Fresh off Frequency’s live episode at Unite in Nashville, Chuck Gose and Jenni Field dig into new Workvivo research showing 92% of internal comms professionals can’t prove ROI, Mike Klein’s case for shifting from “engaged” to “effective,” a Dewpoint Communications report on frontline worker communication gaps, and a LinkedIn challenge to the idea of “best places to work.”
Discussing the new Workvivo by Zoom global survey of over 5,200 internal comms leaders, Chuck and Jenni unpack the striking gap between comms teams’ resources and support (84% report sufficient budget, 78% feel viewed as strategic) and their inability to demonstrate measurable impact — with 46% saying their reporting doesn’t resonate with executives and only 36% reporting “very high” employee engagement with internal comms itself. Jenni questions whether this specific data, showing such strong executive buy-in already, changes how urgently comms teams actually need to solve the ROI problem.
Jenni pushes back on Mike Klein’s Strategic magazine piece arguing internal comms should abandon its focus on “engagement” in favor of “effective discretion” — giving employees the context and clarity to make better decisions rather than trying to boost how they feel about work. She argues the piece mischaracterizes Gallup’s original engagement research as promising guaranteed productivity gains, when Gallup has always framed engagement as one contributing factor among several, and that treating engagement and effectiveness as opposites misses that disengaged people rarely make good decisions in the first place.
A report from Dewpoint Communications, “Connecting the Frontline,” surveying communications leaders across the US and Canada, finds persistent, significant communication gaps affecting frontline workers specifically — gaps that translate directly into retention problems. Chuck and Jenni discuss why frontline communication keeps lagging despite years of industry attention, and what measurably moves the needle for companies that get it right.
Closing on a LinkedIn post by Benjamin Ellis questioning the appeal of “best places to work” lists, Chuck and Jenni discuss the gap between what such recognition promises and what employees on the ground actually experience, and the distinction between what an organization says about its culture and what employees genuinely feel.
Why do 92% of internal comms professionals struggle to prove ROI, despite strong executive support? A Workvivo by Zoom global survey of over 5,200 IC leaders finds 84% report sufficient budget and 78% feel viewed as strategic, yet 46% say their reporting doesn’t resonate with executives and only 36% report “very high” employee engagement with internal comms itself — Jenni questions whether such strong existing executive buy-in changes how urgently comms teams actually need to solve the ROI problem.
Should internal comms shift its focus from “engagement” to “effectiveness”? Jenni pushes back on this framing — Mike Klein’s Strategic magazine piece argues comms should abandon “engagement” for “effective discretion,” but Jenni says it mischaracterizes Gallup’s original research (which never promised guaranteed productivity gains) and that treating engagement and effectiveness as opposites misses that disengaged people rarely make good decisions in the first place.
What do communication gaps for frontline workers actually cost organizations? Persistent, significant communication gaps translate directly into retention problems, according to Dewpoint Communications’ “Connecting the Frontline” report — Chuck and Jenni discuss why frontline communication keeps lagging despite years of industry attention, and what measurably moves the needle for companies that get it right.
Does being named a “best place to work” actually match what employees experience? Not always, according to a LinkedIn post by Benjamin Ellis that Chuck and Jenni discuss — there’s often a real gap between what such recognition promises and what employees on the ground actually experience, and between what an organization says about its culture and what employees genuinely feel.
Jenni: Welcome to Frequency, I’m Jenni Field.
Chuck: And I’m Chuck Gose. Frequency is your go-to for real talk about comms, culture, and employee experience — beyond the buzzwords and straight to what matters. Jenni, we’re recording today after spending time together in Nashville at Unilever’s Unite event. We’d been talking about it on the podcast for a while — recording our first live episode there. If you were in the room or watched the broadcast, hope you enjoyed it; if you missed both, we’ll get the recording published here too. What was your big takeaway from your first trip to Nashville?
Jenni: Honestly, the variety of what there is to do — everyone assumes it’s just bourbon and honky-tonks, which is a big part of it, but exploring the city, finding brunch spots, walking through the parks and history, the Southern hospitality really came through. I had the best time.
Chuck: I always compare Nashville to New Orleans or Vegas in terms of having its own totally unique feel — every city is its own thing, but Nashville really stands apart. Glad you got to experience that, and it was great recording that episode together in person. While I was there, I kept telling people I had to get back Wednesday night because my wife and I were flying to Vegas the next day for an early 50th birthday celebration — I thought it’d just be the two of us, but it turned out a lot of friends from the comms community showed up too, which genuinely surprised me even though I did the same thing for her birthday a couple years ago.
Jenni: That sounds like such good fun — and I love that you’re stretching your 50th out properly. I did a whole year for my 40th, so I fully support this approach.
Chuck: It was our last pool weekend of the season in Vegas, and we got some good pool time in, which isn’t guaranteed in October. We were there Thursday to Tuesday, so we had time to check out some new spots along with our usual ones. Genuinely amazing weekend with friends. But let’s get into this week’s content — what have you picked?
