Recession Pressures Internal Communicators to Prove Their Worth More
Than Ever Before>
Recession Pressures Internal Communicators to Prove Their Worth More Than Ever Before
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - Reputation is fragile - communicators need to define, deliver anddemonstrate their value to organisations, and not simply delivermessagesLONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - July 06, 2009) - The falloutfrom the global economic downturn is pressurising and drivinginternal communicators to reassess their roles and their worth inways never seen before, a survey of more than 1,300 global ICpractitioners has revealed. Almost half (47%) of respondents areexperiencing a change in strategy and four out of ten people predicta change in headcount (40.6%) in the next 12 months.The Melcrum survey found that almost every area of internalcommunication is being re-examined in light of the recession,including where the function belongs within a company's structure,its strategy, how to reallocate spend internally with reducedbudgets, whether existing channels should be scrapped in favour ofcheaper, more interactive mediums and how to cope with reducedheadcount.Budget cuts take their tollBudget cuts have taken the biggest toll on the industry with almosthalf (46%) of communicators saying they intend to spend less onconsultants in the next 12 months."It's going to be tough for consultancies for the remainder of 2009and into 2010," said Victoria Mellor, CEO of Melcrum Publishing. "Thecurrent squeeze in spending is forcing advisors to re-evaluate whatthey offer and become more focused."Cutbacks are never easy for teams to make but, anecdotally, manyinternal communication leaders admit to me that their teams emergestronger and more respected as a result," Mellor added.Communicators caught up in a crunchCutbacks have also demanded a strategic change of direction with 47%experiencing a change in their communication strategy as a result ofthe economic downturn.The function has seen a huge change in fortunes compared to a yearago, but despite the downturn, enforced redundancies andre-allocation of budgets, the majority (80%) of respondents said theywere confident their organisations would either continue to investin, or maintain investment levels of a year ago.Bill Quirke, founder of UK consultancy Synopsis and a leadingauthority on internal communication, however, warned practitionersthat even though the recession was putting strategic communication atthe forefront of business change, internal communicators needed toprove their worth now more than ever before."During the bad times there is often more budget allocated tointernal comms but more work to be done, the work is far morechallenging, and there are fewer people (due to reduced headcount) todo it and they are working under far more pressure. Communicators arecaught up in a crunch," he explained.Only 14.7% of respondents said they were able to demonstrate a returnon investment compared to 48% who said they could not."They have not escaped the value-for-money test," Quirke cautioned."Their reputation is fragile - communicators need to define, deliverand demonstrate their value to organisations, and not simply delivermessages."Refocus efforts to impact businessAs spend reduces and technology and social media increasingly becomepart of our everyday social and working lives, internal communicationchannels are also changing dramatically with 44.6% of respondentspredicting a decline in print communication spend in the next year.In contrast, 53% expect to see a rise in intranet spend withtechnologies such as SharePoint and various social media tools on therise with 40% planning to introduce blogs and 35% webcasts.Andy Brown, partner at Engage Group, and an expert on research andmeasurement, said that communication teams are getting "much smarter"with many more using data to determine their spending decisions."Tough times have forced them to act and target the areas of thebusiness that need smoothing out. Reducing spend on print andconcentrating on the intranet, for example. Nine times out of tenprint has a lower effect in engaging employees than the intranet,"Brown added.Key findings from the global survey- Skills and training: 27% do not have relevant training.- Professional development: 52% said the most important skill forcommunication teams to develop right now is the ability to coachmanagers on how to communicate more effectively.- Strategy: 35% of respondents said they do not have a clear internalcommunication strategy.- Pay: More than half of communicators said they were paid fairly forthe work they do, while 17.7% said they were remunerated poorly fortheir roles.- Role of group internal communication: 42% take responsibility forgroup functions compared to 23% of respondents who see their role asproviding guidance and co-ordination for the communication community.- Structuring: Almost half (48.7%) of respondents said internalcommunication sits within the corporate communication function, while20.2% cited HR. More than half (52.8%) of communicators surveyed saidtheir departments were centralised rather than decentralised (12.6%).A more in-depth analysis of the key findings from the research willbe made available to Melcrum members via the Internal Comms Hub:www.internalcommshub.com.Notes for editorsMelcrum's Key Benchmark Data for Communicators 2009 survey wasconducted in January 2009. The survey was designed to gatheressential data on developing trends, challenges and priorities forinternal communication departments in 2009. This is the fourth surveyof its kind conducted by Melcrum, the first was conducted in 2003.A total of 2,210 internal and corporate communication professionalsfrom around the world responded to the survey. The regional breakdownof respondents is as follows:United Kingdom (31.3%), North America (26.7%), Asia-Pacific (20.2%),rest of the world including Europe, Middle East and Africa (21.7%).For the purpose of analysis the statistics in this press releaserelate to responses from organisations with 1,000 employees or more.This totalled 1,374 respondents.About MelcrumMelcrum runs the world's leading membership group for strategiccommunicators. We provide our members with access to independentresearch, executive education and best practice content.Who is Melcrum? Melcrum is a privately held research and trainingbusiness. We're committed to supporting senior-level communicatorsachieve the rewards and recognition they deserve.How does Melcrum support internal communicators? With budgets andresources under pressure, let Melcrum be your partner. We'll supportyou and your team by giving you access to a huge range ofready-to-use tools and templates, answer your questions, give youresearch data you can use in your presentations, and tell you what'sworking for other communicators. Our researchers spend their timemeeting and talking to practitioners to find out where the best workgets done. Internal communicators tell us what their challenges areand trust us to find the answers. We then share these tools,techniques, and case studies with our members.Contacts:Melcrum PublishingDaniel Gregory020 8600 4670daniel.gregory(at)melcrum.comEuropean Office: Melcrum Publishing LtdFirst Floor, The Glassmills,322b King Street, London W6 0AX, UK+44 (0)20 8600 4670+44 (0)20 8741 9975 (FAX)North American Office: Melcrum Publishing Ltd.449 N. Clark Street, Suite 305Chicago, IL 60654, USA(312) 379 6500(312) 527 4917 (FAX)Asia/Pacific: Melcrum Publishing LtdLevel 12, 95 Pitt StreetSydney, NSW, 2000, Australia+61 (0) 2 8249 8352+61 (0) 2 8249 8340 (FAX)info(at)melcrum.comWebsite: www.melcrum.comBlog: www.melcrumblog.comThis announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Datum: 06.07.2009 - 16:43 Uhr
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