National Public Relations, a Canadian Communications firm, published today a study called “Start the Dialogue, Employee Engagement in Tough Times.” The findings, based on in-depth qualitative interviews at 30 organizations in Canada, reveals that the top trends impacting internal communications are perceived by respondents to be: social media (92%), demographic challenges (50%), timely, relevant communications (30%), new technology (22%), managing employee expectations (18%) and management turnover (12%).
In spite of the rise of social media, face to face dialogue is viewed by respondents as the most effective way to communicate.
According to Carolyn Ray, Vice President, Employee Engagement, NATIONAL Public Relations, “Social media is indicative of a shift from a more traditional internal communications model of simply ‘communicating to’ employees to a more holistic model of engaging employees as active partners to drive business performance. Rather than trying to control social media, organizations should embrace it as part of their internal communications strategy to facilitate purposeful dialogue with employees, along with face-to-face communications. Increased dialogue can help improve employee engagement, productivity and morale, particularly in these challenging times.”
Other key trends identified include:
- Employees of all ages demanding more timely and transparent communications
- Organizational restructuring driving a need for greater visibility by leadership, and greater access to senior management
- A need to create alignment between external and internal communication to build trust and demonstrate transparency.
The study further identifies a need to fundamentally evolve internal communications from controlled to uncontrolled, from mass communication to personalized, from top down to across (cascading communications don’t work anymore) from monologue to dialogue, and from CEO as leader to CEO and managers as communicators.
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