Internal Communications

Since beginning, managers and the top management in an organization have always paid attention the “customer care”, and “customer satisfaction”. Off late, they have realized the importance of employees of their own company. Employees have more to do with the success of the business than virtually any other constituency. Watson Wyatt, a famous HR consulting firm did a detained study and found that the companies with highest levels of effective communication experienced a 26% total return to shareholders from 1998 to 2002, compared to a -15% return for firms that communicated least effectively. Employee communication is no longer a “soft function”, but rather a business function that drives performance and contributes to a company’s financial success. In the 21st Century, internal communications is more than just memos, publications, and broadcasts that comprise it; it’s about building a corporate culture and having the potential to drive organizational change.

Today’s employee is a different person in terms of values and needs than his or her counterpart in earlier decades. The workplace of today is also different – tighter staffing, longer hours, greater workloads, and more emphasis on performance are the norm. the increased outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries has filled many employees with feelings, feelings of paranoia, fear, and anger. All these factors are causing employees to look more critically at how senior management is communicating with them, what is being communicated, and whether or not they feel engaged in and aligned with the company’s direction.

Managers need to recognize that if they provide information to employees and also listen to them, those employees will be excited about their work, connected to the company’s vision, and able to further the goals of the organization. The best way to assess the effectiveness of a company’s internal communication efforts is by determining what employees’ attitudes are about the firm. This can be done through a communication audit. Following are the subjects covered in the communication audit:

• Communication Philosophy
• Objectives and Goals
• Organization, Staffing, Compensation
• Existing Communication Programs
• Personal Communications
• Meetings
• Attitudes Toward Existing Communications
• Needs and Expectations

The methodology for conduction such an audit is:

• Hold a Planning Meeting
• Conduct Top Management Interviews
• Collect, Inventory, Analyze Communication Material
• Conduct Employee Interviews
• Prepare the Questionnaire
• Administer the Questionnaire
• Analyze Data
• Communicate Results to Employees

Reference Articles:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_2_22/ai_n13648071

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3072/is_21_219/ai_n9480795

Strong internal communications – fostering increased workforce loyalty and productivity – will thus continue to play a pivotal role in a company’s employee retention and overall success.