Internal communication budgets hard to find in public sector

Sept. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- Over 60% of public sector organisations have no dedicated internal communication budget or one that is very restricted.

That was one of the key findings of the recently published State of the Sector 2011 survey focusing on the public sector, undertaken by internal communication consultancy Gatehouse in conjunction with the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC).

Over one third of respondents said they had no dedicated IC budget and a further 27% had less than £10,000 at their disposal. This is extremely low compared to other sectors the State of the Sector research has investigated and given the number of employees communicators in this area are attempting to reach. More worryingly still, half of respondents predicted that their budgets will be cut further in the coming year.

More positively in terms of resourcing, only 6% of organisations surveyed did not have a dedicated internal communications person while half stated they were part of a team of between one and five communicators. 21% said there were more than 20 people in their IC function.

A number of other key challenges faced by communicators seem to reflect, at least in part, the current difficult economic climate.

Almost 60% of respondents rated understanding of organisational strategy as, at best, average. This may not be surprising given the turmoil the sector has been facing, but it does suggest that many public sector employees are unclear and uncertain about the future.

Nearly 40% of respondents identified reengaging employees as their number one professional challenge, with communicating strategy and direction a close second (30%) and communicating cost cutting ranking third (20%). This suggests a difficult time for communicators over the coming year as they focus both on delivering bad news and improving morale, while also working at instilling a sense of direction and purpose.

Almost three quarters of respondents said that senior management site visits were used to communicate with staff. This may be as a result of the difficult conditions facing the sector (more change often demands a stronger leadership presence), but it may also suggest that organisations are adopting a more strategic approach to leadership communication.

Other key findings of the survey include:
•   Priorities – Top priorities in terms of time and resources over the next twelve months were leadership communication (60% of respondents), followed by face-to-face communication (50%) and developing/refreshing the internal communication strategy (45%).
•   Print – Many organisations are not using print channels to any great extent, with one in four using none whatsoever. This suggests that the public sector has switched off more readily and rapidly than those covered by previous State of the Sector reports.
•   Digital – By contrast, almost 100% of organisations used intranet, with central emails and e-newsletters almost as well-used (80% and 90% respectively).
•   Face to face – Despite the explosion of communication technology, this channel is very well used, with team meetings taking place in 90% of organisations and 70% using formal cascade meetings.
•   Events – Conferences and road shows scored highly with more than half of organisations using these to communicate en masse with their people. Even large-scale conferences (100+ delegates) were in place at over three quarters of represented organisations.

In the coming weeks, Gatehouse will be conducting one-to-one interviews with some of the respondents of this research. The results will be published in November.

Simon Wright, director at Gatehouse, said: "Whilst the lack of budgets is undoubtedly going to hamper communication efforts at such a critical time, it is pleasing to note that internal communication , as a function, is so well represented within these organisations."

IoIC chief executive Steve Doswell said: “It’s good to see face-to-face and leadership communication leading the way in the public sector, as despite all the developments in digital technology, these still lie at the heart of effective internal communication programmes.”

For a free copy of the full Internal Communication in Public Services: State of the Sector 2011 research report contact Simon Wright or Lee Smith at Gatehouse on 0207 754 3630 or email info@gatehousegroup.co.uk

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The Institute of Internal Communication is the UK professional body for internal communication professionals. It offers professional development, promotes the importance of internal communications, develops industry knowledge, provides a strong network.