Communications Academy

Our employees are our greatest asset, so efficient and effective two-way communication is critical if we’re going to meet the needs of our business and grow!—Eric Waxman, Spark Power Cofounder and Chief Investment Officer/Head of People and CultureTo get the full story, go to staffbase.com/blog

In this week's episode, we sat down with Emma Bridger, Manging Director of People Lab—an HR consultancy providing products and training to improve employee engagement in the workplace—to discuss happiness in the workplace, how to create an effective policy, the elements of positive psychology that support the theory, and the positive business outcomes to be had. 

Well-written copy is the key to communicating effectively—especially with employees in a busy workplace.In this episode of Communications Academy, we’ve outlined a formula that provides a powerful method for writing copy proven to drive readership with messages that won’t sit unopened in a busy inbox.State the ProblemProvide a SolutionProvide ExamplesEmphasize the BenefitsEnd on a CTAFor bonus tips and more: https://staffbase.com/blog/how-to-write-effective-copy-for-your-staff-communications/

90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and we process these visuals 60,000 times faster than with text.Taken in conjunction with the dwindling attention spans of Gen Z, it’s clear that video is an ideal platform for effective internal communications. However, nobody wants to waste their time with a video that looks unprofessional—it suggests that the content will be equally low quality.What if we told you that you already own everything you need to create high quality, engaging video content for your internal audience?Check out our detailed blog post for detailed tips to help bring your videos to the next level!

Is this week’s episode of Communications Academy, we sat down with Jaime Klein, Founder of Inspire HR, to discover her most valuable tips for building a comprehensive diversity and inclusion policy. Read more about building a comprehensive D&I strategy and download our free guide on the Staffbase Blog.Read Jaime's article, "How to Proactively Plan for Transgender Inclusion."

You carefully craft each sentence. Your grammar is impeccable. You find the perfect gif.  You finally hit “publish” on your masterpiece and...no one reads it. Great content is only great if people are actually reading what you write! Today we’re discussing 3 ways to easily enhance your content to increase your readership.Get the full story here:https://staffbase.com/blog/3-tips-better-content-readership/

Join us as we talk to a Director of Communication and Branding at a Railroad Company with close to 2000 employees. We discuss what his organization looked like before and how a branded employee app changed everything for the better. We also discuss strategies like delivering a podcast, employee achievement program, and how to leverage local, relevant, and specific content.

https://staffbase.com/blog/how-diversity-and-inclusion-serve-a-modern-workplace-communication-plan/Jaime Klein is the founder and president of Inspire Human Resources, an HR consultancy firm that specializes in areas such as coaching, employee relations, talent management, and diversity and inclusion. Inspire Human Resources is a Certified Woman Owned Small Business, and Jaime has been recognized as one of New Jersey’s 2018 Best 50 Women in Business. She has worked as a workplace culture expert and HR Business Partner since 1994, and she carries all those years of experience and knowledge with her into her business ventures today at Inspire Human Resources. Through short term projects, interim roles, and consulting services, Jaime and her team of HR experts help companies navigate the constantly changing workplace and adjust their strategies to improve employees’ experiences and productivityWe sat down with Jaime to discuss a highly relevant issue in today’s workplace: diversity and inclusion. Jaime and her team work with a lot of companies to guide them in creating safe and inclusive cultures for all of their employees and restructuring their HR initiatives regarding issues such as harassment and unconscious biases.

For the full story:https://staffbase.com/blog/edf-renewables-employee-app/

As internal communicators decide which channel is best to engage their people, they can often be turned away from video and audio content, simply because it tends to intimidate those who do not have professional equipment or experience with these channels. Regarding how to overcome those fears and embrace the power of video and audio content, Debbie told us that “you’re not going to create a Hollywood standard movie on your first outing, so let’s accept that.” She noted that the best thing you can do is just pull out your smartphone and film something, and even though it might not be great, next time it will be better. In this episode, we chat with Debbie Aurelius, Co Founder and Director of Peppermint Fish, a communications and employee engagement consultancy specializing in leadership communication. Debbie founded Peppermint Fish in 2017, but before that she worked in internal communications roles and has previously done professional work in learning and development. She has combined these skills of teaching and internal communication to create her career at Peppermint Fish, where she focuses on the creation of podcast and video content, along with online courses for her clients.Links: Debbie Aurelius - Co Founder and Director of Peppermint Fish: https://peppermintfish.comBe A Bigger Fish Podcast - https://peppermintfish.com/be-a-bigger-fishLavalier Lapel Microphone https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Microphone-Omnidirectional-Recording-Conference/dp/B01AG56HYQ

