40+ Corporate Communications Stats Every Employer Should Know

A lot of research has been done recently on corporate communications. We’ve compiled in this post the most important statistics you should be aware of to get a better understanding of the current state of communication in the workplace.

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Corporate communications plays a crucial role in employee satisfaction, engagement, productivity and business success. Therefore, internal communication practitioners are now one of the most important strategic business partners.

Effective Corporate Communication Drives Business Success

The rise of the importance of corporate communications is inevitable. As most organizations are now becoming aware of the need to improve corporate communications efforts, they are looking for ways to better inform their employees in order to drive employee engagement, productivity, experience and retention.

Employees expect proper workplace communication through their whole life-cycle, from onboarding to exit.

But are the organizations ready to meet such expectations?

We are delivering to you the most comprehensive list of corporate communications statistics that will help you better understand the current state of corporate communications as well as the ways to improve employee communications at your organization.

Corporate Communication and Employee Satisfaction

When talking about improving employee satisfaction, we still mostly talk about initiatives such as employee feedback, recognition, compensation and benefits.

The thing is, not enough attention has been given to the ways to improve employee satisfaction with efficient corporate communications.

As internal communication is extremely important to help employees understand the company’s mission vision and goals as well as aligning employees with strategic goals, IC has a direct impact on employee motivation and satisfaction.

One of the biggest reasons why employers started improving their corporate communications efforts is because a lot of research has proved that effective employee communications directly influences employee experience, engagement and, therefore, productivity.

How? Let’s take a look at a few interesting statistics:

• Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. (Forbes)
• 39% of surveyed employees believe that people in their own organization don’t collaborate enough. (Queens University)
• More informed employees outperform their peers by 77%. (Gartner)
• Organizations with effective change and communication programs are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers. (ThinkTalent)
• Productivity improves by up to 25% in organizations with connected employees. (McKinsey)
• 89% of workers at companies that support well-being initiatives are more likely to recommend their company as a good place to work. (Forbes)
• 91% of employees surveyed by Interact-Harris think that their managers are not good communicators. (Inc.)
• Only 9% of communications leaders feel confident in their ability to shape corporate culture. (Gartner)

Corporate Communication and Employee Retention

As corporate communications have a direct impact on employee satisfaction it is not surprising that it also influences employee retention. Because employers are increasingly focusing on reducing employee turnover, investing more in improving corporate communications strategies is not a surprising move.

The best way to prove the impact of corporate comms on employee retention is through real data:

• Half of U.S. employees are actively searching for a new job. (Forbes)
• 1 in 5 new hires is unlikely to recommend the employer to a friend or family member after the onboarding process. (G2)
• Businesses with effective communication are 50% more likely to have lower employee turnover. (Clear Company)
• 96% of employees believe showing empathy is an important way to advance employee retention. (Forbes)
• Less than half of Millennials surveyed by Udemy said that their current employers provide learning, development and training opportunities. (Udemy)
• 1 in 3 professionals cite boredom as their main reason to leave their jobs. (HRDive)
• 72% of employees say one-on-one time with their direct manager is the most important part of any pre-boarding or onboarding process. (Enboarder)
• People who had a negative new hire onboarding experience are twice as likely to seek a different opportunity in the immediate future. (G2)
• 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding. (SHRM)
• 40% of new hires say getting a response from HR about their question takes too long. (G2)
• U.S. companies that support remote work experience 25% lower employee turnover. (OWLlabs)

Corporate Communications Strategy

Even though companies are becoming more aware of the importance of corporate communications, many of them still don’t have clear strategies around it.

Same as other departments within organizations, corporate and internal comms departments have to align their goals with the company’s mission, vision and strategy.

Let’s take a look into some numbers from various research done on corporate communications.

