2024 Trends: 4 workplace issues impacting employee communications

Next year will be one unlike any other — with major technology advancements, team culture, and continued varied work environments all poised to impact the way employees work and the view they have of your organization while they do. 

• Why it matters: Leaders need plans in place now that can keep the employee experience strong across the year ahead. Short of that forethought, teams may end up feeling out of sync, under-informed, or short on the tools they need to do their jobs well.

To help organizations of any size prepare their playbooks, Axios HQ and Mixing Board convened 90+ of the nations top communication professions to hear how they’re thinking about the year ahead — and what strategies any leader should consider for their 2024 workplace communications plans, too. 

In this post, we’ll cover the four topics most likely to impact employee engagement, performance, and work culture. In another, we’ll zoom out to look at four global issues leaders and communicators will need to address — internally, or externally — in 2024. 

Four employee-focused topics for 2024:

1. AI in every workplace. For companies to stay competitive, they will have to implement AI in their own way. Not just have a strategy — implement it. And do it sooner rather than later, keeping employees informed and upskilled along the way. 
2. Rising burnout, weak culture. Employees are more unhappy, disengaged, and burnt out than they were at the height of the pandemic. If leaders don’t start addressing that soon and putting more cultural connection in place, retention rates could drop and employee dissatisfaction could increase. 
3. Dissatisfied frontline workers. Deskless workers are the least trusting, least engaged, and most ready to pressure employers to change. They need communications on channels where they can easily and quickly access them to feel more a part of the team. It’s up to leaders to pull everyone together and create a sense of community and belonging amongst all employees. 
4. The blurring of comms and marketing. As roles and responsibilities shift and blur, leaders need to look for more modern ways to integrate strategy, preserve identity, and improve operations. Only then can everyone feel like they’re on the same page and moving toward the same goals. 

The bottom line: If leaders don’t step up and start addressing these topics and issues, it will lead to further misalignment, missed goals, and an unfocused workforce. So start evolving strategies now for the coming year before these hurdles become fully formed obstacles. 

Go deeper: Read the full report to see 19 comms strategies to navigate these issues.