Room for changes in internal communication

Earlier this week, I read through New Frontiers in Employee Communications: Current Practices and Future Trends, a report on an employee communication survey published in August by PR firm Edelman.

Edeman surveyed communication professionals in companies across North America to learn more about the variety of information channels that companies use to communicate to their employees, as well as to discover how organizations are handling emerging organizational communication channels like blogs, wikis and instant messaging.

Some interesting although hardly surprising findings reported, especially - in the current focus on blogging by organizations - re the lack of blogging by CEOs and other senior management. Interesting survey stat in this regard: nearly 20% of the survey respondents said, "My CEO would never blog."

Companies surveyed include familiar names such as McDonald's, Sara Lee, ATI Technologies, Boeing and Bayer.

Key findings in the concise 4-page report:

• Communicators are relatively unfamiliar with newer tools such as blogs and wikis, but see their potential.
• Blogging by senior management is still quite uncommon.
• Intranet message boards are rare, but when they exist, they are frequently monitored by corporate gatekeepers.
• Employees without computer access are increasingly losing their ‘voice’ in an environment that relies more and more on electronic forms of communication.
• Intranet investments remain strong as companies continue to convert sites to portal technology and add streaming video capability.
• The use of instant messaging at the workplace is on the rise, yet few companies have formal policies to monitor it.

Edelman | New Frontiers in Employee Communications: Current Practices and Future Trends (PDF file, free download)