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Internal Communications Are Essential During Cultural Shifts

Corporate Cultural Shifts and Employee Expectations

Government advice is frequently changing and agile, rapid response communications is key to advising employees and maintaining a positive work experience.

We are starting to see the return of the office working environment, but employees’ expectations have changed due to the flexibility and change of arrangements during lockdown.

Employers should take into consideration that employee expectations have shifted, and the business will need to shift accordingly. The necessity of an office, and the commute to it, has been called into question, with remote working offering a range of benefits to employees from savings in transport costs to the ability to spend more time with the family. All of these things relieve an element of daily pressure and can provide a more positive employee experience, especially if the company is supportive of this and reflects it in their actions. Permanent flexibility will become the norm for a wide range of businesses, and effective internal communications will be paramount in achieving a smooth transition.

The limelight will be focused on your HR department to manage this cultural shift and having the right technological infrastructure will be key in protecting and enhancing the employee experience during this transition.

 

How to Create Good Internal Corporate Communications During a Cultural Shift

This new way of working is likely to impact a wide range of policies that will need to be edited and announced to the company.

The volume of information which needs to be communicated will vary in its priority and complexity, and company-wide emails will not make the grade for this task. Information is constantly evolving, and regular updates will need to be made. Covering everything via email is likely to lead to information overload which can overwhelm your employees, and lead to a reduced level of engagement, trust, and satisfaction.

 

Using Employee Experience Platforms for Personalized Internal Communications

There are a number of communication considerations to be made in handling this transition. An employee experience platform will help employees find what they are looking for and help the HR department communicate quickly and effectively across a large number of staff.

An employee-centric HR portal should contain a number of personalization tools to tailor the message to the recipient and help increase employee engagement.

Personalization helps improve the relevancy and quality of your internal communications, depending on a number of factors including where employees are working, their personal and family situation, and more. This brings more benefit to the recipient and ultimately the company by bringing a human element to the communication, having maximum impact on the recipient, and encouraging further engagement.

Personalized internal communications ensure that your employees receive information relevant to their current work situation, location, and job role. This kind of messaging ensures they have all the information they need, and minimizes irrelevant information being sent, which costs time and can lead to mounting frustration.

An employee experience platform can be structured to cover all the bases and be a robust source of information without using days of HR resource. Self-service elements allow staff to access all the information they need at the touch of a button, while personalized messaging ensures your employees feel valued and included.

What the employee sees and the information they receive can be based on a set of circumstances ensuring they enjoy a tailored experience that provides all the information they need; without getting bogged down in communications that do not concern them.

 

Examples of Personalized Internal Communications

You may wish to segment by situation, for example, furloughed staff, employees returning to the office, and long-term remote workers. Each of these groups will require a different set of information and updates to protect the employee experience and keep them abreast of their working situation. Information that is relevant to one is not often relevant to another.

  • Consider how you can deliver personalized messages that are relevant to their role and current working situation
  • Look at which platform would be best suited to deliver relevant and helpful content
  • Think about how best to allow them access to a self-service portal to find information at any time

An agile HR portal with self-service capabilities and a flexible employee experience element can provide a complete solution for managing internal communications while getting back to work during COVID-19, and into the remote working culture of the future.

Here at Applaud, we have developed a guide: Transitioning your workforce to the new norm. Download your free copy today and find out how you can make this cultural shift within your organization smoother for all of your employees.

 

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Published September 8, 2020 / by Applaud