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Book DemoHow To Diversify Your Internal Comms Strategy With Audio
To reach all staff, employers need to diversify their internal comms strategy. We’ll explain how by looking at the powerful tool of audio.
In an evolving workplace where employees are more dispersed and distracted than ever, traditional internal communications methods are no longer enough. We explore why integrating audio boosts engagement and better aligns your workforce. And we set out the best way to go about it.
Key Takeaways
- An internal communications strategy is a structured plan for how and when information is shared across an organisation using various formats and channels.
- Different employees have different communication preferences—so offering a mix of formats ensures important messages actually reach and resonate with everyone.
- A multi-channel comms strategy, including audio, ensures that all types of workers—remote, desk-based, and deskless—can stay connected and informed.
- Using specific channels for important updates helps keep teams aligned on company goals and makes communication scalable as organisations grow.
- The right communication tools and tone can significantly reduce employee stress and burnout, while improving overall wellbeing in the workplace.
- A diverse internal comms strategy promotes a more empathetic culture by giving employees varied ways to express themselves and connect.
- Audio cuts through digital clutter and screen fatigue—engaging both deskless and desk-based workers in a more accessible and human way.
What Is an Internal Communications Strategy?
To understand what an internal communications strategy is, let’s begin by defining internal communications. At its core, internal communications refers to all the messaging and conversing that occurs within an organisation. It encompasses types of communication (i.e. verbal, written) and communication channels (in-person meetings, email and instant messaging).
An internal communications strategy is the plan that breaks down how and when information is shared in an organisation.
Now let’s look at why it’s best to have a diverse internal comms strategy.
Why You Need A Diverse Internal Comms Strategy
How an organisation communicates is inseparable from how it operates. Yet many organisations default to using ineffective communications channels. These channels may not even fulfil their primary function of keeping employees informed: a report from Global consultancy firm, Gallager, found almost half of those surveyed were not happy that their mix of internal communications were reaching employees.
A diverse internal comms strategy works on two principles:
- Employees can have different communication preferences.
- Different types of information are best shared through different communication channels.
These guiding principles help create positive and productive work environments. Let’s see how.
Keep Employees Updated & Engaged
Post-pandemic, the working landscape has changed. In the US alone, approximately 92 million workers are now remote. As well as the surge of remote work, the other side of the coin is an increased demand for deskless labour. It’s estimated 80 million US workers are in deskless roles.
These seismic shifts mean traditional communication between organisations and employees are losing their efficiency. A daily in-person briefing is a thing of the past, considered as dated as fax. To engage their workforces, employers need to consider the most appropriate digital channels. And employees are waiting for employers to get this memo. A Quinyx survey found 72% of frontline employees wanted their bosses to do more when it comes to supplying effective digital tools and apps.
But employees are different with varying needs and wants. The office worker can easily access a company update via email. But the fleet driver can’t check screens whilst working and needs to use their break periods to rest. So, one person’s ideal communication may be disengaging or inaccessible for another.
So to reach as many employees as possible, organisations need to give employees plenty of choice on how to stay updated. Having a diverse internal comms strategy provides employees this choice.
This applies to all workplaces. Whether employees are remote, hybrid, in office, or deskless, the takeaway is the same: employers need a mix of communication tools to keep their employees updated and engaged. When employees can stay updated using their preferred channel, engagement increases across the board.
Goal Alignment and Scalability
Internal communication is the first step in aligning your employees with company goals. This alignment is just as important for companies as setting the goals itself. Informing your team on the overarching business objectives helps them to understand the purpose of their work and their individual responsibility. Without this alignment, the chance of a company’s success is significantly diminished.
Done right, internal communication informs staff what to prioritise, keeping all of your employees on track.
The challenge of employee goal alignment becomes more difficult the larger an organisation gets. To scale up, businesses need the right strategy combined with efficient workflows to make it happen. If you don’t have the right internal communication in place, you risk wasting resources on tasks that don’t help your business grow.
The other risk is that your most important messages get lost amongst the day-to-day running of your business. When considering the average American has over 1,000 unread emails, it’s easy to see how employees struggle to stay on top of the overload of information.
Thankfully, a diverse internal comms strategy can help avoid this problem. By separating out a channel for your most important messages - i.e. business objectives - and using other designated channels for the likes of employee feedback, socialising or housekeeping, you ensure employees know where to go for the most critical info.
