Pfizer – Building a Connected Internal Communications Infrastructure Aligned to Brand Messages and Internal Culture

Robert Libbey, Sr. Director of Worldwide Colleague Communications and Elizabeth Golden, VP of External Affairs & Worldwide Communications at Pfizer were speakers at the 5th Annual Internal Branding & Employee Engagement Conference, which was held in Miami, FL in February 2011. This is a recap of the presentation and challenges/solutions presented within.

The Problem: In 2008, Pfizer discovered that their strategy of communication had spiraled out of control.  Taking inventory of their internet communication systems uncovered 410 information based sites within the company that branched out into over 10,000 team specific sites.  The sites lacked a consistent look and feel, provided no way to measure satisfaction and success and cost $10 million per year to maintain.

The Solution: Develop one point of contact, a Pfizer World site.  Business technology and Communications came together to reset editorial standards, shape a long term vision for the site and platform; and launch Pfizer World via a Sharepoint access site.

In designing a recipe for success in the redesign then made sure to develop both a global addition of Pfizer World and local templates that provided guidance without prescription.  The policies put in place were designed to enable intranet improvement, not to control content.  Focusing on a One Pfizer ideal for all online channels to align to they provided direction without mandating content.

Pfizer World emerged with the intent to support Three Pillars within the organization.  Those are to Connect, Educate and Listen to employees.  Connecting is made easy for employees through traditional online sites as well as Mobile Applications for Smart Phones.    Listening is facilitated by offering a Colleague Message Board where employees can exchange information, ideas and feedback which ensures more lateral and bottoms up communication.  Lastly, the  Educate pillar, which does not fall under HR but acts as an overall Pfizer learning center, offers courses through a virtual University that allow employees to create an avatar, navigate the campus and take courses on Pfizer’s history, science and financial courses.  All these offerings facilitate a culture of open communication and the ability to “get the work done”

Some of the challenges faced when integrating to a super platform included:

• Ensuring that governance is very top-line, not prescriptive.  Using set templates but allowing content manipulation accomplished this.
• Content is king, so they focused on providing content that was meaningful to the employee body and aligned to the various business units.
• Establish the “rules of play” up front.  Employees were given clear expectations for behavior on the site and that behavior is monitored by a team from Communications.

By embracing a One Pfizer mindset and aligning the redesign to support the Three Pillars of Connect, Learn and Educate, Elizabeth, Robert and the communications team were able to simplify and enhance the internal brand, get greater employee buy-in and save millions each year in costs.

Kristen Joyner is a director at i4cp and represented HRM Today as the official blogger for the 5th Annual Internal Branding & Employee Engagement Conference.