FACTS

1. Employees report not being given clear directions managers are not comfortable communicating with the employees in general. It is clear that there is a need to improve communication in the workplace.
2. The critical problem is that although worldwide surveys continue to confirm the importance of good communication, these same surveys consistently report that prospective and current employees are doing poorly enough to be labeled “deficient” in their communication skills.
3. Much of the HR professional’s success depends on “the ability to understand business functions and metrics within the organization and industry.
4. Only effective communication skills enable HR professionals to make their business case. Even with all the HR knowledge in the world, practitioners’ inability to communicate their understanding of the business will leave them unable to leverage their knowledge for the good of the organization.

STATS

You might be surprised to find that your communication strategy is struggling.

The good news is that you are aware and will hopefully make necessary changes to not become part of these struggling data points below.

• 60% of companies don’t have a long-term strategy for their internal communications. (Workforce)
• 74% of employees feel they are missing out on company information and news. (Trade Press Services)
• Disengaged employees could cost organizations over $450 billion dollars per year. This loss is experienced in wage dollars, retraining time, loss of profit, loss of sales, and much more. (Conference Board)
• Globally, 21% of internal communicators admitted that they do not employ any form of formal planning. That number increases to 31% for communicators in North America. (Gatehouse)
• 72% of employees don’t have a full understanding of the company’s strategy. (IBM)
• Only 23% of executives say that their companies are excellent at aligning employees’ goals with corporate purposes. (Deloitte)
• Only 54% of respondents in a VMA group study strongly agree/agree that progress towards communications objectives are researched, measured, and evaluated with metrics and KPIs. (VMA Group Study)
• 57% of employees report not being given clear directions and 69% of managers are not comfortable communicating with the employees in general. (HR Technologist)
• 39% of surveyed employees believe that people in their own organization don’t collaborate enough.
• 86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures. (Salesforce)
• Only 5.9% of companies communicate goals daily. (GoVitru)
• 33% of employees said a lack of open, honest communication has the most negative impact on employee morale.