Building a strategy for consistent communications
Established in 1969 as the international arm of Fidelity Investments, founded in Boston in 1946, Fidelity International became independent of the US organisation in 1980, and is today owned mainly by management and members of the original founding family.
Fidelity International has over 2.85 million clients globally (1 million of which are in the UK) and is responsible for around £546 bn of client assets. They employ 8,500 people around the world.
With colleagues responsible for communication across a variety of global teams there was a desire for more integration and a consistent approach to how employee communications supports stakeholders during a period of change.
Our first step was the creation of a framework for employee communications at Fidelity International. Rather than an off the shelf approach, we created a framework to reflect what best practice would look like at Fidelity International. Consensus building was undertaken through interviews with colleagues responsible for communications and gleaning understanding from the leaders on their priorities for employee communication.
We then ran a number of pragmatic 90 minute workouts on key elements of the framework. These were highly participative using polling to gather feedback during the sessions. The training sessions were also recorded and available for sharing, although participants were encouraged to attend live where possible.
We also undertook an audit to understand employee perceptions as part of a workshop on creating a channel strategy.
The framework has provided solid foundations for employee communications at Fidelity and created an accepted and consistent way of operating amongst a range of communication professionals.
“HarknessKennett’s work has led to us building a world-class employee communications community. The training was bespoke to Fidelity International and has helped us build capability in the team. In addition, the leadership and employee insights helped us to meet our stakeholders needs better.”
Lisa Sha, Head of Digital Innovation and Communications Operations, Global Communications, Fidelity International
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