You don’t need to be a business expert to understand the importance of effective communication within an organisation. It increases employee engagement and satisfaction, reduces employee turnover, helps develop a positive company image and ultimately helps the company succeed.
Nowadays, the link between effective internal communication and job engagement is becoming more and more obvious. One of the top reasons employees quit their jobs is often related to poor communication. Whereas, in organisations where employees feel connected, productivity increases by 20 to 25%.
So, it’s more important than ever that businesses develop and execute effective communications strategies that engage teams far and wide. How? Let’s find out.
Here are 5 easy ways to increase employee engagement in your internal comms.
1) Be purposeful and listen
A key reason employees fail to engage with the internal communications put out to them is that they’re simply overwhelmed with information. 62% of emails in the average inbox are irrelevant. Don’t contribute to that percentage.
We might think we can pre-judge what the people within our organisations want and need to hear. However, this can lead to unnecessary and unhelpful communications that do nothing but clog up people’s inboxes.
So, listen. Ask different teams about the type of news and content they actually want to see, and then deliver it to them. With relevant, useful content comes increased employee engagement.
2) Think global, act local
In larger companies, local topics and themes in internal communications will usually be of greater interest to teams than global ones.
For example, hearing about local achievements and insights from a regional manager (as opposed to the global CEO) can be a really effective way to generate employee engagement and promote a wider company strategy.
Provide support for local leaders to become spokespeople and address the specific needs of those around them. Establishing a good balance between delivering top-level news and locally-produced internal comms is an effective way to increase employee engagement by ensuring topics are relevant to them.
3) Embrace exciting new internal comms channels
Choosing the appropriate channel to deliver your internal comms through is a key factor in generating employee engagement.
Traditional internal communications channels like emails and employee intranets are often very text focussed, which can sometimes miss the mark if you’re trying to generate excitement about company updates.
So, why not try video?
An effective way to increase employee engagement with your internal comms is to deliver them in a way people find easier to digest, such as via a live TV-style broadcast. This allows you to get important updates to everyone in your organisation in a format that enhances the experience, encourages real-time discussion and drastically increases employee engagement.
4) Empower your employees
Great communication leaders understand that a sense of purpose within their company really matters to employees. So, to help workers feel engaged, it’s important to effectively demonstrate a clear link between their achievements and the wider success of the business.
A simple way to do this is to highlight the successes of smaller teams to the whole organisation. For example, showcasing a sales team’s recent client wins, and profiling those involved to highlight individual achievements.
Ensuring your employees feel like part of the bigger picture is an important way to increase employee engagement with internal communications.
5) Create a two-way dialogue
The best communications leaders understand the value of encouraging discussion and interaction between leaders and employees. An open, two-way dialogue encourages employees to get involved and feel connected to and appreciated by the company’s senior leadership team.
Open up the conversation by providing opportunities for employees to give feedback and engage in discussion.
During in-person events, allow ample time for Q&As to introduce a more collaborative attitude. Or, if you’re planning on embracing live, online broadcasts, make use of the live Q&A features on platforms like Teams and Zoom to help engage employees from behind their computer screens.
Live internal broadcasts are a game-changer for increasing employee engagement in internal comms. Find out more about our ICTV service here.