About the paper
The report analyses the state of internal communication and employee experience in 2022/23 using original survey research conducted from October to November 2022.
It draws on responses from more than 2,000 organisations across 53 countries, making it a global survey-based benchmark study; the report clearly states the respondent mix and geography, though some methodological details beyond the survey design are not specified in detail.
Length: 59 pages
More information / download:
https://www.ajg.com/employeeexperience/state-of-the-sector/
Core Insights
1. How does the report define the changing purpose of internal communication in 2022/23?
The report’s core argument is that internal communication is no longer defined primarily as a vehicle for top-down strategic alignment. That still matters, but it now competes with a broader, more human-centred purpose: shaping culture and belonging. On page 10, 74% say the purpose of internal communication is to support culture and belonging, while 67% point to strategic alignment. That is a significant shift in emphasis, especially for smaller organisations, where culture and belonging outrank strategy more clearly.
This matters because it shows the profession moving from a transmission model to a relational model. Internal communication is presented less as a tool for informing employees and more as a mechanism for helping people feel valued, included and connected to the organisation. The report explicitly links this shift to diversity, equity and inclusion, values and behaviours, and physical and emotional wellbeing. Those themes sit at the centre of the report’s framing of what communication is now for.
The topic data reinforces that interpretation. On page 11, the most communicated topic is still strategy, vision and purpose at 45%, but DEI follows at 29%, and both values, behaviours and culture and wellbeing and mental health stand at 27%. So the report is not saying strategy has disappeared. It is saying strategy now sits alongside a stronger expectation that communication should help create meaning, belonging and organisational cohesion.
The executive summary also frames this as a recalibration. The report argues that after years of disruption, organisations are moving beyond short-term channel adaptation and asking bigger questions about the “why” and “what” of internal communication, not only the “how”. That is one of the report’s clearest underlying messages.
2. What does the study reveal about the relationship between internal communication, culture, belonging and employee experience?
The report presents culture and employee experience as the two strongest growth areas in the remit of internal communication. It argues that communicators are increasingly expected to influence how work feels, not just how information flows. That includes belonging, inclusion, trust, wellbeing, EVP understanding and the quality of everyday employee interactions.
On culture and belonging, the report finds that DEI is widely communicated but not always strategically embedded. On page 17, only a little over 4 in 10 respondents say they have a clearly defined DEI strategy, even though DEI is the second most communicated topic. Tactics such as awareness days, employee resource groups and training are common, especially in larger organisations, but the report suggests many organisations are still using disconnected activities rather than integrated, behaviour-shaping communication.
The report is especially sceptical about authenticity. On page 18, only 45% say they have a say in what gets communicated and how, 35% feel able to inject more personality into communications, and just 26% say their organisation is open to creativity and humour. This is one of the report’s strongest interpretive threads: employees increasingly want candour, humanity and personality, but many organisations still default to sanitised corporate language. The report’s own commentary on page 21 is blunt: people want authenticity, yet internal communication still tends to be led by “corporate speak”.
On employee experience, the report suggests that organisations have recognised the issue more than they have solved it. On pages 22–25, it shows that 57% have taken steps to revisit their EVP, but only 26% have formalised it in writing. Just 53% rate employee understanding of pay, rewards and benefits as excellent or good, and only 34% say the same for career development opportunities. At leadership level, 72% believe employee experience is on the executive radar, yet only around a third report a clear formal mandate from the top. In other words, employee experience is widely acknowledged but still insufficiently structured.
The report also shows that some parts of employee experience are much more developed than others. Purpose and strategy, rewards, learning and development, and wellbeing are comparatively more likely to have clear strategies, while digital experience, environmental and social impact, and workplace experience lag behind. That suggests a patchy and uneven employee experience agenda rather than a coherent one.
3. Which practical weaknesses are most limiting organisations’ internal communication efforts?
The report identifies a cluster of operational weaknesses that keep appearing across the data: lack of time and capacity, disengagement, budget constraints, weak measurement, poor people manager enablement, and underdeveloped change communication.
The most immediate constraint is resourcing. On page 14, lack of time and capacity is the top challenge for 2023 at 34%, ahead of disengaged employees at 30% and lack of budget at 24%. That is important because it changes the story from one of ambition to one of delivery pressure. The report repeatedly suggests that internal communication teams are being asked to cover more ground, especially across culture, wellbeing, experience and change, without enough additional support.
People managers are another weak point. On page 19, 34% still view people managers mainly as a cascade channel. While 56% say managers are expected to reinforce and adapt corporate messages for their teams, preparedness is middling rather than strong: 58% say managers are well equipped to support wellbeing, 56% to connect employees to purpose, and 53% to create an inclusive workplace. The report’s implication is that managers are central to culture and experience, but most organisations are not enabling them robustly enough.
