CIPD - Employee communication

Employee relations

August 2007

This factsheet gives introductory guidance. It:

discusses the importance of good employee communication
describes the basic elements and objectives of communication
looks at various methods of communication
considers how to develop an effective communication strategy
describes the skills needed to perform the communication role
includes the CIPD viewpoint.

The factsheet looks at internal communication rather than external communication (for example, with customers, investors or other stakeholders). It may be helpful to read it in conjunction with our factsheet on Employee voice which covers the history of employee involvement, the mechanisms of two-way communications, and its potential benefits.

Go to our factsheet on Employee voice

Why communicate with employees?

Good two-way communication can help to build the psychological contract, in which employees feel valued by their employer, and the employer values (and is seen to value) employees’ contributions. Enhanced employee commitment should in turn feed into improved work performance, reduce staff turnover and make it easier to recruit good employees because the employer has a positive image.

The Investors in People Standard puts a priority on communication – for example, managers must be able to ‘describe how they involve people when developing the organisation’s business plan and when agreeing team and individual objectives’¹.

The two most important drivers of employee engagement identified by CIPD research² are:

having opportunities to feed upwards
feeling well-informed about what is happening ion the organisation.

But in a study carried out in 2004, just 55 per cent of employees believed they were being kept informed about what their company was doing, and only 65 per cent felt that they were given enough information to do their jobs effectively³. So clearly there is still a long way to go before internal communication in many organisations can be said to be effective. But how to go about it?

The basics

Mutual trust is very much a feature of the good psychological contract. Implicit in this is helping people to work together by means of shared information. So good communication is not simply about passing information down; it is also about sharing information, trusting people to interpret that information, and listening to what people say (and then, if necessary, acting upon what has been said or explaining why no action has been taken).

Implicit in this is that managers have a central role in any communications strategy; the good intentions of communication specialists can be ruined and mutual trust damaged by managers who do not pass messages on, who distort the messages they are entrusted with, or who do not provide feedback from what they have been told by their staff. This may imply training for managers at all levels in communication skills and ensuring that communication is seen as a core part of their jobs.

Communications also need to be linked to the business plan, with everyone in the process clear about their roles in making communication happen. Good communication is also about consistency: people are more likely to listen if there is a regular flow of information that they trust. The worst scenario is that only bad news is communicated.

Information needs to be delivered through a variety of channels because (for example) some people take more notice of messages delivered verbally, while others pay greater heed to written material. In any case, if something is important enough, it probably deserves to be said more than once, and in more than one way!

Objectives

According to a survey by the Work Foundation⁴, the top four objectives that organisations are trying to achieve through their internal communication activities are:

engaging employees in achieving business objectives (85% of respondents)
understanding of organisational goals and strategy (81%)
supporting culture change (52%)
creating an environment of open dialogue across the organisation (50%).

The last is important because it illustrates that nowadays communication is not simply top-down, as it might have been until the 1980s; today, the better organisations look for two-way communication.

Methods

There are many methods of communicating with employees. This section discusses them, starting with traditional top-down methods and moving on to those which are aimed at dialogue.

Throughout it should be remembered that audiences differ, and that different techniques may need to be used for different audiences. Organisational size is also important; communication is much easier in a single site establishment than in a multi-national organisation, especially where different languages and cultures are involved.

Developments in technology, notably web-based technologies, have increased the range of options in recent years. Intranet and email-based communications are probably now more important than traditional methods like printed newsletters. One of the benefits of electronic communication is immediacy, and (just as important) enabling immediate feedback. However, it needs to be remembered that in some organisations not all employees – for example, shop floor employees or drivers - will have access to email or an intranet.

Notice boards/bulletin boards: Part of the furniture, and as such may be ignored. Can get scruffy unless regularly policed. Not for important announcements. Today there are also electronic bulletin boards, but again they may be ignored by some staff.
Newsletters/house magazines: Regularly produced and may carry features on individual employees and events, as well as organisational news. Nowadays, they may be distributed electronically rather than printed. They can have a role to play in integrated communications policies, but are they read by everyone?
Letters: Addressed to individual employees and perhaps sent to their home addresses, letters should be reserved for issues of major importance, but are more likely to be read than internal memos or emails.
Video and in-house TV: Potentially useful in larger organisations for introducing (for example) new products or policies, although expensive. However, badly-produced in-house videos gained a reputation in the 1980s and 90s as vehicles for management propaganda, so they should be used sparingly. In a few large organisations, in-house television is also used, delivered to employees’ desk tops. But TV and video are mainly passive, not a dialogue. People are visually sophisticated, so the production needs to be good.
Emails and intranets: Messages via email can be targeted to particular groups and sent rapidly, but in some non-office environments not everyone has access to email, so other methods may be needed. Feedback facilities can be incorporated in intranets, so there is some opportunity for two-way communication. Employee attitude surveys (see below) may be conducted by email.
Presentations: Presentations direct to the workforce by a senior manager can be powerful, although very dependent on the delivery skills of the individual. PowerPoint can add to the experience, but should not be overdone. Time should be allowed for questions and answers, but this is not full two-way communication; many employees may be nervous about having a full and frank public discussion with the boss.
Team briefings/group meetings: Messages are delivered by local managers to established work groups. Here, communication can be face-to face and a proper dialogue is more possible. Nevertheless, there are dangers. If the same message is intended to be given by various managers, they may deliver it with different emphases, leading to misunderstandings. The scope for misunderstanding may increase where some of the workforce are not native English speakers. And there can be hidden expenses in terms of lost time.
Employee attitude surveys: Employee attitude surveys are one way in which managements can find out about employees’ views and concerns, though the right questions need to be asked (because the questions are devised by managers, they may not reflect what employees would like to be asked).
Focus groups: Focus groups are a further way of achieving qualitative feedback.
Face-to-face with managers: Individuals can express their views directly to line managers. Potentially a good method of two-way feedback, but managers need to understand the importance of upward transmission, and success may depend on how consistently they behave in this respect.

