An article published by Bulldog Reporter details a new study from GuideSpark based on research from marketing firm IDG. It highlighted the not-surprising finding that employees think their company’s communication to them - about the company’s mission, about their future, about benefits - is terrible.
This isn’t surprising for us because we work with a lot of HR departments and they are still thinking about output rather than how people engage and retain information. The study does provide solid information worth reviewing. Companies are trying all sorts of channels to reach and engage employees: mobile, instant messaging, internet, intranet, direct mail and video. We’ve always preached that a company must extensively use video and its leaders have to get really good talking through the camera rather than just at it. We call it “person-to-person, video enabled” communication and the goal is for the viewer/employee to feel that the leader is talking personally to him or her.
Why should HR consider skill development in this area? The numbers are shocking: 78 percent of the HR folks said their information and messaging were “readily accessible”; only 39 percent of their employees agreed. The large perception gap wasn’t limited to this data point alone. When asked whether the communication was comprehensive, easy to understand, timely and engaging, there was a 40-50 percent chasm between how HR rated their communication and how employees saw it. That’s trouble!
Besides advising a multi-channel approach, the study had the answer buried in one line of an infographic: “take a campaign approach.” Right. And besides all the other channels, including video, what does a good campaign have? Lots of person-to-person interaction and lots of opportunities to visit in person, ask questions and interact. A good “campaign” is much more than a blizzard of information and messages along multiple routes. Remember that as you plan a workplace effort.
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