Five major trends in Responsible Business communications for 2022

Over the past 18 months we’ve seen a huge shift in communications. This has been caused by people’s fluctuating needs, ever changing Covid-19 guidelines, fragmented workplaces, and rising expectations around the roles and responsibilities of business. When it comes to employee engagement, according to Harvard Business Review, during the pandemic, more than 90% of employees said they wanted weekly communication from their company.  

There’s been a definite move towards more immediate, empathetic and personal internal communications. Comms has had to balance the requirement for frequency of information, without being overwhelming. No one size fits all anymore, especially as individuals have been experiencing working from home and return to office differently.

Externally, with the rise in people’s expectations of companies to take action and play their part in driving wider societal and environmental change, businesses have had to communicate their commitments and activity more transparently and effectively than ever before.

89% of consumers believe purpose is demonstrated through how the company benefits society (and environment). But they want to see it. They expect brands to share their impact through all touchpoints.  (Sustainable Brands and Harris Poll Study). 

So, as we move into 2022, here are some of the key Responsible Business communication trends. 

1. Rising demand to communicate purpose intentions and activity  

Organisations are increasingly being asked for more information about their Responsible Business efforts – by investors, employees, in procurement, by clients, consumers and the public. To ensure best practice, a robust framework, deep data, assets and rich resources need to be in place to support this multi stakeholder approach. Engaging people with your sustainability story, aspirations and impact all has to be underpinned by a clear narrative, plenty of evidence and some technical knowledge to avoid purpose washing or unconvincing messaging.  

To meet this demand, it’s important that companies understand how to balance the information being communicated. As Responsible Businesses, you will want to ensure communications cover all of your key focus areas of activity i.e. usually people, planet and society, underpinned by governance and ethics. It’s about talking about sustainability, but also about how you’re tackling human rights, looking after your people’s wellbeing and working with community partnerships to deliver positive change.  

Any Responsible Business agenda and clarity over communications has to be driven by leadership. An important trend for 2022 will be to empower senior leaders and managers to be able to communicate Responsible Business messaging better. This includes being clear around terminology used – Responsible Business, ESG, Purpose, Sustainability, Social Impact, Social Value. Which do you use? Is it a mixture of it all? Can you respond to what being responsible means to your organisation specifically – and why?

Some top tips to help you meet the demand to communicate around responsible business

• Ensure your purposeful communications don’t get lost. Consider creating a visual identity specifically for Responsible Business.  
• Produce a playbook for internal and external use, and for use in recruitment. It can outline your company’s Responsible Business agenda, your approach and commitments as well as key data and case studies. 
• Produce a toolkit for use by procurement to ensure all suppliers understand the social value expectations and standards required of them, so they can help you deliver on your pledges. 

• Consider third party endorsement and rich storytelling that represent the ‘journey’ not just the destination. This is about telling authentic stories through various means – video, podcasts and blogs – and being honest about progress. 
• Publish and share regular updates and news about your Responsible Business agenda, to keep people informed, and show them how they can get involved.  

2. Trend to fully embed Responsible Business and grow purposeful culture  

A good company culture can make or break a workplace and increase revenue by 4x.  (Forbes) 

To engrain and grow a purposeful culture means ensuring employees are not only engaged with your Responsible Business agenda, but that it also resonates with them. Staff need to know how working for a Responsible Business impacts their specific department, team and them as individuals. To truly engrain what it means to be a Responsible Business, the messaging needs to be internalised across all tiers of the organisation and it needs to drive and inform behaviour, decision making, operations and activity. 

According to research by Deloitte, 77% of executives think that companies are not focused on aligning employees and their personal goals with corporate purposes, so clear communications which help bridge this are critical.  

Some top tips to help you engrain responsible business

• Organise open Q&A sessions with leadership, alongside smaller discussion groups.
• Produce Responsible Business / Sustainability tone of voice guidelines. These will help colleagues communicate effectively and cohesively about your agenda and commitments and ensure terminology doesn’t get confusing and things don’t get overly technical. 
• Run workshops which facilitate conversation among employees about how Responsible Business applies to their work within the business. Presenting some ‘Real life’ scenarios can prompt discussion around decisions which could and should be made based in light of a responsible approach. Materials can be produced which support thought and clarity around your approach to Responsible Business and which can be distributed (digitally or physically) to anyone not able to take part in a face to face session.  

