Eye-Opening Stats & Facts

You may be surprised at these facts about communication and change:

• Worry and gossip often consume as much as two hours a day per employee, or one quarter of the work week.
• More questions than answers create uncertainty, frustration, rumor, and lower productivity.
• It's usually your best employees who leave first when there's confusion and frustration (and it costs an average of 150% of their annual compensation to replace them - and that's just the hard dollar cost!).
• Silence is not an option, even when you don't have all the answers.
• Employees see no news as bad news and assume management is trying to hide impending doom.
• Communications are the best way to prepare employees for change; and change offers a rare opportunity to align employees with strategic objectives.
• Your best customers are your most sought after customers, and the first to go to a competitor if you don't talk to them when you're changing direction.
• Effective communication offers a clear and simple case for change.
• Companies with successful communication programs tend to achieve the best results in financials, productivity, and shareholder returns.
• Many HR executives rate communication processes as the most valuable factor in managing ongoing changes during implementation phases.
• Most mergers and acquisitions fail to achieve their pre-M&A stated financial goals. Poor communication is one of the main killers of post-deal value creation.
• A "we/they" mindset in a merger or acquisition is the greatest barrier to effective integration, and communication is the best way to overcome that mindset.
• Rates of illness, absenteeism, and worker's comp claims can rise dramatically after a merger or acquisition.
• Companies that implement communication programs immediately after a deal get significantly better results than those that delay implementation for 3 months or more.
• Typically, only 20% of employees trust what senior management tells them after a merger or acquisition.
• Information and communication are not at all the same thing. Information is simply fact (or fiction); communication implies a dialog.

Note: Sources available upon request.

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