Employee communication is a hot topic at the moment, and with good reason – we’re all still feeling the emotional and organisational hangover of the COVID-19 pandemic to a certain extent, and many teams have had to rethink the way they interact entirely.
Obviously, good employee communication should be a major goal for any company. In fact, much like a playful tussle with a golden retriever puppy or a truly fantastic nap on a rainy afternoon, there are few things that top-notch employee communication is not good for. However, we’re going to list a few of them here, just in case you need a reminder.
The benefits of clear internal employee communication include:
Fewer misunderstandings and less panic
When COVID-19 first became a thing, people were losing their marbles all over the place. However, those employers who communicated a clear plan of action and kept their team informed about what was going on in the organisation were able to keep panic at a minimum.
According to recent findings by Gallup, that was only about 39% of employers, but still – those guys were able to keep everyone on an even keel even while the boat was rocking.
Higher levels of productivity
Ineffective communication and collaboration in the workplace leads to lost man hours as workers are forced to search around for information they need. E.g. Countless emails being sent back and forth about a given project or brief, instead of storing all the info in a central cloud-based space that everyone can access.
Improved motivation and engagement
Keeping your employees informed about what’s cooking up on the higher levels of your organisation as a whole can help to keep them happily motivated and engaged. In fact, survey data shows that more than 80% of employees are most motivated when leadership provides them with regular updates on company news.
Boosted business profitability
When internal communication is not up to scratch, things tend to fall between the cracks, and in the business world this leads to lost profits. In fact, recent findings tell us that even companies on the smaller side (<100 employees) can lose up to R6.2 million per year at the hand of communication blunders. Jikes!
On the other hand, when internal teams communicate effectively, everyday interactions are clear and concise, meeting times are shorter, fewer emails fly about, and critical initiatives are accomplished because everyone in the organisation is aligned around common objectives.
In short – good employee communication is good for business.
Now, let’s take a look at 6 ways you can improve the employee communication in your workplace:
1. Improve communication skills from the top down
To be a manager of people, you need really solid communication skills. No matter what your leadership style, you still need to engage with the people on your team on a day-to-day basis. As such, if you want to improve internal communications, the best place to start is with the folks in leadership positions. Survey employees to find out if there are any issues that need addressing, and tackle them head on.
Read more: 6 Essential communication skills for HR professionals
2. Ask for input and give feedback
Regular feedback is the cornerstone of any strong internal communication strategy. When you touch base with employees on a regular basis, you are able to keep track of sentiment and address any issues that crop up as and when they occur, rather than having to clear them up after the fact.
Read more: How to give effective employee feedback
3. Make sure everyone is au fait with company strategy
Good things happen when employees are in alignment with their organisation’s goals and vision for the future. However, for this to happen they need to know and understand the company’s strategy first. Make sure that this is the case among your team.
Read more: 5 Ways HR tech can drive organisational alignment and employee engagement
4. Foster a strong basis of trust
Is there trust among your employees and their leaders? This is a tough question to answer, but an important one to ask. Science shows us that employees who trust their companies are less stressed and likely to call in sick, as well as more energetic, productive, engaged and satisfied with their lives in general. Happy days.
5. Boost team cohesion (especially among the young guns)
Members of the younger generation, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are very sociable. To pave the way for a happy working space, ensure that there is plenty of scope for interaction with colleagues and sharing new ideas. These young guns also want to know that they are heard and are able to make an impact on the business as a whole.
Read more: 6 Ways to engage your millennial workforce
6. Find the right communication channels
There are so many wonderful ways to communicate with your team these days. Email is great, sure, and it definitely has its place in the comms mix, but it’s also time to embrace other modes of interaction. Video can be a great tool, especially from a general ‘how-to’ and ongoing learning perspective.
Additionally, SaaS-based platforms like bountiXP can really bring your company strategy to life. Connecting your people to your company’s purpose, mission and values requires communication that reaches the right people at the right time with the right message. Our platform has several communication tools to achieve this goal. These include a company news feed, page builder with rich-media custom content capabilities, interactive profiles, personal dashboards, direct chat, in-app notifications and more.
There you have it – six ways in which you can improve employee communication in the workplace starting today. Check back soon for more expert insight into the world of future-proof HR.
In the meantime, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for awesome video content on everything from the science of employee recognition, to how management responsibility underpins effective employee engagement.