As the workplace has changed due to the upheavals of Covid-19, the relevance of internal communications has also shifted considerably.

 

This is the focus of an educational presentation at the AMEC Virtual Global Summit on Measurement which considers the ways in which internal communications has come to the fore to support corporate culture during the pandemic.

 

Paula Díaz, Operations and Innovation Manager, buho, explains how her company researched its clients’ internal communications capabilities, with a particular focus on the contribution towards corporate strategy.

 

“When aligned with strategy and leadership, a strong culture drives positive organisational outcomes,” says Paula. “It can be decisive for an organisation in achieving its goals and purpose.”

 

buho used the AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework to research the relationship between three components: corporate culture, by measuring behavioural patterns on several levels using quantitative analysis; internal communication, to discover how communication is shaping the culture; and the resultant organisational impact, including internal reputation and employee branding.

 

buho used a range of tools for its discovery: Harvard Business Review’s culture factor assessment form, weekly surveys of employees, detailed analysis of the communications tools available to internal communicators, and employee net promoter scores.

 

But Paula is clear about one thing: “Being able to measure everything doesn’t mean you should. It is very important to respect non-negotiable rules of personal privacy.”

 

What buho’s research reveals is that companies are experiencing significant gaps between the culture they think they have and the culture that employees are actually living. Despite this, internal communications does truly help to shape the culture of organisations. And a useful pointer for improving communications – more than 70% of the messages put out to employees do not have a strong call to action.

 

So why should PR care? Pointing to recent high-profile news stories about employees at Facebook, Amazon and Google, Paula explains: “Employees have the ability to discredit or validate your company, and the best way to find out which way they are leaning is through internal communication evaluation.”