Designing channels for employee engagement and experience
After two decades building intranets, digital workplaces and communications channels for organisations ranging from the UK Parliament to Standard Chartered to global charities, I’ve written the book I wish had existed when I started. Digital Communications at Work is a practical guide to designing the digital channels employees actually use — co-authored with my Lithos Partners co-founder Jonathan Phillips, and published by Kogan Page on 3 July 2026.
Good platforms can fail with bad content. Modest platforms can thrive with good content.
What the book is about
Most internal communications teams don’t have a channel problem. They have a coherence problem. Intranets, apps, chat tools, email, signage, town halls — each works in isolation, but together they overwhelm the people they’re meant to serve. The result is information that doesn’t reach the people who need it, employees who can’t find what they’re looking for, and comms teams exhausted by the effort of keeping it all running.
Digital Communications at Work is the practical playbook for fixing that. It walks you through how to discover what people actually need, design an ecosystem of channels that work together, make the business case for investment, publish and distribute content that reaches the right people at the right time, and build the governance, teams and measurement that keep the whole thing healthy.
It’s built around frameworks we’ve tested in the wild — with universities, global banks, professional institutes and international charities — not theory.
Who it’s for
- Internal communications managers designing or rebuilding their channel mix
- HR business partners and people leaders who want better ways to reach employees
- IT and digital workplace teams looking to align with communications strategy
- Comms consultants and freelancers who need a shared reference with clients
- Leaders of hybrid and distributed teams trying to make information flow work
Whether you’re building from scratch or untangling a digital workplace that grew without a plan, the book is designed to meet you where you are.
Inside the book
The book is organised in twelve chapters, each standalone enough to dip into, and all connected by a common framework — the Five-Layer Model (Plan, Collaborate, Publish, Distribute, Discuss):
- Discovery — starting with what people need, not what you have
- Platforms — designing a coherent ecosystem, not a tool collection
- Business Case — turning insight into investment, emotionally and rationally
- Publishing — the intranet as a purposeful platform for digital employee experience
- Distribution — publishing is only half the job; reach is the other half
- Governance — clarity, not bureaucracy
- People — channels succeed because of people, not technology
- Content — because content is the employee experience
- Communities — turning information into connection
- Launching Channels — launches are behaviour-change moments, not events
- Measurement — the heartbeat of an adaptive channel ecosystem
- The Future — building foresight, resilience and adaptability
About the authors
Sharon O’Dea is a digital communications consultant and co-founder of Lithos Partners. Over two decades she has led digital communications for the UK Parliament and Standard Chartered, advised governments, regulators and global charities, and helped organisations of every size make sense of their digital workplace. She writes regular columns for Reworked and Unleash, serves on the CIPR AI panel, and is an advisor to the UK Cabinet Office. She lives in Amsterdam.
Jonathan Phillips is co-founder of Lithos Partners and former Head of Digital Communications for Coca-Cola Enterprises. He has more than twenty years’ experience as a practitioner, speaker and writer on digital workplace and internal communications, and has advised the UK government on digital workplace strategy.
Read more and pre-order
at digitalcommunicationsatwork.com. The book’s home on the web — insights, resources, updates and full buying options.
- Kogan Page (publisher — paperback £29.99, hardback £51.00)
- Amazon UK
- Amazon US
- Bookshop.org
- Waterstones
- bol.com
Book details
- Title: Digital Communications at Work
- Subtitle: Designing channels for employee engagement and experience
- Authors: Sharon O’Dea and Jonathan Phillips
- Publisher: Kogan Page
- Publication date: 3 July 2026 (28 July 2026 in the US)
- Paperback: 320 pages, ISBN 978-1-3986-2607-2
- Formats: Paperback, hardback, ebook
FAQ
When is Digital Communications at Work published?
3 July 2026, by Kogan Page. Pre-orders are open now through all major booksellers and direct from the publisher.
Who is the book for?
Anyone responsible for how information reaches employees — internal communications managers, HR business partners, digital workplace teams, consultants, and leaders of distributed teams. It’s written for practitioners, with frameworks and examples you can apply directly.
Is it based on real organisations?
Yes. The book draws on case studies from universities, global banks, professional institutes, international charities, through to frontline-heavy organisations. Every framework has been tested with real clients.
What’s the Five-Layer Model?
It’s the structural framework that underpins the book: every digital communications ecosystem has five layers — Plan, Collaborate, Publish, Distribute and Discuss. Mapping your current tools and channels against the five layers reveals gaps, overlaps and opportunities. Chapter 2 explains it in full.
Where can I follow updates about the book?
Visit digitalcommunicationsatwork.com for sample content, launch events and updates, or follow me on LinkedIn for a behind-the-scenes look at the writing process.