Podcasting for Employee
Management
by Christian S. Manansala, M. Ed.
CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL
​School leadership, employees, and instructional staff engagement remain a challenge for many education systems across the United States. According to a recent survey from Gallup (2018), staff who are "not engaged" or are "actively disengaged" at work miss an estimated 2.3 million more work days than those who are "engaged" in their jobs. On the other hand, about six in 10 public school superintendents (58%) in the U.S. are disengaged with their jobs, according to another Gallup survey of 2,300 public school leaders on various education issues.
​
The challenge is even more profound when dissemination of internal communication or news by the education system’s stakeholders, either through any print modality, such as emails, newsletters, or one-pagers, which goes to waste when printed, and sometimes gets lost in translation. Many of us, who are rushed routinely, may have missed a text or an email, losing key district information in the process. Thus, many school systems around the world are turning to podcasts to share critical information and keep superintendents, principals, instructional staff, and employees engaged. Many of them find podcasts helpful in unifying their organization and fostering a sense of community in a way a live or office environment normally would.
​
School districts with numerous school sites and offices spread around in any given city, not to mention staff who are remotely working, are pushing a lot of education systems, not only in the US but around the world toward podcasting, said Jim Tuscano, a school leader and a professional podcast producer based in Manila. “Having an internal podcast where school personnel can come, hear about district updates, hear success stories, and feel generally connected to everyone else is crucial,” he said. Unlike emails, podcast content is more likely to appeal to employees and teachers’ emotions and is a more engaging way to spread information.
MODERN TOOL FOR EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Podcasts are taking the world by storm, with almost 383.7 million podcast listeners worldwide, while their market value is expected to increase at an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.1%, according to Ruby (2023) from the analytics and data firm Demand Sage. Studies also suggest that the United States has the most podcast listeners in the world, with 100 million projected to reach the country on or before the end of 2023, with 22% episode consumption in the morning while driving to work. In view of these staggering numbers, there are plenty of opportunities available for school districts to leverage podcasting to promote employee engagement.
​
According to Tuscano, a lot of school systems find podcasting a cost-efficient way to distribute information internally than many other distribution approaches. “If an employee is looking for some district information all they have to do is use their phone and this can be done on the way to work. In fact, information that needs to be disseminated quickly may still need an email or text but, for events, programs, and employee engagement, the podcast is the way to go,” he added.
Collaboration for Internal News
Teachers attending a live podcast about adapting to a new teaching environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, organized by Tagpros on Youtube. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyGcA-FTMoI&t=6s
While podcasting is a channel for spreading internal news, it also fills another void that many employees, especially those who are working remotely or working at various school sites have: a sense of community. “Bringing together teachers from school sites when everyone can’t meet, to make them have a connection is why I think a lot of school systems around the world are turning to podcasts now,” said HR Chief Cristina Palabrica of Tagpros Children International, a nonprofit based in the Washington DC-Virginia area, promoting teacher recruitment and retention via podcasting. “Collaboration among employees, teachers, and HR teams is what makes podcasting even more meaningful and strategic, as it actively engages them in the production process, and helps them create something that they have their fingerprint on in a collective manner,” she added.
​
According to Palabrica, “some school systems use internal podcast episodes to raise awareness of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) issues, such as increasing diversity in instructional staff, propagating equity and inclusion goals in hiring, or even creating feature stories about those individuals who champion diversity in their school sites.” Internal podcasts can give any organization opportunities to raise awareness about all sorts of employee issues in a format and medium that are easier for many to digest. In addition to raising awareness of DEl issues, topics regarding lack of morale, burnout, harassment and bullying, and interpersonal conflict can be highlighted in podcast episodes, panel discussions or one-on-one formats. With experts, resource speakers, and even employees speaking and exchanging ideas with the audience through chats and “on air” methodologies, everyone will have a golden opportunity to partake in shared experiences, and learn from the human aspect of the issues presented.
Communication and Culture
In addition to learning new ideas through internal employee collaboration, connecting central office and school site personnel, who are all siloed and segregated physically, can make it easy for HR to enhance understanding, cohesiveness, and unity, not to mention promoting a positive internal culture within the organization. With the podcast, designed as a radio talk-show format, central office and school site personnel can discuss, meet, and talk with each other recorded or live “on air,” creating new friendships and forming new alliances about any given issue or topic while at the same time, strengthening internal community and understanding in the process.
​
Also, podcasts can quell rumors and gossip immediately, as podcast producers can invite concerned parties involved in any sensitive topic or issue, and enlighten a confused and fragmented audience by providing them the opportunity to hear all sides, empowering them to make informed decisions and factual choices. Thus, by opening lines of communication through continuous and open conversations, all sorts of internal issues can be straightened out, and all organizational problems and conflicts can be addressed collectively. This type of approach can be attributed to a town-hall-type of discussion wherein parties are not only resolving issues, but are also providing opportunities for policy makers and school board members to listen to diverse ideas or opinions, which could be critical in crafting internal policies for schools and its central offices.
