By Gabe Scorgie
8 min read
Employee communication is the exchange of information, ideas, feelings, and feedback between employees and all levels of leadership within an organization. This includes both formal and informal communication and can happen through various channels, including meetings, emails, instant messaging, social media, and collaboration platforms. It’s a way of ensuring that employees are kept informed, engaged, and aligned with their organization’s goals and values, which can ultimately create a positive and productive work environment.
Internal communication: Internal communication refers to the overall methods or processes that a company uses to share information. This could include exchanges such as peer-to-peer interactions, executive announcements, team collaborations, or any other form of communication that occurs internally. The primary goal is to ensure that all members of an organization are well informed, engaged, and aligned with the company’s goals and values.
Employee communication: Employee communication focuses specifically on the interactions between the employer and employee. It’s how management, leadership, or any representatives of an organization convey information, whether that’s directives, feedback, or updates. It also refers to how employees communicate their questions, concerns, and feedback to their leadership. Effective employee communication is important for any organization that wants to build and maintain transparency, trust, and a positive work environment.
Internal communication: A quarterly meeting where a CEO shares the latest financial results and goals with all employees. Information would be shared across different departments — the sales team may discuss targets, the engineering team may talk about product development, and peer-to-peer communication would likely happen as team members collaborate on ongoing tasks.
Employee communication: An HR department sends out an email to employees about a new remote work policy with details of the company’s expectations and a provision for feedback or questions. In response, employees may reach out to their managers or HR to discuss how the policy will affect their routines or to seek clarification.
Sending updates on an intranet is like putting a message in a bottle. Boost your communication with a platform designed for the modern workplace.
Improved employee engagement: Give an employee the information and resources they need to do their jobs effectively, and they’ll feel empowered and valued. Not to mention, you’ll likely also see an increase in their satisfaction and productivity. Encouraging open communication helps employees to feel more connected to their colleagues and the organization, ultimately leading to a work environment where everyone is potentially motivated to go above and beyond their roles.
Strengthens company culture: Effective communication that’s inclusive and unbiased will help build and maintain a strong company culture by ensuring that every employee, regardless of their background or position, feels valued and respected. When they connect diverse employees and encourage collaboration, organizations can create an environment where everyone works together toward common goals.
Removes departmental silos: Instead of creating silos where departments are disconnected, when encouraged, employee communication can bridge departments and breakdown silos, making sure everyone is aware of and aligned with company goals. It can also reduce misunderstandings, complexities, and make the organization more agile and better equipped to respond to changes and challenges.
It will help you get things done faster: The better the communication, the better teamwork and collaboration, both of which are essential if you want to bring a project to completion. When employees communicate openly and effectively, they can share ideas, troubleshoot issues, and coordinate more efficiently. This will not only speed things up but also provide employees with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from their work, which can further boost their motivation and productivity.
Reduces costs and improves the bottom line: Finally, employee communication can lead to cost savings and improved financial performance. When your employees work well together and communicate effectively, they’re able to complete tasks more quickly and with fewer errors. This type of increased efficiency will reduce operational costs and shorten the time-to-market for new products and services, ultimately enhancing the organization’s overall productivity.
Effective communication flows top-down and bottom-up:
Top-down communication: This is when information flows from leadership or management down to their employees. It’s how companies pass on important updates, company goals, strategic changes, policies, or announcements.
Forms of top-down communication could include, but aren’t limited to:
Bottom-up communication: This is information that flows from employees up to their leadership, perhaps ideas, concerns, feedback, or suggestions. Encouraging this type of communication helps develop a sense of ownership and engagement among employees, since they’re able to share their experiences and possibly contribute to decision-making.
Forms of bottom-up communication could include, but aren’t limited to:
As you’ve probably guessed by now, building a strong communication culture will require ongoing effort. Before getting into strategies and best practices, here are some things to keep in mind:
Know your employees: In order for communication to be effective, you’ll need to understand your employees. Make it a practice to regularly gather feedback through surveys, check-ins, one-on-one or team meetings, or even informal conversations. This will help you tailor your communication style and the content you offer in a way that meets their needs and preferences — ultimately leading to better engagement.
Measure effectiveness: How effective are your strategies? You don’t want to continue with something that isn’t working, so track metrics like employee survey results, meeting attendance, and how likely your employees are to take advantage of an open-door policy. Analyze their engagement levels, and then adjust your approach based on what’s working and what isn’t.
Communicate clearly: You have a message to share, but you want to ensure that it’s understood, as this will minimize misunderstandings and help build trust. Focus on clarity, conciseness, and transparency. Use plain language, avoid jargon, and present your information in a way that’s relevant to your audience and their role.
This metric gauges the reach and engagement of your messages.
Track: Many email marketing platforms offer built-in analytics tools to track opens, video views, reads, and when links are clicked.
Analyze: Low open rates suggest communication overload or disinterest. Analyze who opens messages, and adjust your content or channels accordingly. High click rates indicate strong engagement, but a low click rate may require a clear call to action.
This is a measurement of how your employees interact with the content you share.
Track: It doesn’t stop it open rates. Track metrics like comments, shares, likes, and replies on any of your internal social platforms or discussion forums. You can also analyze how long they spend on your content or engagement platforms.
Analyze: If you have high engagement rates, this suggests that your content resonates with your employees. Analyze what topics generate the most engagement and then tailor all future communication accordingly. If your engagement is low, this may indicate a need for more interactive content forms — for example, polls or quizzes.
This measurement can help you understand employee sentiment and identify any areas for improvement.
Track: Use surveys, suggestion boxes, check-ins, one-on-one meetings, or anonymous feedback channels.
Analyze: Check for recurring themes and trends to measure the impact of your communication, and then identify any areas of concern.
This refers to the overall emotional tone and attitude of your workforce.
Track: To track, combine quantitative and qualitative data and then track employee engagement metrics alongside open-ended feedback and exit interviews.
Analyze: Look for trends in surveys and check-ins that are related to your company’s culture, communication, and leadership. Identify any areas where communication can improve employee satisfaction and address any negative sentiments.
If you have a high turnover rate, it can indicate communication issues.
Track: Closely monitor your turnover rates and track exit interview data.
Analyze: Look for reasons for employee departures — especially any correlation between communication practices and your turnover rate. If you find communication breakdowns are a recurring theme, use your data to help update your strategies.
Effective communication needs to be an ongoing investment in your organization. With a culture of open communication, you can unlock the following benefits:
Improved business outcomes: Clear communication can empower your employees to make better decisions, collaborate more effectively, and drive results.
Greater agility: Businesses need to adapt to survive. Open communication not only ensures everyone is on the same page when it comes to organizational goals, but also allows them to make course corrections when needed.
A more productive workplace: If your employees feel informed, valued, and heard, they’re more engaged and motivated to do their best. Clear communication helps promote a sense of ownership and streamlines workflows, leading to a more productive environment.
Strong employee communication is built on a foundation of trust and transparency. Open communication encourages dialogue through multiple channels, and when you establish clear and transparent policies, you foster a sense of fairness. Create a safe space for your employees that allows them to provide feedback, whether positive or negative — and then solicit feedback.
You don’t need to do all of this on your own. There are simple, centralized communication technologies to help you get there. Request your Jostle demo today and give your employee communication the boost it needs.
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Gabe Scorgie
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