Internal communications has many names. As well as internal communications, it is often referred to as; staff communications; employee relations; industrial relations (this is an old fashioned term) and more recently it has been called change management.

Internal communications is all the communication that an organisation undertakes with its closest stakeholders, usually employees. This can take a formal or informal approach. The purpose of it is to keep its stakeholders informed and up-to-date with the direction and performance of the organisation.

Case Study – Getronics

The Facts

• Getronics is a Dutch Information and Communication Technology Solutions and Services.
• In May 1999, Getronics acquired Wang Global an American company.
• Wang Global, at the time was twice the size of Getronics with 22,000 people.
• The new company head-quarters were established in Amsterdam.
• Internal restructuring had created a unified global organisation employing over 34,000 people in 44 countries.

The Issue

After acquiring Wang Global, Getronics faced the issue of getting its employees to buy- in to a new single brand. This was particularly difficult due to the fact that company operated in 44 different countries. Creating a unity between employees was a big task.

The Key

Getronics was quick to realise that employees of a company are central to its success. Therefore its 34, 000 employees had to be on board with the new Getronics vision.

However previous acquisitions of both Getronics and Wang Global had left people leaving ‘change fatigued’. They were more inclined to wait for the next acquisition than to commit and invest time and effort into reinventing the business. This was further complicated by the difference in the national and cultural differences of the global nature of the company and thus the difficulties in communicating and interpreting the corporate messages and motives across the different nationalities.

Therefore Getronics took a people-centred approach to involve its employees into the integration process and the new vision of the company.

To achieve this Getronics had to;

• Support post merger integration.
• Create a new communication infrastructure.
• Encourage internal adoption of the new brand.
• Initiate the process of culture change.

Audience

There were several audiences that Getronics had to reach to implement the program successfully.

Firstly there was Senior Management. This was a multi-national group with different languages and business cultures. Uniformity in the Getronics vision had to be created amongst them in order to pass the vision down the employee chain.

Secondly there was the Marketing and Communication Managers, again characterised by different languages, communication style and practices, cultures and business history. As this group of people would be implementing the communication strategy and conveying it to all employees in their respective countries, a harmonised brand vision had to be established.

Thirdly, all employees had to be addressed. This consisted of 34,000 people located in 44 different countries. Many of which were previous employees of Wang Global. Thus they had limited Getronics knowledge and so had different loyalties and values to that of Getronics. Also they had received little communication about the merger.

Communication Program

Getronics realised that it had to involve employees in change to secure emotional commitment to the new brand, and so harmonise the way the brand was ‘considered internally with the way it was presented externally.

Objectives

The objectives of the communication program were:

• Build understanding and support for the new vision, brand and associated values
• Increase pride and confidence in the new company among all employees
• Increase alignment between internal and external messages about the new Getronics
• Win the commitment of the top 220 management team, country managers and communication managers to their role in internal communication.

Research

The first stage of communications program was research. This consisted of interview with senior managers, site visits and an internal communications audit. This assessed;

• Audience attitudes
• Communication needs
• Currant communication practices in place

Communication During Integration

The second stage involved building an understanding of the process and communicating the global Getronics vision to all employees as research showed that very little about the company vision, merger and future had been communicated to employees.

Previously there had been little face-to-face contact with employees, as global emails were relied on. Getronics targeted senior managers to convey the message to middle managers and middle managers to pass the message onto their teams. Thus implementing a face-to-face strategy. Therefore giving the information more credibility as it comes directly from a manager.

A conference was held for managers where they were given communication packs, so they could form a united front and take the same message back to local management teams.

A regular 6 week newsletter was distributed to managers, keeping them up-to-date with the progress of the integration process. Managers were encouraged to discuss this information with their teams.

Building the Brand Internally

The third stage aimed to raise morale as research showed this was quite low amongst staff. This was done by increasing employee pride, confidence and sense of belonging to Getronics.

Awareness of brand values was created. This included understanding the new brand ethos, why it was chosen and the behaviours necessary to support the new brand values.

Then an employee brochure detailing Getronics business vision, strategy, role of the new brand and the need for all employees to contribute to it was issued to all staff.

Ongoing Internal Communication

Lastly an ongoing internal communication framework was put in place.

Due to Getronics acquisition it was in essence a new company, with few communication strategies in place. Therefore it was essential to put some in place. This consisted of:

• Central database of all communication contacts
• Regular email updates
• Conference calls
• Communication packs
• Communication guidelines
• Intranet site

Measuring and Evaluation

Several indicators were used to track the success of the program against the objectives set. They were;

• Performance against budget
• Consistence of internal and external messages
• Management involvement in communication
• Formal reports
• Evaluating managerial communication

Outcome

Against the above criteria deadlines were met, the budget was adhered to and there was an increase in face-to-face communication.

The results of this was that a post merger questionnaire showed that

• 89% of delegates understood the business vision
• 97% of delegates understood the financial strategy

Therefore the internal communications strategy was a success, as all members of Getronics were involved in throughout the process. This in turn allowed staff to have a greater sense of pride, confidence and excitement about the new brand.

Links

Peter Prud’homme and Martin Heijma; Getronics’ aquisition of Wang Global