Why Internal Communication Is the Hidden Engine of Business Performance - FleishmanHillard Budapest Insight
When employees feel they are the last to know, they start looking for the exit. In our latest study, 61% of people thinking about changing jobs said poor internal communication was a leading factor. At the same time, only 23 % of the global workforce is engaged at work, while the productivity drag from disengagement costs a typical S&P 500 company up to US $355 million every year.
A quiet crisis in the workplace
When employees feel they are the last to know, they start looking for the exit. In our latest study, 61 % of people thinking about changing jobs said poor internal communication was a leading factor. At the same time, only 23 % of the global workforce is engaged at work, while the productivity drag from disengagement costs a typical S&P 500 company up to US$355 million every year.
Poor communication doesn’t just hurt the bottom line. It fuels stress (41 % of employees worldwide felt “a lot” of stress yesterday) and loneliness (one in five workers feels isolated, rising to 25 % for fully remote staff). That is a recipe for attrition, absenteeism and reputational damage.
The upside of getting it right
The good news: well-connected teams see a 20 – 25 % lift in productivity and almost five-times higher self-reported efficiency. Engaged employees are 46% happier and, in low-turnover organisations, engagement cuts churn in half. McKinsey calculates that fixing disengagement could unlock US $1.1 billion in value over five years for a median S&P 500 firm.
Critically, 70 % of team engagement is shaped by managers. Equipping leaders with consistent, resonant messages is therefore the single most powerful lever a communications team holds.
Our point of view
FleishmanHillard Budapest has helped organisations across Hungary and the wider region turn communication into competitive advantage. Whether you are restructuring, digitising or simply growing fast, clarity and consistency inside the organisation set the tone for everything you do outside it.
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