Effectiveness

The Work Foundation survey mentioned above found that the top three most effective communication channels, according to respondents, were team briefings (64 per cent), email (59 per cent) and intranet (38 per cent). In terms of the most effective channels for hearing staff views, 50 per cent mentioned feedback from team briefings, 43 per cent staff attitude surveys, and 38 per cent feedback to line managers⁴.

Developing a communication strategy

No single method of communication works effectively, standing alone. Written messages, whether on paper or on screen, will be consistent but may not be read; oral messages may be misunderstood or misinterpreted. In most cases, and especially where messages are only communicated in writing (though intranets can permit some dialogue), opportunities for two-way communication are limited.

Thirteen points for an effective communication strategy

Effective communication is therefore complex. The following are suggested as starting points for a communication strategy:

Convince top management of the importance of communication.
Build alliances across the organisation to support initiatives.
Recognise that no single method will be effective.
Use a mix of approaches and use all available channels where relevant (written, face-to-face, web-based, moving images).
Target the form(s) of communication to the audience; for example, it may well be appropriate to use different methods for shop floor employees and senior managers.
Respect cultural diversity and vary approaches accordingly. This is particularly important in a multi-national context, but bear in mind the UK’s cultural diversity as well (for more on diversity, see our factsheet on that subject).
- Go to our factsheet on Diversity
Make sure that messages are consistent, over time and between audiences.
Ensure clarity of message and keep things as simple as possible. For example, in written communications use short, sharp sentences or phrases. Sometimes even without verbs.
Train managers in communication skills and ensure that they understand the importance of communication.
Seek wherever possible to develop and sustain two-way communication, dialogue and feedback.
Ask yourself whether employees feel that the culture of the organisation is such that they can say what they think without discomfort; and if they can’t, think about how that culture can be changed.
Consider whether communication is built into the planning stages of all activities.
Review communication initiatives to check what has worked, what hasn’t, and why.

Core competencies

Although the ability to write persuasively is important, communication is about much more than that. Core competencies for senior internal communication professionals include:

Working knowledge of a wide range of business functions
Ability to understand and translate strategy and link communication to business activities
Ability to integrate media and develop and integrate communication plans
Ability to benchmark with other organisations
Networking, presenting and listening skills
Working with others in designing and implementing programmes to improve the communication capability of managers and others
General internal consultancy skills⁵.

CIPD viewpoint

Some organisations entrust their internal communication to people with backgrounds in journalism or public relations, while others have specialist units which bring together personnel, PR and other disciplines.

However, in many organisations the leading role in communication is taken by the personnel function; a survey in 2002 found that in 38 per cent of one hundred leading companies, the head of internal communication reported to the personnel director⁶. The bringing of communication into the personnel fold is part of HR becoming a business partner and taking a more strategic role. Communication is very much about developing organisational culture, which should be a central role of the personnel function.

But wherever responsibility for internal communication is placed, personnel professionals will need to work with other functional specialists and general managers to make a success of it. Initiatives will fail unless there is full support from the top of the organisation. Success depends upon the existence of a consistent, clear strategy linked to the business plan, with clarity at the individual level about each person’s role in making communication happen. Line managers are often at the centre of delivery, especially when it comes to verbal communication, and are responsible for much of the feedback which needs to take place to ensure effective two-way communication.

References

This definition was taken from the IIP website http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/
CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT. (2006) How engaged are British employees? Survey report. London: CIPD. Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/surveys
ORC INTERNATIONAL. ‘Putting it in perspective: UK employee opinions 2004’ Quoted in WOLFF, C. (2005) Dialogue or monologue: is the message getting through? IRS Employment Review. No 834, 28 October. pp8-16.
BINGHAM, C. and SUFF, P. (2002) Internal communication. Managing best practice, no 100. London: Work Foundation.
Abbreviated from the competences listed in CLUTTERBUCK, D. and HIRST, S. (2003). Talking business: making communication work. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.
TURNER, P. (2003) Organisational communication: the role of the HR professional. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/bookstore

Employee communication