Want successful employee communications? Think like a marketer

Abstract

Purpose

Today’s employees expect a consumer-like communications experience: worthy of their time, meaningful, easy to consume, delightful and consistent. An IDG survey saw that frequent, easy-to-share, modern communications correlated positively to employees’ job satisfaction; increasing the likelihood to recommend their employer as well as to remain at their current company. Do those positive outcomes of employee satisfaction, employer brand and retention sound like they might fit into your strategic HR plans this year and every year?

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have been studying this problem for almost a decade, working with over 1,000 companies representing more than 10 million employees. It seems as if employee communications suffers from the “last mile” syndrome, a term originally coined by the telecommunications industry. You can have the most robust equipment and services but if the last mile, the final piece that connects all of that modern technology to the end user, does not get delivered, it’s all for nothing. Similarly, we can have the best HR programs, total rewards packages and a killer employer value proposition, but if they do not reach and activate our employees, HR can never realize the true ROI of that effort.

Findings

How would you rate your company’s internal communications? That was the question IDG Research asked of 270 HR professionals in its March 2017 Workforce Communication Survey. In total, 71 per cent answered yes to the prompt: “Our workplace communications are engaging”. That’s great news if you’re sitting in HR. Only 27 per cent of the corresponding 1,050 employees replied yes to that same prompt.

Originality/value

Today’s employee is on information overload – @home, @work, @anywhere. With the explosion of digital content being pushed through multiple devices, employees as digital consumers have learned to ignore some types of information and readily consume others. The authors have seen first-hand how this marketing approach to employee communications can give new life to legacy programs and most importantly, improve participation and adoption.

Citation

Goncalves, P. (2017), "Want successful employee communications? Think like a marketer", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 229-233. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-07-2017-0038