The communications function is at an inflection point, as an endless deluge of social and political issues along with increasing employee comms concerns have illuminated the value of communications to the C-suite.

With that in mind, Ragan Communications partnered with research consultancy HarrisX in the fall of 2022 to understand how CEOs and communications leaders view each other’s roles and responsibilities, what they value most, and when they believe responses to public policy issues are necessary.

The survey was conducted by Ragan and HarrisX from Oct. 11-24 within the U.S. among 360 CEOs and other high-ranking senior communicators.

Asked where comms adds the most value, CEOs ranked “executive communication” at the top (14%), underscoring how crucial communicators are to helping them shape and refine their voice.

While CEOs ranked ‘employee communications’ as the second-most valuable function (9%), other comms leaders considered it the most valuable function (13%), which emphasizes the increased role that communicators play in employee engagement.

CEOs also considered investor relations (8%) and ESG (6%) as valuable communications functions, though they didn’t even crack other communications leaders’ top five.

Download the HarrisX-Ragan Key Findings Report here.