BECKY LEONARD
INSIGHT AND CONTENT MANAGER
Literacy, locals and hyper-personalisation – top trends of Q1
January to March edition
This year began in the same way as many others – with fresh questions. So here’s our regular round-up of what clients have been grappling with this quarter, and what we’re advising them to do next
How do I empower employees to use AI productively?
Ever since ChatGPT hit the scenes in 2022, it seems like AI has been part of every internal communication panel discussion, trends book and blog. But it’s only in the last six months or so that we’ve really seen our client organisations start to worry about how they can use their comms prowess to support AI usage in their businesses.
Because while it’s a constant source of debate, employees’ AI use in their day-to-day work is inconsistent: in how it’s used, how often it’s used, and how well it’s used.
In fact, a recent report by Deloitte found that two thirds of workers think AI has had a positive impact on their productivity, but that only 24% said their employer actively encouraged staff to use it.
Similarly, the IBM Global AI Adoption Index also revealed that only 28% of employees feel confident in their AI literacy. But if organisations invest in awareness and training programmes, it increases to more than 70%.
So, how can internal communicators help to boost employees’ AI capability by turning confusion into clarity, nerves into confidence, and inconsistency into effectiveness?
Adopting AI tools is more than a software roll-out. It’s a reset of your digital workplace and culture, requiring huge changes to the way people think about the way they work and perform their daily tasks.
So a one-and-done communication isn’t enough. We recommend planning a phased, long-running campaign, that encourages employees to use AI regularly and correctly.
That might be starting with messaging around the ‘why’, making your bespoke company case, dispelling any myths or concerns, and explaining how getting involved will benefit everyone.
Then getting into the ‘what’ and ‘how’, often supporting the launch of strategic training. For example, we’ve created ongoing series of weekly top tips, supplemented by monthly in-depth case studies featuring internal experts, that work together to get your workforce up to speed with approved tools and teach them about proper governance.
Whatever the method, the call to action is the same: encouraging employees to complete training, use tools correctly and consistently, keep content secure, and boost their skills.
The impact can be huge. In fact, PwC’s Responsible AI Survey found that awareness programmes reduced AI-related errors and misuse by up to 60%.
Why do employees want more communications?
It’s a tale as old as time. Employees tell us they’re bombarded by information at work. But then say they need more information about X and Y.
At the end of 2025 and into 2026, our Insight team has been busy running four communication audits, for four very different organisations, from four diverse industries. But they quickly noticed one trend that emerged strongly from each.
As Paul Jones, our Head of Insight, explains: “In almost every focus group, interview and survey response, we were hearing from time-poor employees that when it comes to business news and updates, they don’t have the time to filter through and find what’s relevant to them. And often they get frustrated when they have to work hard to assess what’s urgent and important, or what’s ‘nice to know’.
“So rather than telling us to send them less communication, they wanted more – but more targeted communication with information relevant to them and their role.”
What can organisations do to make sure they’re giving the right information to their people, in the right amount?
Our first answer is the obvious one: if you want to understand what your employees want to know about, ask them. You can do it as part of larger research, such as a communication audit or pulse survey series, or put a “Was this useful? Let us know” feedback prompt on your communications.
And reach out to other colleagues to help you – whether you have local communication partners, comms champions, or just know a friendly face in that area.
We’ve created communication toolkits, stocked with guides and templates, to help local stakeholders translate central messages and updates into something relevant and interesting for their immediate colleagues. You can even create ‘half-done’ templates, where you share your central messages but with space for local communications to add context and additional news for local employee groups.
What’s hyper-personalisation?
You know how we just said that everyone is discussing AI a lot? Well, here’s another challenge to throw into the mix.
We’re talking more about hyper-personalisation and how this customer engagement technique could start to have a real impact on how employees engage with internal communications too.
Hyper-personalisation is about using data to deliver truly personalised experiences to each individual. As Forbes explains: “Think about an online retailer that doesn’t just recommend products based on past purchases but considers your recent searches, current location and even time of day. Or a streaming service that seems to predict your mood, serving up the perfect playlist before you even realise what you’re in the mood for.”
As employees begin to engage more and more with AI tools at work, their employee experience is also becoming hyper-personalised. The likes of Microsoft Copilot build up a profile of you based on your interactions and serve you information based on your likes and dislikes.
It seems a safe bet to say then that employees are going to increasingly expect this from other communications too.
So, where on earth should internal communicators start?
Hyper-personalisation is a huge topic, and not one we have a quick or easy answer for.
After all, it’s about more than putting someone’s name in an email’s subject line. Hyper-personalisation would use data to give them truly personalised content that’s only relevant to them, in a format they prefer, on their favourite channel, at the time they’re most likely to see it. And it would be the same for every individual.
Of course, most organisations aren’t close to delivering this level of personalisation in their internal communications, even if they are in their external marketing and communication techniques. But you can make a start.
We’ve run workshops with IC teams to map their most common activities, and decide which can be done by AI to improve the speed or quality of your work, and pick out where it could help with personalisation.
You also must collaborate with IT and technology stakeholders to investigate what AI capabilities your current platforms have and what personalisation you could bring in, or investigate third-party tools that could help make the most of the data you have available.
