There’s a huge amount of info in this year’s Gallagher State of the Sector report. It’ll take you a while to absorb all the detail before you reach your own conclusions about the true state of IC in 2023.

Worth noting, though, what people around the industry have picked out from the survey, which heard from 2,000 IC professionals all over the world.

Though we should perhaps start with the thoughts of Ben Reynolds, global managing director, employee communication practice at Gallagher. His business did, after all, do most of the heavy lifting.

Ben said: “As our focus on hybrid working wanes and people continue to re-evaluate their relationship to work, our State of the Sector 2023 report highlights how internal communication has an incredible opportunity to breathe new life into the workplace and to reinvigorate organisational wellbeing.

“While budgets will remain tight for most organisations, it’s important to understand today’s employees expect much more than a paycheque from their employer. They choose to stay at an organisation because of its culture and values and the emphasis placed on employee wellbeing. Accomplishing this, while authentically weaving purpose and meaning into internal communication, will allow organisations to overcome challenges and reach their goals.”

Gallagher’s creative director, Howard Fry, meanwhile, launched into businesses which ignore their employees’ need for authenticity.

“Authenticity is what employees in 2023 truly want,” he says. “They’re increasingly looking for genuine and transparent experiences − something that makes them feel good about their place of work.

“Our State of the Sector report shows that our profession is still largely led by ‘corporate speak’, turning down the tone and playing it safe! Leadership teams hide behind the organisations they represent. Digital experiences fail to meet people where they are. Communications lack personality and emotion. It’s time to be braver.”

EVPs should be ‘grounded in truth’

Away from the owners of the survey, Jessica Roberts took to LinkedIn to add her voice to the call for authentic voices in Employee Value Propositions. 

She posted: “57% of businesses are revamping their Employee Value Proposition (EVP), according to Gallagher’s most recent State of the Sector report. Are you one of the IC pros in this position right now?

“Of all the employer brand jobs I’ve delivered, what I know to be true is that there is never one consistent team or role that ‘owns’ the EVP and employer brand story. Sometimes it’s led by HR, other times it’s Marketing, others it’s Communications.

“For the IC pros working on your EVP right now, remember that the most successful and authentic EVPs are grounded in truth. Real stories and experiences from your people. As skilled storytellers and relationship-builders, you are in the perfect position to uncover these.

“Employee voice should always be the foundation upon which you build your EVP and employer brand story.”

Nicholas’s takeaways

Nicholas Wardle, co-author of Monetising the Employee Experience, had his own view.  

“Gallagher’s annual state of the (IC & EX) sector has recently been released, and here’s some of my takeaways…

“It’s fascinating that the big theme for 2023 is ‘Recalibrating internal communication’, relating to the expansion of IC into other areas. Well, IC is still just IC. It’s not wellbeing or EX. IC continues to be an industry where ‘add ons’ are expected. Would an IT Scrum Master be expected to double up as a Security Officer?

“Only a third of all organisations appear to be discussing EX at Exec Level − oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

“With the Great Resignation, it’s alarming that only 28% of respondents believe that their EVP is being refreshed. Money is not the main driver of intrinsic motivation, so employees want more than just a salary in exchange for their efforts.

“It’s sad to read that only 35% of respondents feel empowered to inject personality into their messaging. What happened to ‘bring your whole self to work’? Other research shows that the majority of employees are afraid to show their personality for fear of being cancelled.

“There’s no doubt that DEI in and of itself is vital to organisational success. But I do feel that with the most popular communicated topic in this area being ‘Awareness days and events’ that there’s a danger than organisations are trying to content/promote their way to DEI success rather than embedding day to day principles and ways of working.

“With only 53% measuring behaviour change and business outcomes, can IC truly claim to be all about ‘outcomes not outputs’? (Still obsessed with clicks, views and likes?)”

Demonstrating your value

Head of employee experience at Silicon Reef, Sarah Parker, replied to his thoughts saying: “Unfortunately, the report highlighted some familiar themes − team resource issues, dwindling budgets and the continued lack of investment in tools and technology.

“Clearly, it’s never been more critical for IC professionals to demonstrate value by highlighting their role in achieving business outcomes.”

And Joanna Parsons chipped in with: “I love that you’ve explicitly called out the lack of consistency between employee comms and customer comms. I’ve been shouting about this for years – the quality and standard of comms for your employees MUST be as good as those you deliver to your customers.

“Your employees are your most important stakeholder group!”

Leadership communications

Our own Nick Robbins picked out a surprising stat on leadership communications in the report in his recent blog. It’s well worth a read if you’re looking at how you can act as a strategic advisor to your leadership population.

Have you read the Gallagher 2023 State of the Sector report? What are your thoughts? Drop us a line or comment below, and we’ll be back with more IC news next month.