PR in the News: The Internal Public, an Organization’s Employees

      For many companies, public relations often relates to the perception of the company, its values, and products or services in the eye of the public. Management and PR teams are constantly looking at statistics, working to creating media content, and spending money on improving their brand image. One of the most important parts of any company, however, is public relations with the internal public, or an organization’s employees. Recently, businesses have experienced a significant decline in trust from their internal public due to a few factors. Income inequality, the pace of downsizing and layoffs, the globalization of commerce, and frequent workplace changes are all issues that have gained traction and cause uncertainty among employees, leading them to have less trust in their employers (Seitel, 2019). This shows how essential public relations and communication is within an organization, to build trust and honest relationships with employees. Internal PR strategies can help improve employee engagement, align messaging, and shape the corporate culture (Horsley, 2023).

     One company’s pursuit of effective internal public relations is done through an internal company podcast. HubSpot, a developer and marketer of software products for marketing, sales, and customer service purposes, created an internal podcast called Culture Happens. In this podcast, employees, leaders, and guests discuss the future of business and the impact of inclusive company cultures (HubSpot, 2024). The topics of podcasts for the public and employees surround diversity, employee growth, and how to build a happy and inclusive workplace. The link to the podcast homepage with sneak peaks of episodes can be found here. For internal podcasts, topics also include company updates, industry trends, and leadership content.

     HubSpot was able to recognize the growing popularity of podcasts and utilize this as a way to communicate with their employees. There was an 8.7% increase of the number of podcast listeners just from 2023 to 2024, and that number is expected to grow. The chart below shows podcast growth since 2019.

(Backlink, 2024)

     Glass Door, an online anonymous company review rating website, shows that HubSpot scored an overall rating of 4 out of 5 by anonymous employee reviews, and 76% of employees would recommend this as a place to work to a friend. Read through these reviews here. Overall, communication and employee relations internally is just as essential as public relations externally for an organization. Finding ways to engage your audience is necessary in either case, and we can see that HubSpot is a great example of this.

References

BackLink. (2024, January 29). 13 Podcast Statistics You Need To Know. Backlinko: SEO, Content Marketing, & Link Building Strategies. https://backlinko.com/podcast-stats

Horsley, O. (2023, August 24). 7 internal PR examples from leading brands. Interact software. https://www.interactsoftware.com/blog/7-inspiring-internal-pr-examples/

HubSpot. (2024). Culture happens - HubSpot culture podcast. HubSpot | Software, Tools, Resources for Your Business. https://www.hubspot.com/podcasts/culture-happens

Seitel, F. P. (2019). The Practice of Public Relations (14th ed.). Pearson.