Ahead of the upcoming PRCA Employee Engagement Conference on Wednesday 21st September 2022 (Click Here to Sign up) we asked Simon Rutter, award-winning Senior Copywriter and Content Strategist this month’s Big Question: What are the hot topics in IC right now?
Finger on the pulse as ever, Simon shares his hot top five:
1. Speaking out on anything and everything
A disturbing trend in IC that has exploded in the last couple of years is the expectation that IC Teams should be helping leaders speak out on anything and everything. Black Lives Matter, Sarah Everard, cost of living crisis – the list goes on and on. These issues are all important, but it’s not up to businesses alone to solve them, and it certainly isn’t up to IC. It’s decades of rotten and failing institutions in this country that are to blame. And all this CEO noise is distracting scarce resources away from what IC should be doing – helping employees understand and deliver on the business strategy.
2. Remote and hybrid working
For IC, both remote and hybrid working are huge challenges. Depending on the level of flexibility, remote gives employees greater control, which can make it harder to reach and engage them through scheduled communications (e.g., town halls). IC Teams need to be creative as more comms is pulled by employees on demand.
Hybrid adds even more complexity, as you run the risk of creating a two-tier workforce, with those connecting face-to-face potentially experiencing increased levels and different types of communication, which can be more impactful (think in-person events vs. virtual). IC Teams need to be even more thoughtful when planning in this environment, so face-to-face opportunities are maximised for value, and everything else is moved online.
3. The Great Resignation/redundancy – and ‘quiet quitting’
It was never a Great Resignation. There was also a healthy dose of large-scale redundancies in there, which continue daily. And now the term ‘quiet quitting’ is getting bandied about – which is nothing new and is also known as doing the bare minimum – often, but not always, a reflection more on poor leadership and the exhaustion of existing in the daily bin fire that is 2022, than a mass downing of tools.
For IC Teams it means extra focus on explaining the business strategy and the employee’s role in it. That gives people’s work meaning, and if you have meaning you are more likely to be productive, engaged and not scroll LinkedIn.
4. BANI – or no one knows what they’re doing
Even the scariness of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) wasn’t enough to describe the new post-pandemic world, so the term BANI was coined (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible). In summary, it means no one has a clue what they’re doing, and everyone is winging it.
This is huge for IC, because teams are being asked to create strategies and plans that are outdated before they’re written, yet if they react to everything they get dragged off course and never make the impact they need to (*see point 1).
And of course, communicating change or transformation becomes harder because if change is constant, then it’s difficult to get employee’s attention on what’s really going to move the needle.
However, interestingly a recent article by McKinsey revealed that it actually takes LONGER to get things done in organisation now than it did five years ago. Mind boggling, but not altogether surprising.
5. ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)
This is right at the top of the business agenda. Expectations on companies have skyrocketed in recent years – what are you doing about your carbon footprint, how are helping the communities you impact, is your governance robust? The demands are endless.
For IC it’s a fine line. Yes, some of your employees care about your creds in these areas. But here’s the thing. This is way more of an external stakeholder play – especially for investors. So here IC Teams need to research what elements of ESG employees want to hear more about, how these fit into the communication of the broader corporate narrative and business strategy, and focus on weaving these into your comms plans so ESG doesn’t feel like a bolt on, tick-box topic.
Bio
Simon helps businesses and brands communicate with clarity and purpose to stand out from the crowd, cut through the noise and drive results. He has worked for all sizes of businesses, brands, and agencies across a range of industries, including Tech, Pharma, FMCG, Mining and FS. What sets him apart is that he has been in his clients’ shoes, having worked both in-house and agency side to deliver copy and content that shines.