Transcript Ratings of Employer Communications

Research Foundation
Generational Communication
Differences Around the Globe
Jan Thibodeau, ABC
Chair, Research Foundation
Agenda
• Study Overview
• AHAs and SO WHATs
– Engagement
– Importance & Effectiveness
of Employer Communication
– Channel Preferences
– Ratings of Employer
Communications
• NOW WHAT? - Roundtable
Discussions
• Sharing
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Study Overview
• Commissioned by the IABC Research Foundation
• Sponsored by Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc.
• Preliminary report of findings
• Final report and publication due later this year
3
Study Purpose
• Compare two age cohorts in today’s global
workforce to understand preferences, needs, habits
and attitudes regarding workplace communications
– Ages 20-26 (Generation Y or Millennials in the US)
– Ages 50-59 (Baby Boomers in the US)
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Study Design
• Online survey
• Six countries: Brazil, Canada,
China, India, United Kingdom,
United States
• 600 participants: 50 of each age
cohort in each country
• March 17 – April 17, 2008
• English or native language
(Portuguese, French, Mandarin or
Hindi)
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Engagement
• What differences exist in how
each age cohort thinks about
their job, their benefits and
work environment and their
organization’s management?
• How are the age cohorts
different in three job loyalty
measures:
– overall job satisfaction
– intention to remain with
current employer
– willingness to recommend
employer to others?
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Engagement
• Younger: more positive about most factors, especially opportunities to
learn and grow
– Younger: 72% strongly agree or agree
– Older: 54% strongly agree or agree
• Both age cohorts: being proud to work for an employer is one of two
leading drivers of overall satisfaction
• Other driver
– Younger: feeling a sense of belonging
– Older: trusting leaders to consider employees’ best interests
• Younger group was more positive about being proud to work for their
employer than the older group (63% vs. 54%)
• Younger group was more likely to be willing to recommend their
employer to a job seeker (86% vs. 75%)
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Engagement Implications
• Are older workers aware of development
opportunities in your organization?
• Are both younger and older workers proud to work
for your organization?
– Fulfills social responsibilities
– Inspires trust in leadership
– Provides learning and development opportunities
• Is your organization’s reputation a factor in attracting
and retaining employees?
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Importance & Effectiveness
of Employer Communication
• What are the most important types of communication
for each age cohort?
• How effectively are
employers performing in
each type of
communication?
• Where are the biggest
gaps between
communication
importance and
effectiveness for each
age cohort?
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Importance & Effectiveness
of Employer Communication
• Both groups: most important types of employer
communications
– Performance recognition
– Feedback about job performance
– Opportunities to interact with fellow employees
• Younger group: place more value on informal communication
and fun ways to build teamwork
• Older group: place more value on official/formal sources of
information
– Explanation of organizational goals and policies
– How company is doing
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Importance & Effectiveness Implications
• How do your organization’s communication strategies
facilitate:
– Performance recognition
– Feedback about job performance
– Opportunities to interact with fellow employees
• What communication programs/strategies are in place to
foster informal communication and fun ways to build
teamwork?
• How does your organization communicate
– Organizational goals and policies
– How company is doing
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Channel Preferences
• What are the communication
channel preferences for
receiving information about
– Benefits
– Company goals &
performance
– Company events
– Business/industry news
– Project/team updates
• And for…
– Interacting w/co-workers
– Having routine exchanges
w/supervisor
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Channel Preferences
• Channel preferences vary by type of communication
– No sweeping channel preferences that fit each age group
• Both age groups: preference for in-person
interaction with co-workers to build working
relationships
• Younger, high users of technology
are more likely to see electronic
messaging (e-mail, instant or
text messaging) as an effective
way to build relationships
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Channel Preferences Implications
• How do you determine which channels to use
when communicating various types of
information?
– Are you using multiple channels?
• What communication practices do you have in
place to foster in-person interaction with coworkers to build working relationships?
– Younger users – are there opportunities for e-messaging
and is it accepted cultural practice?
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Ratings of Employer Communications
• How do the age cohorts rate employer
communications to employees for their:
–
–
–
–
–
credibility
relevance
understandability
timeliness
explanations of the information’s importance
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Ratings of Employer Communications
• Both age groups: majority gave positive ratings for
all five attributes tested
• Older age group: lower ratings than younger on
credibility
– Older age group were three times more likely to rate
employer’s communications as not credible
• Older workers with no management or supervisory role were the most
critical
• Gap between age groups was greatest in public sector and those in
consumer/industrial products
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Ratings Implications
• How are you measuring the communications
credibility factor in your organization?
• How does your organization ensure that the
communication is credible, especially for older, nonsupervisory workers?
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Review of Key Findings
•
Both age groups:
– Engagement: Being proud to work for an employer is one of two leading
drivers of overall satisfaction
– Channels: Preference for in-person interaction with co-workers to build
working relationships
•
Younger group:
– Communication Importance & Effectiveness: Places more value on
informal communication and fun ways to build teamwork
– Channels: Is more likely to use electronic messaging as an effective way to
build relationships (high technology users)
•
Older group:
– Communication Importance & Effectiveness: Places more value on
official/formal sources of information
– Ratings of Communication: Lower ratings on communication credibility
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Now What?
• What do these findings mean
to communications in your
workplace?
• What might you continue,
start or stop doing?
• What might you do
differently?
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Final Report
• Lots more details for
each of the four areas
• Findings by
– Geographical location
– Industry
– High and low technology
users
• Watch for the research
later this year!
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