Partner Article

International workplace communications study highlights “communications breakdown”

Less than half (43%) of UK office workers are satisfied with the communication they receive from their leaders. That’s according to the new Generation Now report from Kollective, a leading provider of software-defined enterprise content delivery network solutions, which examines the breakdown in communication between day-to-day workers and senior members of the management team.

Bringing together research from more than 2,000 UK and US office workers, Kollective’s newly-launched study highlights that UK employees are less satisfied with the communication efforts of their senior management than their US counterparts, with only 11% of UK workers describing themselves as “completely satisfied”, compared to 21% in the US.

Kollective’s research also shows that, as businesses grow in size, communication between employees and senior management breaks down even further. In large organisations, many senior management teams are relying on HR staff to communicate with employees. Despite this, only 40% of UK workers claim to be satisfied with the communication efforts of HR – even less than those receiving communication directly from senior management.

Today’s office workers are demanding a far more direct approach to workplace communication, with 62% saying they would like to receive updates from their CEO face-to-face or via some form of live video broadcast. Currently, however, only 22% of UK workers feel connected to their senior management team, while nearly half (49%) say that they don’t feel connected to their CEO.

Commenting on these findings, Todd Johnson, President of Kollective, said: “Today’s businesses are faced with a serious disconnect between how senior management currently disseminates information and the communications approach that employees have grown accustomed to within their personal lives. Today’s employees demand a more open, more personal, and ultimately more direct line of communication between themselves and their leaders.

“New communication technologies will be a major part of this, with the use of mass webcasts and livestreamed updates helping to provide a more direct link between managers and teams – regardless of where they are located in the world. While many businesses are still struggling to support and deliver video on a large scale, easy-to-deploy software-based solutions are already helping to overcome this issue, ultimately helping CEOs and business leaders to close the communications gap.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Todd Johnson .