Every year, Simpplr Research conducts a study on the current state of internal communications.
The State of Internal Communications 2020 (pre-COVID-19) report is Simpplr Research’s most downloaded report and provides useful benchmarking data for internal communications professionals. Insights from this report should still be relevant for most programs. In May 2020, we decided to conduct an intermediary study, the State of Internal Communications During COVID-19, given the abrupt transition from office work.
Given the current environment, our latest study, the State of Internal Communications 2021, is a follow-up to the May panel with survey questions focusing mainly on COVID-related workplace themes.
The State of Internal Communications 2021 summarizes:
- Takeaways and various areas of improvement in IC as the workforce adjusts to the new reality
- How corporate intranet benchmarks have changed since the pandemic
- Emerging best practices and tactics from leading organizations’ IC programs that separate their programs from the rest
- Internal communications benchmarks across multiple topics, including practitioner challenges, leadership engagement, measurement, and technology usage
Internal Communications Takeaways in 2020
Now that uncertainty about the workplace model has begun to settle, internal communicatons has the opportunity to reimagine the employee experience organization-wide. But what exactly has changed? And where should you start?
The State of Internal Communications 2021 is Simpplr’s latest research on how employee communications have been impacted, comparing survey data in May and September 2020, and now.
Primary takeaways with more features in the ebook:
- Since 2019, there has been an upward trend in organizations articulating the importance of internal communications.
- Less than 50% of leaders are engaged in communications, suggesting there is still a lot of room for improvement.
- A notable challenge in IC isn’t often the message itself, but rather the channels used to convey it. Know what channels to use in order to effectively increase employee engagement and content readership.
- The top three most common methods to measure IC are employee engagement surveys, company and leadership feedback, and intranet analytics.
Finally, the survey asked all internal communications respondents an optional, open-ended question:
- As you look ahead to the next 18 months, what are one or two of the biggest employee communications challenges that your organization will need to address?
The question had over 400 responses. We are very grateful for the thoughtfulness and time that the respondents provided. We wanted to include the responses in their entirety in this report’s appendices. They show the range of emotions and critical learnings that many of us have experienced over the past several months. These are arguably the most valuable aspects of this research and show how transformational COVID-19 has been for organizations. We highly recommend reading through this section!
Download the State of Internal Communications 2021 Report
About Simpplr Research
Simpplr Research was created in 2018 to provide customers and intranet practitioners insights and benchmarks to get the most out of their internal communications programs. With a rigid, analytical approach we hope to use data and insights to guide the corporate intranet industry and Simpplr’s solution strategy. To learn more or to suggest research topics contact us at hello@simpplr.com.
