Internal communication in companies: how to improve relationships with employees

Maintaining good internal communication between the company and its employees is critical to creating a healthy and productive corporate environment.

It is through internal communication that managers and partners of companies can interact and exchange information with their teams, passing the company's vision and business objectives, in the same way, it is important to extract from professionals their vision on the work environment, progress of tasks and suggestions from what can be improved in the company.

When communication is not effective within the company, numerous problems may arise, which over time tend to get worse, damaging the work environment, the execution of tasks, team productivity and business results.

It is known that in most companies there is no standardized internal communication policy. However, in companies they have, although there is usually a sector intended for this activity, in most cases the responsibility is divided between the human resources and marketing .

However, even though it is a fundamental activity, many companies do not value the importance of maintaining internal communication processes and possibly reaching results below what they could achieve if there was an efficient internal communication.

Research on Internal Communication in Companies

In a survey conducted by the Brazilian Association of Business Communication (Aberje) , to map the practices adopted by organizations in relation to their internal communication process, interviews were conducted in 179 companies from various segments and sectors of the economy, all classified in the list of 1,000 largest companies in Brazil.

Research data showed the growing increase in the strategic function performed by internal communication, in 50% of participating companies, organizational communication had direct reporting to the presidency of the organization.

For 76% of participating companies, the corporate communication area occupies the highest levels in the organizational structure of these companies, being 34% at the board level and 34% at management level.

This shows the importance of engagement of managers in the development of the company's internal communication. In the development of activities related to internal communication, 64% of participating companies have joint realization between internal team professionals and external team (suppliers).

Analyzing the research conducted by Aberje, we can see that there is a growing need for continuous monitoring and exchange of information with employees and teams to assist and ensure the best results in the application of internal communication. What was needed today, nowadays with competitiveness in the market, has become fundamental.

How to establish good internal communication?

Well, you can start in a variety of ways, the most important thing is to continuously evaluate the progress of the communication processes and whether the information exchange is occurring as planned.

Nowadays it is essential to explore the services that technology offers, speeding up and enhancing the exchange of information between managers, teams and different sectors. We list some of these tools:

• Intranet system
• Internal corporate blog
• Corporate social network
• Institutional email, email lists and newsletter
• Online meetings and video conferencing
• Instant communication services like Slack, Skype or WhatsApp

We also have traditional and very efficient media:

• Scrapbook
• Collective meetings
• Events and Conventions
• Employee's Manual or Primer
• Suggestion Box

As you can see, there are many ways that information can be changed internally in your business. Therefore before using any form of communication, it is important to have clear among managers the objectives and limits in each communication process.

Of course, the forms that occur the exchange of information change, especially for the number of employees and their physical distribution in the company. For example, if your company has only one units or branches, it is easier to centralize warnings in a message mural, in a team of coexistence of the team, which would do much more work in a company with dozens of units.

We have listed some steps to follow in choosing and implementing the best internal corporate communication practices in your company:

1 - Analysis of the current situation

Before you start any kind of restructuring or deployment, it is important to know how information exchange between the company and its employees, between the sectors and their teams.

The first step must be to understand what is the biggest problem in communication between the company and its employees. For example, what business information is shared for managers, sectors and employees. It is also necessary to evaluate the efficiency of the forms of communication used, for example when a statement is issued by any information channel, check that all employees actually access and become aware of that information.

The problem of internal communication may be in the communication channel used, in the form of information sharing or access to employees to information.

2 - Define the objectives and responsible for communication

The ideal communication for your business must have clarity, agility and simplicity, as this favors the alignment of all employees in relation to the company's procedures, avoiding misunderstandings and wrong interpretations.

To achieve this ideal model, it is first necessary to be clear what information should be shared within the company, who should have access to each type of information and who will be responsible for sharing and tracking the results generated. For example, the director of each department should be responsible for sharing the strategic objectives of the business to their team and the one must ensure that industry activities are aligned with these objectives.

3 - Define channels and communication standards

As we have listed above, there are numerous ways to transmit company information among employees. The choice of channels to be used must meet the type of information to be transmitted, the urgency that the information should be accessed, and the formality level and guarantee of access that each information requires.

In addition, it is necessary to consider the team's profile and work context, for example in an accounting office information should be shared differently than for operators in an industry.

We list some of the most commonly used channels and their main features:

• Scraps Wall: Used for the publicization of general communications of the company, with information that must be accessible to all employees. It is recommended that the murals stay in places of coexistence in the company, such as the place of registration point, cafeterias or locker rooms. It can also be interesting to create messages of messages in each sector/department of the company, to disseminate all information related to the sector alone.
• E-mail: It is the ideal channel for urgent communication (as up to 24 hours is an acceptable response period) and high formality (as all messages are recorded for the issuer, receiver and the company itself). However, it is not ideal for email to be used to deal with negative matters such as layoffs as it removes some of the personality needed for such a situation. To segment messages by sending email lists can be used, grouping emails by sectors or hierarchy within the company.
• Meetings: Meetings are important for sharing and debate on strategic information from the company or specific sectors. In such cases, as the message information is often highly relevant, it is interesting that there is a written medium following to record the main points discussed at the meeting, for example, a minutes or document that everyone has access to.
• Events: Promoting events is an excellent way to promote institutional campaigns and integrate the team. For example, conducting a convention gathering all teams for training and campaign dissemination is a great way to motivate employees to achieve the company's goals. It is also interesting to promote integration events in festive dates, to stimulate the relationship between professionals.
• Instant Communicators: In many teams, WhatsApp is being used as a communication channel, which can work very well for the overall information that needs to quickly reach the receiver. On the other hand, it is not suitable for complex messages, which require a longer and more explanatory format. Another good team communication service option is Slack .

4 - Create documents with guidelines/rules of behavior at work

Every company has (or should have) a set of rules and guidelines on how employees should behave in the workplace. These guidelines can contemplate what kind of clothing can be worn, such as relating to colleagues, how customer service should be performed, guidelines for using systems and performing tasks, working hours and intervals and everything else that encompasses the performance of activities within the company.

It is recommended that the company group all these guidelines in a document, which should be accessible to employees in digital and printed format. In larger companies, it may be necessary to create specific documents for each sector/department, with guidelines that include department activities, for example a sales sector, with information about company services, service standards and requirements regarding the use of sales system and order launch.

As here at Lumun our goal is to make internet use safer and more productive in companies, we cannot fail to address the use of technology in the workplace. To prevent security problems such as data loss and also to avoid waste of employee time, we suggest the creation of a document with guidelines regarding the use of cell phones for personal activities and also what types of content and websites can be accessed during work. even provide a document model that can be used in your business .

Concluding, as we have already said, maintaining good internal communication in companies is critical to creating a healthy and productive work environment.

For this to happen, it is not necessary to invest or effort, just define the objectives clearly, what type of information should be shared, who can/should have access to each information and who are responsible for sharing and monitoring the results of communication.

Was the content of the article relevant to you?
Share with us in the comments how your company makes to maintain good communication with employees and what is the impact on the work environment and productivity!