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Internal communications have become a key element in how well organizations are able to negotiate change, according to a new report from London-based Gallagher Communications Limited. That makes change communications targeted at employees more important than ever.
Gallagher’s 18th annual Employee Communications state of the sector report asked 1,300 professionals across 40 countries for their take on topics ranging from change management preparedness, AI governance, and strategies for bridging the engagement gap between office and frontline workers, to how the frequency and method of communications impacts employee trust.
An ability to deal with change is cited as the most-desired skill by survey respondents, but a significant majority (61 percent) of them said their organization did not have a formal approach for handling change communications.
The study also says that a major flaw in how internal communications are conducted may lie in the fact that there’s just too much of it. More than four out of five respondents (83 percent) cite "information overload" as a growing problem. In addition, they thought that high volumes of internal communications could lead to a drop in trust.
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As regards AI, survey respondents say that a lack of guidance hinders productivity. Three-quarters (75 percent) of them report that without a formal communications framework for handling AI, they are left in “AI experimentation mode.” Hovwever, when that framework, along with leadership endorsement, is in place, confidence rises considerably— from 35 percent to 63 percent.
The “readiness gap” that keeps communicators from delivering on their purposes and objectives, the report’s authors find, differs considerably across such categories as industry, desk-based teams vs. frontline employees, small vs. large teams, and level of strategic maturity and capability.
To successfully handle the changing situation, the report suggests four major priorities:
Clarity and direction: Employers need to embed comms strategy into their broader business planning. Keeping communications straightforward and simple should result in a workforce that better understands where the company is going and why.
Worforce readiness: Equip both communicators and staffers with the skills, tools and confidence they need to navigate change.
Operational enablement: Streamline governance and processes to create an environment that enables agility without sacrificing consistency.
Human-centric communication: Personalization, sophistication and clarity should be the building blocks that enable companies to build engagement with their staffs.
“As employees across all geographies, industries and employer types navigate the ever-changing world, organizations must critically evaluate their people’s experience in the workplace—finding unique ways to engage teams, establish authentic connections, and support employee wellbeing overall,” the report notes
Gallager held the roundtables and focus groups used for the report in September and October of 2025, with the survey being conducted in November.
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