How COVID and Trump 2.0 Have (Forever?) Changed Internal Communications
Executive Summary
Internal communications is no longer the forgotten step-child of HR teams. Today, this function is a critical corporate lever — tied to organizational performance, talent management, and culture. In this research paper, we present findings from a comprehensive survey of 508 internal communications leaders, representing leadership from across industries, geographies, and all company sizes. The work was conducted in partnership with KPSC Consulting and Censuswide.
We wanted to understand how leaders are approaching work in a post-COVID setting and amid a polarizing political environment. Consistent across our takeaways: every organization reported fundamental changes to their communication strategy since the pandemic, but it is clear we’ve yet to establish a new normal.
A macro finding: organizational leaders cannot dodge tough issues. While executives can largely pick and choose what issues to weigh in on externally, most leaders don’t have that option internally.
Key among our findings: 90% of companies surveyed say they regularly weigh in on social and political issues — and how they affect the business — with employees. Only 10% said they rarely or never address social and political issues with employees.
Top-line findings:
While companies can largely pick and choose which issues to weigh in on externally, most don’t have that option internally.
90% of companies surveyed say they now regularly (“frequently” + “occasionally”) weigh in on social and political issues with employees
Only 10% said they rarely or never address social and political issues with employees
You may be surprised by what types of leaders and companies most commonly address social and political issues…
Gen X internal communications leaders are most likely to speak up on these issues. 53% of Gen X leaders frequently speak up as compared with 40% of Millennials and 50% of Gen Z
Global companies are more likely to weigh in frequently on social/political issues (52%) vs. U.S. companies (44%)
Publicly traded companies are more likely to weigh in on political/social issues frequently (51%) vs. private (43%)
Every organization in our survey reported fundamental changes to communication strategy since the pandemic (literally 100%), but we’ve yet to establish a new normal.
48% of companies are using more channels (intranet, email, messaging apps, etc.) to reach employees
47% say company leaders are themselves more interested in communicating with employees
How the Internal Communications Function Has — and Continues — to Change
The internal communication field saw a massive shift in 2020. COVID and social upheaval changed how organizations communicated with employees. As a result, companies invested in larger internal comms functions — often pulling these teams out of HR and placing them within PR/communications organizations.
We wanted to understand how internal communications leaders are approaching their jobs — especially as the landscape has moved from communicating about disease risk to maintaining culture among distributed workforces and/or encouraging return to office policies. In 2020, companies often made bold political and social statements, and we wanted to discover if that was the case in 2025.
An Inward Shift in Political Commentary
In 2020, companies regularly issued public statements about political topics in the midst of COVID and the Black Lives Matter movement. That is no longer the case, but our research revealed that organizations are still making statements internally on social and political issues — especially when they impact the business. Ninety percent of companies surveyed say they regularly (either “frequently” or “occasionally”) weigh in on social and political issues with employees. While companies determined external communication for social issues may be optional, internal clarity around those events is not, and falls to internal communications leaders to drive.
We found an even split in how internal communications leaders approach commentary on political issues compared to the first Trump administration: 37% report reacting more proactively, while 36% claim to respond more reactively. Similarly, 35% of leaders report being “less reticent to share potentially political points of view"; an equal number feel “more reticent.”
There’s a 12 point split between global and U.S. based companies around taking political stances internally. Our research found that global companies felt comfortable weighing in on political topics 52% of the time, while U.S.-based companies only 44% of the time.
Surprisingly — given the nature of Wall Street and its tracking of companies’ ties to the Trump Administration — public companies weighed in more often than private ones (51% to 43%).
In Trump’s second term, 34% of respondents report sharing more policy positions internally compared to 28% no longer sharing such positions.
This data speaks to how internal communicators are in flux: more than five years since COVID-19 overtook our workplaces, and months into the new Trump administration, internal communicators are still trying to determine how to respond, leading to opposite reactions to the same impetus.
