Pfizer: Measuring internal communication impact
Background and challenge
Pfizer is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, operating in 180 countries and employing around 4,000 people in the UK. To understand more about the impact of its internal communication and identify future priorities, the company commissioned Ibis Communication to undertake a review of its current output and make recommendations for moving forward.
Approach
Our first consideration was to establish what information was already available through other surveys or research projects. Using that along with input from the internal communication team, we were able to identify three main focus areas for the review: engagement with key messages, value and performance of key channels and readiness for adopting new collaborative technologies.
To gather the insight, we used two methodologies:
- An online survey incorporating around 40 multiple choice style questions which was open for around two weeks. Respondents were also able to add their own comments.
- A series of focus groups with office based staff and one to one interviews with those based in the field in which we validated the survey findings and explored them in greater depth. This qualitative component followed soon after the survey.
We then reported and analysed the findings before making recommendations for moving forward.
Pfizer intends to repeat the exercise at regular six-monthly intervals in order to track and demonstrate progress over a period of time.
Results
We recently completed the first survey cycle and the exercise was regarded as a great success. The internal communication team is already addressing two of the areas we identified as important and intends to assess its progress when it repeats the survey later in the year.