Dive Brief:

• EmployeeChannel, Inc., provider of mobile apps for employee engagement and communication, just released a study showing that employees want more communication with HR. Office, remote and non-desktop workers — despite their differences — want a stronger HR connection. 
• Employees in the study ranked “communicates frequently and effectively with employees” among the top behaviors that generate positive experiences in the workplace.
• Other key findings in the study show that only 16% of those polled said they felt “connected and engaged” by employers, nearly 50% reported feeling "neutral" or "disagreed" or "strongly disagreed" that the HR team made them feel more informed or engaged, and 75% of workers said that HR communicates with them “never or rarely” or only “sometimes.” 

Dive Insight:

It looks like HR has a lot of work to do, based on the results of this study. Communication is critical in the workplace and is required to engage workers and gain their trust and commitment. Study after study shows that employees often feel uninformed about what's going on at work — something HR can move to change. 

The study confirms that employees value communications with HR. This finding can help HR leaders fulfill key human capital priorities, including employee engagement, retention, training and development, and digitization of employer . 

Although there was little difference in the responses among the three categories of workers in the study, HR reportedly used mostly email and in-person meetings to communicate with staff, followed by calls. Email can be an especially impersonal mode of communicating with remote workers, who already feel disconnected with office coworkers.

HR, and employers generally, must prioritize ongoing, two-way communication streams that are truthful and regularly updated.