Glossary of Internal Communications Terms

30-60-90 Day Plan

A 30-60-90 day plan is a structured outline for a new employee's initial three months in a role to drive effective onboarding and performance.

Activation Campaign

Activity Heatmap

Adoption Campaign

AI Internal Communications

AI internal communications use artificial intelligence to draft, personalize, design, and optimize employee messages. AI generates on-brand copy and visuals from a brief, adapts tone per audience, suggests send times, and surfaces engagement insights, letting small comms teams produce more high-quality content faster.

AI-Powered Internal Communications

All-Hands Meeting

An all-hands meeting is a regular, company-wide gathering where all employees can hear updates from leadership and ask questions.

Alumni Brand Ambassador

Alumni Brand Ambassadors play a crucial role in bridging the gap between the institution and its graduates, offering firsthand insights and authentic endorsements.

Always-On Comms

Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

An ATS is software that automates and simplifies every stage of the hiring process.

Assimilation Survey

An assimilation survey serves as a pivotal instrument in gauging the extent to which individuals or groups integrate into a new cultural or social milieu.

Automated Employee Onboarding

Automated employee onboarding is the use of technology to streamline and enhance the process of integrating new hires into an organization.

Automated Recognition

Behavioural Segmentation

Behavioural Trigger

Belonging Index

The Belonging Index is a tool designed to quantify individuals' feelings of inclusion and acceptance within a group or organization.

Bottom-Up Communication

Brand-to-Employee (B2E) Marketing

Buddy Program

An employee buddy program onboarding pairs new hires with current employees to ease the transition and enhance integration.

Buddy Program

A buddy program pairs a newcomer with an experienced colleague, known as a "buddy," to facilitate smooth integration into the workplace.

Candidate Experience

Simply put, candidate experience encompasses the perceptions and feelings a job applicant has throughout their interaction with a company during the hiring process.

Cascade Communication

Cascade communication is a structured process where messages flow from upper management down through various layers of an organization to ensure everyone receives the same information.

Cascading Communications

Cascading communications strategy involves disseminating key messages from top leadership down through each management level.

Change Communication

Change communication involves effectively conveying organizational changes to employees, ensuring understanding and support.

Change Fatigue

Change Management

Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state.

Change Management Communications

Change management communications are the planned messages that guide employees through organizational change — reorgs, mergers, system rollouts, return-to-office. Done well, they reduce uncertainty and resistance by explaining what's changing, why, and what's expected, delivered consistently across channels and repeated over time.

Channel Mix

Check-in Culture

At its core, check-in culture revolves around regular, structured conversations between team members to foster communication, trust, and growth. These check-ins can range from brief daily updates to more in-depth weekly or monthly sessions.

Comms Calendar

A comms calendar, or communications calendar, is the answer. Think of it as a detailed planner for all communication activities within an organization.

Comms Orchestration

Comms orchestration is the coordination of employee messages across multiple channels and over time so the right audience gets the right message in the right format. Instead of separate email, Slack, and SMS sends, one campaign is orchestrated to each channel with timing, sequencing, and measurement handled centrally.

Communication Channel Mix

A Communication Channel Mix refers to the strategic selection and use of various channels to efficiently convey messages to employees.

Communication Experience Platform (CXP)

Connecteam

Content Governance Board

Continuous Listening

Crisis Communication

Crisis communication involves the dissemination of information by an organization during an unexpected event to manage internal and external perceptions.

Cultural Ambassador

Cultural Ambassadors act as representatives of their culture, fostering mutual understanding and appreciation between diverse groups.

Cultural Moments Calendar

Culture Code

Culture Deck

A culture deck is a presentation that outlines a company's ethos, values, mission, and vision. It's a tool used to align employees with the company's goals and to attract like-minded talent.

Deskless Workforce

Deskless Workforce Communications

Deskless workforce communications reach the roughly 80% of global workers who don't work at a computer — frontline staff in retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. Because these employees rarely have corporate email, effective programs rely on SMS, mobile apps, digital signage, and printed formats instead.

Digital Employee Experience (DEX)

Digital Employee Handbook

Digital Signage Network

Digital Townhall

Essentially, a digital townhall is a virtual gathering that allows organizations to communicate directly with their stakeholders, employees, or the public.

Digital Workplace Ecosystem

Discretionary Effort

Discretionary effort in HR refers to the level of effort employees are willing to expend beyond the minimum required tasks.

Echo Chamber Risk

Email Open Rate (Internal)

Internal email open rate is the percentage of employees who open a company email, calculated as unique opens divided by emails delivered. It is the baseline metric for internal communications effectiveness: low rates signal message fatigue or poor targeting, and benchmarking against past sends shows whether comms are improving.

Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy refers to the promotion of an organization by its staff members who share their positive experiences and endorse the company’s values, culture, and products.

