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The 2025 state of internal communications
4 ways comms can radically strengthen business performance
What’s going right, what’s going wrong, and what leaders can do to improve internal communication
1. Stronger alignment
Data shows a direct correlation between how effective an organization’s internal communications are and how aligned its employees stay. And when alignment breaks down, leaders say they see more team conflicts.
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27% of leaders think their staff are entirely aligned with the organization’s business goals.
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9% of employees agree.
Leaders and employees are also at opposite ends of the spectrum on how relevant internal communications are, how clear and engaging they are, and what topics are critical to teams — all of which fractures alignment.
→ With advice from Slack Co-founder Stewart Butterfield.
2. Stronger engagement
Creating water-cooler culture for a hybrid workforce is hard. Leaders have to set priorities that both serve the business and inspire teams — then communicate them clearly and frequently to folks who are more diverse and distributed than ever.
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79% of employees say the quality of communication they get from leaders impacts how well they understand org goals.
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72% of employees say how well they understand org goals impacts how engaged they are at work.
Why it matters: Engagement connects to morale and momentum. When teams are engaged, work can happen more quickly, with fewer disruptions, and power more satisfying results.
→ With advice from Benco Dental Managing Director Chuck Cohen.
3. Stonger performance
There’s a well-known saying: “When pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion — you fall to your highest level of preparation.” In short, what you know or can easily access will have a huge impact on outcome.
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73% of leaders think employees can easily find the goals, strategies, and directives that execs have shared with them, when needed.
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49% of employees agree.
Why it matters: If 51% of a workforce is struggling to find what’s critical in average times — let alone when the pressure is on — it’ll be tough for an organization to ever meet its full potential. It’s time to close the gap.
→ With advice from Uber Director of Global Internal Comms Netta Conyers-Haynes.
4. Stronger growth
For the leaders who have a pulse on employee needs and a clear plan to help them perform, scale is usually up next on their mind. That's also high on the list of issue leaders say will be hard to address with staff this year:
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41% of leaders say addressing the safe adoption of AI.
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29% say hiring and team structure decisions.
Why it matters: Leaders need to crack their strategy on each before they can turn a high-performing team into a high-growth organization.
→ With advice from LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman.
Bonus: DE&I, RTO, and politics at work
Most leaders expect the new administration will impact their business.
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Politics: 62% of leaders are already adjusting their org’s priorities.
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DE&I: 51% of leaders say they’re likely to scale back initiatives.
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RTO: 37% of leaders plan to increase in-office requirements this year.
There was so much data here, we break it out into a bonus report for the leaders and readers who wish to go deeper.
