More than seven in 10 global chief communications officers (CCOs) report that digital communications rank as their top priority for the next 18 months, according to a new survey. In North America, respondents said the highest priority is employee engagement.
The findings come from The Rising CCO VI, a survey conducted by global executive search firm Spencer Stuart and global communications and engagement firm Weber Shandwick. Now in its sixth year, The Rising CCO explores how these executives expect their responsibilities to evolve over time in a rapidly changing world (Conducted from April to July, 2016, the survey heard from 153 respondents came from companies based in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.)
Not only are digital communications the top area of focus globally for the next 18 months, CCOs also noted they’re a top hiring priority for the near future. In North America, digital communications are the second top area of focus for the next 18 months, behind employee advocacy/engagement. CCOs in every region also expect to grow their relationships with digital and social media departments in the next few years.
As global CCOs focus on strengthening their connections with employees, 83 percent report working closely with their human resources (HR) departments. Another 14 percent report that they do not currently work closely with HR, but their company would benefit from doing so.
When asked the one thing they’d most like to focus on in their role if they had the time, the top answer was reputation (28 percent). (This question was asked on an open-ended basis.) “Nearly every CCO, 93 percent, places this responsibility at the top of their lists, regardless of region,” says Leslie Gaines-Ross, chief reputation strategist at Weber Shandwick. “Clearly, global CCOs take their jobs as reputation guardians seriously and are ever-vigilant about protecting their company reputations from harm, whether it be cyber threats, crises of any kind, or the growing importance of employee engagement.”
