It’s always fascinating to get a sneak peek into what others in your industry are doing, and to see how you measure up in comparison, so I’m a big fan of an industry report to help us see trends and areas of focus.
VMA Group’s is one of the largest and most comprehensive there is in the internal communications world, so I thought it might be useful to share some of my key takeaways from this year’s.
Inside Insight collated responses from more than 600 UK-based internal communications workers – the first time this has been done since 2020 – and provides a really interesting insight into the state of our industry right now.
In this blog – ‘Insights for internal communication teams’ – I’ll outline my thoughts on some of the key questions it asks, and the responses to them.
How many people should there be in an internal communications team?
The report found most teams contain between two and four people, but 18% consisted of just one person. At the other end of the scale, 19% were teams of between five and nine. It’s unclear how many of those smaller teams are outsourcing work to freelancers though and as someone who was always a team of one or two, I outsourced a lot to experts.
Very little has changed in terms of the demographics of the internal communication industry since the last report three years ago – the proportions of people of different ages, ethnicities and gender are much the same as they have always been.
The industry remains female-dominated, with 75% of respondents identifying as female. There is also a lack of younger people in the profession, with just 10% of respondents under 30.
Equality, diversity and inclusion remains a focus too, with 87% of respondents being white British.
What is the average salary of an internal communications manager?
The report has a helpful breakdown of salaries by sector and role, so if you want to benchmark your salary or check you’re paying those in your team in the right bracket, it’s a very useful resource. You can download a copy here.
The two most common wage brackets are £40,001 – £50,000 per annum (13%) and £50,001 – £60,000 per annum (13%).
Maximum salaries for directors range from £105,000 in the charity and not-for-profit sector to £250,000 in banking and finance.
Nearly a third of people feel they are underpaid for their work, but the majority are very happy with pay being considered fair.
How much do people invest in their professional development?
35% of people are neutral about whether a specialist qualification in internal communication would help them perform better in their role.
My advice here would be if you’re neutral, invest. There is literally nothing to lose and everything to gain from investing in yourself and your skills – if the budget is available. But even without a huge budget there are podcasts and books available to help you learn.
What the report showed, however, is that only 23% of people have a dedicated budget for training and development which is such a disappointment. Investing in people is such a huge driver of engagement and motivation so I’m hoping this will change in the future.
What channels are people using for internal communications?
98% of respondents said they are using emails, 91% are using intranets and 83% are using town halls/all company briefings. Team briefings were the fourth most popular method (68%), with management cascades coming in fifth (65%).
The continuing importance of management cascades doesn’t surprise me considering my own research into deskless workers. When so much of our workforces do not spend their days in front of computers or phones, this continues to be a crucial method for connecting with those hard-to-reach workers.
Social media does not make it into the top 10 channels, and a huge 70% of respondents rated their organisation’s use of digital communications and social media as poor or average.
Do CEOs and senior leaders value internal communication?
The results here are interesting, if not a little disheartening, but also for me, expected.
In 2020, 84% said that they feel the CEO truly values the importance of internal communication inside their organisation but in 2023 this had reduced to 77%. This is back to 2018 levels, but it is significantly higher than 2006 when this research was started
The senior leadership and CEO perception of the value of internal communications has been an ongoing issue for those who work in the industry, since before I started in this profession over 20 years ago. There was hope that the pandemic showed the true value of the function but at the time, I was concerned that the tactical nature of internal communication in a crisis would shift us backwards in the long term. The data in this report suggests, unfortunately, it was indeed a short-lived need for tactical support which hasn’t translated into long-term understanding of the strategic impact.
What are the most important skills for internal communication professionals?
The report found the 10 most important skills and competences for internal communication professionals are:
- Communication planning
- Change communication
- Employee engagement
- Stakeholder relationship management
- Coaching senior leaders
- Influencing
- Writing
- Measurement
- Channel development and management
- Creativity
What’s interesting here is that ‘business acumen’ is missing from this list.
At a panel discussion held for the launch of the report, there was a lot of talk about how it should be on there, as not having this skill is what so often holds internal communicators back and makes people think that the work being done by them isn’t as impactful as other communication/PR disciplines.
One of the biggest changes in the list is stakeholder relationship management, which has risen two places to fourth. This doesn’t surprise me when we consider how the world of work has changed, how the pace is relentless, and the hybrid or remote work is impacting relationships. It’s a theme that comes up in every audit we do for communication teams this year as well.
You can get a copy of the full report here.
The insights in it give us a great understanding for function creation, design and salaries as well as an understanding of the market around interim roles and day rates. There is so much flexibility on offer now in terms of how we work, and a huge opportunity to develop the skills needed to really support leaders and organisations.
If anything contained in the report is sparking ideas for things you and your team could improve, we can help with workshops, 1:1 coaching or mentoring, or a full comms audit or strategic review, drop us an email and we can have a chat about how I can help.