The New Decision Matrix
Our research and subsequent discussions with communications leaders has illuminated a new, unofficial decision-making matrix for internal communications leaders.
When asked what would prompt company leadership to communicate about a social or political issue, 50% of internal communications leaders cited potential business impact as the primary reason.
Three reasons to communicate about a social or political issue were all narrowly separated, but reflect a clear hierarchy nonetheless.
Potential impact to a company's customer base was cited as a driver of messaging 48% of the time, followed by a company leader's personal stake in the issue (46%), and, finally, an issue that affects employees.
This is not to say that companies are abandoning their employees; company culture and inclusion is still viewed as the third-most important issue for messaging, with 28% of internal communications leaders saying they prioritize those messages.
Generational Challenges
Historically, Gen X trends more cautious and less likely to engage in politics at work.
A 2024 study by ResumeHelp found that 60% of Millennial (ages 35-44) and 58% of Generation Z workers (ages 25-34) said they “sometimes” or “frequently” talk politics at work. Meanwhile, just 41% of Generation X (ages 45-54) and 40% of Baby Boomer respondents (ages 54 or older) said the same.
However our research indicates that Gen X leaders are now more likely (53%) than Millennials (40%) and Gen Z (50%) to lead internal communications teams that actively weigh in on social and political issues internally. The reason for this might be as simple as Gen X being farther along in their careers — likely more senior and more comfortable taking on controversial topics internally.
Leaders who weigh in more frequently on political issues.
COVID’s Lingering Effects
Every organization in our survey (100%!), reported fundamental changes to their communication strategy since the pandemic. With employees more distributed and some still working from home, internal communications leaders have adapted to ensure key messages reach all employees.
48% of companies are using more channels (intranet, email, messaging apps, etc.) to reach employees
47% report communicating more with employees than prior to the pandemic
47% say company leaders are more interested in communicating with employees themselves, per feedback from their internal comms leaders
And companies are increasingly providing the resources necessary to bolster their internal communications, with 46% of respondents saying that their internal communications teams are better funded and resourced than prior to the pandemic.
That commitment to internal communications is also being reflected in expenditure on additional support.
Eighty-nine percent of respondents in our survey regularly engage external agency partners for internal communications support.
Strategic Recommendations
These recommendations should not shock you, but our hope is they help guide leadership teams to position, structure, and resource your internal communications teams for the future.
Know what you stand for: Does your organization just comment on topics that directly affect the business? What if policy decisions affect employees? Or just some employees? Get clear on what your organization’s tipping points are. At Shallot, we’ve led exercises with leadership teams to identify their priority issues – and it requires leaders from across functions to come together, be realistic about the risks, and create clear lanes. It’s a messy but worthwhile process.
Know your red line for comment – and how to get there: Some topics are slow boils – at first they don’t seem to hit the mark for commenting. If your company has the right listening tools in place, those topics can reach the tipping point for a leader to weigh in. Get clear on how you’re listening, what your red line is, and how you drive alignment on what internal communication should be.
Remember: anything internal can be external: Every communications leader holds this as gospel: anything said in all-employee meetings or sent broadly has a risk of leaking.
Staff proactive teams, prepare to be reactive: We all want to get ahead of tricky topics with playbooks in place. But we also know that the political and social climate is changing at new speeds, and comms leaders have to be agile to adapt.
Track what other companies do: At Shallot, we spend ample time benchmarking for our clients – understanding what peers are up to, and what can be learned from them. There’s value in pointing to other approaches – to learn and educate executives on the broader climate.
Know your best internal spokespeople: We all know what a leader says to employees is important. Having a familiar face – not one trotted out for crises – is just as important. Know your bench and be clear on how and when you deploy each person.
Know how – and how much – you’re communicating with employees: Nearly every workplace survey finds employees (especially managers) are overwhelmed by the volume of information they have to consume. Make sure you don't over-communicate, because it can drown out content that matters. Consider an audit of current communications content and channels to ensure what you’re delivering is helping employees drive business results.
