Measuring the impact of internal comms on employee wellbeing

Employee wellbeing is a big thing for a lot of companies now. In part, it’s because research has shown there is a link between wellbeing and productivity, but it’s also a result of the pandemic; stuck at home during lockdown we all realised how important wellbeing was when either we struggled, or we saw our colleagues doing so. But what does internal comms have to do with employee wellbeing, other than being there to promote a new initiative? And, if we want to prove that what we do is important, how do we measure the impact of internal comms on people’s wellbeing?

What difference does internal comms make to employee wellbeing?

To understand how internal comms links to wellbeing, let’s look at the results of a survey from 2019. It found that people who considered the internal communication in their workplace to be ‘good’ or ‘very good’ were:

·       Two and half times more likely to feel happy, engaged and enthusiastic.

·       Four times more likely to be optimistic, stimulated and excited.

Compare that to people who thought internal communications were ‘poor’ or ‘very poor.’ In this group, people were:

·       Almost four times more likely to feel annoyed regularly and were significantly more likely to feel irritable, anxious, impatient and worried.

·       Three times more likely to feel exhausted.

·       Six times more likely to feel depressed.

·       Eight times more likely to feel empty.

As you can see, there’s a strong correlation between internal communications and wellbeing. And in order to understand how your communication is being received, you need to measure it. But when it comes to the soft skills, that can be quite a tricky thing.

How to measure  

Measuring is a way of creating credibility among leaders and employers. Let’s face it, if sales were dipping, leaders would be all over it, wanting to understand why it was happening, what was going on and how to fix it. Given we know how important comms is to wellbeing, why not the same for internal communication?

To measure successfully, you want your metrics to be focussed on the outcome – the behaviour change or action you want. You’re not measuring the output, which, for example, would be how many times you reminded people about a new wellbeing initiative. You want to know if that message was received, heard and acted upon. In other words, that you’ve had a meaningful impact. 

So, when it comes to internal comms in relation to wellbeing, there are a few things you’re looking to do: 

A)      You want to track the effectiveness of internal communication efforts.

B)      You want to identify potential areas of disengagement or stress and,

C)     You want to shape future wellbeing initiatives based on data-driven insights.

What to measure

When it comes to what to measure, you have a few options: 

The annual engagement survey: This is a relatively easy and good one (if you already do this, of course) – simply add some questions on this topic into your annual survey. These are the sorts of things we’d recommend:

·       Wellbeing-related questions: "Do you feel the company supports your mental health?" or "Are you satisfied with the communication regarding wellbeing resources?"

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Ask employees how likely they are to recommend your company as a place to work, as this is a good indicator of overall job satisfaction.

• Engagement scores: Include broader questions about job satisfaction, work-life balance and how well employees feel they are supported.

Pulse surveys: These allow for immediate feedback on recent changes and for you to capture employee sentiment more frequently than annual engagement surveys. Identify a representative sample of your target audience and reach out to them for feedback on communications directed at them. The results can help you modify and focus future communications.

Absenteeism and turnover rates:

So many factors can impact these areas, but it could provide useful context to compare absenteeism and turnover rates in teams with and without access to wellbeing resources or communication initiatives.

Track how often employee wellbeing benefits and programmes are used: Are employees aware of what’s on offer as a result of your comms? Is there a noticeable increase in usage after wellbeing campaigns?

Finally, remember to use what you discover – data is only valuable in solving business issues if you do something with it. And when you’ve taken the time to gather the right data, you can use your internal comms to make a real difference to people’s lives. If you need a hand with any of the above we are here to help - get in touch, we love a chat!