Change Communications

Source: Melcrum Publishing – The Source for Communicators

According to Melcrum’s latest research report, Internal Communication Measurement, the employee opinion survey is the most commonly-used internal measurement tool, followed by communication channel audits and employee engagement surveys.

This was determined by the responses of 903 communication professionals in 31 countries, who completed a quantitative survey as part of the research. Asked whether they conducted any of six major communication measurement models, respondents answered as follows:

Employee opinion survey……………93%
Communication channel audit…….80%
Employee engagement survey………………….77%
Communication content audit……………72%
Cost-benefit analysis on communication………………36%
External benchmarking…………………..63%

But despite the dominance of employee opinion surveys, Melcrum’s qualitative research, based on 32 interviews with communication professionals across the globe, suggests this may not be the most effective measurement tool. In many cases, the opinion survey was seen as a generalist and non-action-oriented pulse of workforce feeling.

This would probably explain the popularity of the employee engagement survey (77%), which many practitioners viewed as being a more action-oriented tool. While the opinion survey was seen as useful for measuring channel preferences and usefulness of content, the engagement survey was seen as a more effective way of measuring commitment to the organization, buy-in to messages, and action taken as a result of communication.

This study was conducted by Melcrum’s Strategic Communication Research Forum. In addition to quantitative and qualitative research findings, the report contains 65 in-depth case studies, advisory articles, top tips and best practices.