By Amy Schwinge

Some companies overlook the importance of a key audience: their employees.  This week’s post will focus on how the employee communications aspect of public relations impacts a company’s bottom line. 

Believe it or not, shareholder returns for organizations with the most effective employee communications were 29 percent higher from 2002-2006 than firms with less effective communications, according to a recent Watson Wyatt study. 

A great deal of research has been conducted related to how employee communications really affects a company’s bottom line.  You would think that common sense would say that well-informed employees would be more productive than less-informed employees, similar to how happy employees are more productive.  Surprisingly, many organizations fail to grasp that wisdom and put it into actionable results.

I had the opportunity to work with T.J. and Sandar Larkin (her name is really Sandar; this is not a typo) when I worked at Boeing and at General Motors.  The Larkins have conducted decades of research on how employee communications impacts productivity and the bottom line. 

I particularly remember how their research showed that rumors negatively affect the bottom line.  Usually, rumors run rampant when there is a lack of information or major uncertainty within an organization.

At Boeing and GM, internal communication was tracked as an organizational scorecard metric that was based on the results of employee surveys.  These metrics measured if employees were aware of key messages in addition to employee perceptions.

Since employees serve as ambassadors for an organization (however formal or informal that role might be), they should know the company’s vision, mission and key objectives.  In addition, employees should be communicated with first regarding a major change, or they should at least have access to information at the same time as media are notified. 

Forbes.com recently reported on the results of an employee survey that found 87 percent of employees thought organizational communications were one-sided and focused on positive information. 

With that statistic in mind, two-way communications processes must be included in the communications strategy. Organizations must remember that it is imperative to listen to – not just talk “at” – employees and take action to respond to employee concerns as appropriate.  Also, the good, the bad and the ugly still needs to be communicated openly and accurately – not swept under the rug.

“Keeping it real” in terms of responding in a sincere and authentic way to employee concerns will boost management’s credibility with internal stakeholders, and in the process, facilitate employees’ trust in their employer and positive attitudes toward employees’ role in the company’s success. 

So, the final take-away here: remember your employees!  Communicate with them AND listen to them; act when appropriate.  It will only help your bottom line…