Jenni: A nice selection today — a couple of research reports, one specifically about frontline workers, an article from Mike Klein on the pivot from “engaged” to “effective,” and a piece from Benjamin Ellis, who I’ve worked with for years, challenging the appeal of being named a “best place to work.” Let’s start with research from Workvivo, surveying around 5,000 leaders on internal comms from an ROI perspective — a big topic: value, impact, return on investment. Their headline finding: 92% of internal communications professionals say they can’t prove ROI, 46% say their metrics don’t resonate with leadership, and just 36% report “very high” employee engagement with internal communications itself. What’s notable is that 84% report sufficient budget and 78% feel viewed as strategic by the C-suite — this feels like very different research than what we’ve seen before. If comms already has budget and executive buy-in, does proving ROI still matter as much?
Chuck: I think it matters more, not less, precisely because of that gap — if you already have the trust and the budget, failing to eventually prove impact is what erodes both over time. Executives extending goodwill without seeing results eventually start asking harder questions, and comms teams need an answer ready before that happens, not after.
Jenni: I agree it’s not sustainable long-term — Steven Buck’s quote in the report nails it: executives already believe in comms’ strategic importance, but most professionals still can’t show the ROI to back that belief up. The real fix, as the report suggests, is linking communication directly to outcomes like retention, productivity, and trust rather than vanity metrics like opens and clicks.
Chuck: Next, Mike Klein’s piece in Strategic arguing we should pivot from “engaged” to “effective” — his argument being that with AI automating routine tasks, judgment becomes what’s valuable, not effort, and that internal comms has long pushed “discretionary effort” through engagement rather than giving people the context and clarity to make better decisions themselves. What’s your read?
Jenni: I think Mike’s making a genuinely useful point about judgment mattering more as AI takes on routine tasks, but I think the piece mischaracterizes Gallup’s original research by implying Gallup promised that higher engagement automatically leads to productivity and profit. From what I’ve read, Gallup has always presented engagement as one contributing factor among several — culture, leadership, process — not a guarantee on its own. I also don’t think framing engagement and effectiveness as opposites is helpful; people who feel disengaged rarely make good decisions in the first place, so the two reinforce each other rather than competing. I’m also not convinced all comms people are actually measured by engagement the way this piece assumes, so I’m not sure the framing lands the way Mike intends.
Chuck: I think that’s a fair critique — the piece sets up a cleaner opposition than reality probably supports, even if the underlying point about judgment mattering more is worth taking seriously.
Chuck: Let’s talk frontline workers — Dewpoint Communications has a new report, “Connecting the Frontline,” surveying communications leaders across the US and Canada, finding persistent, significant gaps in frontline worker communication that directly affect retention. This is a theme we keep returning to — why does this gap keep persisting despite so much industry attention on it?
Jenni: I think it’s persisted because frontline communication requires genuinely different channels, timing, and formats than desk-based comms, and a lot of organizations still default to whatever’s easiest to build centrally rather than what actually reaches frontline employees where they are. The retention data is the part that should finally force real investment — this isn’t an abstract nice-to-have, it’s measurably tied to whether people stay.
Chuck: Agreed — and I think it circles back to something we’ve said before: frontline communication done well isn’t cheap or effortless, but companies that do invest properly are seeing it pay off in retention specifically, which is exactly the kind of hard business outcome the ROI report earlier said comms needs to be pointing to.
Chuck: Last one — Benjamin Ellis on LinkedIn asking whether we actually want to work at one of the “best places to work.” What’s his challenge?
Jenni: Ben’s point is that “best places to work” recognition often creates expectations that don’t match what employees genuinely experience day to day — there’s a real gap between what an organization says about its culture in an award submission and what people actually feel inside it. It resonates with something I think about a lot: the difference between “say” and “feel” in workplace culture. An award can be genuinely earned and still not reflect every individual’s actual daily experience.
Chuck: That’s such an important distinction — recognition like this can be a great marketing and recruitment tool while still setting up new hires for disappointment if the internal reality doesn’t match the external story being told.
Jenni: Exactly, and I think comms has a role in making sure that gap between “say” and “feel” doesn’t get too wide, rather than just amplifying an award without examining whether it holds up internally.
Chuck: That wraps this week’s stories. What’s your freak-out?
Jenni: Honestly, still riding the high from Nashville — genuinely can’t stop thinking about how much I loved that city.
Chuck: Same, and my early 50th in Vegas — still can’t believe how many people showed up. Thank you all for joining us this week. All the articles that inspired this conversation are in the show notes — rate and review after you’ve listened, subscribe so you don’t miss an episode, and pass this along to someone who’d enjoy it; find us on YouTube too. Thank you to Poet Ali for contributing the music to the show, and we’ll be back next week with more news, insights and opinions about comms and leadership in workplaces today. Keep tuning in and turning up.
Chuck is a US-based internal communications strategist and the founder of ICology – a community and resource hub for IC professionals. He brings a practitioner lens to every conversation. Chuck is a recognised voice in the industry, a regular speaker and event host, and one of the most connected people in the North American IC world.
Jenni is a UK-based leadership and internal communications consultant, author of two best-selling books, and international speaker. She runs Redefining Communications, a consultancy working with organisations around the world to help them communicate better and close the gap between what leaders say and what employees experience.
