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Discover the impact of internal communications and implement specific strategies to boost business growth.
Just like recipes need precise measurements, effective internal communication requires data-driven insights. Imagine cooking solely by instinct, with vague instructions and unpredictable results. That's what internal communication feels like without metrics – a risky gamble often leaving you hoping for the best.
Internal communications are a pivotal part of any company’s growth, be it a Fortune 500 or a budding startup. It’s what keeps employees connected to your business’ objectives, and what helps them do their job better.
So, in this article, we’ll offer practical tips and measurements to assess the impact of your internal communication strategy. We'll also show you how to track, analyze, and refine your approach so you can create the most appetizing internal communications strategy.
If your company’s growth and productivity represent a 5-star-standard gourmet dinner. Then internal communications is your salt. Yes, salt. It represents an integral part of your business, it’s irreplaceable and is pivotal to achieving your goals.
However, measuring internal communication is not as easy as measuring salt. To bridge that gap, we’d use a few specific statistics to highlight the importance and impact of internal communication. Our statistics would be based on two major pillars of any successful business — employee engagement and productivity.
Top-down communication is one of the hardest styles of communication to pull off in any organization. In fact, 51% of employees refuse to talk to subordinates. But, this can change.
Here are a few other internal communications best practices you could try out.
Idea sprints, interactive meetings and the use of engaging intranet platforms are a few internal communication examples you can utilize.
Now that we know how important internal communication is, we’ll explore some metrics and strategies for measuring them. These methods of measuring internal communication effectiveness will help you implement better internal communication policies or tweak existing ones.
The burning question on your mind right now should be how to measure internal communication effectiveness. How do you measure the impact of communications?
The truth is there are quite a few ways of measuring internal communications in the workplace. The more specific methods would produce better results. However, the idea is to have a comparable method of measurement that’s both simple and effective.
The most efficient method is the use of some specific internal communication metrics and KPIs (Key Performance Metrics). So, what are KPIs for effective communication?
Whether it be emails or in-app texts or messages, the number of opened messages in circulars is an easy way to measure the efficiency of your internal communications.
This is one of those internal communications metrics that is easy to implement in any type of internal communication strategy. You can measure your open rate this way:
Number of employees accessing the item
——————————————————— X 100
Number of enrolled users
Related to “Open Rates” but slightly more specific. Adding simple and inviting links to your communication channels can be used as a tracker. They would help you measure the depth of engagement your employees have with your communication channels.
Whether it be through internal communication software or simple emails, having this metric allows you to understand if your employees think your content is relevant. Click-through rates can be measured with:
Total registered clicks
——————————————————— X 100
Total registered opens
This metric is a little bit tricky to calculate. It is, however, important and provides you with an insightful metric to better understand the position of your employees.
Employee engagement rates could be calculated in a few different ways depending on your company’s strategy.
You can measure it through employee advocacy, participation in activities, online engagements etc. Averaging a few of these other metrics and comparing them with their productivity will give you a dependable perception of your employee engagement rates.
In our modern-day world of hybrid work and gig-based economies, communication apps are crucial to growth. A key metric to understanding your workforce is their adoption rate of these applications.
Another related metric we’d relate to this is also the speed of adoption. It’s not exactly a clear-cut metric but it sheds light on the enthusiasm of your workforce.
Number of enrolled employees
——————————————————— X 100
Number of eligible employees
The number of employees that regularly log into your company app or intranet daily helps you gauge employee engagement. It’s a simple metric that most intranet software can track. It highlights which employees are engaged and also helps you see their level of involvement based on their use over time (we recommend 14 days). You can simply calculate this with:
Number of active employees
——————————————————— X 100
Number of enrolled employees
With modern-day internal communication tools, you can create different pages for interacting with your employees. This also provides you with a platform to recognize where most of your employees are spending their intranet time.
Is it the “fun lobby,” “project goals” page or the chat room? Knowing where your employees spend time is key in relaying information and also understanding the prospects and motivations of your employees.
