Axios HQ The 2023 state of essential workplace communications

The 2023 state essential workplace communications

The 2023

state of essential

workplace

communications

There’s a lot going wrong in workplace communications right now

It has never been harder — or more important — to keep employees and stakeholders on the same page. Inflation, economic uncertainty, and remote teams are adding to the complexity, creating an urgent need for more effective communication from leaders. “Quiet quitting” and the Great Resignation show what happens when they get it wrong. In this State of Essential Communications report, we set out to see where leaders and teams are misaligned and how they can get back in sync.

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Leaders and employees aren’t on the same page

The two topics employees say are least critical to helping them do their jobs well are the same two topics leaders share most often.

Context is missing

Teams hear essential updates from the C-suite more often than from the VPs and directors who work more closely with them.

Data is incomplete

Forty percent of leaders say they don’t track — or are neutral about whether they do track — how employees engage with essential updates.

Insights aren’t accessible

Ineffective communication costs organizations $2 trillion per year across the U.S. — more than $15,000 per employee in lost productivity.

Context is missing

Just like communication requires time and intention to be effective, so does developing a dataset to understand how readers are or aren’t engaging with it, what their attitudes about it are about it, and how it can improve.

Insights aren’t accessible

When the pressure is on, do employees and stakeholders know where strategies, details, and critical directives live? Can they resurface them easily? When leaders need to add an update to them or new dimension, is that process simple and streamlined?

Data is incomplete

There are $2 trillion at stake

That’s how much ineffective communication costs U.S. businesses each year. In this report, we dig into what’s happening, what it would take to change, and what top leaders — from Uber, bp, Edelman, and more — say about it.

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Leaders and employees aren’t on the same page

If an organization is communicating — internally or externally — using the same methods, cadence, and topics its leaders tapped before this work-from-anywhere era, they’re doing it wrong. And it’s showing.

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Chike Farrell VP of Marketing, Axios HQ

Context is missing

Many employees are begging for something simple — yet something so many organizations still struggle to do: Tell me what's essential, and give me the context I need to understand why it matters.

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Data is incomplete

Just like communication requires time and intention to be effective, so too does developing the systems to understand how readers are or aren’t engaging with it, what their attitudes about it are, and how it can stand to improve to serve them better.

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Trend

77%

78%

46%

51%

Leaders

Employees

Leaders

Employees

Essential communications at my organization are…

How could your organization’s leaders improve the essential communications they provide?

How do leaders measure if the essential communications they send are effective?

Trend

66% of leaders think they’re aligned with employees.

44% of employees agree.

77% of leaders think the communications they share include the context employees need to do their jobs well.

46% of employees agree.

67% of leaders say their audience has an easy way to share feedback on the essential communications they receive.

43% of employees agree.

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Organizations large and small — like Delta, Edelman, Everfi, and hundreds of others — trust Axios HQ as their key to alignment and engagement.

Rooted in years of research — and built with powerful AI — Axios HQ uses a science-backed format to make your communications clearer and more engaging.

Your key audiences stay focused and on the same page, and you earn their time and trust.

Download the full report to go deeper on the data, the insight, and the answers we found along the way.

We surveyed 1,038 full-time employees and 540 top leaders to find out.

There is an urgent need for a new approach to essential workplace communication that helps leaders punch through the noise, get employees and stakeholders aligned, and put an end to lost time and productivity.

The $2 trillion question

So, what will it take for things to change?

Can staff and stakeholders at your organization quickly find the goals, strategies, and directives they need?

Insights aren't accessible

When the pressure is on, do employees and stakeholders know where strategies, details, and critical directives live? Can they resurface them easily? And when leaders need to add or new dimension to them, is that process simple and streamlined?

Get the report

Trend

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