Educating Employees
A Live Podcast discussing Self-Care for Teachers, titled “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” organized by Tagpros and presented by Cristine de Leon Alcala. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfLV6WSWZ-A&t=24s
As of April 2023, there were over 5 million podcasts of different content produced, with over 70 million episodes, with an audience jumping from 464.7 million globally in 2023 to 504.9 million projected at the end of 2024, according to the data presented by Demand Sage. At the height of the pandemic, podcasting was used tremendously by HR teams around the world, not to mention school district stakeholders who sought to communicate with teachers and employees to educate or even convey information with empathy and transparency, relying on the power of voice tone rather than written text, as many struggled with issues like mental health, feelings of isolation, and training difficulties.
​
Because of the asynchronous or synchronous nature of podcasts, school districts can convey information and educate employees with sensitivity and versatility, providing them with choices well-suited for an audience of varied and diverse learning styles, pacing, and current circumstances. Some employees learn best by listening or watching, while others learn best when they are reading or writing what they hear. Because of the replay, rewind, and pausing mechanisms of podcasts, with optional subtitles to boot, HR school leaders may use them as an efficient and effective tool for educating all types of learners, whether one is a visual learner, an auditory one, or has learning difficulties.
PODCAST PRODUCTION FUNDAMENTALS
Youtube Studio, which is an example of a platform that supports podcasts, showing the most popular videos of Tagpros Official.
Whether or not your HR team assigns a subteam to handle its podcast production, or finds a reasonably priced third party to manage it, and hand over to your team the responsibility of creating content, the goal of an impactful employee engagement program in a school district is very promising in view of its cost-efficiency and wide reach, compared to any type of traditional or conventional modalities. For starters, Youtube Studio is a great resource to create podcasts in view of its global popularity, basic approach, with step-by-step procedure. Nonetheless, the following are the fundamentals to remember whenever one is producing podcast episodes:
Advanced episodes
Whether it is weekly, monthly, or quarterly, consistency in podcast episodes is key to high employee engagement. By planning and producing a few episodes centered around your goals, at least a few months in advance, the production team can make necessary adjustments should resource speakers cancel, reschedule, or move around the interview calendar. Thus, your objective is to have advanced episodes in the pipeline at all times to regularly plug in content based on your podcast’s confirmed broadcast schedules.
Equipment and software acquisition
Because of the advent and popularity of hand-held devices, producing quality podcasts is not highly complicated and expensive. However, it is not advisable to use any computers’ built in microphones, as sound quality may be compromised. USB microphone brands such as Yeti or Snowball may be able to do the trick for any fledgling podcast initiative. Meanwhile, recording episodes embedded with music will take enormous time, as audio editing eats up the majority of its production. Simple softwares programs such as Audacity, GarageBand, and SoundStudio are highly recommended to assist in this type of endeavor.
Distribution Channel
Plan and research the right distribution channel for podcast episodes. Google Podcasts, Apple iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher are some of the most reliable choices available. If some episodes are confidential or for internal purposes only, tools such as Transistor can be utilized to make any podcast feel private and password-protected. This particular tool will relegate episodes locked on the web or in podcast apps, and only internal staff will be able to listen.
Measuring Engagement
Finally, to determine the success and impact of a podcast with regard to employee engagement, school district stakeholders must be able to analyze the analytics of its episodes. With plug-ins such as Anchor (by Spotify), Podbean, Spreaker, Chartable, or ContactMonkey, HR teams can collect both qualitative and quantitative employee feedback for each podcast episode while at the same time share insights, and sort tracking by different criteria.
PILOT EPISODE ASSISTANCE
As soon as you get approval from higher ups, that podcast can be instituted to promote employee engagement, you may start creating a team to plan and implement a few pilot episodes, and employ simple audience feedback mechanisms, so you can create highly impactful content aligned to your organizational goals. Hence, Tagpros can assist you in your initial episodes, and help you measure their popularity by gathering data and audience feedback. The more you’re informed about what your audience wants, the better you can promote employee engagement.
References:
Gallup. (2018). The Gallup 2018 Survey of K-12 School District Superintendents. The Gallup - Education. Retrieved from https://www.gallup.com/education/241151/gallup-k-12-superintendent-report-2018.aspx
​
Ruby, D. (2023, April 7). 41+ Podcast Statistics For 2023 (Listeners & Market Size). Demand Sage. Retrieved from https://www.demandsage.com/podcast-statistics/
About the Author
CHRISTIAN MANANSALA, M.Ed. is the founder of Tagpros Children International, an international nonprofit consulting firm based in Washington DC-Virginia Area and Manila, Philippines. Tagpros' main goal is to combat teacher shortage through the creation of alternative pipelines of foreign and diverse teachers; and assist school district stakeholders find qualified educators for hard-to-fill vacancies. Chris has more than 20 years of experience in international recruitment and K-12 teaching. He has designed strategies and helped numerous human capital teams in the U.S, China, and the Philippines produce podcasts for recruitment, retention, and employee engagement. His vision is to create innovative and cost-effective recruitment, retention, and engagement solutions that would improve institutional efficiencies through emerging technologies and data analytics. You can reach him through his email: csmanansala@tagpros.org; or throughTagpros’ website: www.tagpros.com.ph