Sometimes, companies can be so focused on getting their message out to the world that they forget about what’s going on inside their organisation. Do employees understand the message? Do they buy-in? Are they happy to evangelise when expected to? Or are they aggrieved about the amount of energy being putting into external PR when internal dialogue is poor? 

With all this in mind, it’s good to see internal messaging is a category in the PRCA’s annual PR Excellence Awards. And the winner was Torbay Council Communications Office for its Employee Engagement Campaign. 

Only 11% had good morale 

In its Awards entry, Torbay said it wanted to “develop an internal communications programme to ensure that staff morale is improved across the council and they are kept up to date on key corporate objectives. “ 

The reason for this becomes clear when we learn from Torbay that “Only 11% of staff surveyed in 2009 felt that staff morale was good” and a mere 37% felt “they know what is going on within the council as a whole”. 

Ensure an understanding 

Improving those figures was, not surprisingly, a key objective. In addition, says Torbay Council, it wanted to: Ensure staff have an understanding of how their work contributes to the overall priorities of the council; keep staff up to date on key issues; give them the right access to the right information and help them to feel involved in the life of the council. 

Staff Survey 

So how did it go about this? Firstly, it formed an Internal Communications Working Group with staff representation from all levels to help advise on and develop the new strategy. The strategy was written based on feedback provided in the 2009 internal communications staff survey, for example: 

Complaint: I receive too many all staff e-mails that are not relevant to me.

Response: A ‘daily news’ all staff e-mail detailing need to know information relevant to all staff. Other news is placed on the intranet ‘inSIGHT’. 

Complaint: It would help to get a better understanding of what others do.

Response: Shadowing days allowing staff to spend time in other depts. 

Complaint: Team meetings are not informative and often do not happen!

Response: Monthly Team Talks are now compulsory and Team Talk briefing packs sent to all managers each month containing corporate information, ensuring that all staff receive a consistent message. Each team is encouraged to feedback on any recent successes, comments or questions. 

Complaint: The notice boards are a mess and most of them are out of date.

Response: The boards revamped with a banner “Keeping staff informed”. Designated Key Communicators assigned to each board and sent regular e-mails with consistent and relevant information. Each board also contains a sounding board allowing staff to anonymously post questions/comments. 

Complaint: Newsletter needs modernising and could be sent electronically

Response: ‘The Info’ has been modernised and contains a mix of need to know and nice to know features including Meet the Team, announcements, share success, updates from Senior Management and a guest editor. It is sent electronically to all staff and a hard copy is available on boards for people who do not have access to a PC. For visually impaired, MP3 audio transcripts and large print, text-only versions of each edition are available. 

Film for internal communications 

More generally, says Torbay, “Internal communications has been given its own brand using a specific palette of colours so any information that is relevant to staff, stands out to staff… And to engage staff, a film was produced internally by the communications team as an alternative to a corporate strategy document and circulated to all staff. 

The film showed council staff going about their daily work quoting “It’s good to talk” and provided an overview of the new strategy and the changes that were being introduced as a result of staff feedback. A “you said, we did” style document was also produced which detailed the feedback from the 2009 internal communications survey and what has been done as a result. 

Outcomes 

A survey was carried out in January 2011. Despite the difficult economic climate and budget reductions the survey showed a remarkable increase in staff morale – from 11% to 68%. The percentage of staff who now feel that they know what is going on increased from 37% to 78%. 

Other comments from the survey included: “I think internal comms have vastly improved over the last 6 months.”… “It has improved dramatically - there is a more consistent approach and the new design stands out!” 

Budget 

The communications and engagement programme was introduced at minimal cost to the council – around £100 to print the new banners for the notice boards and officer time. Savings have also been generated in terms of printing costs of the staff newsletter which is now electronic.

Clearly there’s some very sound strategy here in terms of engaging employees. And it echoes the views of Peter terHorst, president of SymPoint Communications in the US - http://www.sympoint.com. His observation is that poor internal communication is “a common pitfall encountered by organisations, for-profits and non-profits, large and small. Left unattended, it can lead to poor morale and an image problem.” 

Motivating employees 

So what motivates employees to speak out on behalf of their employer? “It's simple -- tell them what the company is doing, what their role is, why it is important, and solicit their comments. This is an essential type of PR.” 

Five suggestions include: 

   1.   Conduct monthly or quarterly meetings where all employees are given an update on the organisation's goals and progress, can participate in the meeting, and receive recognition for their contributions.
   2.  Solicit suggestions for improvements in the workplace, sponsor contests for the best ideas, and publicise the results.
   3.  Give employees a first-look at new products or services and plans to promote them.
   4.  Produce a monthly employee newsletter and/or create an intranet site that discusses news and highlights employee initiatives and community projects.
   5.  Select a charitable cause that is related to the company's mission, provide employees with an incentive to volunteer, and publicise their efforts.