An effective internal communication strategy planning guide for company success (e-book)

A company's success is determined by its employees. What matters is not only how professionally trained and experienced the employees are, but also how committed they are to the company. Dedicated, enthusiastic employees stay with the company longer and do far more for it than the expected minimum. Employee engagement, however, is influenced to an extraordinary degree by the company's internal communication strategy — which, unfortunately, poses a huge challenge for many companies.

Internal communication and employee retention

According to a survey by Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton, 95% of employees are not familiar with their company's strategy. Let's face it: it is quite hard to work in a way that advances the company's goals if we don't even know what those goals are. Moreover, there is a danger that the 5% who in theory do know the company's strategy unintentionally pass the information on incorrectly, and it can become distorted many times over by the time it reaches every employee of the company. 

Of course, you may now ask how this relates to employee retention. Fine, limited corporate internal communication puts the company's goals at risk — but that alone does not explain employee turnover.

Allow me to explain how the two are connected.

Let's suppose that the news that reaches the workers on the production line is that the company will soon deploy robots to increase efficiency. Some of the workers panic at this news, start looking for a new job, and then resign. The company has to replace the lost workforce — when in reality the plan was to introduce a chatbot supporting internal communication, not to bring robots onto the production line to replace people. 

Had the company communicated this openly to all of its employees, the resignations could have been avoided, which would have:

• saved the costs of recruitment
• saved the costs that come with hiring new employees (training, wage differences, etc.)
• made the drop in production avoidable
• prevented extra workload from falling on the remaining staff, which in the long run can also lead to resignations

As you can see, transparent and effective internal communication can be a lifesaver for companies. 

According to a Harvard Business Review (HBR) survey, at companies with high employee turnover, the resignation rate dropped by 25% as soon as they started communicating with their employees. At companies where fewer people had been resigning to begin with, the rate dropped by 65%.

Engaged employees secure the company's future

According to HBR surveys, engaged employees are 22% more productive than other staff. Dedicated employees gladly take part in projects and are willing to put extra time and energy into making them a success.

Moreover, besides staying with the company longer, engaged employees also elevate the employer brand image. Wherever they go, they speak proudly about where they work. And if a position opens up, they are not afraid to recommend it to people they know. This, in its own way, saves the company time and money. Within days you can be choosing from quality candidates who, thanks to the perfect onboarding experience provided through their acquaintance, have a good chance of staying even after the probation period. And, as research tells us, friendly and effective onboarding ensures that 69% of employees stay with the company for at least 3 years.

But here comes the question: what does it take for an employee to be engaged?

The key lies in the company's internal communication strategy.

Plan your company for success! Request the free e-book "With an internal communication strategy for engaged employees"!