Top Internal Communications Statistics: Everything You Need to Know

In the past few years, there have been a number of disruptive dynamics affecting employee and company relationships, including an increase in hybrid and remote work, the Great Resignation and evolving employee expectations. 

Effective internal communications is key for any business seeking to improve culture, employee engagement, and business growth. At Fratzke Consulting we developed and administered our Internal Communications Operations and Strategy Survey to assess how leaders are strategically navigating this environment. 

Our internal communications survey generated valuable communications data  that can help leaders prioritize budget and resources. 

Overall, we found that those communications leaders who felt more valued by their organizations also felt more equipped to meet this moment. They are more satisfied with their performance (82%), more likely to use data to inform their internal communications decisions (61%) and more likely to have an annual strategic plan (71%). 

These findings speak to the importance of companies prioritizing internal communications and giving this segment the resources necessary to drive key initiatives for their business. 

Here’s what else we’re learning:

Key Internal Communications Statistics:

• Nearly half (45%) of internal communications budgets have increased.
• Most internal communications budgets are 10% or less of their company’s annual revenue.
• Internal communications teams with more budget allocation have 30% less challenges.
• 55% of companies surveyed said they value internal communications.
• Communications leaders' satisfaction with internal communications efforts increases 82% when their company values internal communications.
• 24% of communication leaders struggle with lack of feedback and 21% have difficulty reaching all employees.
• 85% of communications leaders use data to inform strategies.
• Only 35% of leaders play an active role in communicating.
• 77% of leaders agree that internal communications help drive organizational goals.
• Digital communication channels are seen as most effective with 73% of leaders saying that email is most effective.
• 37% of internal communications teams don't have an annual strategic plan.

Not sure what to do with all this information? We’re here to guide you through the Top 9 Key Takeaways from our survey. We’ll show you what these numbers mean and how to apply them to your organization so you set you internal communications team up for success and drive business growth. 

1. Larger Budgets Lead To Fewer Internal Communication Challenges

You get what you give and when brands give more resources for internal communications, they get fewer challenges. Although the majority of internal communications budgets are 10% or less of company annual revenue, internal communications leaders with budgets that take up a greater percentage of annual revenue are less likely to experience challenges with internal communications. 

This is likely because these leaders feel confident they have the resources necessary to prevent challenges or mitigate them as they arise. 

When reviewing your organization’s communication challenges, it is important to assess whether the issues you have can be mitigated with additional budget spend or by introducing processes that can maximize your existing resources and time.

2. Great Internal Communications = Greater Team Satisfaction and Employee Retention

Another way we found that strategic internal communications benefits companies is its connection to team satisfaction and employee retention. Most communications leaders (55%) say their organization highly or very highly values internal communications. However, 45% report that their organization moderately, somewhat or not at all values internal communications.

Whether or not companies value internal communications affects communications leaders' perception of performance. Respondents who report that their organizations value internal communications are more satisfied by their internal communications efforts (82%) than those who say their organizations do not value or only somewhat value internal communications (22%).

Interestingly, communications leaders who have worked at their companies for a longer period of time (5+ years) are more likely to say their organizations value internal communications. This may suggest that organizations that place greater value on internal communications are more likely than those who do not to satisfy and retain good talent. 

Communicating recognition and value are key pillars in any employee retention and engagement strategy - and the same applies to internal communications team planning.

3. Companies That Prioritize Internal Communications Are More Data-Driven and Strategic

There’s another benefit when a company values internal communications: leaders are far more likely to have an annual strategic internal communication plan (71%) and use data to inform their strategies (61%). Having an annual strategic plan positions leaders to think proactively about communication goals and how to measure success. 

Communications leaders struggling to find their footing within organizations that don’t value internal communications are fighting an uphill battle. It’s essential for these leaders to communicate the value of internal communications to executive leadership to gain buy-in. 

It’s not uncommon for executive leadership to be unaware of just how much internal communications is connected to the success of a business. That’s why it’s important to gather valuable external data (like Fratzke’s Internal Communications Operations and Strategy Survey) and internal data via employee surveys and performance metrics. 

Gaining valuable buy-in will not only increase a communication team's ability to perform, but also the team’s overall satisfaction and retention. We’ve got the numbers to prove it.

4. Communications Leaders Struggle to Understand Effectiveness

With the fast pace of operations in a business, it's easy to overlook how employees are truly handling communication processes. The three biggest challenges for communications leaders are: 

• Lack of feedback on effectiveness of communications (24%) 
• Difficulty reaching all employees (21%) 
• Lack of employee engagement (20%)

In today’s attention economy, it’s not a surprise that communications leaders are struggling with reaching employees and a lack of employee engagement. 

The increased mix of remote and hybrid workers, along with industries that have a variety of role types from hourly and salaried to frontline and office workers, can make it more challenging for communications leaders to reach their intended audience. 

In addition, efforts to gather employee feedback can often feel time consuming, especially when faced with a barrage of urgent communication needs. Although leaders understand the importance of employee surveys, those surveys need to be designed and administered strategically and rigorously to gather accurate and informative insights. Often, this will require an experienced specialist internally or externally to work with the internal communications team. 

