Is your comms still cutting it — or has your strategy fallen behind the times?
Any comms strategy worth its salt is totally up to date — because internal comms trends and employee expectations evolve fast.
What worked even a year ago might already feel tired to employees. That means your messages land with less impact, and the engagement you were counting on slips away.
So how can you tell if your internal communication strategy is still working — or whether it’s time for a refresh?
Start by watching for these tell-tale signs that your approach needs a glow-up in 2025 and beyond.
6 signs you need to upgrade your internal communication plan
#1. You’re still broadcasting, not conversing
Top-down comms were once the norm. But employees are no longer happy to be the passive recipients of company news. Why? We can point the finger firmly in the direction of social media.
Thanks to the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, we’ve been publishing our own content for decades. We’ve also been interacting with big brands and celebrities who were once completely off-limits.
Employees expect a similar experience in the workplace. To the point that top-down communication now feels like a form of gatekeeping.
When you broadcast information instead of starting a conversation with your workforce, they’re left thinking: What have they got to hide? Are they scared of employee feedback? Is the organization simply uninterested in what we think?
This lack of trust and transparency harms the employee experience. And if this sounds familiar, you need to flip the script.
How? With a culture of two-way communication — and the communication tools that can facilitate it. Think interactive news feeds, polls, surveys, and leader Q&As.
The C-suite still shares essential information. But employees can reply, react, and respond to messages. They can share their ideas via polls and surveys. They can spark conversations with co-workers and managers.
You make employee communications more interactive, improving comms engagement in the process.
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#2. Your engagement metrics are mysterious… or missing entirely
You can’t fix what you can’t measure.
If you don’t know who’s opening your messages, which channels are driving the most engagement, or how comms are actually landing across your workforce, you’re working in the dark. And you’ll struggle to make targeted internal comms improvements.
Modern communication tools give you easy access to reliable internal communications metrics. You can:
- Get real-time data on reach, employee sentiment, employee engagement, and more
- Draw links between your comms performance and company KPIs, like customer experience, employee retention, and business revenue
- Segment your data to shine a spotlight on the departments, teams, and locations where comms aren’t cutting through
With the effective tools for analytics and reporting, you can put data at the center of your internal communications plan. Which means less instinct, more insight — and meaningful comms improvements.
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#3. Everything sounds like it was written by legal
You know the tone. Overly polished, overly cautious, super-jargony corporate speak. The kind of language that makes every internal message feel like you’re wading through a set of terms and conditions.
This type of language is completely forgettable. It’s unlikely to spark interest, engagement, or interaction — particularly with younger generations within your workforce. And it takes longer for even your smartest employees to read.
So is your comms TOV giving more corporate robot than relatable human? Try reading your messages out loud. If it doesn’t feel like something you’d actually say to someone face-to-face, it’s probably way too formal for your internal communication channels.
To fix it, you can humanize your comms in the following ways:
- Use plain language — no long and complicated words, confusing acronyms, or corporate jargon
- Use a conversational tone — writing more or less as you speak
- Break up long blocks of text — this makes messages less overwhelming and easier to scan and read
- Show a bit of personality — empathy, gentle humor, and the odd personal anecdote go a long way
Above all, remember that the role of comms isn’t just to inform employees — it’s to connect with them. And it’s much easier to do that when you sound real and relatable.
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#4. Frontline workers feel left out
Frontline communication is too often an afterthought. And it’s harming the frontline employee experience.
Most legacy internal communication tools were designed for desk-based workers, so they don’t translate to a mobile format. They also require a corporate email address — something many frontline employees simply don’t have.
You can survey your frontline workers to find out what they think of your comms. And — if they’re feeling left out of the company conversation — this is another sure-fire sign your comms strategy needs some TLC.
The golden rule? If it doesn’t work well on mobile, it doesn’t work for everyone.
So in 2025, you need to go beyond paper memos, personal messaging apps, and word-of-mouth information to embrace mobile-first communication tools, suited to frontline workers.
These tools provide an exceptional experience on desktops and smartphones. And they give all employees easy and intuitive access to company comms, culture, and connection.
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#5. Your comms channels are working against you
Got a strategy that starts and ends with email? Or SharePoint? Or — on the flip side — so many channels that no one knows where to look?
Both extremes create issues. A one-channel approach makes it hard to reach everyone. But piling on too many platforms without a clear strategy leads to confusion, noise, and missed messages.
Different employees prefer different communication styles. Gen Z might favor short, social-style updates. Other generations may be happy with email. But when there’s no central system or channel clarity, employees are left asking: “Wait — where was that shared?”
Worse still, your internal communications team ends up unsure where to publish updates, and messages get scattered across tools. The result? Diluted impact, clutter, and poor reach.
The fix? Create a unified company communications hub that serves as a single source of truth and supports a mix of clearly defined channels — with audience segmentation baked in.
That might include:
- Instant messaging for real-time collaboration
- A news feed for top-down updates
- Communities for employee-generated content and co-worker conversation
- A content hub or resource center for evergreen info
- Targeted notifications based on role, location, or department
This structure reinforces important messages, helps employees find what they need, and keeps your comms ecosystem organized, strategic, and effective.
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#6. You’re still treating comms like a service, not a strategy
Your internal comms team deserves a seat at the strategy table. But in many organizations, this still simply isn’t the case.
27% of internal comms professionals surveyed by Gallagher said they lacked leadership buy-in and were left out of decision-making. Many comms teams are still treated like a message delivery service, rather than a strategic partner.
This is one of the biggest comms mistakes you can make. Because when internal communications are involved in corporate strategy from the outset, they can:
- Drive alignment across the entire company
- Improve change communications
- Super-charge company culture
- Connect boardroom and breakroom like never before
With top-level insight and input, your comms team finds it easier to achieve the metrics laid out in your internal comms plan — and achieve metrics relating to wider business performance. We’re talking productivity, employee retention, and employee engagement.
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How does your comms strategy stack up?
If you’ve identified one or more of these internal communications issues, rest assured that you’re not alone — and you’re not stuck.
Every one of these challenges is fixable. In fact, just recognizing the gaps in your strategy is the first step toward building a smarter, more effective communications plan.
What next? Upgrade your internal communications strategy and tools to reflect the needs and expectations of the modern workforce.
A modern comms plan is flexible, human, and data-driven. It supports the sharing of relevant, personalized communications to every member of your workforce. It meets employees where they are — over mobile-first tools and a rich mix of communication channels.
Most of all, an up-to-date strategy recognizes that modern internal comms is not just a service but a vital part of your corporate culture, change initiatives, and employee experience.
Blink. And give your internal comms strategy the makeover it needs.
