Third annual “State of Business Communication” report illuminates how businesses can tangibly harness AI to enhance communication, efficiency, and performance

Grammarly, the company helping over 30 million people and 70,000 teams work smarter and faster wherever they write, today announced its third annual “State of Business Communication: AI’s Potential to Turn Overload Into Impact” report, uncovering the potential of generative AI to save a staggering $1.6 trillion in U.S. communication productivity each year. In partnership with The Harris Poll, the study exposes how generative AI brings both new solutions and challenges to the problem of poor communication that plagues U.S. businesses.

New AI gaps and risks pose serious threats to businesses, jeopardizing their ability to reap the benefits of the technology. The data shows that leaders and workers have been communicating more (78%) and in more channels (73%) this past year, and it’s causing more stress than ever, particularly among workers (+16% over last year). At the same time, both groups are seeing early benefits from using generative AI, including saving a day a workweek—which adds up to around $16,455 per worker per year. But even though it’s helping, most workers still wish their companies were more open to implementing AI (58%) and don’t know how to use AI well (52%).

“Companies not using generative AI for communication are already way behind, and those that are, are far from realizing its full potential,” said Matt Rosenberg, Grammarly Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Grammarly Business. “The data is clear that generative AI offers monumental benefits, but can also add more distractions at a time when teams need ways to communicate better, not add more to the mix. Our report should be a wake-up call for businesses to stop with the piecemeal approaches, get aligned with their employees, and hone a clear strategy that empowers their entire workforce with AI if they are to realize its impact.”

The study of U.S. business leaders and knowledge workers underscores the changing nature of workplace communication and the ways that generative AI is impacting how we work and interact. Additional findings include:

• Workers spend nearly half of their workweek on writing tasks (19.08 hours), and time spent reviewing and editing especially increased (+11% year-over-year)
• 92% of leaders and 84% of workers who use generative AI do so at least weekly, and it’s already delivering business results for leaders like increased efficiency (52%), higher productivity (50%), saved costs (38%), and higher customer engagement (37%)
• Workers using generative AI say that it makes them better at their job (77%) and has transformed how they communicate at work (71%), and that they ultimately believe AI will enhance their work, not replace them (66%)

Leaders, your communication problem is worse than you think: There’s a 24% gap between workers’ (63%) and leaders’ (87%) perceived effectiveness of their organization’s overall communication. Fewer workers this year also say their senior leadership communicates effectively (64%, down 8%)—compared to 90% of leaders who say the same. With leaders reporting that communication directly drives business outcomes like productivity (64%), customer satisfaction (51%), and brand reputation (45%), it’s time for a reality check to tackle the problem.

Focus on better, not more, to address communications overload: Most leaders and workers find constant work notifications challenging (56%), struggle to manage all of the communications they receive (54%), and spend too much time trying to get messages across in the right way (55%). Despite the AI deluge, more workers this year also wish they had better tools to help them be more effective (66%, vs. 58% last year). Facing an overwhelming surge of communication in more places, teams need ways to improve the quality of communication, not simply pile on more.

Chart a clear course to close AI gaps and move past the hype: Despite extensive generative AI use and promising early benefits, poor communication remains a pervasive problem, and leaders and workers are at odds with each other in their use of AI. 89% of leaders report using generative AI for professional purposes, but only 53% of workers say the same—a symptom of the lack of a cohesive AI approach. While 82% of leaders are planning investments in AI, those investments will go to waste if not paired with a company-wide AI strategy that focuses on literacy, education, and training.

For more findings and insights on the state of workplace communication and the role of generative AI in reshaping it—including breakdowns by demographic, function (customer support, marketing/sales, HR), and more—download the full Grammarly report: “State of Business Communication: AI’s Potential to Turn Overload Into Impact.”

Additional resources:

• Read our blog post: The 2024 State of Business Communication Report: What You Need to Know
• Join the webinar today, Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET for a deep dive into the research findings
• Learn more about Grammarly and how its generative AI features change how businesses run

Methodology

This study was conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Grammarly from September 29, 2023, to October 3, 2023, among 1,002 knowledge workers and 253 business leaders. It also references findings from a similar study conducted from October 14 to 31, 2022, among 1,001 knowledge workers and 251 business leaders, as well as a prior study fielded from October 1 to 12, 2021, among 1,001 knowledge workers and 251 business leaders. This online survey is not based on a probability sample, and therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

“Gen AI” or “generative AI” refers to artificial intelligence capable of generating text and other types of content.

Year-over-year percentage changes and percentage gaps between groups should be interpreted as percent point changes and are statistically significant.