In this episode we talk with Managing Director of AB and host of The Internal Comms Podcast, Katie Macaulay. Links:3:15 Katie Macaulay’s Internal Comms Podcast: https://abcomm.co.uk/podcasts/9:00: Blind - Anonymous community app https://www.teamblind.com/articles/Topics20:22 AB Internal Comms Podcast - Episode 11: Paolo Peretti https://abcomm.co.uk/podcasts/episode/episode-11-putting-the-soul-back-into-patisserie-valerie/30:28 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People-Powerful/dp/074326951934:00 Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan https://www.amazon.com/Search-Inside-Yourself-Unexpected-Achieving/dp/006211693241:02 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer https://www.edelman.com/trust-barometer42:20 AB Internal Comms Podcast - Episode 9: Harry Hugo https://abcomm.co.uk/podcasts/episode/episode-09-how-to-win-colleagues-and-influence-people/44:00 The Daily Goat Vlog Series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAsnl4DFN4Q&list=PLxBXkvmr_eCinU3HLgR4TgNzQZ8nsTJ7bQuotes:0:54 Introduction: Katie Macaulay - Managing Director  of AB employee communications agency1:30 Tell us about yourself and what you do?1:38 Katie “fell into internal communications, as many people do, through a career in journalism.” “Today I have, by far, my dream job. I run an agency called AB… I run the internal comms podcast...which is a natural extension of exploring what’s next for internal comms.”3:30 Why do you think it is such a common trend that people “fall into” an internal communications role?4:04 “We are a young profession… A turning point happened in the 90s…of course came this thing called the worldwide web, mobile comms, social media, and it made engagement with our audiences a lot easier, but also we could engage with people in more creative ways. Internal communications has been on the rise.” “We live in an era where great organizations are built from the inside out, so I am now where it matters in terms of building a great organization.”6:45 What’s the first thing you do on your first day as an internal communicator?7:12 “Day one for me is when you say yes to the job offer.”. Firstly, “I always hop over to the investor relations page… that’s usually the closest thing you can find to the business strategy...you’re also going to want to know what people are saying about this organization, particularly people who work there and used to work there.” You should be looking for commonalities among levels of management in the company, but also should be “particularly interested, almost overwhelmingly excited, by the gaps, by the misunderstandings, because that’s where you need in the future to focus your energy and attention.”11:57 If you can or cannot segment your message to your new audience, how do you overcome it and reach those people?13:03 “Segmentation is not just about engaging people, it’s demonstrating yo

