Communicating with frontline, hourly employees is the top concern facing internal communications professionals. That conclusion, along with other challenges and industry trends to watch are found in Red e App’s Internal Communications 2015 Report. The study, which consisted of qualitative interviews with nine industry leaders and experts, is available for free with registration.
When third-party experts validate your assumptions, you know you’re onto something. And while yes, the report certainly supports Red e App’s focus as a communications platform for non-desk, hourly and frontline employees, there’s much more to the report than just reinforcement of our purpose. Other challenges facing companies in internal communications include:
- Executives ignore employee communication
- Connecting international audiences is difficult
- Internal transparency is still an issue
- Technology can hurt, not help
Our expert interviewees included industry luminaries Peter Shankman (HARO), Gini Dietrich (Spin Sucks, Arment Dietrich), Shel Holtz (For Immediate Release Podcast, Holtz.com), Heather Thompson (Siemens), Steve Kaus (FleishmanHillard), Monica Miller Rodgers (Hexagon Geosystems), Susan Cellura (E. Marketing Communications), David Zinger (Renown Employee Engagement Speaker & Consultant) and Mark Sutherland (Elasticity, Monsanto). And they gave us not only their ideas on challenges for internal communicators, but also trends to be watching that solve many of the concerns.
Internal Communications Trends
Mobile, broader platforms beyond the phone, video content and staying away from employee’s “off” time were a few of the internal communications trends our experts pointed to as areas to focus. Certainly, the recommendation to focus on mobile made us happy, but the mention of wearables and even more of the deeper issues that can mar an internal team surfaced as well.
As expected, the issues of transparency, balancing the line between company time and effort and that of the employee and even building brand ambassadors from within the enterprise also emerged as focal points for companies in the coming year.
The Internal Communications 2015 report is full of idea starters for communications managers, internal communications professionals and even C-level executives. It is our hope the ideas presented and the expert commentary provided will give your company a more clear path to connecting and thriving with your employees and internal audiences.
Register and download your report here.
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