organizations, the gains are even more dramatic: highly engaged business units achieve 59% less turnover

• “Highly engaged business units achieve a 10% increase in customer ratings and a 20% increase in sales”

• “When taken together, the behaviors of highly engaged business units result in 21% greater profitability.”[vii]

So now we have the business argument for IC. The rest of this report will seek to describe the best strategies for achieving these goals.

Section 2: Aligning internal and external communications

Key questions:

• What is the right way to structure an internal communications position or team?

• How can internal communications collaborate with external communications to maintain a consistent message while customizing content for their audiences?

An organization that does not already have an internal communications department has a number of options as to how to place the team within the company structure. According to a recent study by Poppulo, a communications software and advisory service, 38% of internal communications experts say they report to a corporate communications division, while another 16% say they report to HR; 16% report to marketing; and 21% selected other. See the chart below for more detail[viii]

This lack of a clarity for a defined position for internal communications is reflective of the fact that IC is a cross-departmental discipline that needs to support the entire business as a whole. Regardless of where IC falls within the organization, the key is to use it as a bridge to connect and align teams. An organization that is large enough could even consider having an internal communications team within each business unit.

As a real-world example, in my personal career I have worked in three different internal communications roles. In the first company, my position reported into the business development team. For the second position, I reported into the corporate communications team. For another role, I report into the combined marketing/communications (Marcomm) team. Despite the differences in placement for each of the roles, the goals were essentially the same: align internal communications throughout the company by supporting key corporate teams like HR and leadership, keep employees aware and informed about company strategies, and support any change management within the organization.

In terms of aligning internal and external communications, this is a crucial element in maintaining consistency and building brand advocacy. If an organization’s advertising and consumer-facing messaging describe their product/service in a certain way, it is imperative that employees speak in the same language in order to deliver a consistent experience to anyone who interacts with the organization. Bailey Brand Consulting describes this dynamic succinctly: “consistency within translates to consistency in the external market. Customers have multiple touchpoints with companies, and each point of interaction needs to emphasize the same messages. If an employee in customer service, accounts receivable or anywhere else in the organization does not represent the brand, it demonstrates to coworkers and customers that the company itself does not entirely believe in its own messaging.”[ix] Internal alignment to corporate messaging has the added effect of making your employees “brand ambassadors” who actively promote your organization to their networks and serve as positive embodiments of what your organization stands for. Forbes reported that “brand messages shared by employees on social media earn 561 percent more reach than the same messages shared by the brand’s social media channels – and eight times more engagement.”[x]

To ensure that this internal / external alignment takes place, IC teams need to stay plugged in with whatever external communications teams that the organization has in place. This includes internal departments like the marketing team or an externally focused communications team, or an outside vendor like an advertising agency, PR firm, social media agency, etc. As long as the IC team understands the messaging that is going external, and as long as it does not contradict the internal goals, the IC team should look to incorporate elements of the external messaging into their employee-facing communications, and vice versa. IC teams should schedule regular meetings with external-facing communications teams to discuss shared content opportunities.

This alignment and consistency does not mean that internal and external communications are exactly the same. Subtle changes can be made to the content to customize it based on the audience. For instance, an external communication wouldn’t use terms that are only known to employees within the company, and an internal communication wouldn’t need to use language that looks to generate a sale. According to Poppulo, “for external audiences, the concerns are typically about making informed buying decisions: the value of the products, whether the companies they’re patronizing reflect their personal beliefs, convenience and so on. For employees, the concerns are entirely different. They want to know what an announcement means to their day-to-day work and their future job security […] A big part of that pitch should be cost, according to Kay. Aligning internal and external communications is more cost effective, she says, because it enables internal and external communicators to share ideas, collaborate and check each-others’ work.[xi]

References

[i] Gallup, “What is employee experience”, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/242252/employee-experience.aspx [ii] Willis Towers Watson, Stephen Young and Patrick Kulesa, “Breakthrough research: Identifying the factors that make a high-performance employee experience (HPEX)”, https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en-AU/Insights/campaigns/breakthrough-research-on-employee-experience [iii] Culture Amp, Alexis Croswell, “What is employee engagement?”, https://www.cultureamp.com/blog/what-is-employee-engagement/ [iv] Forbes, Eric Mosley, “Back to basics, employee engagement vs. employee experience”, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmosley/2020/08/27/back-to-basics-employee-engagement-vs-employee-experience/?sh=582316853e77 [v] University of Wisconsin, Tara Carr, “Eliminating communications silos within the organization”, http://www.uwgb.edu/sbdc/assets/multi/news/201606-Eliminating-Communication-Silos.pdf [vi] IBM and Workhuman, “The Employee Experience Index”, https://www.workhuman.com/resources/papers/the-employee-experience-index [vii] Gallup, Jim Harter and Annamarie Mann, “The right culture: not just about employee satisfaction”, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236366/right-culture-not-employee-satisfaction.aspx [viii] Poppulo, Tim Vaughan, “Delivering effective internal communications”, https://www.poppulo.com/resources/delivering-effective-internal-communication-pdf/ [ix] Bailey Brand Consulting, “The importance of internal branding”, https://baileygp.com/article/importance-of-internal-branding/ [x] Forbes, Ryan Erskine, “The key to increasing your brands reach by 561%”, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanerskine/2018/06/30/the-key-to-increasing-your-brands-reach-by-561-your-employees/?sh=7f5f909e29bb [xi] Poppulo, Kevin Ivers, “5 steps to align internal and external communications in financial organizations”, https://www.poppulo.com/resources/5-steps-to-align-internal-and-external-communications-in-financial-organizations/