Personalised internal communications can be the gateway to better employee engagement. Meet people where they are with messages that resonate with their life stages, personal needs and interests.
Personalisation takes some thoughtful planning, but it’s worth investing the time and effort to connect with your audience. Here are five ways a personalised approach to your communications can work for your organisation.
Use employee data
One of the best ways to send effective personalised communications is to know your audience. Capture data to inform your decision-making and see what your colleagues would benefit from hearing about, and make recommendations and decisions based off facts. If you have a large number of young families within your organisation, target them with benefits around childcare, healthcare and parental leave. For the financially-savvy 30-year-olds, remind them how your share plan can be a valuable investment for their futures. Or, if you have a growing number of Gen Z employees, introduce them to the career opportunities to grow and develop within your organisation.
Be specific with your benefits
Your benefits offering may be diverse, but do your employees know about them? Rather than sending the occasional benefits email with an overload of information, make your communications specific. You want your employees to care about what you’re saying, so find an angle and connect your message to their reality. You could tie your communications into awareness days or weeks, such as Mental Health Awareness Week, National Fitness Day, or Carers Week. Or, if you’re introducing a new benefit, spotlight this with an exciting launch video. If your benefits platform already uses personalisation, highlight this to your employees and encourage them to explore its features.
Ask for feedback
There’s one definite way to ensure your communications are hitting the mark with your employees, and that’s by asking them. Listening to your employees and providing what they want will improve your workplace culture, so have regular check-ins with your employees to understand their needs. Not only will this feedback improve engagement levels across your organisation and help your employees to feel heard, but it will save you time sending redundant messages.
Communication frequency
People respond differently to different methods of communication. Some employees may need more frequent communications or reminders for various reasons, including remote, flexible or part-time workers, so consider how you’ll schedule these messages – are they needed daily, weekly or monthly? Do you have employees who respond better to detailed communications and guidance, and others who prefer a more hands-off approach? Does your team respond best to in-person conversations, Teams, Slack or email communications? It’s important to get this balance right to get the best out of your employees and manage expectations.
Have fun with it
Why not inject some personality into your communications here and there? A friendly voice is sometimes all it takes to improve our mood, boost our motivation and supercharge our productivity. Make your employees feel like they matter by addressing them by name, using humor, or including fun video animations into your usual communications. These small gestures will surprise and engage your employees, showing that you’ve taken the time to personalise your approach.
These ideas just scratch the surface, but hopefully you’re inspired to create personalised communications that really work for your employees and your organisation.
If you need support with your internal communications, we’ve got you covered. Book a 30-minute discovery call to see how we can help you.
