A few weeks ago 10 leading Internal Communications managers gathered in the hippest hotspot of Amsterdam to join our Round Table regarding Employee Engagement. We mainly discussed the role of an internal communications manager when increasing Employee Engagement. Communications experts Nathalie Soeteman, Power2Improve, and Claudia van Loon, DELA, shared knowledge, best practices and guided some group discussions. Here’s a quick heads up of what we discussed this afternoon.
Let’s start with some facts and numbers
The global average on engaged and committed employees is 29%. Remarkable to notice on this point is that Afrika, North America and South America are the top scoring regions on Employee Engagement with a staggering 39%. Other then expected since their leading on other topics, Europe is scoring 4th with 27% followed by Oceania (26%) and Asia (25%). Industries with the most engaged and committed employees are Agriculture and Education. The lowest percentage of engagement is reached in the Automation industry.
An important step by increasing employee engagement in your organization is to create a task force/support system. This is a critical step since you can’t build on quicksand. Alignment is key; therefore, make sure your task force consists of representatives from HR, Internal Comms and Marketing. Within large organizations, we recommend to also invite line managers to join the task force. But, the task force shouldn’t be bigger than 6 individuals. Make monthly appointments and discuss your goals and actions.
Furthermore, Claudia van Loon shared some best practices about her role as an internal communications manager regarding Employee Engagement.
The biggest change in communication within DELA was moving from creating content at the headquarters to facilitating in a communications platform so employees are able to create content themselves. Nowadays focus is on monitoring the communications platform and coaching the content creators to make the most of internal news. It drives employee engagement since the news is coming straight from the heart of the organization.
On the other hand Claudia is continuously talking with employees throughout organization. This way she gathers information on what’s happening so she can adjust her communications strategy. It drives employee engagement since employees are truly involved.
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