Impactful Corporate Communications

2020 Changed The Face Of Communications

If 2020 did anything for corporate America, it’s highlighted a different way of doing business. Entire companies have gone remote virtually overnight, and everything—from team meetings to company culture initiatives—functions differently.

Thanks to the pandemic, most elements of the employee experience must now pass through the tools and processes put into place by the workforce communications team. So while you’ve always known the value your team provides, everyone at the executive table is having to recognize the same fact.

If you didn’t have a cohesive strategy in place before the pandemic hit or if you struggled to get the support you needed for widespread change, that’s okay.

WE’VE PUT TOGETHER A QUICKSTART GUIDE TO IMPACTFUL WORKFORCE COMMUNICATIONS TO GET YOU WHERE YOU NEED TO BE.

Identify Workforce Priorities

Start with the big picture. What are the biggest concerns your organization is facing? Keep an eye on what is happening right now, but don’t forget to look ahead at what is coming down the pipeline over the next 1-3 years.

If your executives are planning on a big restructuring of the business, your internal communication strategy will likely center around change management and keeping employees informed. 

If HR is working to combat a high employee turnover rate and widespread dissatisfaction, you might focus instead on company culture and ways to help employees feel more engaged.

Define Specific Goals and How You’ll Get There

You’ve probably heard of SMART goals before, and for a good reason. The strategies you decide on here should be specific, measurable (more on this next), attainable, relevant, and time-based. 

Each big picture priority will likely be able to be broken down into a series of initiatives to make them a reality. You’ll need to take stock of the resources, manpower, and tools available, to understand what is feasible for your team. 

To continue the example of HR combatting a dissatisfied workforce, your team may decide to publish weekly update videos from the CEO to bridge the gap between decision-makers and employees, while also kicking off a community service challenge to boost morale.

Track Your Progress

Before implementing any of the initiatives you’ve defined above, you should figure out how you’ll measure
their success. Establish a baseline and check in regularly to see if you’re making demonstrable progress toward your goals.

Below are just a few examples of key performance indicators (KPIs) you may want to track:

• Unique opens and link clicks on your newsletters 
• Complete reads for new posts 
• Usage patterns across platforms
• Employee adoption & login rates for a new platform 
• Survey completion rates 
• Post engagement rates

Use these KPI’s to guide your internal efforts and to demonstrate your value to the business at large.

Prioritize Employee Buy-in

When you involve your workforce in internal communications, you demonstrate that their opinions matter to leadership—ideally improving their engagement levels, as well as the adoption rates and success of your initiatives. This could be as simple as asking questions at the end of news posts, soliciting content ideas from workers in the field, or taking the time to explain the “why” behind big changes. 

While you’re at it, provide avenues for employees to ask questions and leave feedback at any time, rather than waiting for quarterly surveys. If something isn’t working, you want to be able to address it ASAP. 

When you give employees a voice, they become more invested in the process, and that’s the level of engagement you’re working toward.

Conclusion

With a significant portion of your workforce working remotely, it’ll be easier than ever for individuals to fall off the map. And research shows that a disengaged employee is incredibly costly for a business, an average loss of $16,000 per year, per unhappy employee. A high turnover rate—with the resource drains of offboarding, hiring, and training workers—could slow your business to a standstill. 

But with the steps we’ve outlined above, your internal communications team will be on the right track to keeping everyone happy and productive.

Are you ready for a modern, vibrant communication platform? We’d love to introduce you to Sparrow.

If you’re looking for a platform to help make your life easier and connecting you with all of your workforce, give Sparrow a look. We’ve lived the pain, we understand the hopes, and we built a platform for communication professionals that delivers. From Intranets, to Microsoft Teams, to newsletters, email and mobile, we know how important corporate communications is. Sparrow – Built for Communicators. Book a conversation with us today.