Study shows poor comms cost organizations money, Employees take more sick days post-pandemic
Plus, why newly promoted employees are quitting.
Greetings, comms pros! Let’s take a look at a few stories from the past week and see what lessons we can learn.
1. Poor communications could cost companies money
A study from Grammarly cites that poor communication costs over 7 hours of work per week. In addition, an article from Inc. detailed some of the ways in which poor comms can contribute to financial hits. It outlines factors such as domineering personas in the office, cycles of conflict, a revolving door of employees, and more. It also suggested that framing comms as a “soft skill” may be hurting the reputation of the function.
Do your leaders think that poor internal comms are only about culture and engagement? Maybe this will help them consider the impact of your bottom line directly—and help you make a quantifiable, bottom-line parallel between your comms outputs and larger business outcomes.
2. Research shows employees are taking more sick time after the height of COVID pandemic
Do you take your sick time, or do you attempt to power through your illnesses to get the job done? If you get the sense that your workforce has taken more time off for sicknesses in the years after the rise of COVID, there’s data to back that feeling up.
According to a survey by Gusto, 30 % of employees who have sick leave have taken it this year. That’s up 15% from 2019.
In a society that’s hyper-focused on productivity, this is a timely reminder that communicators play a vital workplace wellness role by fostering an environment where employees are encouraged to use their sick time. Healthy, happy employees are much more likely to be effective ones.
3. Almost one-third of internally-promoted managers quit within a month
On the surface, an internal promotion sounds great — it shows that an organization recognizes an employee’s skills and contributions and sees a path up the ladder for them. However, according to a recent study by ADP, there might be some drawbacks.
The study, which polled over 1.2 million employees, found that nearly a third of employees who are internally promoted quit their jobs within a month of their initial internal promotion. The big question is — why?
The report found a few reasons including a lack of expected pay, inadequate support and training, and burnout. As communicators, it’s part of your role to guide employees through their entire work journey with the proper resources they need, upskilling and wellness resources included, as all contribute to your employee value proposition. By partnering with HR to make sure you’re accurately and consistently communicating what wellness opportunities are available, and by training managers to check in on newly promoted employees to see how things are going, you can avoid outcomes like this.
4. How about some good news?
- An ancient pear tree in England was revived after being knocked down for a construction project.
- An abandoned golf course in Ohio is being reclaimed by nature.
- Gene therapy has restored hearing for children with a rare form of deafness.
- Ragan Training is great for communications pros to find inspiration and resources.
- You should be rewarded for your work. Find out how to earn an award here!
Have a great weekend comms all-stars!
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports, a good pint and ’90s trivia night.