Change communication is a particularly notable weak spot. On pages 33 and 34, almost 90% of organisations report planned change programmes for 2023, yet performance on key change communication practices is poor. Only two ingredients stand out as reasonably well handled: visual identity and long-term vision. Clear change narratives, communication calendars, audience understanding, behaviour insight and advocate networks all score weakly. The executive summary states that 58% fail to articulate a clear change narrative or design a consistent calendar of activities. That is a serious gap given how much change organisations are navigating.
Measurement is another area where the profession looks stuck between aspiration and maturity. On pages 47 and 48, reach and employee understanding are measured more often than business outcomes or overall satisfaction, and the top reason for measuring is to show ROI to leaders rather than to improve communication for employees. The main barriers are lack of time and resource, lack of clear objectives, and technology limitations. The report clearly sees this as a problem: measurement exists, but it is not yet consistently outcome-focused or improvement-led.
4. What does the report say about channels, technology and the digital employee experience?
The report argues that channels and technology remain a major frustration, but not simply because there are too many tools. Its position is more nuanced: many organisations still lack a coherent channel strategy, sufficient investment and the data sophistication needed to make channels work well together.
Overall channel satisfaction is mediocre rather than strong. On page 37, 63% are satisfied or very satisfied with their current channel mix, which still leaves more than a third dissatisfied. At the same time, 46% say their organisation is not investing enough in communication technology. The report treats this as evidence of a widening gap between what digital tools could enable and what employees actually experience.
The value ratings on page 38 show where the main problems lie. Channels perform best at basic reach, with 73% saying they help reach people wherever they are based. But only 60% say they connect people on a human level, 59% say they create a consistent experience, 55% say they help gather employee feedback, 52% say they drive collaboration, and just 45% say they let employees share their own content. So the digital environment is relatively better at distributing information than at fostering participation, dialogue or belonging.
The report also points to structural immaturity behind that dissatisfaction. Only 31% have a channel framework, only 33% have channel-specific editorial calendars, and segmentation and personalisation remain limited. On pages 39 and 40, segmentation tends to focus on basic criteria such as management responsibility, job role and location, while more sophisticated targeting based on interests, attitudes or response to change remains weak. Personalisation is even less mature. This supports one of the report’s broader conclusions: the profession talks about digital sophistication, but the operational foundations are often still basic.
Interestingly, the report does not say all channel types are failing equally. It shows strong use and effectiveness for broadcast staples such as email and town halls, and high effectiveness ratings for collaboration channels such as team meetings and enterprise chat tools. Intranets remain common but attract criticism for analytics, integration and social functionality, while employee apps are seen as effective but not yet dominant. AI, meanwhile, appears more as an emerging aspiration than an established practice, with only 9% reporting current use.
So the report’s position is not anti-technology. It is that technology alone has not solved the communication problem. Without clearer governance, sharper purpose, better content and stronger audience insight, more tools will not automatically create a better employee experience.
5. What are the report’s main strategic implications for communication leaders in 2023 and beyond?
The report’s strategic message is that internal communication leaders need to think bigger than channels and bolder than messaging. They are being asked to shape culture, strengthen belonging, improve employee experience, support change, and demonstrate value in measurable terms. That requires a more strategic, integrated and evidence-led function.
First, communication leaders need to clarify the function’s purpose. The conclusion on page 55 begins with the need to have a defined purpose and strategy, aligned to what the business needs and what value communication provides. That recommendation follows directly from the report’s evidence that many teams still operate with campaign plans and tactics, but without an overarching long-term strategy.
Second, they need to build a stronger narrative capability. The report shows that only 30% have a written strategic narrative, and fewer than half believe employees understand how they contribute to strategy. That makes narrative not a stylistic extra, but a strategic necessity. Communicators are being urged to articulate purpose, change and meaning more clearly and consistently.
Third, the report strongly implies that authenticity is becoming a competitive communication capability. Employees want open, human and credible communication, yet many organisations still resist humour, creativity and personality. The report’s commentary repeatedly frames authenticity as necessary to trust, relevance and memory. For leaders, that means not just polishing leadership messages, but helping leaders communicate more like real people.
Fourth, communication leaders need to shift from output metrics to impact thinking. The report explicitly says the focus should move from outputs to outcomes. If culture, belonging and employee experience are the new frontier, then success cannot be assessed only through open rates or attendance. It has to include understanding, behaviour, sentiment and business-relevant effects.
Finally, the report suggests that internal communication is at a turning point. Its remit has expanded, its influence appears higher than in the past, but its operating model has not fully caught up. Teams are under pressure, technology is underperforming, and measurement remains imperfect. The opportunity is clear: communicators who can connect purpose, experience, change and evidence will be better placed to become trusted advisers rather than content distributors. That is the report’s underlying vision of what world-class internal communication now looks like.