Adapting internal comms to meet employee expectations
Discover how to effectively listen and react to what employees are asking for.
When something goes wrong in a person’s life, whether as consumers, citizens or workers, people have two choices to make their unhappiness known. They can raise their voices — complaining about product quality, voting for different political parties, or communicating with their managers and company leaders. Or they can exit — purchasing different products, emigrating to new countries or leaving their jobs. And with a record 4.4 million Americans quitting their jobs in September, the most recent month for which data is available, it’s clear that workers are voting with their feet.
As a consequence, employers are struggling to retain talent. One strategy to stem the tide of workers choosing to exit is to make it easier and more productive for them to use their voices instead.
In other words, you have to listen and communicate to your employees differently.
That means reforming internal corporate communications. It’s a change that is long overdue. As a recent Microsoft report concluded, “leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call.” But in attempts to revamp their internal communications strategies, many leaders aren’t sure where to begin. Here are three ideas to make your corporate communications have a more positive impact on the employee experience.
You don’t have to surveil to listen
There are right ways and wrong ways to gather feedback from your employees about their experiences in their jobs. And in trying to decide what employees want and how they are spending their time, some companies are making problems worse.
In his 1992 novel “Snow Crash,” science fiction author Neal Stephenson predicted office surveillance software that would monitor the exact length of time that employees spent on their tasks — and how much employees would hate it. He meant it as a warning, not a blueprint. But there are now many software tools, sometimes nicknamed “tattleware,” that employers can use to monitor employee activity. It should go without saying, but efforts like these won’t build trust in your workforce.
While it can be useful to generate data, it should not come at the cost of eroding employee autonomy. Constant monitoring sends the message to remote employees that they cannot be counted on to manage their own work lives — and makes it likely that they will seek out an employer who knows that they can. Instead, gear your analytics toward insights about what employees want — not how they are spending their time.
Pay attention to what your employees are asking for
Employees want to hear from their leaders. But there is still a massive disconnect between what employees want and what they are receiving.
In a recent survey by Axios HQ, nearly 70% of those sending internal communications thought they knew what updates and information employees need. But only 31% of employees thought so.
Employees in the survey said that they wanted internal communications to be more clear and more concise, to be consolidated in a central channel, and to have straightforward ways to offer their feedback. Addressing these needs can be done easily by adopting newer technologies, such as interactive content platforms, that can gather engagement analytics to help employers cut down on providing information that employees don’t find useful.
Build a culture of trust
The world is in a difficult place right now. Employees are looking for transparency about how their companies are navigating these uncertain times. Internal communications that address employee concerns in a forthright manner will build the trust that a crew needs to navigate these difficult waters.
As management scholars have observed, internal communication can build trust: “When employees perceive that they are getting information from their supervisors and coworkers that is timely, accurate, and relevant, they are more likely to feel less vulnerable and more able to rely on their coworkers and supervisors.”
Trust is also built over time, using productivity tools that encourage collaboration among workers.
Your employees want you to listen to them and they want to hear clearly from you. It’s possible to build a better culture at your company, using internal communications as a tool to nurture those relationships. We hope these ideas help you continue on your way.
Darrell Swain is the founder and CEO of Tiled.
Opinions expressed here are the author’s own.
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