New "In a Car with IPR" Featuring Grace Leong!

Institute for Public Relations

In this episode of #InACarWithIPR, we’re overlooking the New York City skyline from One World Trade Center with Grace Leong, CEO & Partner at HUNTER, and host Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR, President & CEO of IPR.

Grace reflects on her inspiring career journey, from working alongside trailblazer Barbara Way Hunter to leading a prominent PR agency.

Watch this episode and dive deep into critical industry topics such as disinformation and how to counsel clients through today’s complex media landscape. Grace also shares her predictions for the future of public relations, gives insider recommendations from her home state of New Jersey, and even reveals how she thinks you should be eating your pizza (spoiler: Tabasco is involved).

Watch the latest episode of "In a Car with IPR" here!

The Business Case for Employee Experience

Charles Chesnut, Integral & IPR ELEVATE

This blog is provided by the IPR Organizational Communication Research Center.

“Our people are our greatest asset" is a painfully tired cliché, but the idea is a good one. On some level, most leaders probably believe the sentiment, but leaders also tend to view HR and employee communications as cost centers rather than areas for strategic investment.

Maybe what’s missing is a business case for employee experience.

What if you could prove quantitatively that positive experiences drive employee behaviors for your organization? And what if you could identify the aspects of employee experience that lead to the greatest boost in employee behaviors? These are the questions explored in the 2025 Integral Index – Integral’s annual survey of 2,000 US employees, conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll.

Here are some of the major drivers found with a high degree of statistical significance…

• If your organization communicates major changes clearly and explains the reasons, it leads to a 30 percentage point increase in positive behavior.
• If you believe that your organization follows its stated values, it leads to a 31 percentage point increase in positive behavior.
• If your manager supports your professional growth, it leads to a 42 percentage point increase in positive behavior.
• If you believe that people at your organization get promoted based on performance, it leads to a 29 percentage point increase in positive behavior...

Learn the top factors for boosting positive employee behaviors

How Can Communicators Adapt to a Complex World?

We. Communications

🗣️ We. Communications conducted a four-wave online survey of communication leaders and full-time salaried employees across seven countries from February – April 2025 to explore how communicators have shifted their messaging to respond to audience expectations.

📊 Key takeaways:

🔹Leaders over logos: 60% of employees preferred hearing from a CEO or executive rather than organization as an entity.

🔹Power of humor: 68% of employees said humor increased interest in messaging, and 64% said it helped drive interest in technical or scientific topics.

🔹Split on Artificial Intelligence (AI): When asked how employees would respond if they found out a message was written by AI, the top two reactions were "It depends — some messages are fine for AI, others need a human touch" and "I wouldn't mind — as long as it's well written."

🔹Values still matter: 49% of employees wanted organizations to emphasize social responsibility and corporate values, even in the current economic climate.

🔮 Why it matters: As communication grows more complex, audiences are calling for real voices, relatable tones, and meaningful values.

Learn what employees expect from organizational communication