Workplace digital divide is forcing employers to rethink the way they communicate

In March 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic forced countless employers around the globe to send their non-essential employees home. Few organisations had a contingency plan for such a scenario, meaning the overwhelming majority of employers had to rethink their operations and communication functions on the fly.

According to more than 800 employers from 45 countries surveyed in Gallagher’s 2021 State of the Sector Survey, almost every organisation (95 percent) has learned from that experience and made changes for 2021.

Changes to organisational culture topped the list of priorities, with 43 percent of employers indicating they will revamp their values and behaviors in the coming year. In addition, 40 percent expect to implement a new way of working, followed by 37 percent that plan to leverage new information and collaboration tools.

2020 brought the importance of employee experience (EX) to the forefront. To set organisations up for success, Gallagher’s communication experts identified the best practices employers leaned into as a result, with themes such as an increased focus on employee mental health and wellbeing (70 percent) and D&I initiatives (55 percent). Additionally, as it relates to EX, 60 percent of employers reported having a clear strategy for purpose, culture and vision in 2021 as a result of the pandemic.

The data further claims that while two-thirds of organisations say EX is discussed at the C-suite level, only half of employers have formalised what EX means to them and how to approach it. A key area of today’s EX is the digital experience, which was significantly impacted as a direct result of the global pandemic. Furthermore, the 2021 State of the Sector Survey highlighted 1 in 4 organisations don’t have a strategy for workplace experience (including working from home) or digital and technology experience (23 percent and 27 percent respectively) either in place or in development.

Rise of the digital divide

Due to COVID-19 precautions, many employers continue to limit or prohibit in-person workplace interactions among non-essential workers. For these organisations, digital channels have become the primary, if not the only, means of communication. This has created a digital divide.

Even though three-quarters of organisations (77 percent) believe digital channels make it possible to create engagement with messages, about half (55 percent) believe they support collaboration well. Furthermore, few organisations appear to be leveraging the full potential of digital communications as only a quarter have implemented functionalities that allow employees to select what communication they want to receive, a key consideration with 37 percent of organisations perceiving the volume of communication being too high.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”However you may feel about it, remote working is here to stay.”[/perfectpullquote]

The rise of digital communications has enabled organisations to track what their employees receive, read, watch or click, but few turn these touchpoints into actionable insights. In fact, 80 percent measure reach and 75 percent measure employee understanding of key topics, but just 2 in 5 organisations assess overall satisfaction with communications, behavior change and business outcomes. As for their rationale for not analysing the data for actionable insights, nearly three-quarters of organisations (73 percent) cite the lack of time, and half (51 percent) don’t have adequate technology or metrics available.

“Through conversations with internal communicators, it became clear that their workload increased in 2020 and many have taken on the work of more than one person,” said Ben Reynolds, Global Managing Director, Gallagher. “When we launched the survey at the start of the pandemic, 1 in 3 respondents said their HR/internal communication was lacking, 2 in 5 felt under pressure to deliver, and 1 in 5 felt considerably overworked. The data makes it clear that employers can do a better job assessing and adjusting their employee experience strategies. When done right, this can reduce operating expenses and, at the same time, improve their employees’ wellbeing.”

Crowded channel landscape

The survey also claims specific tactics, including communication channels that organisations were relying on most. When asked about increased channel usage, Gallagher reported limited changes in channel popularity year over year, with Microsoft products continuing to reign as most popular. However, the survey suggested that many organisations reacted to the pandemic by rolling out new technology quickly. As a result, multiple digital channels (web calls, mobile apps, messaging apps, and collaboration platforms such as Teams, Yammer and Zoom) flooded the employee communication space. The increase of such messaging became overwhelming, and overall engagement took a hit.

According to Gallagher’s experts, 35 percent of employers say that increasingly tailored, hyper-personalised messages will become the norm in the next few years, meaning the importance of smart digital solutions has never been clearer when it comes to maintaining and driving engagement.

“However you may feel about it, remote working is here to stay,” said Reynolds. “Before the pandemic, employers were able to rely on a robust holistic rewards strategy to win the war for talent. Now, they need new strategies to maintain productivity and connectiveness. The data shows employers are closely monitoring new strategies and adapting enhanced digital capabilities, because the return on investment is still clear: a more engaged and connected employee experience is better for the bottom line.”

Image by Št?pán Karásek