Ten Benefits of internal communication

For your organization’s goals to be carried out, you need a motivated and engaged workforce. Having an effective internal communication strategy is a good place to start. Employee engagement is directly impacted by effective internal communication. As an employee, being engaged means more than just the passive reading of company emails and updates. It means actively joining and being part of the company, giving feedback, making your voice heard, and being motivated enough to want to give your best. It allows people to feel part of the company truly. For an employer, this is priceless.

By sharing valuable updates, teams can collaborate and generate ideas to improve organizational performance. The right hand needs to know what the left is doing, and vice versa. This also means the company is in a better position to joint problem solve and develop solutions across departments, fostering a culture of trust and collaboration that advances the organization and its employees, and with so many digital pathways now open, it’s never been easier.

Whether laying employees off, restructuring or policy updates that impact day-to-day running, change is an inevitable part of the business. Legal and regulatory requirements will often be involved. Change must be communicated, giving the full picture, the relevant timescales, and any next steps. Failure to abide by this could result in legal challenges and bad press for the organization. One major benefit of internal communications is meeting regulatory requirements while informing employees of important news.

An organization and its departments must know what to do when planning fails. All too often, there can be no plan at all. Or, just as bad, the plan only gets revealed after the crisis, which can be of little to no use to the organization or the employee caught in the middle. To prevent problems from becoming more significant, teams must have a clear process to carry out at the right time. Crisis communication is often the most important type of internal communication as it could represent an existential threat to a company and must be tackled head-on. Good internal communication is the way to do this.

Fact: when the people who work for you feel valued, they perform better. Internal communication shapes and reinforces a company's corporate culture, marketing, and brand; what you do on the inside impacts the outside. The actions and attitudes of the people who work for you directly influence your brand's perception in the eyes of your customers and stakeholders. The people working at an organization are more likely to act as brand ambassadors of your external comms strategy if they understand and resonate with your core values and mission and feel part of the bigger picture.

Accurate information is vital for the functioning of a business. To work efficiently, employees need to have all the right tools. This includes access to critical updates. Internal communication provides relevant internal knowledge and the information people need to do their jobs. It can also communicate important external updates like industry, market, or competitor news. Regular internal communication can streamline the flow of information and increase efficiency and operational effectiveness. It allows your people to be better informed and ultimately more capable.

When you empower people to come up with ideas to work more efficiently, better serve customers, or make their working days more productive, you let them know you have confidence in them, creating a work culture of innovation and one where the exchange of ideas happens freely and in a safe space. This benefits all parties. Open communication fosters a healthy workplace environment by empowering and engaging employees. This leads to a productive and efficient workforce. Having an open and collaborative culture is integral to the success of an organization.

Retention is an age-old problem for many companies. Among the reasons for employees quitting is bad communication. Communication is overlooked in the age of home working, employee benefits, wellness programs, and family benefits. But it could be the easiest, and the rewards are tenfold. Employee satisfaction and employee loyalty can be improved by internal communication. Replacing an employee costs time and money and isn’t guaranteed to pan out even if they do start. Instead, focus on the ones you have. There is potential knowledge loss, temporarily decreased productivity, and lower morale among remaining employees to think about as well. This is avoidable if companies take care of their people by positioning internal communications as a strategic function that connects people. Seeing a clear path for growth increases your employees' likelihood of staying with your company and investing their time and skills.

Internal communication can humanize leadership and those at the top of an organization. Effective internal comms allows leaders to establish trust and credibility with their employees and lets them be more relatable. This trust forms the foundation for strong working relationships and enhances employee participation. People want to learn more from those at the top. Internal communication can offer a glimpse of this.

Before any team can achieve its goals, it must identify common objectives. Internal communications solidify these goals and ensure everyone knows about them. You cannot contribute meaningfully if you don’t know the company's goals. By effectively communicating your strategy, vision, and goals, you will ensure your employees are involved. Having a good understanding of the goals will make aligning their work easier. An internal communication strategy is essential for employees to understand how their work contributes to the organization's success, both internally and externally.