No substitute for the human touch in employee communications

In a world of emails and intranets, employers still believe that they can keep staff up to date by talking to them, according to a survey by IRS Employment Review, published by LexisNexis Butterworths.

Although organisations use an extensive range of communication methods, including online systems, handbooks, newsletters and memos, employers said that team briefings (33.7%) and executive briefing sessions and road shows (28.3%) work best.

Only a minority of the employers surveyed have a formal written communications policy (one-third) and, although two-thirds try to evaluate the success of their internal communications, less than a quarter of those who do, use any formal evaluation methods. However, despite limited formal planning and evaluation and a widespread reliance on informal approaches, over half the organisations surveyed (54%) believe that their communications strategy is working.

The IRS survey - which looks at internal communication planning, delivery methods, evaluation, success rates and obstacles to success - covers 74 organisations, employing 71,468 people. Most (94.5%) were from the private sector. One in five has 250 employees or fewer, and 48% have 500 or more.

Other key findings include:

While internal communications may have several aims, employers believe that the most important goal is to keep staff informed about organisational changes (86.4%). Improving employee engagement (77.2%), improving staff performance (74.3%) and enabling them to do their job (71.6%) were also seen as important.

Communications approaches are more effective in keeping employees informed than in improving engagement and performance.

The most popular methods to encourage employee involvement are team meetings (86.4%), attitude surveys (68.9%) and focus groups (63.5%). Forty-three organisations have a staff council and 42 recognise a trade union.

Over three-quarters (77%) have a staff feedback mechanism in place. Methods include: intranet forums, executive time on the floor, a confidential email address, an open-door policy, pizza clinics and breakfast banter.

Many people can contribute to the communications policy; in most organisations surveyed, this includes the HR department (67.5%) and directors or executives (59.4%). In just over a third (36.4%) of organisations, a communications team is involved at the planning stage, and 37.8% seek input from senior managers.

HR and communications practitioners say that their two main problems are keeping communications alive and interesting, and capturing the interest of employees.

IRS Employment Review managing editor, Mark Crail commented:


Any successful organisation has to communicate effectively with staff. Most employers think they are getting it right - and in some areas such as business and change awareness they are. But our survey reveals that they rarely succeed in going beyond that to involve employees in improving the company. Just over half (51%) believe that engagement has improved and only 19% think that performance has got better.

ìGiven the importance of good internal communications, employers may want to revisit the methods they use or consider introducing more formal planning and evaluation systems to help them achieve better results.