Internal Communication Audit: Accessibility Focus

Accessibility in Internal Communication

• Accessibility is a crucial aspect of internal communication that ensures all stakeholders can understand and engage with the organization's communication processes, tools, and practices.

Types of Accessibility

• Visual Accessibility:
  • Use alternative text (alt text) for images
  • Format content for screen readers
  • Consider font, font size, and color contrast
• Hearing Accessibility:
  • Provide transcripts and captions for video content
• Cognitive Accessibility:
  • Present content in multiple ways (e.g., visual, auditory, text)
  • Use consistent webpage navigation
  • Edit out unnecessary content
• Motor Accessibility:
  • Make comms accessible via voice recognition and keyboard commands
  • Use well-spaced and large links to assist stakeholders with fine motor control
• Mobile Accessibility:
  • Design and scale content for mobile devices
• Language Accessibility:
  • Use vocabulary and style understood by stakeholders
  • Translate comms into languages spoken by internal stakeholders (if possible)

Internal Communication Audit

• Surveys are a great way to get honest feedback from employees while avoiding power and relationship dynamics concerns
• Important considerations for conducting surveys:
  • Prioritize questions (need to know, want to know, would like to know)
  • Avoid starting with demographic questions
  • Ask demographic questions only if relevant to internal comms strategy
  • Include a "prefer not to answer" option
  • Keep surveys short (less than 10 minutes)
  • Vary question types to avoid fatigue

Internal Communication Audit and Accessibility

• Conducting an internal communication audit should include assessing the accessibility of communication processes, tools, and practices for internal stakeholders.

Accessibility Considerations

• Ensure Visual Accessibility by:

  • Using alternative text (alt text) for images
  • Formatting content for screen readers
  • Considering font, font size, and color contrast

• Ensure Hearing Accessibility by:

  • Providing transcripts and captions for video content
  • Benefiting not only hearing-impaired stakeholders but also those in loud or crowded environments

• Ensure Cognitive Accessibility by:

  • Presenting content in multiple ways
  • Having consistent webpage navigation
  • Editing out unnecessary content
  • Learning more through a provided link

• Ensure Motor Accessibility by:

  • Making comms accessible via voice recognition and keyboard commands
  • Using well-spaced and large links to assist stakeholders with fine motor control issues

• Ensure Mobile Accessibility by:

  • Designing and scaling content for mobile devices
  • Considering the increased use of mobile devices by internal stakeholders

• Ensure Language Accessibility by:

  • Using vocabulary and style understandable by stakeholders
  • Translating comms into languages other than English spoken by internal stakeholders, if possible