Elevating Engagement for All: How an Audit Brought Insight to the EHRC
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the national equality body that makes Britain fairer.
Upholding equality and human rights and challenging discrimination across England, Scotland, and Wales, the body publishes advice and guidance. It can fine businesses - or even the government - for non-compliance to legislation.
It’s a statutory, non-departmental public body established in 2007 that functions independently.
Creating an environment of excitement and engagement
With a new chief executive, chair, board, and hybrid working model, the EHRC approached Enthuse to review its current practices and establish a fit-for-purpose plan for internal communications that addressed the changing environment in which the Commission found itself.
This would support a broader strategic plan to improve internal engagement and harmony amid cultural challenges within the organisation.
The body wanted a communication infrastructure that excited and energised colleagues - allowing them to do their best work - by auditing the effectiveness of current channels and recommending a new internal communication strategy.
The goal was for all employees to feel well-informed, engaged, and set up to deliver the organisation’s strategic objectives.
When we came on board, internal comms consisted primarily of a newsletter and all-staff meetings, which weren’t always constructive.
Like many organisations, the EHRC didn’t set internal communications goals and took a reactive rather than a strategic approach.
We see this a lot and we get it: you don’t have the headspace to create and maintain a strategy. There are so many things to tackle. Which do you address first, and how does this look on a day-to-day level with so many other factors at play?
As well as introducing new practices and processes, our work is also about celebrating what’s going well and revisiting those fundamentals that often fall by the wayside during the busyness of daily working life.
Leading with clarity and insight
For the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the challenge was twofold:
Engage a hybrid workforce
Like many organisations, the Equality and Human Rights Commission moved to a hybrid working structure over the period of the pandemic.
Communication channels adapted, with some working better than others. Therefore, how could the organisation ensure everyone communicated effectively enough to deliver its strategic objectives?
How could it harness internal communications to build and maintain a trusting and engaged team that wanted to be back in the office more?
Evaluate and clarify employee voice
Decisions within the Equality and Human Rights Commission are made by 12 commissioners appointed publicly and approved by ministers. Internally, employees typically come from advocacy-type roles in other equal rights organisations.
With varying viewpoints at play, the EHRC wanted to clarify boundaries around employee voice:
Were existing opportunities for employees to have a voice working or not?
Did employees understand the scope for expressing their opinions on issues?
Were employees grasping organisational goals, strategies, and narratives?
Where and how could communications be improved?
These are examples of what an internal communications audit uncovers to give you the clarity and insight to move forward and see visible shifts in engagement and cohesion.
Therefore, it was our job to:
Look at the current communication infrastructure
Do our own research and absorb existing data
Recommend fit-for-purpose channels to align with the EHRC’s new strategy
Strategy and practicalities
In conducting an internal communication audit, we identified where the EHRC had the potential to evolve its communication efforts in a way that would make colleagues feel more informed and engaged.
However, a good channel strategy will only take you so far, you also need good leaders, a powerful narrative, a strong vision and a positive workplace culture.
So, we were mindful of providing recommendations not just on what to do but how - and why - to communicate effectively and to build strategic objectives and a cohesive team.
Here’s what we did during this process:
Hosted a communication workshop with the internal communications team to conduct an “in their shoes” exercise with the people who know the organisation and why things are as they are
Examined existing data and research and conducted our own to deepen the findings
Evaluated channels and types of communications - topics, content, audiences, and frequencies - were they exciting and informing colleagues?
Combined data (like open rates and meeting attendance) with research (e.g., engagement surveys) to delve beneath the numbers and see what was landing
Met with HR to listen to their needs
Met with the change team to understand the upcoming strategy
Conducted interviews with senior stakeholders to understand the conversations and concerns at board level
Held a focus group across the whole organisation
Observed an all-staff call
Created an all-staff survey to get a sense of different needs, identify solutions and provide further data to back up our findings.
Throughout the process, we continued meeting with the internal communications team to feedback and inform them of our ideas along the way, so it felt collaborative and achievable for them to pick up and run with it after our involvement.
After completing our research and analysis, we went back to the EHRC with eight key findings and recommendations for each area, from broad strategic suggestions down to practical ideas to implement immediately.
We listed what the priorities should be and identified ‘quick wins’ to demonstrate its intentions and direction to stakeholders with proof of impact.
Moving forward with purpose and impact
As always, we took a nuanced and bespoke approach, utilising existing data so as not to repeat work and leading with the unique circumstances and characteristics of the organisation.
In taking this approach, we delivered a piece of work full of insight, themed recommendations, and advice on best practices, created in partnership with EHRC colleagues to ensure its ultimate success.
Working this way, we have the opportunity to understand all perspectives and discover what leaders are fundamentally - and respectfully - not seeing, to recommend a channel mix that works for the audience.
Our work with EHRC was timely, as two weeks before we presented our findings, the body appointed a new head of internal communications.
Having our piece of work delivered in the way it was informed him of exactly what to do and how to do it.
He said it was “the most comprehensive audit he’d ever seen”, and it had given him the tools and permission to execute his new role with purpose and impact.
Speaking about our work, a representative for EHRC said:
“Enthuse completed a very thorough audit into internal communications and engagement at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
“The output came in the form of recommendations that showed how Enthuse has a very real grasp of what makes good engagement and enabled us to build a strategy that would really improve our communications at the commission.”
Making a difference
The Enthuse difference manifested itself in this project in two key ways.
Specialist skills
As trained researchers, we conduct interviews scientifically that get to the root of the issues, giving everyone a voice and platform without leading or loaded questions.
Often, focus groups turn into talking shops and don’t achieve their purpose - with Enthuse, you have confidence the exercise will uncover the information you need to move forward.
Our team is also highly skilled at conducting data interrogation through the lens of employee engagement.
Plus, we excel in the creation, deployment, and analysis of employee engagement surveys that provide actionable insights for you to implement.
Collaboration
Working with the internal comms team at EHRC, we were their biggest supporters and truly wanted to see them succeed in their mission. This relationship matters to us.
We don’t criticise or critique - we know most people are doing their best and always spotlight and celebrate what’s going well, while steering individuals and teams into new ways of working and better resources where there’s room for growth.
Our collaborative style of consultancy ensures a united front is presented to stakeholders and means everyone we interact with within an organisation feels invested in the process and helps shape its success.
How to book an internal audit of your communications
Asking us to perform an internal audit of your communications provides an opportunity to step back and assess your communications from an expert view.
This can equip you with the insight, tools and knowledge to improve communication and engagement in your business.
Ultimately, we know engaged workforces are more likely to want to show up and do a better job for you, improving attendance, productivity, retention, and wellbeing for all.
If you’re ready to experience this for yourself and gain the clarity and purpose that it brings, speak to our team today - call Andrea on 07812 343310 or email hello@enthuse-comms.co.uk