Why Employees Don’t Read Your Internal Comms (And What To Do About It)

Let’s start with a difficult truth: Your employees are not sitting at their desks eagerly awaiting the next internal email from “Corporate Communications”.

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I very much doubt they’re refreshing the intranet homepage in case a new policy update has dropped.

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And they are definitely not cancelling meetings or delaying their trip to Pret (oooh, fancy!) because the quarterly leadership newsletter just landed.

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In fact, there’s a very good chance that a large chunk of the lovingly crafted message you spent three hours perfecting is currently sitting unopened, somewhere between a calendar invite titled “Quick Catch-Up” and another message from IT asking everyone to ceremoniously burn their USB sticks.

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And this isn’t just a feeling. The data backs it up. According to PoliteMail’s internal email benchmark report, the average internal email open rate sits at around 64%, meaning more than one in three employees don’t even click on the message at all.

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Which raises a fairly awkward question for the profession. If people aren’t reading our communications… what exactly are we communicating?

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The uncomfortable reality: attention is the scarcest resource in your organisation

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Employees today are drowning in information. Between email, Teams, Slack, project tools, HR updates, policy changes, leadership announcements, wellbeing initiatives, training reminders, and the occasional “fun Friday quiz” (or do I mean “fun” Friday quiz?), it’s amazing anyone gets any actual work done.

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According to the same research linked above, on average, employees receive around 16 corporate emails per month, containing roughly 170 links and taking around 52 minutes to read in total.

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That’s nearly an hour of reading before you even start your real job.

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So, when employees ignore internal comms, it’s rarely because they’re lazy or disengaged. It’s because they’re overwhelmed. And when everything feels important, nothing feels important.

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The leadership perception gap (or: “But we communicated that!”)

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Here’s another fun little reality check.

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Leaders generally believe their communication is excellent.

Employees are… erm, let’s be generous here… less convinced.

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Research from Axios HQ found that 80% of leaders believe their internal communications are clear and engaging, while only about 50% of employees agree.

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That gap is where confusion, frustration and endless “just checking you saw this…” messages live.

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It’s also where internal comms teams end up stuck in the middle, gently explaining that sending more emails rarely solves the problem caused by sending too many emails.

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So why aren’t people reading?

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There isn’t one single culprit. There’s usually a cocktail of familiar problems.

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First, relevance. If employees can’t quickly see how a message relates to their work, they’ll skip it. Not maliciously. Just pragmatically. Wouldn’t you? Don’t you?

Second, timing. A brilliant message sent at the wrong moment (say, during the busiest operational period of the week) will disappear into the digital void.

Third, tone. Corporate speak has a unique ability to make even exciting news sound like a tax audit.

And finally, channel overload. Many organisations now have so many internal channels that employees need a map and a packed lunch just to figure out where updates live. Scotch egg on the way to the new benefits details, anyone?

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None of these issues are particularly dramatic. But together they create a perfect storm where even genuinely important messages struggle to break through.

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The cost of ineffective communication

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This isn’t just a mild irritation for comms professionals. Poor internal communication has real organisational consequences.

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That same Axios research suggests ineffective communication costs businesses enormous amounts in wasted time and lost productivity, while also contributing to lower morale and higher turnover.

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And when communication works well, the opposite is true. Organisations with strong internal communication practices see significantly higher engagement levels and lower employee turnover.

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In other words, internal comms isn’t just a “nice to have”. It’s the operating system of the workplace.

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The fix isn’t louder comms, it’s smarter comms

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The natural reaction when messages aren’t landing is to send more of them.

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More reminders.
More updates.
More nudges.

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Unfortunately, that tends to make the problem worse.

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The organisations doing internal comms well in 2026 are focusing on a few key shifts.

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They prioritise clarity over volume.
They segment audiences properly rather than blasting “all staff” with everything.
They design messages around what employees actually need to know, rather than what leadership wants to say.

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And crucially, they recognise that internal comms is not just about distributing information. It’s about helping people do their jobs.

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When communication answers real workplace questions - What’s changing? Why does it matter? What do I need to do differently? - engagement increases almost immediately.

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This is where strategy matters

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One of the biggest reasons internal comms becomes noise is the absence of a clear strategy.

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In fact, studies suggest around 60% of companies don’t have a long-term internal communications strategy in place.

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Without a strategy, communication becomes reactive. Messages pile up, channels multiply, and employees end up navigating a maze of updates without a clear sense of priority.

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A proper comms health check is often the first step in untangling this mess. It helps organisations identify what’s working, what’s being ignored, and where employees are genuinely getting their information.

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From there, a clear comms strategy and campaign approach can transform the way information flows across the organisation.

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The secret weapon: making communication human again

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The most effective internal communications share a surprisingly simple trait: they sound like they were written by a human.

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Not a committee.
Not a policy document.
Not an AI that’s been asked to “make this sound professional”.

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Employees respond to clarity, personality and honesty far more than corporate polish.

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This is one of the reasons video has become such a powerful tool in internal communication. Seeing and hearing leaders explain things directly builds connection and understanding in a way written updates struggle to replicate.

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When used well, video creation and campaign-style messaging can cut through the noise and make complex updates feel accessible.

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The bottom line

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Employees ignoring internal comms is not a sign that internal comms is failing. It’s usually a sign that the system around it needs fixing.

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When messages are clear, relevant and well-timed, people pay attention. When communication helps them do their jobs better, they actively seek it out.

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Internal comms teams can’t compete with inbox overload by shouting louder. But they can win by being smarter.

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And if your organisation is starting to suspect that its communication ecosystem has become… let’s say a bit chaotic, that’s exactly the kind of thing a comms health check, strategy refresh, or targeted comms campaign can help solve.

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Because when communication works, everything else gets easier.

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And when it doesn’t… well, at least the “mark as read” button is getting a good workout.

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