Like all crises affecting companies, the COVID-19 emergency brought employee communication to the forefront — this time even more than usual. With physical distancing, employee communication became the primary way to promote closeness between people in organizations. In particular, employee communication managed various challenges and expressed its highest potential.
The Centre for Employee Relations and Communication (CERC) at Università IULM conducted a study that analyzed the employee communication strategies used by Italian companies during these difficult times. Two focus groups and 10 interviews with employee communication managers outlined a qualitative picture of the challenges that companies have faced with the help of employee communication. This qualitative analysis was complemented with a survey on a sample of 116 employee communication managers working in Italian companies.
The study's qualitative stage outlined three main categories of employee communication strategies: creating a sense of security, sustaining a sense of belonging, and activating employees as allies of the organization.
Read the rest of Mazzei's blog to discover the findings of the study and the implications they have on the future of internal communications.
