11 Internal Communication Trends for Better Employee Engagement

The last few years have transformed the way we work — and our relationship to work itself. If you’re an internal comms professional, your job will have changed drastically, too.

The rise in the change toward remote work is the most notable shift, but this change goes deeper. Many employees have reevaluated their workplace needs: more than ever, they’re prioritizing employers that share their values, put employee well-being first, and provide them with the learning opportunities they need to level up and change for the better. 

As a professional internal communicator, you have a critical role to play in meeting these expectations.

In this article, you’ll learn about the latest, ‘human-first’ trends in internal comms. You’ll also discover how to leverage them to cultivate a stronger company culture, ensuring your employees feel engaged, supported, and satisfied.

What is employee engagement? 

Employee engagement refers to the emotional investment and enthusiasm employees have for their jobs and the company they work at. Engaged employees are more likely to contribute to their company’s success, and are more productive and efficient at work. 

So, it’s important for every company to build employee engagement so that everyone is as productive as possible. One of the ways to build employee engagement is through internal communication. 

11 trends to follow for better employee engagement

Now that you know how important employee engagement is for business success, let’s discuss a few trends. Ready to dive into the 11 trends communicators can tap into for their organizations? 

1. Nurture a strong company culture in a remote-friendly world

It’s official — in many industries, remote and hybrid working is here to stay. A remote-friendly workforce makes your role in internal comms more important than ever before.

Today, many employees only interact with colleagues, managers, and leadership through a screen. This means internal comms are the main medium through which some of us interact with our employers. Beyond giving people the information they need to accomplish projects, internal communications are vital to establishing a strong company culture.

For those who are remote, internal comms need to be clear, informative, and make full use of different digital formats. But communicators don’t necessarily have to be specific about a task, goal, or policy — communicators should also project positive feelings, empowerment, and support. 

2. Support employees to improve their experience

Creating positive employee workplace experiences reduces turnover, boosts productivity, and helps you attract exceptional talent.

Strong internal communication gives workers, especially managers, the support they need to solve employee and customer problems. This makes it faster and easier to address situations like challenging customer interactions, or scheduling and payroll mixups.

Try using an instant-messaging app such as Slack to give immediate access to support from leadership. If they run into challenges they don’t have the knowledge or resources to resolve, they can reach out and get help instantly.

Internal communications should also include employee recognition at the workplace to show hard work is appreciated. Whenever an employee delivers a big project or reaches a sales goal, try using a company-wide Slack channel to celebrate their achievement and thank them for being part of the team.

These strategies will help you create a healthy workplace where there is value and support. 

3. Communicate visually and integrate video

You should deliver internal communications in formats that make it easy to understand and retain the message.

Visual communication, especially video, is one of the best trends. Employees are much more likely to grasp your messaging when it’s conveyed with appealing images, infographics, or video, instead of a wall of text. In fact, 67% of employees are better at completing tasks they learned about through video or a combination of text and images.

Experiment with different formats, and see what resonates with your audience. Take inspiration from YouTube- or TikTok-style video content. There’s no reason a new policy announcement, or even quarterly profit report, can’t be announced as a selfie video message!

Just look at social media. Visual content gets far more likes, comments, reach, and shares. Internal communications is all about sharing important information with your workforce and making sure they take notice. As a communicator, you have to voice these updates in the most effective way possible for better engagement.

4. Make internal communication mobile-first

Millennials and Gen Z already make up more than a third of the workforce, and they will soon be the majority. They’re used to easy, instant access to information — not dated communication methods like voicemail, paper memos, or even email.

On top of that, employees often need to be connected on the go in today’s mobile-first world. Equipped with a mobile messaging tool, you can send news, updates, and alerts to your employees, wherever they might be. Sharing information has never been easier!

Make sure to adapt your content for a mobile context. For example, don’t send long paragraphs or PDF posters that can easily be overlooked on a mobile. Instead, keep communications short, digestible, and to the point (video is best for this!) Here are some internal communication ideas using video.

Overall, this internal communication trend is about giving employees easy access to internal communication tools that keep them updated on critical information in formats they’ll pay attention to.

5. Promote employee well-being

Most organizations are doubling efforts to support their peoples’ wellbeing — including mental, physical, and emotional health. Your internal communication tools are ideal for sharing resources and offering support for workers dealing with mental health struggles, burnout, or stress.

