Topic: Employee Engagement
Author(s), Title and Publication
IABC Research Foundation and Buck Consultants. (2011). Employee Engagement Survey. San Francisco: IABC Research Foundation.
Summary
This report is the third in a series of annual surveys that the IABC Research Foundation conducted on employee engagement. A total of 954 employees were surveyed, representing a cross section of industries, countries, and organization types. Six topics were examined: 1) communication budget and resources, 2) ongoing employee communication and engagement, 3) creating and sustaining a culture of engagement, 4) management development programs, 5) internal employee branding, and 6) social media and employee engagement.
Results revealed a small growth in the size of organizational communication departments compared to previous years. Surveyed employees reported that their HR communication was handled by their organizational communication person/group (51%), and their communication departments were able to influence their organizations’ agenda, priorities, or goals (60%). To improve engagement, more than 70% reported that their organizations performed employee listening regularly, and used emails (81%), Intranet (72%), and face-to-face meetings (46%) in employee communication most frequently. The chief factors that contributed to an increase in employee engagement were individual supervisors, the amount of employee communication, change in leadership, and employee rewards program. Decreases in employee engagement were attributed to poor morale, poor management/leadership, and individual supervisors.
In addition, the number of organizations with social media policies grew steadily. Nearly 49% said their organizations have social media policies, and 30% said the policies were recently developed. However, some respondents said employees in their organizations have no access to social media (23%), and that top executives don’t use social media (54%). Most companies measured engagement (e.g., employee feedback), but lacked appropriate communication effectiveness measures. For internal employee branding, nearly 72% of respondents agreed that their employee communication was aligned and integrated with the organization’s vision, mission, goals and annual priorities.
Implications for Practice
Practitioners can help improve employee engagement by: 1) assisting management via formal mentoring programs, leadership training, and establishing formal development plans; 2) using social media to enhance a positive workplace culture; and 3) integrating employee communication with the organization’s goals.
Location of Article
The article is available online at: http://www.iabc.com/researchfoundation/pdf/2011_IABC_Employee_Engagement_Report.pdf
Topic: Employee Engagement
Author(s), Title and Publication
IABC Research Foundation and Buck Consultants. (2011). Employee Engagement Survey. San Francisco: IABC Research Foundation.
Summary
This report is the third in a series of annual surveys that the IABC Research Foundation conducted on employee engagement. A total of 954 employees were surveyed, representing a cross section of industries, countries, and organization types. Six topics were examined: 1) communication budget and resources, 2) ongoing employee communication and engagement, 3) creating and sustaining a culture of engagement, 4) management development programs, 5) internal employee branding, and 6) social media and employee engagement.
Results revealed a small growth in the size of organizational communication departments compared to previous years. Surveyed employees reported that their HR communication was handled by their organizational communication person/group (51%), and their communication departments were able to influence their organizations’ agenda, priorities, or goals (60%). To improve engagement, more than 70% reported that their organizations performed employee listening regularly, and used emails (81%), Intranet (72%), and face-to-face meetings (46%) in employee communication most frequently. The chief factors that contributed to an increase in employee engagement were individual supervisors, the amount of employee communication, change in leadership, and employee rewards program. Decreases in employee engagement were attributed to poor morale, poor management/leadership, and individual supervisors.
In addition, the number of organizations with social media policies grew steadily. Nearly 49% said their organizations have social media policies, and 30% said the policies were recently developed. However, some respondents said employees in their organizations have no access to social media (23%), and that top executives don’t use social media (54%). Most companies measured engagement (e.g., employee feedback), but lacked appropriate communication effectiveness measures. For internal employee branding, nearly 72% of respondents agreed that their employee communication was aligned and integrated with the organization’s vision, mission, goals and annual priorities.
Implications for Practice
Practitioners can help improve employee engagement by: 1) assisting management via formal mentoring programs, leadership training, and establishing formal development plans; 2) using social media to enhance a positive workplace culture; and 3) integrating employee communication with the organization’s goals.
Location of Article
The article is available online at: http://www.iabc.com/researchfoundation/pdf/2011_IABC_Employee_Engagement_Report.pdf
Tags: communication budget, employee communication, employee engagement, face-to-face communication, IABC Research Foundation, internal branding, internal communication, listening skills, management development, organizational culture, social media
