Communicating well internally: the key to corporate (sur)life

By Stéphaine Bernat, VP Marketing and Communications at Cenareo. Stéphaine Bernat has always been fascinated by the relationship between employees and their company, and held a number of marketing and communications positions in international retail environments before turning her attention to the SaaS world. She is now working on the adoption of on-screen digital communication at Cenareo , exploring another aspect of the dialogue between a brand and its audience, whether internal or external.

After a tumultuous 2020, in an unprecedented context of crisis and upheaval for each and every one of us, both in our personal lives and as company employees, some questions are already being asked.

How can we imagine the company of tomorrow? Our expectations, aspirations and priorities towards the company will undoubtedly have changed. What role will companies have to play with their employees? This is where internal communications, which have played a key role for several years now, will become even more strategic.

Amplify the primary objectives of internal communications

For several years now, internal communication has been a strategic asset for companies. It is necessary to unite people around a corporate vision and business objectives. It is therefore particularly useful for raising the level of employee commitment and, consequently, nurturing the employer brand.

It is all the more important at a time when everyone is seeking to find more meaning in their work, just as they do in the way they consume. This is all the more true in large groups, sometimes spread over several sites or subsidiaries, where an employee can quickly feel drowned in the mass.

To be relevant, an internal communications strategy must guarantee consistency and transparency in what is said. It must also ensure that it is delivered at the right time and to the right recipients, to guarantee that the message is perfectly received and integrated. It is this alchemy that will nurture employees' trust in their company.

Initiatives that are here to stay

And what was already a necessity before Covid-19 is even more so afterwards.

Because this crisis has had a direct impact on our confidence: the confidence we have in our leaders, in our country's economy, in our healthcare system, and more directly, our confidence in our personal resilience, our immunity, our employer to see us through this crisis.

To get through this crisis, the company needs to maintain this level of confidence among all its employees, whatever their situation. There are those who continue to come to work, those who are teleworking, and those who are out of work.

Faced with this diversity within organizations, internal communication represents a real challenge. It has to guarantee the safety of the employees present, congratulate and encourage them, but also maintain the link and motivation with those at home.

And despite these very different situations, they all need authentic communication to maintain their trust.

To achieve this, companies have stepped up their initiatives to help their staff stay in touch and support the most vulnerable: teleconferencing, FAQs compiled from employees' questions and comments, a toll-free number available 24/7, remote sharing of best practices between managers, an intranet, an online community space for exchanging and sharing... For the least digitalized companies, the revolution in tools has taken place in a matter of days at lightning speed! And employees use them immediately, far more naturally and spontaneously than if they had been deployed in a normal situation.

Further strengthening trust

Employers need to reinforce employee confidence and cohesion in a context where telecommuting is becoming more widespread. This will depend on the employer's ability to communicate effectively and consistently on the health precautions to be adopted. But it will be all the more essential to communicate transparently the results achieved, even if they are not up to scratch, the consequences of the crisis on business, and a reorientation of strategy to ensure the most effective recovery. And all this to avoid grey areas, put rumors to rest and prevent disinvestment.

More than ever, employees will need to be proud of their achievements and those of their company. Internal communications should be a showcase for the solidarity actions implemented during the crisis, and their extension into the post-crisis period.

But beyond passing on this top-down information, it's essential to recognize employees' resilience and adaptability.

The need for dialogue goes up another notch

Because telecommuting, sometimes non-existent in certain structures before the crisis, has now become totally accepted and will perhaps become a normal way of working, all digital tools, massively adopted in 2020, will continue to be in demand.

They will all be new communication channels, and will continue to be used to maintain the dialogue created by employees with each other and with their managers, and to decompartmentalize departments.

The challenge is no longer to limit internal communication to a top-down approach. This digitalization should give employees the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers in complete transparency, and to evaluate actions implemented internally or externally. It is also an opportunity for management teams to launch a survey, the results of which could be communicated live. On company sites, compulsory information previously relayed on paper can now be relayed via digital signage, for greater fluidity and repetition of messages to encourage retention. After all, it will still be essential to pass on preventive measures to as many people as possible, to ensure the safety of all.

The role of internal communication will be key, and must be prepared now, drawing inspiration from this period rich in exchanges and transparent dialogue.

This means adopting the same management approach as for external communications: allocating a budget to internal communications that is commensurate with the expected results, relying on useful and meaningful content that reflects the company's DNA and values, and adopting a sincere and authentic tone.

In the post-Covid-19 world, the already porous boundary between internal and external communications will undoubtedly become even finer. Employees will expect greater transparency, authenticity and commitment from their companies, just as customers expect from brands.

Cenareo offers a digital signage solution to add value to your internal communication strategy. Its strength lies in its ability to rapidly manage displays remotely and collaboratively, and in the speed with which content can be updated.