As we march further into Q4, most midmarket-sized companies are busy planning for the year ahead. This includes how to best engage and retain their employees - which can be particularly challenging, given the significant amount of growth and change these companies are experiencing at this stage in their lifecycle.
Our team partners with growing, transforming companies to boost engagement and retention by strategically communicating with employees - often for the first time. These companies understand "what got them here won't get them there" in many areas of their businesses, and are recognizing the need to use communication to get every employee aligned around what's most important.
Here are the five biggest trends we're discussing with our midmarket clients and network colleagues when it comes to using strategic communication to increase employee engagement and retention in 2025:
Communication gets strategic
Growing companies are starting to communicate about more than “just” the typical HR topics (e.g. benefits and events), to ensure their employees know where the company is headed in the next 3-5 years and how their individual roles contribute. This requires a concise articulation of the go-forward strategy (we recommend depicting this visually), then consistent messaging and frequent repetition, including overtly connecting ongoing developments and updates (e.g. product launches, leader hires) to the bigger picture.
People leaders become primary internal communicators
Research has long shown that an employee’s manager is their most trusted source of information, and that won’t change in the year ahead. Companies are recognizing the need to create an expectation that their people leaders are communicating regularly about everything from the strategic to the tactical. Most importantly, people managers need to be provided with resources and support to ensure consistent messaging and make it easier for them to add communication to their already long list of responsibilities.
Executives scale their presence
Top leaders of growing companies continually tell us that as their teams grow, they no longer know everyone’s name and story – but they don’t want to lose the close-knit feeling in their culture. Since they can no longer connect directly with every employee around the water cooler, they need an intentional approach to convey their voice and vision to a broader internal audience. Strategic employee communication ensures every employee continues to feel connected to top leadership, hearing directly from them about what's most important.
HR leadership goes horizontal
Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) and other top people leaders in growing companies are recognizing an opportunity to elevate in their roles by not only transforming the HR vertical/function, but by also positioning themselves as holistic champions of the entire employee experience. One key way they’re doing this is by bringing in strategic employee communication for the first time, to ensure every employee understands where the company is headed and how they directly contribute.
Culture evolves, carefully
Fast-growing companies face the tricky balance of evolving their cultures to compete in a new world and appeal to a younger generation of workers, ideally without alienating long-tenured, dedicated employees. The companies navigating this best are using communication to take a thoughtful, measured approach, infusing traits like accountability, performance and innovation into the behaviors they reward and the stories they choose to share.
Ready to learn how strategic employee communication can help your company boost employee engagement and retention? Get in touch with us: hello@tschidacommunications.com.
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