Keeping employees aligned company wide is a challenge that every organization faces. And it can be tricky if your offices are spread out around the country—or around the globe.

Some years ago, I wrote a blog called Always Stop for Donuts. In it, I spoke about the employee experience and the impact of connection. In that blog, I touched on how to grow roots amidst the waves of change. Years ago, the formula for growing roots seemed simpler: connect with employees (people), know your stuff, grow yourself, take chances, never let off the gas (except to stop for doughnuts on the way to the office.)

Today, many companies consist of a combination of “office” and “frontline” workers. But it’s incredibly common for decision-making in any company to be directed by, and focused on, those in the office, with little to no involvement from the frontline.

What do you do when your left brain pushes you toward engineering, but your right brain aches for creativity? You meet in the middle, of course, which is precisely what Pinaki Kathiari did when he became the CEO of Local Wisdom, a New Jersey-based communications agency focusing on internal and external communications.

It’s a competitive world out there. And if that seems too obvious of a statement, let’s break it down.

As millennials question their college degrees and whether they were really worth it and Gen Z struggles to find meaningful employment, competition is fierce for the rarest and most elusive of treasures: the upwardly mobile career path.

Is your intranet getting diversity and inclusivity right? Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a hot topic for businesses today. But DEI is more than just a business buzzword and should have your attention year-round, not just on MLK Day. It needs to be a cornerstone of your company practices.

Internal communication is the heart and soul of any savvy company looking to create a solid company culture that values the employee experience (EX). And when your communications have AI and are tailored to the individual needs of your workers, this only improves EX.

In fact, as we discovered in our Anywhere Work 2023 Employee Experience Survey Report results, 79% of HR executives feel that this “anywhere work” shift has created disconnects on a number of fronts, making internal communications more challenging than it was before. The struggle is rooted in the fact that most organizations are ill-equipped to manage a hybrid workforce.

The idea of having a team dedicated to communicating with a company’s workforce isn’t new. Still, the last three years have intensified the need for an internal comms team as the workplace morphed from a single location to distributed locations, with employees spanning different cities, workplaces, and time zones.

Here are five EX trends based on the insight we’ve captured when listening to our customers, researching, and analyzing data, combined with a smidge of crystal-ball gazing.

A pause for reflection allows us so much room for growth. We get to celebrate wins, grieve the losses, and be intentional in our path forward. It’s no secret that the past few years have wreaked havoc on both our personal and professional lives. We’ve had worldwide crises back to back, seen or experienced an onslaught of layoffs, and weathered our way through difficulties beyond our wildest imaginations.