For global companies spanning international locations, or large organisations spread across multiple sites one of the hardest, yet most important areas to keep on top of is the stream of corporate internal communication – making sure your company delivers and receives consistent messages throughout the entire business, no matter how many locations you have.
Managing this process can be especially challenging because as well as maintaining consolidated, consistent employee communications throughout your organisation, you have to bear in mind the local relevance of you message to your staff.
One company that is leading the way in consistent global communications as well as taking local requirements into account are sushi retailer, Wasabi, which has recently introduced a pension and benefits package to their UK employees.
Effective employee communication was key to Wasabi’s success in rolling out their new pension plans. With 80% of their UK staff being second language English speakers Wasabi’s communication strategy had to work for everyone.
Not only did it involve scheduling the group meetings at times that were convenient to employees and their roles, and one to one meetings with financial advisors but, when required, Wasabi also provided translators to make sure everyone fully understood the changes ahead.
Thanks to the well defined communication strategy Wasabi put in place an impressive 71% of employees are now a member of the pension scheme, with 100% of joiners saying their pension knowledge has improved significantly.
Their effective employee communication not only resulted in a smooth transition but was also shown to improve employee engagement. The difficult balancing act of delivering consistent messaging across varied locations can be alleviated by developing a well planned communication strategy.
By establishing a defined framework and providing guidance, parameters and tools that everyone can use, your company will be on the right track to achieving consistent global communications.
Chris Hopkins is managing director of employee communications and marketing agency, Caburn Hope.
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