Virtual Roundtable - HR Perspective3:45 Question about employees hearing from their leaders instead of HR directors / dealing with employee engagement.4:14 Nick answers: Being on the recruiting side of HR, the most difficult times for him were having to reject people at the end of their candidacy for positions because of downturn. 5:19 Wesley answers: “If engagement is an HR issue, you’ve lost the battle before you’ve started”. There are a lot of tools HR can provide to leaders, such as exit interview questions and engagement teams, so that they have beneficial interactions with employees. 7:08 Jeffrey answers: His company finally gained traction with a diversity and inclusion when they realised: “This is not an HR initiative, it is a business imperative. Once our people feel included, then we will be a force to reckon with and it will be very hard to compete against us''. “HR plays a role as a coach and an advisor behind the curtain”.    8:48 Fred answers: “Rather than focus on the employee engagement itself, I would say focus on the things on either side of the workplace environment and experience employees are provided and the results of their labor.”10:15 How do we enrich the experience for employees, and how do you find the talent to do this?10:53 Wesley answers: “To start out, as a business you’ve got to have a clear sense of what the employee value proposition is...why are we here as a business and why would you ever want to join us?” Furthermore, “Staying ahead on sourcing and talent pooling [is] one of the challenges in oil and gas,” but it is very important for attracting the employees you need. He also notes you must stay “relevant to what appeals to the different generations or types of employees that you’re trying to bring in”, referencing the use of social media, a multigenerational workforce, and more. 15:40 Jeffrey answers: His company’s use of a program that seeks out talented high schoolers and pays for their college tuition for them to work their after graduation has been a huge success in gaining consistent new talent for the company. 16:45 Fred answers: “If your message is offbase from what the experience is, if there is a gap between the aspirational and functional culture that employees experience, then your message is going to differ from the message from internal employees through social media, and that’s going to create challenges for you”. 17:40 Nick answers: Through an apprenticeship program that gives on-the-job training to veterans in the company, these veterans can “make up money as they’re building up their career, but it’s also a huge retention bonus for us...and it’s a competitive advantage”19:30 How important corporate culture is in keeping people at their workplace. 19:57 Jeffrey answers: The culture nowadays is “if you haven’t convinced me or impressed me by lunchtime on the first day, I’m probably not going to stick around,” and people say “they are here because they want meaningful experiences...they want to contribute”. Companies must respond to this to keep employees. There are three components that lead to whether or not people will be attracted to your company and how long they will stay: “emotional connection people have with their organization, the local culture, and how inclusive you make insiders and outsiders feel.”28:39 Fred answers: It’s about “the emotional connection employees have with supervisors and also about the emotional connection the employee has with coworkers.” 30:51 Nick answers: Many programs that focus on the employee experience at his company teach employees “how to interact better with each other. There’s constant de

Top 10 (ok 12) Incredible Quotes from Kristin Hancock (@KristinAnneH)“Internal communication...it’s about your employees being fulfilled at work, it’s about how the employee experience is, whether that’s onboarding or training or all those kinds of pieces” - Kristin (4:17)“Part of why I’ve become so passionate about [internal communications] is because I’ve seen the impact in both ways. I’ve seen the really positive impact when you have a thriving culture and employees who are fulfilled and enjoy coming to work everyday. I’ve also seen the other side of it, where people don’t want to go to work everyday and dread being there” - Kristin (4:52)“Are you listening and are you paying attention to what [your employees’] natural state is and what their behavior is? Maybe we’re not. For me that’s the biggest first step, looking back and looking at the big picture but also looking at the little nuances. What is your culture in its default state? … It’s not going to help you to build anything without knowing that” - Kristin (6:33)“Spoiler alert: if you launch a new intranet app, a shiny tool… but your workplace culture sucks, the tool isn’t going to work” - Kristin (11:35)“Finding people within your organization who are champions of your messaging; that is, I think, the secret sauce in launching a new tool, in rolling out a new strategy… on the flip side… leaning into your skeptics can also be incredibly powerful… finding people who are not tech savvy at all…  because if you can bring them on early, they will become champions because they will feel empowered, they’ll feel like they’ve learned something new, they’ll be telling everyone else” - Kristin (14:40)“Yes it’s about the technology and it’s about the tool, but it’s so much more about the culture… If you have a culture where leadership controls the message, you likely also have a culture where employees have a fear of owning that message as well. It’s about flipping that whole script so part of it is that leaders are comfortable letting other people be empowered but also letting those other people know that it’s okay for you to comment or post or share or like, those kinds of things” - Kristin (17:46)“Half the reason people watch the Superbowl is for the Superbowl ads… because it’s video, it’s engaging, it’s emotional, it tells a story… If you are in internal comms, then you are in sales and you are in marketing and you are in advertising and you are in PR, and all of those departments use video to sell a product or a service, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be using video to sell an engagement story or strategy, or a new initiative or tool” - Kristin (23:50)“Do high production value videos have a place in the internal communications world? Of course they do. But… if you have a district manager who once a month shares a message about something and they’re sitting at their desk using their iphone to shoot the video, that’s relatable… it's an easier level playing field” - Kristin (30:12)“In terms of KPIs and what to measure… one of my favorite things to measure on an employee survey… Would you recommend a friend to work here? That’s a really powerful question to ask because if most people are saying no, that means that maybe they’re just sticking it out, going through the motions to keep their paycheck… The other powerful question i love asking is how peopl

