Companies will try to humanize themselves and use authentic employees and their candid comments for both marketing and recruiting. Employees will therefore become a key part of efforts for various departments. Risk mitigation initiatives for employees and expectations for return on investments in communication will become much stronger.
More freedom for employees
The trend is to give employees much more freedom on social media. As noted in the previous article, companies are still relying on their employees to act as brand ambassadors. That means that the number of employers who block access to social media will soon decline.
External staff: A new frontier for internal communication
Internal will be no longer enough in 2015 and into the future. Communication with the supply chain, partners and distributors will become essential for business success. Internal communicators will have to gradually support leaders who want to influence the wider organization. Logistics, dealers, intermediaries, will all be part of an extended audience for internal communication teams in an increasing number of companies.
Mastery of digital services will be a key skill set
Specialists in internal communication have to be the first to exploit all new services of the digital workplace. The border between internal and external conversations will become less clear as LinkedIn and other services will be used for both. As recruiting the right new employees becomes harder and harder, internal communicators need to prepare engaging opportunities for them.
Overall, it will be a challenging year
Professionals in this area will have to operate like a start-up. They will have to work with less, face and manage ambiguity and constantly evaluate new trends. Limited budgets and calculated risk taking are still necessary for every internal communicator.
-jk-