3. Growth of formal reporting  

The number of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) regulations and standards globally has nearly doubled in the last five years. (EY: The Future of Sustainability Reporting Standards) 

More businesses are being either required (due to regulation) to report more formally or are taking the decision to do so voluntarily, committing to transparency and accountability. The ESG industry is experiencing an extreme pace of change, but there isn’t one common language we can use to measure and report on progress. So, it can get complicated for businesses.

This coming year, it will be vital to keep up to date with trends and requirements regarding reporting and metrics, as well as to find creative ways to engage multiple stakeholders with the information so it’s meaningful.

Some top tips for helping you report on your Responsible Business: 

• When you know what framework and indices you’re going to use and are expected to report on, ensure you begin gathering correct data and enough supporting case studies, so you tell a deep and evidenced story.
• Alongside any formal Integrated Annual, Communications on Progress or other reporting, ensure you get mileage from the information. Plan how you will break it down into sections and bitesize comms to share across the rest of the year.
• Produce videos bringing the report to life, or a podcast series covering the various key topics or use infographics to illustrate an issue.

For more recommendations and information:

👉 Watch our webinar recording and read key takeouts on impact reporting and communications https://veritylondon.co.uk/past-events/purpose-reporting-for-responsible-businesses .

👉Or download your Purpose Reporting Toolkit with templates and key questions to get you started https://content.veritylondon.co.uk/purpose-reporting-toolkit/ 

4. Expected authenticity & action 

33% of employees said a lack of open honest communication has the most negative impact on employee morale.  (Accountemps) 

Trust in business may be at its lowest in nearly a decade, with business leaders expected to drive positive change and be accountable for doing so. According to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer there is a “failing trust ecosystem leaving the four institutions – business, government, NGOs and media – in an environment of information bankruptcy”.

There’s both a rise in consumer interest around purpose – and also cynicism. Both are of equal importance so illustrating your Responsible Business’ delivery through credible and grounded communications is vital.  

Enthusiasm for Responsible Business can risk accidental over-claiming. Communications and Responsible Business teams must find ways to police and promote the commitments and delivery in ways that won’t fall foul of green or purpose washing. 

Some top tips for ensuring authenticity and action

• It’s fine to include communications which explain a business isn’t yet there but is on the ‘journey’.  Often companies are nervous to say anything for fear of being accused of not succeeding. Be honest and set information within the context that Responsible Business is an evolving process.  
• Create a visual progress tracker or traffic light system for your intranet or digital platform to   ensure Responsible Business isn’t a siloed project. It should be viewed an ongoing endeavour, where people can check in to see the stage of each of your goals. Unilever do this with their Sustainable Living Plan.   
• Build internal influencers who are fully committed to your Responsible Business agenda and can advocate for you across the organisation. Enable them to communicate across various platforms and hold you to account.

You may be interested in this article we wrote on communicating an authentic green agenda 👉 https://veritylondon.co.uk/past-events/articulating-a-clear-green-narrative

5. Multi-channel communications around Hybrid & Home working

Sadly, we are still living with the pandemic. Since its outbreak, 75% of employees say they feel more socially isolated, 57% feel greater anxiety and 53% are emotionally exhausted (Harvard Business Review).  

The ‘Great Resignation’ trend is developing from people prioritising their lifestyle and protecting their mental health. Companies have a huge role to play to look after their people and respond to the threat of losing part of their workforce.  

The need to listen and engage employees with effective internal communications has never been greater (or harder). Creative solutions and approaches will be vital, in particular the use of short videos, audio and design-based content that inspire, connect and motivate. As working models continue to adapt and be flexible, so too will comms need to do the same.  

Some top tips for ensuring best practice hybrid working comms:

• Practice a bottom-up approach by actively listening to staff needs and expectations and clearly explaining the reasons behind your choice of working model, especially as it may evolve through changing circumstances in the wider world. 
• Take a multi-channel, mixed format approach to ensure you reach employees with key news and information where they are. Intranet, app, digital signage, newsletters, townhalls.
• Produce or update your etiquette guidelines for hybrid working and return to office, to clarify behaviours and expectations and to ensure everyone continues to feel included, – safe and comfortable. Reflect the fact that individuals will feel differently about returning to the office and what’s a positive experience for some may feel more negative for others.
• Produce short videos from the CEO, and key Safety Officers within the company explaining how the company is continuing to look after its people.
• Release social assets showing how different employees are making hybrid working work for them.

If you need a little inspiration – or moment of light relief – this is a great video from KPMG Norway about the challenges of Return to Office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJLuIiqGKcc 

And here’s a link to our article and webinar on the topic of Return to Office communications 👉 https://veritylondon.co.uk/past-events/return-to-office-employee-communications