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I have found particularly interesting the coverage in both the blogosphere as well as the media on several leaked company emails / memos recently. Most of the discussions have focused on the information in the memos itself, but no one is discussing why employees are leaking confidential information that at times puts the companies they work for in a bad light. On the surface, many people would say that these kinds of leaks are inevitable because of the size of the companies. I would respond that companies like Google, Apple, Nike and Berkshire Hathaway never have leaks and are all large companies. So the question is why do some companies have employees who are willing to share confidential information while other companies do not?

There are a number of possible answers to this issue, but the top issue I believe stems from how an employee feels towards the company he or she works for. In other words “the connection” that an employee has with the company they work for. This can include feeling unwanted or unappreciated to feeling like they are doing a tedious or boring job. My company and I have been doing a lot of work with our clients on what is being said about their companies both online and offline by their employees. I have to tell you that I have been stunned at times reading some of the things that employees have written about the companies they work for.

So how does a company go about first recognizing that this is an issue and then what can be done internally to rectify it? At Capstrat, we have developed a new initiative called Employee Marketing. Overall, the same marketing techniques that a company would choose to increase visibility and market share can be used internally to better communicate and connect with the people who matter most within a company, it’s employees. What it truly boils down to is a company showing it’s employees that no matter where you are on the org chart, no matter if you are a VP to a newly hired intern, each and every person has a voice in the company. Not only is that voice wanted, but more importantly, that voice is needed for the short and long term success of the company.

I am going to have several follow ups to this post to delve deeper into why this is an important issue that many companies are going to have to deal with in the future.

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