Institute of Internal Communication

In the summer of 2011, against a backdrop of austerity measures and widespread cost cutting, the third Internal Communication - State of the Sector research study was conducted, investigating how organizations in the public sector are communicating and engaging with their people.

Undertaken in conjunction with the Institute of Internal Communication, the State of the Sector research series is led by Gatehouse, one of the UK’s leading employee communication consultancies. 

With responses from almost 100 communicators operating in central and local government, quangos and front line services (eg fire, police, NHS), the results paint a fascinating picture of the state of internal communications within this important sector.

Key findings at a glance

The research was structured around four key areas - channels, content, infrastructure and issues. Channels concerned the ‘how’ of internal communication and looked at the print and electronic tools firms use to communicate with their people, as well as exploring their use of face-to-face methods.  Content looked at the ‘what’ of communication - the messages firms are trying to convey to their employees and the aims and objectives of their formal communications. Infrastructure reviewed the structuring and resourcing of internal communications, whilst Issues sought to highlight the current and future challenges public sector communicators are facing.

1.    Channels - how the sector communicates

Despite an explosion of communication technology, team meetings are taking place in almost 90% of organizations. A further 70% highlighted ‘formal cascade meetings’, suggesting that face-to-face is still highly valued within the public sector.

What was more surprising, perhaps, was the comparatively high rating given to senior management visits – with this type of face-to-face activity ranking second. This may be a consequence of the turbulence that has embraced this sector – more change often demands a stronger leadership presence – but it may also suggest that organizations are adopting a more strategic approach to leadership communication.

Conferences and road shows scored highly with more than half of organizations still using these to communicate en masse with their people.  Even large scale conferences (100+ delegates) were in place at over three quarters of represented organizations – although worryingly, given the size of the typical organization in this sector, a quarter of respondents didn’t have any conferences of this nature at all.

Face-to-Face channels used within the public sector

Turning to digital, the intranet scored well with almost 100% of organisations using this channel, whilst central emails and e-newsletters were almost as well used, each scoring between 80-90%.  With such high scores, this might suggest a potential over reliance on these simple and low cost awareness channels. 

Of particular interest compared to previous State of the Sector studies, is how well the public sector appears to be adopting social media – with almost 60% of respondents having blogs, and podcasting being used in almost a fifth of organisations. 

The questions around print provided slightly more disappointing however, with many organizations not using print to any great extent. In fact one in four respondents claim to have no print channels whatsoever, suggesting that the public sector has switched off print more readily and rapidly than we have seen elsewhere.

Print channels used within the public sector

 

2.    Content - what the sector communicates

Impressively, feedback channels scored highly with all organisations having some form of formal feedback mechanism in place – with feedback via email, team meetings and people/engagement surveys each scoring over 70%. 

When it comes to employee understanding of key strategic topics, the research found that almost 60% of respondents rated understanding of strategy as, at best, average.  Again, this may not be surprising given the turmoil the sector has been facing, but it does suggest that many public sector employees are unclear and uncertain about the future.

Employee Understanding of Strategic Messages

3.    Infrastructure - how the public sector resources internal communications

For two thirds of respondents, the home of internal communication is as part of a centralized team at head office – with just over a quarter being based in sub-divisions or functions.  Just 6% of organizations have no dedicated IC resource, whilst half of those surveyed have a team of 1-5 people. One in five organizations has teams of more than 20 professionals.  Just over half of respondents say they are part of the corporate communications/PR function within their organization.

When questioned about budgets, a slightly depressing picture emerged with over a third of respondents having no dedicated IC budget and a further 27% having less than £10,000 at their disposal.  This is extremely low compared to other sectors this research has investigated and given the number of employees communicators are attempting to reach.  More worrying still, half of respondents believe their budgets will be cut further in the coming year.

Internal Communication Budgets

4.    Issues & challenges 

The final area of study was around the issues and challenges facing internal communication teams in 2011/12 and beyond.

Nearly 40% of respondents identified reengaging staff as their number one professional challenge, with communicating strategy and direction a close second (30%) and communicating cost cutting ranking third (20%).  This suggests that public sector communicators may be struggling to balance the impact of tough short term messages – particularly around cost cutting - with longer term considerations.

Finally, when asked where they will be prioritizing their time and resources over the next 12 months, leadership communication topped the rankings at over 60%, with improving face-to-face communication (50%) and developing/refreshing the internal communication strategy (45%) taking second and third spot respectively. 

At the other end of the scale, however, was improving print channels – suggesting that there is little appetite right now to enhance or invest in that part of the communication mix.

In the coming weeks, Gatehouse will be conducting one-to-one interviews with some of the respondents of this research.  The results will be published in November.

For a free copy of the full Internal Communications - Public Services: State of the Sector 2011 research report contact Simon Wright or Lee Smith at Gatehouse on +44 [0]20 7754 3630 or email info@gatehousegroup.co.uk.