6 Benefits of better internal team communication
You know that feeling when everything just fits at work? When you’re so motivated, you could pull out trees and your tasks almost come naturally to you?
Too good to be true, you think? Wouldn’t have to be.
What it takes is really good communication – in your team, between departments and between managers and employees, in short: throughout the entire company. And it’s digital and analog.
Communication has a direct impact on the employee experience, i.e. the sum of all experiences your team has with the company, and the commitment of your employees. And that brings not only happy, healthy employees but also hard cash.
Specifically, this means:
Benefit #1 Stronger bond with the company
Employees with high engagement scores are more emotionally attached to their employer and therefore change companies less frequently.
The current Q12 meta-analysis by the Gallup Institute (“The Relationship Between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes”), which examined 456 scientific studies in more than 276 companies, reveals just how much rarer.
Companies with high employee engagement have up to 43% less turnover.
A calculation example:
Let’s take a company with 100 employees as an example, 20 of whom work in key positions. Replacing a key employee costs an average of 1 year’s salary (including recruiting, time-to-hire, onboarding). The fluctuation rate is 10%.
If the fluctuation rate is reduced by 43% thanks to better communication, the company saves €51,600 in fluctuation costs.
Benefit #2 Less absenteeism & sick leave
If communication and employee experience are right, this also means healthier and more motivated employees. Not surprisingly, therefore, absenteeism, i.e. the period of time employees spend away from work due to illness or motivation, is also directly related to this.
The Gallup Institute’s meta-analysis attests to a full 81% reduction in absenteeism at companies with high engagement scores compared to those with lower scores. What an investment in better employee engagement brings in euros can also be roughly calculated here:
A calculation example:
An average day of sick leave in Austria costs € 294. With an average of 12.7 days of sick leave, this results in costs of €3,734 per employee per year (€294 * 12.7 days). Companies could save € 3,025 per employee per year by investing in good communication and high commitment.
Benefit #3 Better customer relationships
Let’s face it: where do you prefer to shop? At the baker around the corner, who always has a smile on his lips, or at his grouchy counterpart? Probably with the former, because the customer experience is quite simply better there.
Granted, the example is perhaps a bit striking, but the bottom line is true:
Happy employees = happy customers
And what’s more: this formula applies not only in the service sector with direct customer contact, but is true across all industries and activities. Because if internal communication works well and employees are motivated and committed, this is reflected in the quality of their work. And it goes straight to the customer.
For example, the Gallup Institute also finds higher customer loyalty for organizations with high engagement scores, by as much as 10%.
Benefit #4 More productivity in the team
Don’t we all wish that work would come naturally to us? This is more likely to be the case for teams that maintain an open culture of dialog and thus actively work on the employee experience. This is proven by two studies at once:
The 2012 Towers Watson Global Workforce Study concluded that employee productivity can increase by up to three times when engagement levels are high. The Gallup Institute is a little more conservative here.
But the trend is clear:
Gallup’s meta-analysis also shows an 18% increase in productivity among teams with high engagement scores.
Benefit #5 More sales & profit
Fewer terminations, less sick leave, better customer relations and higher productivity – all of which ultimately bring in cash.
The figures published by the Harvard Business Review on the subject are remarkable:
According to the study, companies with a good employee experience can generate up to 50% more revenue and profit than those with poorer values.
Gallup confirms the basic trend: The Q12 meta-analysis certifies that organizations with high engagement scores have a full 23% more earning power
Benefit #6 More innovation
“Talking is where people come together”. This is probably nowhere more true than in the innovation sector. Igniting ideas are seldom found alone. After all, creativity requires open exchange and fear-free, motivated employees who can contribute.
It is true that innovation capability is less measurable compared to the other items. For Forbes, nevertheless, it’s clear:
Better communication and employee experience lead to employees being able to better empathize with colleagues and customers. And that, in turn, leads to better ideas that help the company stay ahead of the competition.
Sources
- https://www.gallup.com/workplace/321725/gallup-q12-meta-analysis-report.aspx
- http://wko.at/statistik/eu/europa-arbeitskosten.pdf
- https://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/menschen_und_gesellschaft/gesundheit/gesundheitszustand/krankenstaende/index.html
- https://hbr.org/2019/08/the-key-to-happy-customers-happy-employees
Want to dive deeper into the topic? Then check this:
Employee retention in 5 steps
Employees stay when they are emotionally committed. Learn here how it works.
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