What happens when HR and Internal Comms stop working in silos? A better employee experience.
This year’s Employee Communications Report offered some eye-opening insights—especially when it comes to the evolving roles and responsibilities within Internal Communications (IC). One finding from the report that stood out: 93% of communicators reported being responsible for employee engagement. That’s a sharp jump from 74% last year and suggests that internal communicators are no longer just the messengers—they’re now key architects of the employee experience.
Even more striking is the overlap between IC and Human Resources (HR) when it comes to performance metrics. The top five shared key performance indicators (KPIs) included:
- Employee engagement (15% of communicators shared this KPI with HR)
- Behavior change (14%)
- Learning and development engagement (12%)
- Employee advocacy (12%)
- Employee retention (11%)
These statistics suggest that internal communicators aren’t just sharing HR updates—they’re actively shaping outcomes that have traditionally been considered HR territory and are intrinsically linked to broader organizational goals.
In fact, over a quarter (27%) of internal communicators report directly into HR. Whether that structure is ideal or incidental, it highlights something critical: the line between HR and Internal Comms is increasingly blurred. That’s where we see an opportunity.
Why focus on collaboration?
Our analysis of the 2024/25 State of the Sector survey data revealed a powerful trend: a greater number of strong, collaborative relationships lead to better performance across the board. These collaborative communicators used data more effectively, delivered stronger results across key metrics, and reported greater satisfaction when it came to working toward their function’s purpose.
With our limited time and resources, choosing the right relationships to nurture and invest in versus simply maintain can have major impacts on our success as IC professionals and the success of the business. With the large amount of shared KPIs, true collaboration between HR and IC has the potential to create a powerhouse for employee experience by bringing together policy expertise and skills needed to create engagement and behavior change. And when that collaboration is intentional, not incidental, it can transform how people feel about their work, their employer, and their future.
Here are three major opportunities where we feel that collaboration can have a major impact.
1. Candidate attraction and retention
HR may own the mechanics of recruitment and onboarding, but IC owns the story. In fact, 44% of communicators reported joint accountability for attraction and 53% reported joint accountability for retention. When these two functions collaborate early and consistently, we can create a seamless, consistent experience that starts before day one and continues throughout the employee’s journey.
That’s especially important in a market where employee expectations are shifting faster than policies can keep up. People want more than a job description—they want a clear sense of culture, purpose, and value. That’s where IC’s expertise in storytelling and human-centered messaging becomes essential.
Every moment in an employee’s lifecycle is a chance to reinforce what the organization stands for. Consistency across that lifecycle—tone, messaging, values, and expectations—creates trust. And trust builds loyalty, a key factor in improving retention.
2. Communicating and clarifying policy
Let’s face it, the best policy in the world won’t do a thing if no one knows it exists—or worse, if no one understands it.
In the last 12 months, internal communicators personally reviewed or created the following HR-aligned materials:
- Reward & benefits strategy – 37%
- Policy documentation – 33%
- Onboarding or induction process – 32%
- Values and behavior frameworks – 27%
- Employer brand guidelines – 24%
- EVP documentation – 21%
This is both encouraging and surprising. It shows that IC professionals are being brought into these conversations—but not nearly as often as they could be. Consider what’s at stake: if employees don’t understand your flexible working policy, your parental leave benefit, or your performance review framework, then you’re not just missing a communication opportunity—you’re losing return on investment.
Whether or not IC is involved in creating a policy, they must be involved in ensuring it's understood, valued, and used. It’s not just about announcements, it’s about understanding, clarity, and behavioral change. That’s IC’s area of expertise.
3. Improving benefits and rewards strategy
One statistic that truly surprised us was that only 37% of IC professionals reported reviewing their organization’s reward and benefits strategy documents. Given how important benefits are to employee sentiment and engagement, this is a missed opportunity.
Rewards and benefits are not just administrative—they’re emotional. They affect how people feel about their compensation, their wellbeing, and their employer’s commitment to them. That’s where IC shines. Internal communicators know how to frame complex (or frankly boring) topics in a way that connects to what people care about. They’re uniquely positioned to help employees not just hear about a benefit—but to believe in its value.
By looping IC into the strategy, not just the dissemination of benefits materials, HR can unlock the full potential of their programs, driving engagement, not just enrollment.
Collaboration is already happening—but there’s more to do
The good news? The foundation for collaboration is already there. Eighty percent of communicators reported that their relationship with HR is collaborative. Sixty percent said they meet “all the time,” and thirty percent said they meet “often.” But proximity isn’t the same as partnership.
Every organization has its own structure. But instead of treating the IC-HR relationship as just another part of the org chart, we should start treating it as a strategic lever, one that can unlock better employee experience, stronger business outcomes, and a more connected, resilient workplace.
Looking to bring some IC expertise into your HR team? We’ve got you covered—drop us a line today.
