As the Vice President of Research at Brilliant Ink, I spend a lot of time reading and sharing industry reports about employee experience, communications, work trends, you name it. The workplace is constantly changing (Captain Obvious statement of the year?) so staying on top of the latest and greatest insights is critical.   

Get your stat hat on because I’ve rounded up 23+ stats I think you should know in 2023. Give me a shout if you’ve come across any other research that’s useful, mind-blowing or just makes you pause for a moment. Numbers nerds, unite!   

TABLE OF CONTENTS

@linkList; ;Burnout, Stress and Work-Life Balance;Diversity, Equity and Inclusion;Retention & Recognition;Company Culture;Career Growth & Internal Mobility;Communications & Transparency

Burnout, Stress and Work-Life Balance  

Burnout is widely felt, and inefficient work processes aren’t helping.  

• A majority of American workers (59%) are experiencing at least moderate levels of burnout, with an increase from 52% in 2021, and levels similar to those reported in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2022-2023 Aflac WorkForces Report) 
   
• 38% of employees say that they’re at risk of potential burnout as a result of inefficient work processes. (2023 Qualtrics Employee Experience Trends Report)  

When it comes to being satisfied with work-life balance, we spy a discrepancy between leaders and individual contributors.  

• Satisfaction with work-life balance is higher for C-suite executives (84%) and Directors (77%) compared to individual contributors (67%), who fall below the global average of 71%. (2023 Qualtrics Employee Experience Trends Report) 
  

When work-life feels balanced, most employees are willing to put in some extra effort.  

• Among those who rate their work-life balance highly, 63% globally are willing to go above and beyond for their organizations. (2023 Qualtrics Employee Experience Trends Report)  
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

DEI professionals experienced higher attrition rates at organizations with layoffs.  

• At the end of 2022, the attrition rate for DEI professionals was 33% at companies that underwent layoffs, compared to a 21% attrition rate for non-DEI roles. (Revelio Labs)  

There’s much more work to be done to set processes and practices in motion that support DEI. 

• To reduce internal biases and ensure equity in employee reviews at their organizations, 53% of HR leaders indicated their companies provided manager training, 36% indicated their company is doing review calibrations, while 23% of HR leaders indicated that no formal action has been taken. (2023 Lattice State of People Strategy Report) 
   
• 51% of tech professionals feel that their company's DEI efforts need improvement and that their contribution toward these efforts is inadequate. (2023 Built In State of DEI in Tech Report)  

Retention & Recognition  

With retention a priority, some organizations are revisiting their employee value proposition (EVP), but not necessarily making active strides yet.  

• 77% of HR professionals and 62% of senior executives consider employee retention as their top priority or one of their top three priorities. (2022-2023 HR.com’s Research Institute State of Employee Retention Report)
   
• 56% of employees say their organizations have revisited their employee value proposition in 2022, with only 28% believing this work to be well under way. (2022-2023 Gallagher State of the Sector Report)
  

Employees crave recognition and pay transparency.  

• More than half (53%) of employees who left their company say they weren’t recognized for their contributions to the organization. (2023 Quantum Workplace How Not To Keep Your Best Talent Report)
   
• 67% of employees want pay transparency, while only 25% of employees know the pay band for their job level. (Lattice Survey Reveals What Employees (Really) Think About Pay) 

Company Culture  

While flexible work improves company culture for many, some leaders can’t yet get on board.  

• Flexible workers are 57% more likely to say their company culture has improved over the past two years compared with fully in-person workers. They cite flexible remote work policies as the #1 factor behind that improvement. (2023 Future Forum Pulse: Winter Snapshot)
   

• Meanwhile, 25% of executives cite “team culture is negatively impacted” as a #1 concern about offering employees more flexibility in an office. (2023 Future Forum Pulse: Winter Snapshot)  

Don’t underestimate the impact of modern technology on the employee experience.  

• Employees at companies described as "technology innovators" continue to score higher on all dimensions of employee experience compared to those at "technology laggards." (2023 Future Forum Pulse: Winter Snapshot)
  *"Technology laggard” refers to a company that generally only uses a technology after it becomes mainstream.
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• Specifically, they report 1.6x higher scores on productivity, 2x higher scores on ability to focus, 2.2x higher scores on sense of belonging, and 2.8x higher scores on overall satisfaction. (2023 Future Forum Pulse: Winter Snapshot)
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Career Growth & Internal Mobility  

People want to know about career growth! Awareness and tools for career exploration are powerful.   

