IABC Start the Dialogue: Employee Engagement in Tough Times
1. From Monologue to Dialogue:
Employee Engagement, Social Media
and the Bottom Line
Carolyn Ray
Vice President, Employee Engagement
IABC Employee Communications
Conference, October 2009
2. “If we choose to be bound by
the past, we will never move
forward”
- U.S. President Barack Obama, The Cairo Speech
6. Effective communications = Better business
performance
Firms that communicate more effectively are four times
as likely to report high levels of employee engagement
versus firms that communicate less effectively.
• Companies that have highly
effective communicators are 20%
more likely to report lower turnover
rates than their peers.
• Companies with the most effective
employee communication
programs provided a 91% total
return to shareholders (TRS) from
2002 to 2006, compared with 62%
for less effective firms.
8. The soft stuff is the hard stuff
“Intangible” Measures of
OLD NEW
Engaged Employees
Inspiration •Commitment
INTENT
Information
Awareness Engagement •Integrity
•Trust
•Inclusiveness
•High energy
•Passion
•Respect
•Innovation
•Creativity
10. Why this matters:
Canada is not reaching its true potential
• Only 20% of the Canadian workforce is engaged; 80% is not
engaged or is actively disengaged
• Managers rank internal communications problems as the second
highest barrier to productivity around the globe, after staffing and
labour shortages
• 54% of employees still feel confused about how social and
environmental impacts are addressed in their company or feel they
are treated in silos
• Only 23% of employees think their firm is highly effective in
communicating initiatives to business leaders or employees
Sources: Gallup, Proudfoot Consulting, Watson Wyatt, Fresh Marketing
12. Start the Dialogue ™
Research Goals
• Understand key trends, challenges and opportunities for
internal communications in the economic context
• Examine the role of dialogue: how two-way conversation can
stimulate participation, exchange ideas, solve problems,
promote action and ultimately improve trust
• Help leaders and managers embrace dialogue to inspire and
engage employees in the midst of a challenging economy
• Understand perceptions and value of internal communications
• How we did it: Qualitative telephone and in-person interviews
with communications and human resources professionals at
organizations across Canada
13. Key findings
1 Context: Economic environment
2 Top trends in internal communications
3 Role of leaders and managers
4 Measuring the value of internal
communications
5 Implications
16. Top trends in Internal 2
Communications
#1 Social media
• 88% identified social media as the primary trend
influencing internal communications
• Social media describes tools that facilitate
ongoing online interactions and conversations
• Organizations use social media to facilitate
dialogue to support executive visibility, customer
experience, vision, branding, sustainability,
recruitment, etc.
• FACT: Companies that use social media achieved year-over-year
improvement in employee engagement of 18% compared to 1% in those who
don’t (Aberdeen, 2008)
17. Communications modernity: 2
76% have fairly modern tools
• Some organizations using more
‘traditional’ tools said they lack
resources to implement new ideas
• Fairly modern: HTML newsletter,
podcast, voice messaging,
texting, video conferencing,
intranet, webcasting, email
“If we had internal social media tools, we
would definitely use them. Our CEO thinks
there is a general appetite for it.”
19. “Everyone at our organization agrees
that social media is changing the way
we work.”
“It would provide our employees who
don’t have access to technology at
work access to the senior team.”
“Employees are starting to ask us why
we aren’t doing more social media.”
20. Internal use of social media is
gaining momentum…
Source: iABC Research Foundation and Buck Consultants, 2009
21. Top trends in internal 2
communications
#2 Demographics
45% said that changing demographics in
the workplace are a major trend impacting
internal communications
FACT: By 2011, Millennials will outnumber baby boomers in the workplace
(Don Tapscott, Growing Up Digital)
22. “The demographics of the workplace are
forcing us to constantly re-evaluate how
we’re communicating and whether or not
we’re reaching all employees, from the
recent college grads to the 30-year
employees.”
“We need to engage an aging workforce,
a new younger workforce with new, more
digital communication tactics.”
23. Top trends in Internal 3
Communications
#3 Timeliness and relevance
30% cited an increased need
for timely and relevant
communications
FACT: Only 23% of employees think their firm is highly effective in
communicating initiatives to business leaders or employees
(Proudfoot Consulting, 2008)
24. “We need more consistency of
messaging and alignment…
connecting everything to the bigger
picture.”
“The amount of time you have
available to engage employees
seems to be diminishing.”
25. Role of Leaders: 3
Leaders excel, managers lag
• 38% indicated that their CEO communicated very
effectively with employees
• 56% ranked other senior leaders significantly lower in
terms of communications effectiveness
• The CEO was ranked at ‘4’ or above by 82% of
respondents, versus 50% for other team members
82% 50%
CEO Manager
Communication Communication
Effectiveness Effectiveness
26. Leaders have more dialogue, 3
but it’s too formal
• 48% said senior leadership is more visible now than 3
months ago; 31% said it was unchanged
• 61% said there is more dialogue with senior
management as a result of acquisitions, economy,
restructuring, crises
• Majority of dialogue occurs for ‘formal’ announcements
Benefits of Reinforces confidence in leadership
dialogue: Builds trust
Facilitates two-way communication
Prevents rumour mill
Positively impacts morale
Helps with message retention
27. Demonstrating business impact 4
is critical
• Despite wide array of metrics available,
44% lack formal vehicles for measurement
• Most respondents use online surveys to evaluate
events or issues or do pulse surveys on specific
issues
• Some use annual communication surveys to
evaluate effectiveness
• Minority leverage Gallup, Balanced Scorecard to
measure business impact
