5 November 2007
Inclusive comms is discussed over croissants
Breakfast seminar debate ponders the inclusivity of internal comms.
Employee engagement consultants, Ibis Communication organized a recent breakfast seminar in London. The topic “How inclusive is your internal communication?” aimed to get attendees thinking how they could adapt internal comms in their own organization to include recommendations from the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and meet the specific needs of their employees.
Why internal media should be diverse
Paul Roberts, managing director of Ibis Communication, discussed research conducted by Ibis on behalf of a major company in the UK. This had revealed that only a third of employees wants to receive communication in a read-only format. Some 25% of employees would prefer a visual method and 15% want to be able to discuss the topic within their team. "Despite these findings," said Roberts, "comms messages are most likely to be distributed as read only."
Only one third of employees want to receive communication in a read only format.
Other speakers included Alan Richardson, formally of global network operator, Vodafone, and now consultant with digital communication consultancy, RNICG; Isobel Hoseason, UK director of communication at electricity provider, National Grid; and Kevin Thomson, CEO of web technology group, Hidden Differences.
Internal TV is a big hit
Richardson spoke about the development of Vodafone TV (VTV) as a means of communicating to employees. Launched in 2004 to 18 countries, the content comprised news bulletins of 5 minutes in length, delivered in the corporate language of English.
Since the launch, the content has been revised and the programs are now based around special events and last up to 9 minutes. They're now also fully translated or are broadcast with subtitles.
Richardson explained that many lessons had been learned from developing VTV including the fact that there's a clear demand for this technology at an employee and a leadership level. The content is still "King" and it's vital to maintain a quality and cultural fit. It was also discovered that these programs are most effective in combination with other media.
Acquisition brings comms challenge
Isobel Hoseason shared her experiences at National Grid, a company where the average age of employees is 48 – a fact that brings its own challenges when considering inclusive communication.
The recent acquisition by National Grid of US energy company, KeySpan means that the workforce has become more diverse, as have the service users. The company’s website is now in Spanish and English to reflect the large number of Hispanic workers and customers.
Meeting staff shortages from overseas
In addition, due to a shortage of qualified engineers in the UK, the company is starting to recruit from Poland. This presents a new set of communication challenges as essential information needs to be put across in visual as well as written formats to help Polish workers who are still learning English.
Hoseason discussed how employees were sent on a “Plain English” course in order to eradicate complex and confusing language in the workplace. This was, she said, “as cheap as chips” and should be open to everyone who has a customer-facing role.
A plain English course is 'as cheap as chips'. Everyone should do it.
See, hear, speak
Kevin Thomson of Hidden Differences, introduced Talklets technology to the group. This allows website users to hear, instead of read, information contained on a website.
Thomson believes this tool will greatly benefit dyslexia sufferers, those who are illiterate or who have English as a second language. There's also the possibility for users to alter the background color and font size of websites to ease the reading of its content.
Talklets technology is growing in popularity and telecoms company, Cable & Wireless, is scheduled to implement it for customer use in the near future.
Have your say
If you'd like to discuss comms diversity and other communication
issues with your peers, have your say by joining the Internal
Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators'
Network.
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