• 73% of employees want to know about career opportunities within their organization. (2023 Cornerstone People Research Lab and Lighthouse Research & Advisory’s Global Talent Mobility Report)  
   
• Lack of visibility into internal career opportunities makes employees almost 3x more likely to express disinterest in other jobs within their company. (2023 Cornerstone People Research Lab and Lighthouse Research & Advisory’s Global Talent Mobility Report)    
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• Women are 50% more likely than men to say they do not have visibility into career opportunities inside their company. (2023 Cornerstone People Research Lab and Lighthouse Research & Advisory’s Global Talent Mobility Report)    
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• Employees with access to self-service technology for career mobility exploration are 50% less likely to have plans to quit their job compared to those with no visibility into career opportunities. They are also 2.5x more likely to say their company is headed in a positive direction. (2023 Cornerstone People Research Lab and Lighthouse Research & Advisory’s Global Talent Mobility Report)  
  *“Self-service technology” examples mentioned in the report include – but are not limited to – a talent marketplace, internal job board and career pathing tool.
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• Only 35% of HR leaders reported that their organization has growth paths that employees understand, while 33% stated that growth paths exist but employees do not understand them. (2023 Lattice State of People Strategy Report)   

Communications & Transparency 

Transparency has far-reaching impacts – but there’s some misalignment among leaders and employees on what transparency looks like.  

• Employees who perceive their companies to be transparent have 8.8x greater job satisfaction than employees who do not perceive their companies to be transparent. (2023 Future Forum Pulse: Winter Snapshot) 
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• While 73% of leaders believe they are being "very transparent," only 41% of employees agree. (2023 Future Forum Pulse: Winter Snapshot) 
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• While 77% of leaders believe the communications they share have the context employees need to do their jobs well, only 46% of employees agree. (2023 Axios State of Essential Workplace Communications Report)   
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• While 70% of leaders think their staff and stakeholders can quickly find the organizational goals, strategies or directives they need, only 46% of employees agree. (2023 Axios State of Essential Workplace Communications Report)    

From fostering culture and belonging to providing strategic alignment, the role of internal communication continues to be invaluable (IMHO). 

‍Internal communicators, HR professionals and leaders ranked the purpose of internal communication at their organization as follows (2022-2023 Gallagher State of the Sector Report):  

• 74%: Creating an inclusive workplace where employees feel valued and energized (culture and belonging)
• 67%: Creating clarity around company strategy and creating a sense of ownership (strategic alignment) among respondents from companies of 5k+ employees, this takes top priority!  
• 47%: Supporting the adoption of new behaviors, systems and processes (organizational agility) 
• 29%: Managing specific risks, e.g. cybersecurity, health and safety, ethical conduct (risks) 
• 25%: Empowering employees to deliver the best possible service (customer experience) 
• 22%: Demonstrating what people “get” in return for working for them (talent retention) 
• 15%: Encouraging your employees to promote your brand, services and products (employee advocacy) 

Need Some More Inspiration? 

If you’re still reading, I suspect you’re a fellow numbers nerd. Yay! I think you might be interested in some of our other data-y and numbers-related resources.

As we like to say, communicators make the best data storytellers because they know how to distill complex information for a general audience—all while wrapping it up in a captivating, persuasive story. So, dive in below and reach out if you need a hand!  

• ‍Numbers to Narratives: Using Communications Data to Make a Business Case: Learn how to craft data-backed business cases that will make your stakeholders take notice.  
• Numbers to Stories: Data Visualization for Internal Communications: A useful toolkit with a batch of best practices (and free templates!) for the most effective way to share your data story.   ‍ 
• The Internal Communications Data Storytelling Guide: Chock-full of how-to tidbits and practical tips to get you started on your data journey.   
• The Internal Communications Salary Report 2022: Whether you’re looking to negotiate a salary increase or advocate for more people or resources for your team, you’re bound to find insights and benchmarks to illuminate your way in this report we developed with Staffbase.  
• ‍10 Resources for Measuring Internal Comms Your Way: A handy guide to help you assess and measure your internal communications; make a business case for your intranet, comms plan, and more; track your day-to-day communications and their effectiveness; and ways to keep measurement top of mind.  

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