Dive Brief:
- If given the opportunity to change one thing about their jobs, most employees in a recent survey said — perhaps unsurprisingly — that they'd change their pay. Communication, however, took second place in research from Peakon.
- The employee engagement platform, which gathered the results from more than 11 million employee comments, said effective communication can have a big impact on both employee engagement and strategic objectives. That's because it creates a sense of belonging, according to Peakon: when employees feel that there is a two-way dialogue with their organization, "it paves the way for transparency, innovation and profitability."
- No simple answer emerged from the results, however. Baby Boomers frequently referenced traditional business software and the Silent Generation leaned toward email. Meanwhile, Millennials most often cited Slack, an instant messaging platform, as their preferred method of communication. And Peakon said employers can expect these preferences to continue to evolve. "This is something that [organizations] need to be conscious of, capture in their employee surveys and harness, in order to ensure that they are able to communicate effectively with all levels of their workforce, no matter the generation."
Dive Insight:
Previous research also has identified infrequent and ineffective internal communication as an employee pain point. A Dynamic Signal study released earlier this year, for example, revealed that ineffective communication can drive workers out the door. In fact, the group found a 30% year-over-year increase in the number of respondents who expressed these feelings.
Specifically, employees in the study expressed frustration with "broken communication methods and fragmented information." With business objectives at stake when communication fails, employers might want to adopt communication strategies that are personalized and broad-reaching.
In an opinion piece for HR Dive, Helen Calvin, chief revenue officer for Jellyvision, recommended five steps for HR teams to make their communication more effective: 1) personalize the message; 2) avoid jargon; 3) keep the message clear, uncluttered and responsive to anticipated questions; 4) send messages when relevant; and 5) communicate to all, not just those undergoing change.