Inviting feedback from employees on the effectiveness of communications is a critical priority that will help inform strategic efforts to reduce these challenges and reach workers where they are. 

5. Data-Driven Internal Communications is a Priority

When it comes to crafting strategic communications, data is king. A strong majority (85%) of communications leaders use data to inform their internal communications decisions and strategies. The three most popular types of data include: 

• Internal Surveys (54%)
• Internal Reporting and Metrics (48%) 
• External Data and Research (43%) 

Although internal surveys are some of the most utilized forms of data, as we have discussed, communications leaders also list a lack of feedback on the effectiveness of communications as a top challenge. The disconnect may be that although many leaders understand that surveying their workforce is valuable, it takes time and resources to do it right. 

The least used type of data is benchmarking of best practices. This could speak to a lack of access to this type of information or a lack of interest. More so than other departments, internal communications is often hyperfocused on the internal dynamics of the company they are supporting. 

That’s why we recommend to our communications leaders to expand their understanding of the latest communication benchmarks and best practices outside their organization.

6. Leadership Engagement is Lackluster

We’ve found that leaders play a critical role in the communication process by helping to close the gap between communication distribution and your intended employee audience. 

Unfortunately, communications leaders often struggle with leadership engagement with only about one-third (35%) of leaders playing a regular and active role in internal communications. 

The value an organization places on internal communications is correlated with leader participation. Those organizations that value internal communications increase the ratio of leaders playing a regular and active role in distributing internal communications to 52%, but there is still room for improvement. 

If communication organizations want to increase the success of communication efforts, they need to close the leadership gap with a proactive strategy to increase leadership engagement. At Fratzke, we recommend doing this by:

• Establishing the value of internal communications with executive and salaried leaders
• Setting up accountability frameworks 
• Providing the right tools to make it easy for leaders to engage.

7. Internal Communications Supports Key Company Priorities

We asked respondents to tell us how satisfied they are with the impact of their organizations' internal communications efforts on key initiatives. Overall, communications leaders are satisfied with their impacts on a number of key priorities including organization goals, organizational culture and crisis management. 

The initiatives that communications leaders feel most successful at driving are also those that are currently the highest priority for organizations due to evolving workplace dynamics pushing the importance of culture to the forefront.

Employee engagement and retention continues to be important, but not urgent, and has fallen to the bottom of the priority list. And yet, these two initiatives often have the highest impact on company growth and revenue generation. 

The reality is that communications leaders who desire to make employee engagement and retention a priority need to proactively put plans in place instead of reacting when there is an issue. It’s better to start on the right track than to try to find your way back after getting lost. 

8. Digital Communication Channels Rise to the Top

When it comes to the most effective communication channels, digital channels top the list. Below are the four most effective communication tools according to leaders who participated in our survey. 

• Email (73%)
• Intranet/Employee Portal (68%) 
• Mobile Apps (67%) 
• Texting (64%) 

Email and employee intranet are tried and true channels that are often successful at reaching employees who use a computer to do their work. The introduction of mobile apps and texting can be helpful in reaching employees that are on-the-go and in frontline roles that don’t utilize computer screens. 

Historically, communication organizations have used printed collateral or electronic screens to reach these frontline employees, but it is often difficult to measure the success of these efforts. 

Mobile apps and texting introduce new digital tools that can better reach employees where they are and measure engagement. The key is to follow the appropriate labor laws when using these tools for hourly workers.

Is Using More Communication Channels Better?

With all the communication channels available through apps and platforms, we had to wonder if using more communication channels is actually better for internal communications. What we found is that on average internal communications organizations use nearly 9 different communication channels to reach their employees. The use of more channels is positively associated with greater satisfaction with internal communications efforts overall. 

The relationship between the number of channels used and communication success may be based on a false assumption that more time and effort equals success. Communication organizations may be resorting to “spray and pray” communication instead of strategically planning the right message for the right audience on the right channels. 

That’s why it’s important for leaders to collect feedback and data to ensure the success of communication efforts.

9. Annual Strategic Plans Lead Directly to Targeted Messaging

When it comes to annual planning, more than one-third of communications leaders say they don't have an annual strategic internal communications plan. Crafting an annual strategic plan is often seen as a “nice to have” vs. a “need to have” for communications leaders who are scrambling to meet an onslaught of requests from executives and business partners throughout their organization. 

The benefits of having an annual plan are clear: 

• Distinct internal communication strategies for different audiences - Communications leaders who say they have an annual strategic plan are also more likely to have targeted strategies for reaching employees with different roles types (45% vs. 13%) and locations such as remote and hybrid vs. in-person (82% vs. 51%). ‍
• Concrete strategy in place to capture and use data - Communications leaders with an annual strategic plan are more likely to have clear strategies in place to capture data to measure communication effectiveness (89% vs. 44%) and use data to inform strategies (70% vs. 28%). ‍
• Regularly collect employee feedback - Those who have an annual strategic internal communications plan are much more likely to say they regularly collect employee feedback (74% vs. 7%).

Of course, annual strategic plans shouldn’t be “set it and forget it” or set in stone. They should evolve over time. Regardless, they give communications leaders the opportunity to proactively put plans in place to reach their audience, measure success and calibrate along the way