Community-based platforms use profile completion rates to gauge the engagement and interaction of their users. This is no different with your company intranet.
Engaged employees always engage. They would want to be a part of every aspect of the workplace. It could be as little as adding a two-line bio when they had the option to skip. That means something. Recognize which employees are more engaged by simply checking out their profiles or tracking that metric on Assembly.
How do you measure effective communication in an organization? Feedback.
Internal communication in an organization is not complete without employee feedback.
Feedback is a primary way to confirm that communication has taken place. Replies, interactions with surveys and other communication channels are feedback as well.
Employee turnover rates are a heart-sinker for C-suite executives. It’s the number of employees that leave a company within a specific period, usually 12 months.
According to Gallup’s State of the Local Workplace Report, 6 out of 10 employees are silently quitting but would stay if a few changes were made in the workplace. So, monitoring this metric can help you build a better and more engaging work culture for your employees.
Employee advocacy is the peak of employee engagement. It shows you just how many of your employees are willing to be more than just employees, and reveals your die-hard fans.
These kinds of employees are ready to advocate for your brand and preach your vision to friends and family. Employee advocacy can be measured with a single question in your employee survey:
“How likely are you to recommend this organization as a good place to work, on a scale of 1-10?”
Detractors are placed between scales 1-6. Neutrals are placed at 7-8 and Advocators between 9-10
In the next section, we’ll explain how you can use the information we have shared above to create an ultra-specific internal communications strategy for your business goals.
Every business has big goals they want to reach. “Beat the competition,” “10X your profit,” “Dream, Plan, Execute.” To be honest, it’s easy to get carried away with these lofty ideals, that you sometimes forget to take your employees along.
This is where internal communication comes in.
With internal communications, you can strategically convey messages that resonate with employees and motivate them to contribute to your organization's success. Here's how:
It all starts with a clear understanding of your organization's strategic objectives. What are you aiming to achieve in the next quarter, year, or even longer? Are you focusing on increasing market share, launching a new product, or improving customer satisfaction? Clearly define these goals and translate them into actionable objectives for individual departments and teams.
In case you’re not sure how to define your goals, here are a few question prompts you could use:
Don't simply announce goals and expect employees to automatically understand their significance. Why should it matter to them? It’s your company, anyway.
Instead of dumping your goals in a jargon-filled email circular, frame these goals in a way that resonates with individuals. Explain how achieving these goals impacts the company's future, employee job security, and overall growth. Emphasize the role each employee plays in the bigger picture to foster a sense of ownership and purpose.
Make them count.
Not all communication channels are created equal. Select avenues that best reach your target audience and deliver your message effectively. Utilize platforms like company intranets, town halls, team meetings, targeted email campaigns, or even internal social media platforms depending on the message and audience.
Don't assume your communication is hitting the mark. Regularly measure the effectiveness of your efforts through employee surveys, focus groups, and engagement metrics. Track how well employees understand the goals, feel connected to their achievement, and see their role in the process.
Use this data to refine your communication approach and ensure it stays aligned with both business goals and employee needs.
Here are some specific examples of how internal communication can be aligned with business goals:
Remember, aligning internal communication with business goals is an ongoing process. By consistently assessing, refining, and tailoring your messages, you can create a communication strategy that motivates your workforce and drives your organization towards achieving its full potential.
We’ve seen how pivotal effective internal communication can be to a company’s growth. The stats show us that every single internal working of the company is affected by internal communications. It’s truly not to be trifled with.
However, if your company is not where it should be, don’t worry, we are here for you. At Assembly we help you create bespoke internal communication strategies to encourage team collaboration and increase productivity.
We understand that every successful company needs an engaged team. And we can help you build yours, starting today.
Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.
Explore GuideYes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.
There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.
Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.
The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.
We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.
At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.
The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.
We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.
Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!
While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.
Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.
Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.
That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.
They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.
No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.
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