• Globally, 21% of internal communicators admitted that they do not employ any form of formal planning. That number increases to 31% for communicators in North America. (Gatehouse)
• Only 8% of communications leaders believe they have the right set of skills in their staff to meet organizations demands. (Gartner)
• Communicating strategy, values and purposes was listed as a key priority by 64% of communicators. (Gatehouse)
• 72% of employees don’t have a full understanding of the company’s strategy. (IBM)
• 41% of leaders are not able to gather appropriate information quickly. (PwC)
• 40% of leaders and executives are not able to make timely and deliberate decisions. (PwC)
• Less than half (47%) of employers say that they have the capabilities or processes they would need to meet a crisis with the best possible outcome. (Deloitte)
• Only 54% of respondents in a VMA group study strongly agree/agree that progress towards communications objectives are researched, measured, and evaluated with metrics and KPIs. (VMA Group Study)
• 46% of communications leaders consider audience information overload a key challenge. (Gartner)
• 60% of internal communications professionals do not measure internal communications. (IABC)
• Only 23% of executives say that their companies are excellent at aligning employees’ goals with corporate purposes. (Deloitte)
• 56% of budgets allocated to projects are at risk due to poor communication. (BrightWork)

• 60% of companies don’t have a long-term strategy for their internal communications. (Workforce)

Corporate Communications Channels and Technology

Today, companies use various means of communication in the workplace. Tools such as employee communications platforms, Slack, Microsoft Teams, knowledge sharing tools, collaboration, project management, document sharing and employee feedback are considered as employee communications channels.

This internal comms ecosystem is more complex than ever before, so let’s look at a few stats around this topic.

• The average office worker receives 121 emails per day. (Campaign Monitor)
• Employees spend on average 2.5 hours a day looking for the information they need to do their jobs. (Haiilo)
• 82% of workers check email outside of normal business hours. (Statista)
• About 1 in 2 employees say fewer emails means more happiness. (SlickText)
• Only 13% of employees used their company Intranet on a daily basis. (Medium)
• 60.8% of respondents ignore emails at work. (SlickText)
• 53% of companies stated that a top priority was to improve digital channels within the upcoming year. (Gallagher)
• 43.9% of respondents said sending a text, not an email, is the best way to reach them. (SlickText)
• 93% of employees believe that video has become a vital part of internal communication. (Engine Creative)
• 5.7% of respondents indicated they always ignore emails from HR. (SlickText)

• 70% of professionals believe that texting should be used for inter-office communication. (SHRM)

Corporate Communications Career Outlook

The rise of the importance of internal and corporate communications also influences the job outlook for the related positions.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the media and communications industries is expected to grow at a rate of about six percent from 2016 to 2026 — about as fast as growth for all occupations.

Corporate communications professionals mostly choose to specialize in a particular area. Here are a few interesting numbers from Payscale regarding the communications professionals salaries.

• Entry-Level: Communications Specialist ($50,789), Media Relations Specialist ($50,517), Public Relations Specialist ($46,950)
• Mid-Level: Communications Manager ($63,622), Media Relations Manager ($59,543), Public Relations Manager ($65,227)
• Senior-Level: Director of Communications ($77,828), Director of Media Relations ($84,299), Public Relations Director ($85,168), Chief Communications Officer ($126,885)

Top Benefits of Effective Corporate Communications

As seen earlier in this blog, corporate communications efforts play an important role in employee and business success.

Here is an infographic that represents the benefits of effective corporate communications.

Take Your Corporate Communications Strategy to the Next Level With Haiilo

Haiilo is an employee communication solution that enables employees, IC departments and leaders to become great communicators.

Our technology enables you to reach the right employees at the right time through their favorite communication channels.

Here is how we do that:

• Relevant messages shared with your employees.
• Internal communication strategy adapted to your employees’ needs.
• Our Social Intranet makes it easy for your employees to create their own content!
• Our Advocacy Add-On makes it easy for your employees to share insights with their personal networks so they position themselves as industry experts.
• Strong Analytics that make it easy for users to measure employee engagement with your internal content.