12 Themes of Christmas: Reflecting on the Year

Your role as an internal communications professional is never dull, is it? These years following the pandemic have been full of fears of recession and inflation impacting our businesses. From layoffs to strikes and labor union negotiations, you’ve had a lot to communicate with your workforce. And we’ve been here, trying to provide the most up-to-date information and resources to support you. 

Now, as 2023 comes to a close, we’ve put together the big themes of the year and our latest resources. We hope they help you as you pen your strategy for 2024.

1. The Rise of Texting for Internal Comms

In our latest State of Frontline Worker Communication survey, texting emerged as one of the top channels that employees have access to and want access to. This is one of many reasons why we added texting to our product suite to help companies reach their mobile and deskless workers.

If you’re interested in using texting as a channel (or want ways to get the most out of it), check out our resources:

• Complete Guide to Using Texting for Business Communication
• The Dos and Don’ts of Texting Employees off the Clock
• Templates for Sending Mass Texts to Employees

2. Focusing on Onboarding

One of the biggest areas for opportunity at most companies is their employee onboarding process. How well we onboard employees can make or break their new hire experience and set the tone for the rest of their employment.

Employees who aren’t onboarded successfully also take longer to be as productive, costing your organization resources.

And it only gets harder when you try to onboard employees who aren’t physically on-site or work in various field locations. To help, we created a list of best practices for onboarding frontline workers and a guide to onboarding remote employees.

3. The Year of Upskilling & Reskilling

With staffing shortages impacting many industries (especially those with frontline workers like healthcare and hospitality), companies need to invest in their talent and retention strategies.

As a result, we’re seeing companies investing more into upskilling and reskilling programs—from microlearning to contributing towards employees’ continued education.

To help our clients provide more learning and development opportunities for their employees, we launched our microlearning add-on this year and have numerous best practices to help you get the most out of it. 

Interested in seeing how microlearning content could be woven into your strategy? Download our free microlearning content calendar template.

4. Evolving Intranet Strategies

Intranets have come a long way in recent years, evolving from dinosaur SharePoint sites to modern, social intranets.

But any tool or channel is still only as good as the content you put on it. That’s why we put together 38 real-life intranet content ideas that can help you reach your top business goals.

5. Supporting the Distributed Workforce

As more of the workplace embraces remote and hybrid work arrangements permanently, we have begun shifting our strategy to help companies support the distributed workforce.

From helping you create a hybrid workforce model that works to understanding the hidden power of distributed and diverse teams, we have the resources and best practices for you.

6. The Art of Retention

Retention is top of mind for everyone. But we can’t keep trying to retain talent using the same strategies. We have to evolve and try new ways of retaining talent.

Shift your mindset to think about your employee value proposition. In our blog, we talk about the importance of defining the value you provide and figuring out how you are different from your competitors. This helps you think more about how you support employee growth and provide them with value, making the employer-employee relationship more two-sided.

And then make sure you’re creating impactful recognition programs, like meaningful employee spotlights, and actively having stay conversations.

7. Getting Wellbeing Programs Right

Wellbeing is another way that we can show up for our employees. But we often think about employee wellbeing as individual campaigns or single-faceted things—like physical health programs. 

In truth, wellbeing is a multifaceted thing that happens both at and outside of work. It includes emotional health as well as community involvement and even financial wellness.

To create programs for employee wellness, we have to consider all these factors.

8. Borrowing Marketing Best Practices for Internal Communication

Marketers and internal communicators can learn a lot from one another. This year, we’ve focused on various internal marketing strategies that internal comms pros should borrow. This includes how we can use content curation and content distribution best practices in our strategies.

9. The Power of Employee Voice

For years, communicators have focused on elevating employee voices within their communications. This often includes telling employee stories or incorporating more feedback into strategies.

But in 2023, we talked about taking this a step further. From focusing on employee relations to building employee advocacy programs, there are so many ways we can partner with employees to take our businesses to the next level.

10. Mastering M&A Communications

From layoffs and corporate restructuring to new acquisitions, many companies have been using merger and acquisition communications. But we know this is incredibly tricky to get right and requires cross-departmental collaboration far before the M&A event occurs. So, this year’s blog helps break down everything you need to communicate before, during, and after a merger or acquisition.

11. The Shift From People Management to Leadership

We’ve all seen one too many stories of CEO miscommunications over the last few years. This has led to a conversation about the need for better leadership and what makes a leader great in the first place.

For us, this culminated in a blog where we talk about the difference between being a manager and being a leader. And we think that communication really is the biggest differentiator. 

12. Embracing Multimedia Content Strategies

And last, with advances in AI and technology, there is no excuse to not have a modern content strategy that supports more engaging formats. From internal communication videos to highly engaging podcasts, there are so many ways to reach your diverse audiences. It’s time to embrace it!

ICYMI: Our Highlights from 2022

• Improving recognition with our comprehensive recognition guide.
• Get organized with our editorial calendar template and internal communications audit.
• The importance of belonging and digital employee experience in your overall employee experience.
• The evolution of theEMPLOYEEapp: our updated employee intranet and employee engagement functionality!
• CEOs need to stand up and improve their communications.
• Apps for company communications are on the rise. Learn how to write engaging post titles and make engaging app visuals. 
• Make internal comms measurement easier with our guide to metrics, guide to measuring engagement and activation, and the dos and don’ts of employee surveys.
• The rise of Bring Your Own Device policies as a popular strategy (as shown in our 2022 Frontline Worker Survey results).
• New resource hubs on the major business areas we support:
  • Internal Communication Topic Hub
  • Employee Communication Topic Hub
  • Deskless Employees Topic Hub
  • Employee Engagement Topic Hub
  • Employee Experience Topic Hub
  • HR Communication Topic Hub