How Can HR Amplify Its Message Amid All the Noise?

Today’s workforce is drowning — in emails.

More than 80% of internal communications and HR professionals surveyed by consulting firm Gallagher point to information overload as a significant workplace communication risk, contributing to growing employee overwhelm, burnout and missed messages.

With rapid-fire technology transformations, volatile markets and increased pressure on businesses, organizations have more and more to say to their employees — but as the volume of communications increases, their impact proportionately drops. Employee engagement, well-being, productivity and trust all decrease as well.

And, key HR news and advisements around benefits enrollment and changes, workplace policies, performance management, talent development and more? They get lost in the noise.

Small internal communications teams and a lack of data and personalization capability muddy the waters further, said Maddison Grigsby, a U.S. communications consultant at Gallagher.

“When you don’t have personalization or audience insights, you’re likely sending more messages to more people, but they’re less relevant, which creates overload,” she said. “It’s a flywheel effect but a negative one — lots of change, too much information, employee burnout and distrust, then more change. Eventually, people start tuning out.”

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Ineffective HR Communication Is Hurting Businesses

The numbers don’t lie. HR communication is a significant challenge with a troubling impact:

• 61% of organizations surveyed by Gallagher don’t have a change communications strategy — despite the fact that ineffective communications around organizational change is the fastest way to damage trust in leadership.
• Professionals receive an average of 120 new emails a day — and that’s not counting calls, messages and chats, according to Axios HQ.
• 74% of employees feel they’re missing out on information and news from their organization, TIG Advisors found.

Lean teams and budgets amplify the challenges. Gallagher found that across organizations of all sizes — from several hundred employees to tens of thousands — almost 70% have fewer than six employees in a communications role. A third of those organizations have no dedicated internal communications budget, which increases to 44% in smaller businesses.

The result?

• Broad messaging, regardless of relevance;
• Rapidly forwarded communications from leadership without pause to consider timing, communications channels or audience; and,
• Managers who receive the brunt of the questions with little to no preparation on how to answer them.

“One of the biggest risks we see is that managers, who are most often the first point of contact for questions around change, are not being given clarity on the change themselves,” Grigsby said. “Instead of a cascade of information downward, there’s a cascade of confusion.”

Building an Effective HR Comms Strategy

Regardless of team size or budget, implementing some level of strategy around HR communications can help messages land more solidly.

“HR communications should not be treated as a standalone capability,” said Hilary A. Lee, a director and partner at Centric Consulting and the leader of the firm’s People & Change Practice. “At their best, they are deeply connected to change management, organizational psychology and business strategy.”

Here are some tips to consider.

Simplify — but not too much.

One contributor to the HR messaging noise is the tendency to overexplain. Grigsby called on a colleague’s reference of communicators who “mix up being comprehensive and comprehensible.” Saying too much often doesn’t reduce confusion — it adds to it. Simplifying crucial messages down to their most important points can increase reach and impact, she said.

Ask for feedback — communication should be a two-way street.

Maybe that’s a formal communications preferences survey — but it also can be directly asking managers about their teams’ communication preferences, or casual conversations with employees about how they’d like to receive information.

Communicating to your workforce in the ways they prefer makes them feel heard and connected, which will decrease burnout and distrust, Grigsby said.

Prep your managers — they’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting after you hit “send.”

When refining an HR communications strategy, coordinating with your IT department on data utilization and checking in with the marketing department on corporate brand and narrative are both important steps, but don’t overlook your managers, Grigsby said.

Equip those leaders with toolkits, talking points and a place to go with their own questions, since they’ll be receiving plenty of their own.

“HR owns the programs, but meaning is created locally,” Lee said. “Employees take their cues from their immediate leaders. When managers aren’t equipped to explain programs consistently — or don’t feel confident doing so — messages get diluted, reinterpreted or quietly dismissed.”

Measure — but measure the right things.

Leaders often want to know how many people opened their email, or the number of viewers that tuned into their town hall. But assessing the behavior change that follows those clicks or views tells a stronger story, Grigsby said. How many people started using that new tool? How many enrolled in your newest benefit program?

Personalize — as much as you’re able.

Personalized messaging can help ensure workers are getting messages that are most relevant to them, but it’s important to understand the challenges and potential risks, Lee said.

“It requires investment in data, technology and governance,” she explained. “It introduces the risk of bias when assumptions are made about preferences. And when taken too far, it can feel intrusive or unsettling to employees.”

Communicate transparently, offer employees a choice of communication channels and respect their stated preferences rather than assuming them, Lee urged.

When utilized thoughtfully, personalization can be a powerful tool for HR teams looking to cut through the noise, Grigsby said. Marketing brands are great at this. Your social media feed knows what content you want to see, and your favorite online shops know just what dog toy you need to buy next. But internal communications and HR teams are not yet at the same level when it comes to providing employees with the information they need most.

“The most mature internal communications teams are good at personalization — they’re good at telling people the right information, at the right time, in the right way,” Grigsby said. “People will engage more when information is relevant to them — that’s just human nature. As much as you can, if you restructure messaging with personalization in mind, you will have the best outcomes.”

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Employee Experience
• Organizational Performance
• Total Rewards
• Workforce Engagement