Employee communications are also about listening and sharing. Establish communication tools dedicated to help and support.

You can build these into whatever communication tools you’re already using, like Slack, Teams, or even a dedicated email address. This is also an opportunity to invite feedback from employees about their well-being — Icahn School of Medicine’s video below is an excellent example (made with PlayPlay!)

If you’re sending out an employee internal newsletter twice a month, are you sure you can’t deliver the same value — if not more — in a monthly sendout?

6. Use data to optimize how you share

Pay attention to data — it’s crucial to knowing whether your internal communication strategy is working or not.

Organizations already use data to optimize their customer communications. For example, your marketing team probably evaluates the reach and engagement of their social media posts, and monitors the open- and click-through rates of email marketing.

Internal communications contain valuable information organizations need. Why wouldn’t you give this content the same level of attention? If you’re sharing details about a new policy but only 30% of employees are reading it, there’s a problem.

Regularly look at the metrics behind your internal communications and get employee feedback to assess if your strategy is working. Are there any patterns to the messaging that performs best, such as channel, type of content, or time of day? Don’t just look at those results — use them to optimize and fine-tune how you communicate in the future.

7. Seek out and amplify internal influencers

Internal influencers speak for, and are deeply connected to, your organization’s community. They’re highly motivated, committed to their job, and have developed strong networks across your organization and industry.

These leadership-minded individuals are usually highly respected and they command an audience. So get to know them — what topics do they care about? What do they find most exciting about their job? 

To jump on this trend, explore how you can work together, amplify each others’ messages, and give them a voice. If you embrace their unique voices, you and your internal influencers can support each other in mutually beneficial ways.

8. Share internal content on demand

Your team is hungry for learning and development. But they want to access it when it’s most convenient for them. The solution? On-demand content. Think Netflix-style education.

Build a knowledge base of on-demand, pre-recorded training and educational content as part of your internal communication strategy.

Rather than a rigid approach to learning, this gives workers autonomy and control over their professional growth. Make this on-demand content accessible on workplace platforms such as Slack, Teams, or your intranet.

9. Get the C-Suite involved

Not every executive loves the spotlight. But if they embrace internal communication and speak directly with the people they lead, C-level executives have the potential to become a reassuring and inspiring presence.

Don’t let your executives’ brilliance stay on LinkedIn, or in high-level meetings. Make sure every member of your organization hears directly from your senior leaders, whether that’s through a dedicated Slack channel, video communications, or even company-wide Zoom calls. The goal is for every employee to feel personally connected to the person leading the organization.

Try helping CEOs brainstorm topics to talk about on an ongoing basis, and support them by editing (or even ghostwriting) their communications before they share them.

Video plays a key role in this internal communication trend: try recording AMAs sessions, welcome messages for new employees, policy announcements, quarterly business recaps… anything that helps to show senior staff are engaged with their employees.

10. Create virtual spaces for employees to connect with each other

Make it easier for employees to talk to each other. Feedback, collaboration, knowledge-sharing and mutual support are just a few ways that peer-to-peer communication can be empowering. Not to mention, it can take some load off your managers!

This kind of cross-talk is already happening — it’s just smarter to keep it within your internal communications ecosystem.

For one thing, internal peer-to-peer chat spaces are much more secure compared to employees using their own tools, like group texts or personal emails. It also gives you more awareness of the information that’s flowing, so you can monitor its accuracy and keep an eye out for any problematic messages.

Create dedicated online spaces for your employees to connect with each other. That could be platforms such as Slack and Teams, group Whatsapp chat rooms, or even a private Facebook group. 

11. Use automation for human interaction

In a remote-friendly workforce, effective and regular communication is everything. A new internal communication trend will be the automation of recurring messages.

For example, internal comms departments can set up chatbots to answer common employee requests or questions, easily directing them to the information or resources they need. Notifications around policy or scheduling changes can also be automated, as can recurring communication flows around payroll and scheduling.

Automation can make life easier for professional communicators. However, it should be used sparingly as it could appear impersonal if overused. Remember that warm, human-first comms are what your employees are expecting!

Create internal communications videos with PlayPlay

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