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This paper aims to explore the role of employee engagement for competitiveness. In particular, the role of employee communication to create engaging workplaces.

Two field surveys were conducted to assess, which are the most relevant leverages that contribute to create engaging (or disengaging) workplaces in Italy: the first one on a statistical sample of large companies, the second one on a snowball sample of employees.

Italian companies often miss the opportunity to create engaging workplaces and to exploit the potential of employee communication to foster employee engagement.

Further research could focus on a survey on a sample of managers and employees belonging to the same company.

Companies should pursue an inclusive relational approach, using employee communication appropriately.

The study develops and tests a model showing the linkages among managerial approaches and engaging workplace contexts and examines the role of employee communication to foster employee engagement.

The contemporary business environment for public companies is much more multinational and multicultural than at any previous time. It is now driven by complex economic, political, technological and demographic forces such as these six: multipolarity eclipses globalization; the internet of things; corporate business model; uncertainty; privacy, big data and alternative data; and shifting demographics. The communication function has been central to this transformation.

The corporate communication international (CCI) studies have revealed three periods of transformation, namely, the focus, practices, perceptions, and the strategic aim of corporate communication to establish coherence by managing the messages reflects a top-down mind-set of communicating from the corporation to its stakeholders. The CCI study data indicated that the approaches to communication started changing; the fragmented media landscape of businesses reveals an awakening of a new kind of corporate communication whose aim is not to control and order, but to endure and to accept the “truth” being constantly challenged.

Findings from the CCI practices and trends studies validate the field’s strategic role in engagement and amplification of corporate messaging. Forces that have an impact on the practice of corporate communication include continuation of rapid changes, unintended consequences of changing reporting structures, core functions remain unchanged Budget and staff increases reflect economic confidence, Search for talent, Integrity, Core competencies focus on “business acumen” to drive corporate value, Employee engagement to build corporate culture, “Counsel to the CEO” suffers as the role of the communication officer changes.

Corporate Communication Practices and Trends studies underscore corporate communication as a strategic management function and, increasingly, as a strategic business partner for the enterprise. The integration of marketing and communication in many corporations, changes the corporate communication function. This special issue of the Journal of Business Strategy is focused on the transformation of corporate communication strategy. Six experts share their perspectives.