cropley communications pty ltd - iabc international conference - washington, d.c. 2005 employee...

Cropley Communications PTY LTD - IABC international conference - Washington, D.C. 2005

Employee communication surveys: An event or a culture?

Adrian CropleyCEO Cropley Communications Pty Ltd


Why did I do this?

Because it’s worthwhile


To be discussed

• Focus of employee surveys

• Getting buy-in to your survey

• Building culture, not running an event


The focus of employee surveys

Step back: What sort of survey are we really running?

There are a lot of ways to gather feedback – surveys are just one way


The focus of employee surveys

What is our focus?

• What do we measure?

• What feedback do we want?

employee satisfaction

understanding

engagement


Many companies don’t measure at all!

• 34% of companies have an employee communicationsmeasurement strategy

• 46% of large companies (>10,000 employees) have a measurement strategy

• 47% of top UK companies listed on FTSE500 don’t do regular research on employee motivation, morale or engagement

Findings internal communication measurement report - Melcrum Publishing 2004


We have a measurement plan:Regional breakdown

Asia Pacific: just over 25%

North America: 38%

United Kingdom: 39%



We have a measurement plan: Industry breakdown

Financial services 48%

Utilities 48%

Telecommunications 43%

Healthcare 20%



Percentage of large companies that run:

Employee opinion surveys 94

Employee engagement surveys 80

Comms channel audit 84

Comms content audit 77

External benchmarking 63

Cost benefit analysis on comms 48



Shift from measuring opinion to engagement

Opinion surveys:Channel preferences, usefulness, content etc.

Engagement surveys: Commitment to organisation, buy-in to messages, taking action as a result of the communication.

Employee engagement surveys are not how employees feel about comms but what they do with it.



Getting buy-in to your survey

Satisfaction Understanding Engagement

Communications is rarely connected to:– Increased productivity– Reduced costs– Increased profitability– Increased sales– Decreased accidents– Increased recruitment figures– Decreased waste

Findings internal communication measurement reportMelcrum Publishing 2004


Linking comms to your business is critical!

“All the hoopla about communication measurement boils down to measuring the effects and correlation of communications improvement to the performance of business” Linda Dulye, L.M. Dulye & Co.

Focus communications on business outcomes: measure employees understanding & correlate with business measures ie increased sales, reduced costs etc.



Measurement drives employee commitment

Demonstrated in Mercer Communications Consulting’s ‘What’s working’ report from 2002/03


% of employees who feel highly committed

Organisations who do

Organisations that do not

Conduct regular surveys of employee opinion

67% 56%

Feed back findings of these surveys

70% 50%

Take meaningful action from results

84% 39%

What’s missing?


Sustaining buy-in to your survey

The more an organisation does, the more they are able to drive employee commitment and engagement.

But remember:• Keep an ongoing commitment to give feedback• Take meaningful action from results

Most importantly

Communicate the actions and effects as well!


The cost of poor communication

Summer Olympic Games – Sydney, 2000Telecommunications supplier

• 25% of all mobile/cell calls from Olympic venues• Outage occurs at the main venue• Technician followed outdated procedures• 2 hour delay • Lost revenue of $ AUD ½ million• Damage to company reputation and brand


Show employees that their opinion counts!

Ericsson (Australia): First employee survey

• Free movie tickets (85% response rate)

• All provided name with feedback

• Changes made as a result of survey feedback

• Employees involved in changes

• Changes made were communicated and acknowledged

• 80% response to next survey, minus the bribe!


Getting buy-in to your survey: Key points

• Gradually build trust

• Surveys and their results are acted upon

• Employees are involved in those actions

• Feed back the results and outcomes

• Increase employees’ understanding

• Marry communications to business

And you will be on target for engagement!


Build culture: key characteristics of culture

• Member identity (job to organisation)

• Group emphasis (individual to group)

• People focus (task to people)

• Unit Integration (independence to interdependent)

• Control (loose to tight)

• Risk tolerance (low to high)

• Rewards criteria (performance and other)

• Conflict tolerance (low to high)

• Open systems focus (internal to external)


Culture = Core Values

The function of an organisation’s culture is to:

• Define boundaries

• Convey a sense of identity

• Help generate commitment to something larger

• Enhance stability, social system

• Act as a mechanism to guide and shape attitude and behavior of employees


Communicators ARE culture builders

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

• Link to business direction, outcomes & measures

• Help employees understand their part

• Acknowledge their part

• Feed back the good, the bad and the ugly

• Take them on the complete journey, not just a part of it


Building the culture:

If they see the path clearly and understand the goal, they will travel it!


A strong culture weathers even the biggest storm

• Ericsson globally 2001-2004

• Downturn in market

• Employee survey response rate 85%

• Employees high stake in company

• Redundancies high, morale high

• Business direction communicated clearly

• Increased engagement – initiatives supported


Focus on the basics

Company – values, direction, outcomes

Team

Individual

Good communication & feedback

Engagement & builds the culture


Adrian’s top tips from bad experiences

• Keep it simple – not an event• Focus on the core company values, direction, outcomes• Help employees see their role clearly • Satisfaction Understanding Engagement• Get them involved• Feedback the results & outcomes

You would have built a survey culture – not just an event!


And they will be coming back for more…


Questions?

cropley communications pty ltd - iabc international conference - washington, d.c. 2005 employee...

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