Improving Internal Communications Keeps Employees Informed and Engaged and Reaps Significant Rewards
If you want to boost employee engagement, satisfaction, collaboration, motivation, and productivity, one of the best and easiest ways to do so comes with improving internal communications. This is especially true during a period when significant numbers of Colorado Springs and Denver area workers are doing their jobs remotely, isolated, and distant from their colleagues.
People like to know what’s going on with the company they work for rather than relying on rumors and gossip. But according to Gallup, 74 percent of American workers feel like they’re missing out on important company news, and only 40 percent can confidently describe to others what their company actually does.
How well a Colorado company keeps its workforce informed and connected reflects how much it prioritizes its employees. When you improve internal communications, you demonstrate that you consider employees a vital part of the organization and value their thoughts, opinions, and insights.
Given the technology that makes communicating with a large workforce relatively easy and inexpensive, the return on investment in improving internal communication proves substantial. Here are six simple secrets to help your company improve internal communications.
Improve Internal Communications by Asking Your Employees How They Feel About Existing Communications
You can’t fix a problem unless you understand what it is. Survey your employees and ask them what they think about your current level of internal communications and engagement. Do they feel like they’re not getting enough information? Are those communications clear and do they provide relevant substance? Is the frequency of internal messages too much or too few and far between?
Once you understand your existing program’s strengths and weaknesses, you can address the shortcomings and build on what works.
Figure Out How Employees Prefer to Get Company Information
Internal communications are not worth much if no one sees or reads them. Many workers toggle between several different ways to communicate every day, from emails to texts to Slack messages to project management platforms. Of course, folks still connect face-to-face and by phone as well. Once you understand which channels employees prefer, you can tailor your strategy to use those with the most reach.
Have an “Open Door” Policy
Make it clear that you welcome comments, inquiries, suggestions, and perspectives from employees. Ensure they know communication works as a two-way street at your company and that they should feel comfortable expressing themselves. Superiors should make an affirmative effort to walk around and talk to their employees or otherwise check-in from time to time to see how they’re doing.
Leverage Social Media
Your Colorado employees likely spend time on social media, so meet them where they are. While most companies understandably focus their social media efforts on customers and clients, they can also leverage these platforms to connect and interact with their workforce. With social media, employees can comment, like, and share interesting and important information about your organization. It’s also a great way to get to know your employees more on a personal level.
Make Your Office Layout Amenable to Open Communication
The layout and structure of your office or workplace can either facilitate communication or stifle communication. If everyone is isolated in their own offices and cubicles, interactions can be few and far between. Consider rearranging your space to make it more open and conducive to interactions between employees, supervisors, and managers.
Encourage Socializing in the Breakroom
Internal communications are not limited to those between management and employees. The interaction between colleagues and coworkers can be equally important.
Socializing at the office proves to be an indispensable element of positive employee morale and increased productivity. Face-to-face interaction is how employees share institutional knowledge, promote teamwork, and integrate new hires with the rest of the team.
Additionally, colleagues who interact, chat, share, commiserate, and laugh with each other are more likely to stay at a company and work harder because of the joy and connection that such interactions bring.
No place in the office is more conducive to socializing than the breakroom, presuming it’s not a sad, barren wasteland of bitter coffee, stale water, and bad lighting. But a vibrant space that attracts employees with quality products, amenities, and great coffee that they have come to expect can turbocharge office cohesion and camaraderie, reaping a multitude of benefits for employers and employees alike.
Help Improve Internal Communications With Colorado Pure
At Colorado Pure, we are all about bringing people together. We do so by providing Colorado Springs and Denver area offices and workplaces with the purest, highest quality purified water, and the finest office coffee brewing equipment and coffee available. Our team members are passionate about customer service and have a well-earned reputation for consistency, reliability, and trustworthiness.
To find out how you can make your company’s breakroom a driver of increased communication, productivity, and employee job satisfaction, please contact us for a free quote.
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