What happened
Gallagher's 2026 Employee Communications Report found that change management is now the communications skill most valued by industry and HR teams. Yet 61 per cent of companies have no formal approach to change communication, as reported by Talent Canada.
The report draws on more than 1,300 communications and HR professionals in 40 countries. Of those, 83 per cent say information overload is a growing problem. Gallagher links high message volume to a 30 per cent rise in leader trust risk and a 24 per cent rise in burnout risk.
Resources are thin. 69 per cent of firms have fewer than six people in a communications role, whether they have 500 employees or 50,000. One in five has less than $20,000 for internal communications, and one in three has no budget at all. Only 15 per cent have an active, socialized employee value proposition (EVP), and 37 per cent have none. Desk-based organizations are three times more likely than mainly frontline ones to have a well-understood EVP. On AI, 75 per cent describe their maturity as ad hoc or discussion only.
Why it matters if you are hiring
An EVP is what you say to a candidate when they ask why they should join you. If most employers cannot state theirs clearly, an employer who can has an edge in any tight market. That matters most for frontline and plant roles, where the report shows the EVP is least likely to land.
The resourcing numbers also point to a hiring decision. Small HR and communications teams are being asked to run change programs, roll out AI tools and keep people engaged. If you are adding a communications, HR business partner or change role, define the job around change communication, not just newsletters and announcements.
For frontline employers, the report says in-person town halls work best. That puts supervisors and team leads at the centre of how change is explained. Hiring and training them for that skill is a retention matter, not a soft extra.
The report does not say how these figures break down for Canada alone, so treat them as global signals.
One thing to do this week
Write your EVP in five sentences and test it with three recent hires. Ask them which parts matched their experience. Then put the confirmed version into your next job posting and your next frontline team meeting.
Traverse helps employers across Canada and the US find operations, HR-adjacent and frontline leadership talent who can carry a message as well as run a team.