Employee Welfare
How a business communicates often has a direct impact on its employee’s wellbeing. Overclaiming urgency, giving no context to catch up requests, and accusatory tones can all be anxiety-inducing for staff. While the recipient of poor communication can be negatively impacted, so can the instigator. According to a Forbes Advisor report, 42% of workers experience stress trying to form responses that convey the right tone of voice. From a wellbeing standpoint, this demonstrates what you say and how you say it matters for everyone involved.
When poor communication negatively impacts employees' mental health, businesses are also hit. The Mental Health Foundation estimates that poor mental wellbeing costs UK employers between $56 - $60 billion (£42 - £45 billion) each year, through presenteeism, sick days and staff turnover.
A diverse internal communications strategy ensures organisations have appropriate channels for different scenarios. And that these channels enable the right tone to be struck. For example, it’s appropriate for a manager to use an instant messaging service like Slack for a quick request during office hours. But it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to use this outside of work hours to schedule a performance review. By simply using appropriate channels, employers can help reduce anxiety, stress and burnout in the workplace.
Foster The Right Culture
Company culture influences the talent you attract, employee performance and employee retention. A 2024 report from SHRM found that besides inadequate pay, the top reasons for employees leaving their jobs were the hallmarks of poor company culture. These were poor management, unfair treatment, insufficient regard for employee well-being, and lack of empathetic leadership. The report also identified that open communication and empathy are two key drivers for positive company culture across global workplaces.
By placing these two qualities at the core of your internal communication strategy, you can foster a positive company culture. Remember each employee is different. By having a mix of internal comms channels, you give your employees more options in how they seek support as well as give managers more tools to show empathy. For some employees, a private video-call meeting with a manager is the best place to raise issues. For others, an anonymous online suggestion box may be how they prefer to give feedback.
This makes the difference in whether or not employees have a tool they feel comfortable using. Helping them feel a part of a positive company culture that values their experience and input.
Ready to transform your internal communications? Get in touch using the button below for your free proposal.
Why You Need Audio In Your Diverse Internal Comms Strategy
Organisations often overly rely on written communication: be that email, intranet or instant messaging services like Slack or Google Chat, which is problematic for deskless workers and desk-based workers alike. The problem for desk-based workers is the sheer volume of emails, text messages and social media notifications they’re receiving each day. These unread messages have been coined “digital clutter” and they make it difficult for employees to know what to focus on. Even to the most conscientious employee, important company information can become lost or deprioritised.
The problem for deskless workers is that these forms of written communication typically occur on a screen, yet by their very nature, their roles will have limited access to screens. This means employees can only access updates outside of work hours, plummeting engagement rates.
In both situations, audio is the shared solution for these engagement problems. For deskless employees, audio can be consumed on-shift. From drivers delivering shipments to on-site engineers fixing machinery, everyone can tune in.
For desk-based, audio can be consumed live or on-demand and doesn’t become lost in the digital clutter. Played in communal workspaces, audio creates atmosphere while letting workers focus in on company messages when they want. In both scenarios, audio engages those who prefer to listen rather than read.
While audio is an ideal format for engagement, you may be unsure how to integrate it into your business. The simplest way to do so would be through an internal radio stream. An internal radio stream offers organisations an informal, flexible and secure way to communicate with staff. It can bring together the likes of entertainment, employee appraisals, and company updates into one widely available comms channel.
How To Diversify Your Internal Comms Strategy with Audio
If you’d like to bring the benefits of audio to your internal comms strategy but don’t know where to start, we can help.
Radio.co is an all-in-one solution that provides all the tools, software and support needed to create and manage an internal radio stream.
We use your communication goals to design and build your company radio stream from scratch. We’ll create show structures, regularly update music and take care of all editing and scheduling. We’ll also produce fresh content that reflects your company and motivates your employees, with little demands on your time.
And we’ll make sure your staff have options in how they listen to your company radio station by providing custom-built radio apps, an Alexa skill and even private podcasting.
Your Dedicated Radio Stream Features
Here's our under-the-bonnet run down of what we offer:
- Dedicated private server and hosting.
- Priority support from our Enterprise team.
- Password protected web feed for all staff to listen to.
- Private mobile apps for listening on the go using Single Sign On for staff-only access.
- Alexa skill if required.
- Private podcasting if required.
- 1 National station included, with the option to make local feeds for different branches.
- Fortnightly music updating.
- Assistance with correct licensing.
