How to Measure the Impact of Internal Communication on a Company

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. 

Impact on Employee Engagement and Productivity

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.

Productivity statistics

1. 70% of the average workforce would be much more productive with better communication.

• Interpretation: You’re losing daylight with the old ‘word-on-the-vine’ approach to internal communications. If your employees are properly informed and are in the loop of things, they’d feel much more inclined to do better work.

• What to do: You can beat this cycle by building a constantly evolving internal communication strategy. A well-organized system that helps boost internal communication. And, luckily, we have a 7-step approach to get you there. 

2. Well-informed employees outperform their peers by 77%.

• Interpretation: Your competition is definitely outperforming you if their employees are more tuned in to company and industry matters than yours.

• What to do: Create a responsive and evolving knowledge library that would be the go-to source of information. Building a vibrant knowledge-sharing platform where employees can interact and contribute also fosters collaboration and strengthens your advantage.

3. Communication boosts productivity by up to 25%.

• Interpretation: Without tweaking workflows, simply optimizing internal communication through engaging intranet software and prioritizing clarity in messages can significantly enhance employee output.

• What to do: Communicate. It’s that simple. Adding engaging intranet software to your company culture is a great place to start. Additionally, a focus on clarity in communication will help cut down processing time and fuel productivity.        

Employee Engagement-Related Statistics

1. 91% of employees think that their leaders lack communication skills.

• Interpretation: Communicating with subordinates has always been somewhat of an issue with the cooperation-style working system that gained prominence at the turn of the new century. 

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.

• What to do: Implementing protocol-based methods like scheduled, interactive meetings can facilitate open dialogue and address concerns. Exploring additional best practices, like regular town halls and open-door policies, can further bridge the gap.

Here are a few other internal communications best practices you could try out.

2. Engaged employees are 21% more productive.

• Interpretation: Engaged employees are your most dedicated and enthusiastic employees. They’re the ones who wouldn’t mind spending an extra hour at work if you ask them right. 

• What to do: You don’t need to replace existing employees, you can make them more connected to the company with improved internal communications.  

Idea sprints, interactive meetings and the use of engaging intranet platforms are a few internal communication examples you can utilize.

3. Employees are 3X more likely to be engaged when they receive feedback from superiors.

• Interpretation: Disengaged employees are the low-hanging fruits that can help boost your company’s productivity. They’re usually half-in, half-out. However, if you get them fully engaged your productivity will triple.

• What to do: Create an accountable system for C-suite executives to communicate and interact with all employees, especially keeping an eye out for the disengaged members of the team.

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. 

Measurement Metrics and Strategies

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? 

1. Open rates

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

2. Click through rates

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

3. Employee engagement rates

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.

4. App/platform adoption 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

5. App/platform logins

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

6. Page visits

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. 

7. Profile completion rates

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.

8. Employee feedback

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.

9.  Employee turnover rate

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.

10. Employee advocacy

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.

Aligning Communication with 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:

1. Define your business goals

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:

• What are the numbers I expect to hit? (think of these stats specifically)
• How do I want the public to view my business/brand?
• What do I need to achieve to move my business to its next phase
• When do I need to achieve this?
• What would put me ahead of the competition if I did it right?

2. Translate goals into employee-centric narratives

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.

3. Choose the right communication channels

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.

4. Measure and refine

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:

• Goal: Increase market share by so and so percent in a specific product category.
• Communication strategy: Launch an internal campaign highlighting the importance of this product, showcase success stories from sales teams, and provide targeted training to improve product knowledge. Maybe start a healthy competition centered on converting as many customers as possible.
  

• Goal: Launch a new product successfully.
• Communication strategy: Create internal buzz around the upcoming launch through engaging teasers, provide early access to product information for employees, and encourage them to become product ambassadors within their networks.
  

• Goal: Improve customer satisfaction scores.
• Communication strategy: Share positive customer feedback with employees, highlight the impact of their work on customer experience, and empower them to address customer concerns directly.

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.

Leverage the Impact of Internal Communication with Assembly

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. 

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