The digital workplace shift no one is talking about

From culture and connection to operational impact

We are well over halfway through a decade that has seen one of the biggest shifts in the way we work.

Remote and hybrid working became normal almost overnight. Organisations had to think more seriously about the digital employee experience. Then came the long overdue realisation that it could not be designed only for people sitting behind a desk. Frontline and desk-less employees needed access to company news, their leaders and each other too.

Working in employee experience technology since the turn of the decade, I have seen the conversation change dramatically.

At first, it was: “We need something that helps our employees communicate.”

Then came: “Why did we buy this in the first place?”

Now, in 2026, digital workplace strategy is moving into a new phase. Organisations are looking beyond communication, culture and connection towards a more operational digital employee experience: one that makes information easier to find, reduces friction and helps employees get work done.

“Get us something that helps people communicate”

Between 2020 and 2023, organisations had to move quickly.

McKinsey found that Covid accelerated the digitisation of companies’ interactions and internal operations by three to four years. For remote working, businesses moved around 40 times faster than they thought possible before the pandemic.

That urgency carried into employee communications.

Large organisations could no longer ignore how difficult it was to reach the people keeping hospitals, shops, factories, care services and transport networks running.

In 2022, Microsoft reported that 63% of frontline workers said messages from leadership did not reach them. Over the same period, monthly Microsoft Teams usage among frontline workers had grown by 400%.

The need was real, and the response was rapid.

Platforms such as Workplace from Meta (RIP), Yammer (now Microsoft Viva Engage), Workvivo and Blink offered a way to reach employees historically underserved by workplace technology.

Dare I say it, some of these decisions were almost impulse buys.

That is not necessarily a criticism. Organisations were responding to an immediate problem. They needed something quickly.

Culture led the conversation

The business case was largely built around culture, connection and engagement.

How do we keep remote workers connected? How do we help frontline employees feel part of the organisation? How do leaders reach everybody?

These projects were often led by Communications and HR because employee connection had suddenly become business critical.

My career in business development has been entirely within employee experience technology, across internal communications and frontline learning. I was selling then; now I see the market from the advisory side.

Culture and connection resonated with leaders and helped projects gain support. For many organisations, they were enough to get the deal through.

Then the questions changed

Years later, the context is very different.

The pandemic urgency has gone. Early adopters are approaching major renewals. Others considering their first investment are being challenged to explain why another platform is necessary.

Leaders are scrutinising the return on earlier investments.

Did the platform improve communication? Did it reach previously disconnected employees? Did it make their working day easier? Could the same thing be achieved using technology the organisation already owns?

Culture and connection still matter, but they are harder to defend as the only measures of value. Company news, recognition and leadership updates may create engagement, but organisations want to understand what happens next.

This is where the conversation becomes operational.

From connection to getting work done

The question in 2026 is no longer simply, “Can we communicate with our employees?”

It's becoming:

Can we make it easier for our employees to do their jobs?

Can someone find the correct policy without asking three people?

Can a frontline employee access their rota, payslip, learning and updates in one place?

Can a manager share an operational change and know the right people have seen it?

Can employees complete simple tasks without moving between several systems and remembering several passwords?

This holistic view brings different people into the conversation.

What was once seen as a Communications or HR platform is increasingly relevant to Operations, IT, Digital, Security and senior leadership. The buying group is widening because the problem is wider.

Culture has not become less important

We are not moving away from culture. We are moving away from treating it as something a communications platform can create alone.

Culture is strengthened when employees feel informed, listened to and connected. It is also strengthened when the basics work. When people can find what they need. When technology removes friction rather than adding to it. When a frontline worker has access to the same useful information and support as somebody at head office.

The operational and cultural sides of the digital workplace are not competing agendas. Done properly, they reinforce each other.

The next phase of digital workplace strategy

The first part of this decade was about getting connected.

The next part will be about making that connection useful.

For organisations reviewing a platform, the starting point should not be a feature list. It should be what gets in the way of employees doing their jobs.

Where is information getting lost? Which processes create unnecessary effort? Which groups are still disconnected? Where are employees moving between too many systems?

The answer may be a new platform. It may be improving what is already in place. It may be better governance, integration, content or adoption.

But the days of buying “that thing that helps employees communicate” are coming to an end. The digital workplace of 2026 needs to do more than connect people. It needs to help them work.

Need help with your digital workplace strategy? Create a better connected organisation with our Understand, Select, Embed and Optimise services.