This is against a backdrop of recent surveys showing a rise in ‘quiet quitting’, when an employee feels disconnected from the workplace and quits the idea of going above and beyond; as a trend, it's very much alive and rising.  

So what can businesses do to affect cultural transformation and effectively engage cross-generational internal audiences?    

“Understanding audience preferences and motivational needs are crucial for organisations to foster effective communication and to successfully engage with every generation”, said Andy Whitmore from 438. “There is a necessity for a deeper understanding of the youngest generation's digital prowess and desire for meaningful interactions, as a benchmark to tap into non-traditional employee engagement techniques and be inclusive to all. This is always our starting point when approaching a new brief.  

“And of course, the problem isn’t the so called ‘new norm’ of remote or hybrid working - thousands of businesses have long had non-desk-based colleagues and have operated permanent remote working. It’s that ‘traditional’ internal comms methods don’t really work – regardless of whether there are more people working remotely or not. Boring corporate circulars just don’t cut it any more, nor clunky internal intranets. 

“Overall, to create effective employee engagement, it’s about creating change that matters; building culture by exploring new ways to reach and engage a diverse workforce, and leveraging relevant communication avenues that audiences actually connect with.

“Using our work with PepsiCo’s global Insights team as an example, by giving its campaign a voice as well as an innovative channel strategy we enabled PepsiCo’s message to break through and increase engagement in ways never seen before.  

“Consumer insights are vital for shaping PepsiCo’s future but with its global Insights team spanning the world, working as one was becoming harder. Our challenge was to create a sense of unity globally to unlock its potential. We brought our theme of ‘Connection’ to life – between colleagues, teams, and consumers. From virtual festivals and social campaigns, to competitions and awards, the campaign proved the power that comes from a culture of connection. The campaign immediately drove a 52% increase in Town Hall attendance and a 19.4% YOY increase in attendees to its Connections Week.  

“An inclusive platform that encourages networking across teams and departments, facilitating cross-functional collaboration and knowledge exchange, is another way that organisations can make remote working more effective and enjoyable. With PepsiCo we also helped to promote its internal AI platform Ada to its global workforce. Ada is an online knowledge and collaboration hub bringing together information from different sectors, teams, and business units. But game-changing tools like Ada can only change the game if used. So, using the platform’s first birthday as a hook we activated an integrated campaign rewarding teams for interacting with Ada, which drove a 98 percent increase in total logins and a 78% increase in unique users.

“This reinforces the impact that having a fit for purpose intranet is vital in fostering greater collaboration and knowledge share - that provides intuitive designs, personalised content, and robust search capabilities to enhance internal communication, but that ensuring that employees are motivated to use the platform paramount in its success.  

“As generations embrace AI, this too can be applied to personalised learning through AI powered learning programmes. Gen Z in particular have become accustomed to personalisation in most areas of their lives, and expect their learning and development to now be customised to individual preferences, recommending relevant learning materials, articles, and workshops based on their interests and career goals. This tailored approach empowers employees to take charge of their professional growth and development, fostering a culture of continuous learning.

 Encouraging the use of platforms that facilitate two-way communication, such as chat forums, social intranets, or internal social media groups, to foster engagement and collaboration to meet today’s employees’ expectations is also important. Organisations should consider integrating more efficient messaging tools or project management platforms to streamline communication and keep employees engaged, and explore alternative ways to disseminate information that aligns with Gen Z's preference for direct and meaningful communication.

A real-time feedback system that encourages open communication and transparency can not only enable organisation to continuously improve its policies, programmes, and work environment, but will help to achieve a truly inclusive and supportive culture.

And finally, engagement within the workplace is also about entertainment as well as creativity, integrated with the audience’s affinity for technology.  Employing innovative creative techniques such as gamification is making engagement effortless and enjoyable as well as promote collaboration and socialisation.