Employee Advocacy Platform

Employee App

Employee Appreciation Gifts

Employee appreciation gifts are a thoughtful way to express gratitude to your staff. These gifts can range from personalized items to experiences that make employees feel valued and motivated. The ultimate goal is to boost morale and foster a positive work environment.

Employee Autonomy

Employee autonomy is the degree of freedom and independence employees have in their jobs to make decisions and manage their work process.

Employee Belonging

Employee belonging is the feeling employees have of being an integral part of their workplace community.

Employee Commitment

Employee commitment refers to the level of dedication and loyalty employees feel towards their organization and its goals.

Employee Communications Software

Employee communications software is a platform HR and internal comms teams use to create, send, and measure messages to employees across email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, SMS, and other channels. It replaces one-off emails with segmented, scheduled, and measurable campaigns, similar to how marketing automation works for customers.

Employee Empowerment

Employee empowerment refers to giving employees the authority, tools, and skills to make decisions and contribute meaningfully to the organization.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment employees feel toward their organization and its goals. Engaged employees contribute discretionary effort, stay longer, and perform better. Companies influence engagement through clear communication, recognition, and growth opportunities, and measure it with engagement surveys, eNPS, and engagement scores.

Employee Engagement Platform

Employee Engagement Platform

An employee engagement platform is software that measures and improves how connected employees feel to their work and company. It typically combines pulse surveys, recognition, communications, and analytics, so HR teams can diagnose engagement gaps and act on them in the same system rather than just reporting scores.

Employee Engagement Score

Employee engagement score is a metric that quantifies the level of employee engagement within an organization.

Employee Engagement Survey

An employee engagement survey is a tool used to measure and improve workforce sentiment and productivity.

Employee Experience Analytics

Employee Experience Architecture

Employee Experience Design (EXD)

Employee Experience Management (EEM)

Employee Experience Platform

An employee experience platform (EXP) unifies the tools that shape an employee's day-to-day relationship with their employer — communications, recognition, surveys, onboarding journeys, and analytics — into one system. It aims to make work feel coherent and connected rather than scattered across disconnected HR tools.

Employee Experience Platform (EXP)

Employee Experience Score (EXS)

Employee Experience Survey

Employee Loyalty

Employee loyalty definition: a commitment from employees to remain with their organization over time due to positive relationships and shared goals.

Employee Morale

Employee morale refers to the overall outlook, attitude, satisfaction, and confidence that employees feel at work.

Employee Motivation

Employee motivation refers to the level of energy, commitment, and innovation that an employee brings to the workplace.

Employee Net Promoter Score

Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) measures employee loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend their workplace to others.

Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

eNPS is a simple yet effective tool used by organizations to gauge employee loyalty and engagement.

Employee Newsletter Software

Employee newsletter software helps internal teams design, send, and measure branded internal newsletters without a designer or developer. It offers templates, drag-and-drop building, and engagement analytics like open and click rates, turning the company newsletter from a manual chore into a measurable channel.

Employee of the Month

The "Employee of the Month" program recognizes outstanding workplace contributions, boosting morale and motivation.

Employee Onboarding

Employee onboarding is the structured process of integrating new hires into an organization, from offer acceptance through full productivity. It spans preboarding, orientation, training, and regular check-ins. Organizations with strong onboarding improve new-hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%, making it one of HR's highest-leverage programs.

Employee Recognition

Employee Recognition Program

An employee recognition program is a structured system for acknowledging employee contributions through praise, awards, milestone celebrations, and incentives. Effective programs combine peer-to-peer and manager recognition, automate moments like work anniversaries, and reduce turnover by consistently reinforcing behaviors aligned with company values.

Employee Relations

Employee relations involves the efforts companies make to manage relationships between employers and employees, with the goal of creating a harmonious and productive workplace.

Employee Satisfaction

Employee satisfaction refers to how content and fulfilled employees are with their job and work environment.

Employee Sentiment Analysis

Employee Socialization

Employee socialization onboarding integrates new hires into the company culture and their roles, enhancing engagement and performance.

Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

In essence, an EVP is a unique set of offerings, associations, and values that an employer provides to its employees in return for their skills, capabilities, and experiences. It's what makes your company stand out as an employer of choice.

Employer Brand Sentiment

Employer brand sentiment is essentially the perception and emotions that current, former, and potential employees associate with your organization.

Engagement Benchmarking

Engagement Journey

Engagement Scoring Model

eNPS

eNPS, or Employee Net Promoter Score, measures employee loyalty and satisfaction within an organization.

Enterprise Social Network (ESN)

Everboarding

Everboarding is a modern approach to employee development.

Executive Communication

Executive communication to employees connects top management with their teams, facilitating information flow and aligning company objectives.

Experience Gap

Experiential Onboarding

Feedback Loop Mechanism

Firstup