Internal communication is often overlooked, but it is an essential element in improving employee engagement. You may wonder why it is so important to the company.
Many decisive aspects in the life of a company are closely linked to internal communication, such as employee retention, recruitment, management or even productivity.
Investing in internal communication means activating a powerful lever capable of turning all these topics into assets that will set you apart from your competitors.
An enhanced corporate culture, involved employees, improved quality of life at work, etc. In this article, we share with you the 10 benefits that internal communication offers to the company and its stakeholders.
Around 60% of employees would be willing to change companies if they had a better corporate culture than their own
Speakap Study – 2019
Corporate culture is not just a post on social networks or a brochure that is distributed around the world! It is the identity base that brings employees together. In other words, it all starts with them, their daily lives, the way the company views them, addresses them, and the values it transmits to them.
Internal communication is therefore becoming mandatory in order to address all employees and to make this culture live on a daily basis. The aim is to create a sense of belonging, a common history, through a common language.
Therefore, a prerequisite for internal use, and a great opportunity for external use: the corporate culture allows the organisation to differentiate itself from its competitors through its history, values, etc.
85% of employees say they are more motivated when management communicates regularly about company news
Trade Press Service Survey – 2018
Good internal communication is also about making employees understand what they are working for every day! It conveys the company’s vision, values and objectives. These elements give meaning to the work of the employees: every effort, every action is then part of a precise goal, in a cause that will make your employees proud and determined.
In other words, they will be more involved and motivated ! Transparency will therefore be rewarded. A real performance lever !
79% of employees believe that well-being at work is an important issue in their company
Lectra Study – 2017
Insomnia, anxiety, stress, many ailments affect today’s employees. Ensuring a healthy working environment for your employees is now essential both for their well-being and for your company’s productivity, because yes, the two are undeniably linked.
It is important to be a good listener, but also to show recognition, transparency or to create unifying events. Finally, internal communication and QWL will work hand in hand to make the workplace a place of exchange and well-being.
70% of employees are more loyal to a company if it communicates clearly about its objectives and organisation
Harris Poll – 2014
Employee loyalty is one of the many benefits of a company’s internal communication. Indeed, you don’t leave a place of work that you love. Yes, an employee can stay for various reasons : their tasks, salary, colleagues, etc.
Internal communication is the icing on the cake: through its various actions, it will unite employees around common values and make them want to stay in your company.
All these aspects are different cogs in the same mechanism, and they all move together in the same positive direction. Thus, employee loyalty necessarily leads to a decrease in turnover.
It’s a circle of benefits : if Mickaël is happy in his sports department, the company doesn’t lose money in having to find someone to replace him; and he can make a living from his passion and strengthen the company culture and the bonds with his colleagues over the years!
Goodwill and good internal communication will therefore contribute to creating a space of trust for employees. As a result, the phenomenon of disengagement on the part of employees, which is detrimental to productivity, is countered ! And a more moderate, positive turnover is encouraged.
84% of employees are thinking of leaving their company to go to another with a better reputation.
Link Humans
For ParlonsRH, employer branding is a "group of actions and marketing levers activated with the aim of making the company attractive to future employees and retaining current employees". It is by no means to be neglected! Indeed, according to LinkHumans, "a strong employer brand increases the number of highly qualified applications by 50%" !
This employer brand is first of all built internally: to show the outside world that the company is unique, you have to show its treasures. It therefore lives on through collective objectives and projects, quality of life at work, etc., and through team-building events, the organisation of which is devised and managed by internal communication!
At Steeple, we don’t hesitate to share our company’s daily life on social networks. The result? Employees feel valued and this attracts future employees!
Recruitment can be facilitated internally. Internal communication acts on an interesting lever: the ability to co-opt, in other words, making employees the driving force behind the company and turning them into ambassadors by including them in the recruitment process.
So by sharing offers with all employees, and clarifying the ins and outs of its co-optation programme, internal communication can multiply the effectiveness of its recruitment. In some companies, the volunteer will be rewarded with a bonus for their investment, and will always be proud of the trust placed in them.
Finally, they will be grateful for the opportunity to have an impact on the composition of their team.
70% of managers find that internal communication helps them to stay in touch and maintain a link within their team
AFCI Study
When communication within the company is smooth, then the employee feels invested, because they are informed. They will then be more inclined to pass on the information to their manager or directly to the collaborative communication tool.
This time saved can be used by the manager to help and motivate their team, to put them forward, and to enhance the value of their department. In short, one of the main advantages of internal communication in companies is to reveal managers, their work, but also their team members.
Once employees are involved, they integrate the values of the company, they have confidence in it, and they are now eager to make the company they work for grow !
This should be seen as a form of recognition by employees of the efforts their company makes to support them.
Good internal communication is a virtuous circle, where employees are engaged and involved in their work, where good relations between colleagues and departments are the strength of the company and for which the employees want to invest themselves.
Earlier we talked about employee turnover. Well, you should know that the average cost of an employee replacement is about… 6 to 9 months’ salary! In addition to employee turnover, the above-mentioned increase in productivity naturally leads to an increase in revenue.
According to an Aberdeen Group study, companies with engaged employees see their annual turnover increase by 26% ! So you’ve got it: the last of the benefits of internal communication in companies is simply that it makes you money!
Internal communication is an essential link in your overall corporate strategy, at the heart of many valuable themes: it influences the quality of life at work, is an economic and performance lever, etc.
Together with employees, it is a beating heart, a driving force for the company at all levels, and it requires mobilising both the right tools and the right people to express its full potential!
Now that you are convinced of the importance of internal communication, it is important to build a strategy that matches your company’s identity. But before doing so, it is important to take a step back and understand your company’s current internal communication.