The State of Workforce Communication
63% of workers feel pressured to 'make it work' with tools not built for them. Closing that gap is where real productivity, safety, and compliance get unlocked. Read this report to find out how.
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DownloadA global Vanson Bourne survey of 2,000 IT leaders, desk workers, and frontline employees reveals a widening gap between where organizations invest and how their people work, and why closing it is business critical.
2,000 | 5 | 3 | 6+ |
Investment and reality have quietly come apart
Organizations have invested heavily in communication tools, but for most workers, especially those without a desk to return to, those tools fall short at the moments that matter most. The result is a measurable gap between what IT intends and what employees actually experience.
93% of IT leaders call | 34% of workers say those same tools are highly effective |
What the State of Workforce Communications report answers
The complete findings dig into where the gap is widest, and what to do about it.
| Which industries feel the gap most | How the disconnect between IT investment and daily reality plays out differently by role, region, and sector. |
| What fragmented tools cost the frontline | How tool overload translates into measurable service, safety, and productivity impact for operational workers. |
| Why shadow AI is outpacing policy | What's driving workers to unapproved tools, and the risks IT leaders say it's already creating. |
| The channel workers trust when it counts | Which communication mode wins in high-stakes moments, and why, across every generation. |
| A blueprint for closing the gap | The infrastructure model IT leaders are converging on to deliver both control and a better worker experience. |
“The challenge is not a lack of technology, but a lack of alignment with the realities of work. Control and employee experience are not competing priorities; they are deeply interconnected. Closing the experience gap is now essential to ensuring communication investments translate into real-world performance.”
— Eric Hanson, CMO, Mitel
See How Your Industry and Region Compare
IT leaders and their workers were asked the same questions and gave different answers. How different depends on where you are and what you do. Our Workforce Explorer cuts the results into a live snapshot. Filter it to your region, sector, and company size and the split moves. The full report explains why.
About Vanson Bourne
Vanson Bourne is an independent specialist in market research for the technology sector. Their reputation for robust and credible research-based analysis is founded upon rigorous research principles and their ability to seek the opinions of senior decision makers across technical and business functions, in all business sectors and all major markets. For more information, visit www.vansonbourne.com.
Survey conducted on behalf of Mitel across the US, Canada, UK, Germany, and France among IT decision makers, desk workers, and frontline workers at organizations with 500+ employees.
Vanson Bourne, 2026, The State of Workforce Communication.