When we started our research into communication within U. S. Steel Košice in June of this year, we had already been through a large number of conversations about improving information levels throughout the Company. It was clear even before the research that the present-day situation requires a change to more modern modes of communication, but we were not sure of the degree to which our colleagues would accept having printed news replaced with an infinite network of online reports for them to follow.

The results of our research were quite pleasing, starting above all with the level of participation. A total of 2 751 employees filled in our questionnaire, 1 097 of them preferring to use the printed version. The majority of respondents said that they would like to have our corporate newspaper issued electronically. This was not surprising, given the number of people who responded by e-mail, 84 percent of whom would welcome Company news being published electronically. What is more, the majority of those who completed the printed questionnaire were also in favor of Oceľ východu being published online. It also appears that steelmakers are quite with-it as far as smart-phone ownership is concerned. Almost 90 percent of those who responded by e-mail use a smart phone, which compares well with the 70 percent of those who sent back the printed questionnaire. So it really looks like our colleagues are technically prepared to change over to another form of communication.

We are currently working intensively with our colleagues in the IT section, and we are confident that in the very next issue of Oceľ východu we will be able to tell you more about the launch of a pilot project aiming to provide a continuous stream of news. It’s going to be a great change for us too, moving from issuing a monthly printed newspaper to the continuous and immediate publishing of information. In addition to improving the level of information, we want this new form of presenting Oceľ východu to be fun as well.