The People Workplace: how to amplify employee voice
While hybrid working was hampered by Covid restrictions in 2021, 2022 is the perfect time to turn up the sound of the employee voice across your organisation.
Yes, there’s been an increasing shift towards, and real progress with, making communications more ‘human’. But, now more than ever, encouraging the employee voice will reap results. Salesforce, for example, say colleagues who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform at their best.
It’s all good ammunition for employers at a time when ‘the great resignation’ has brought the issue of employee voice, satisfaction, and purpose at work to the fore.
Regular measurement is certainly beginning to become more common. In research by HR organisation Achievers, 64% of HR leaders said an always on feedback tool is essential, but only 20% had this tool in place.
How about starting an employee network? It’s a great way to blend inclusion and diversity with the honest feedback that will make your communication activity so much more relevant.
And is your organisation as social as it could be? There have been more social movements in the past 10 years than in the previous 100. Perhaps by allowing the employee voice to be heard more loudly, some businesses could well have avoided the embarrassing and public calls for change that have come from within their ranks in recent times.
As hybrid goes into hyperdrive in 2022, the smart money is also on larger scale communication audits to truly gauge employee opinion. Ask them what they want, need, and expect – or the employee voice may make itself heard in ways you don’t want.
Sequel’s 2022 Trends Report asks how communicators can help businesses balance their corporate and social purposes with strategic objectives while connecting remote teams.
The report includes insights from our client work and across the industry as businesses look to make their future workplace modern, purposeful, people-centric, authentic, and focused on wellbeing.
It will help you discover top tips for evolving your people workplace, from using smarter, snappier measurement, using feedback from employees better for areas like inclusion and diversity, or simply being bolder this year.
Our top 3 tips include:
- Build a mix of quick, regular measurement and less frequent, detailed research
- Always remember to share results and actions with colleagues
- Be bold with what you learn – employee gives you the insight to make big changes and bring huge improvements.
Request our guide on ‘how to measure internal communications’ here or go to Employee engagement measurement for more details of how we are helping clients solve challenges and delivering impact.