Get the full report here: https://insights.staffbase.com/free-download-is-employee-experience-the-future-of-human-resourcesThe Future Is Already Here—It’s Just Not Evenly DistributedOne thing seems abundantly clear: established, forward-looking companies are aligning around strategies related to the implementation of the employee experience concept. Given that businesses often copycat the practices of market leaders, the question is just how long it will be before other companies take up arms in the employee experience revolution.https://staffbase.com/blog/employee-experience-vs-employee-engagement-a-comparative-study/

Looking to make your employee app a success? Here's three steps to do it right! https://staffbase.com/blog/making-your-employee-app-a-successWe were so excited to join and support the fantastic IABC community again this year! Many joined to learn about the trends that lead communications into the future. We all know that mobile employee communication is a huge trend and we are proud that Staffbase was named by Gartner as one of the leading mobile employee apps. You may now expect that our takeaway is to talk about how great and easy an employee app can be; how it helps you to reach all employees; enables you to measure; and prove your value to your organization.  While all of this is true, there is a larger shift that we would like to talk about. We see this shift happening first hand with our customers. The most successful ones have moved from looking at communication as a channel to seeing communications as the heart of the employee experience. It is one thing to reach everyone and being able to talk to all but our real challenge is to actually get employees to LISTEN and engage. We believe the only solution for that is to focus on the employee experience first. This means a mobile app is not just the place where you get corporate messages, it's a place where you get to know and learn about my team, change my shift, find all safety information for my plant, receive updates for your location, view the status of a PTO request, have one place for my benefits enrollment information and even provide feedback to rate your overall on-boarding experience after 3 days in a new job. Now the challenge here is that the more local, the more relevant and the more specific for an audience you are - the better the experience. 

Want to learn how Staffbase obtained certification of the international ISO27001 standard for information security?https://staffbase.com/blog/staffbase-receives-certification-for-information-security/Security on mobile devices and apps will always be a topic of utmost importance. Staffbase takes every precaution to ensure that your data is kept safe.

Here's 7 of the top tools that make communicators more effective: https://staffbase.com/blog/top-internal-communication-tools-that-make-you-more-effectiveOne of the biggest challenges communicators have is finding ways to get your organization to read, respond, and actively participate in your communications strategy. Tiffany Elle, Senior Global Corporate Communications Manager at Versum Materials knows this all too well. However, she's found a way to achieve a 96% active adoption rate. That's NOT a typo 96%! Check out this episode to learn more about what makes her communications strategy so wildly successful. 

Join us as we talk to a Director of Communication and Branding at a Railroad Company with almost 2,000 employees. We discuss what his organization looked like before and how a branded employee app changed everything for the better. We also discuss strategies like delivering a podcast, employee achievement program, and how to leverage local, relevant, and specific content. 

Many communicators feel like the entire content distribution load is solely on them. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!! We talk about how to locate your internal influencers. These are people that actively want to be company champions. 

Many organizations aim to have a very specific % of activations on their branded Employee app. Here's 5 ways that can help boost activations:1. Branded Swag & Posters2. Set up kiosks at your various offices. Make yourself available and let folks talk with you as you help them get setup. 3. Find champions at each of your locations and arm them with swag and a very specific shirt or badge that welcomes questions and assistance. Hang up a few posters or fliers with the champions face on it that says, find me!4. Consider a contest. Have a few stragglers that will tip you over that % goal? Offer something very intriguing like two NFL tickets of their choice. But have a catch: the contest won't activate until everyone complies. That way their friends will nudge them to get it going.5. Probably most important, is throwing a go-live party. How your organization interacts add accesses their most important information is Paramount... Prove it!Want more? Here's the Top 10 IT Questions About the Staffbase Employee App: https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/the-top-10-it-questions-about-the-staffbase-employee-appLet's assume you've been looking at the Staffbase app and you really like it. That means your next step is likely to be "talking to IT." If that's the case then this is the article for you. To help you out, here are ten of the most common questions we get during our initial talks with IT professionals. We love talking with them, because these conversations usually follow a similar trajectory: skepticism about Staffbase being “just another app” changes to real enthusiasm with the realization that it's an enterprise-ready platform built with professional IT environments in mind.