Email open rates for internal communications hover around 35% at most companies. Slack messages disappear in the scroll within 4 hours. Town halls require everyone online at the same time.
Internal podcasts solve all three problems. They deliver company updates, culture content, and leadership messages in a format employees actually consume -- on their commute, at the gym, or between meetings.
Here is how HR and communications teams are building internal podcast programs that employees look forward to.
Why audio works for internal comms
Reading a 1,200-word company update takes 6 minutes of focused screen time. Listening to that same update as a 7-minute podcast episode takes zero screen time and fits between other tasks.
Research from Edison shows that 74% of podcast listeners report absorbing information better through audio than text. For internal communications, this translates to higher message retention and broader reach across the organization.
Audio also carries tone and nuance that written memos cannot. When a CEO explains a strategy shift in their own voice, employees hear the conviction, the reasoning pauses, and the emphasis that text strips away.
Types of internal podcast programs
Company news roundups
A weekly 10-to-15-minute episode covering business updates, wins, and upcoming priorities. Think of it as the all-hands meeting people actually attend. Structure each episode with 3 segments: business metrics, team spotlights, and upcoming priorities.
Leadership fireside chats
Monthly conversations between executives and team leads. These build transparency without requiring synchronous attendance from hundreds of people. Record a 20-minute discussion and let 500 employees listen on their own schedule.
Onboarding audio series
A structured 8-to-12-episode series covering company history, values, product overview, and team introductions. New hires complete it during their first 2 weeks. Companies using audio onboarding report 28% faster ramp times compared to document-only programs.
Culture and recognition episodes
Bi-weekly episodes featuring employee stories, project retrospectives, and peer recognition. These build connection across distributed teams in ways that Slack channels cannot replicate.
Department deep dives
Quarterly episodes where each department explains what they do, current projects, and how other teams can collaborate. Especially valuable for companies with 200 or more employees where cross-functional visibility drops.
Setting up a private podcast feed
Internal podcasts need controlled distribution. You cannot publish company strategy on Apple Podcasts. Here is what the setup looks like.
Private RSS feeds restrict access to authenticated employees. Platforms like Jellypod's teams features generate unique feed URLs tied to employee email domains or SSO credentials.
Content management requires a simple editorial calendar. Most successful internal programs assign one owner in HR or comms with a standing 2-hour weekly time block for production.
Distribution works through existing channels. Embed the private feed link in your intranet, include it in onboarding packets, and announce new episodes in Slack. Employees subscribe once and receive episodes automatically.
Production workflow for comms teams
You do not need a recording studio. Here is a lean production workflow that works.
Week 1 Monday: Gather updates from department leads via a shared document or 5-minute Loom recordings. Tuesday through Wednesday: Write a conversational script covering 3 to 4 topics. Thursday: Record using any USB microphone in a quiet room. A 15-minute episode takes about 25 minutes to record with pauses and re-takes. Friday: Edit lightly for ums, long pauses, and add a simple intro jingle.
AI tools like Jellypod compress this workflow further. Input your written updates, select your brand voice, and generate a polished episode in minutes instead of hours.
Total time per episode: 2 to 3 hours for manual production, or 30 minutes with AI-assisted workflows.
Measuring internal podcast impact
Track these 4 metrics to prove your internal podcast program works.
Listen rate: What percentage of employees subscribe to the feed and listen to each episode? Benchmark: 40% to 60% is strong for companies with 100 or more employees.
Completion rate: What percentage of listeners finish each episode? If completion drops below 50%, episodes are too long or content is not resonating. Trim episode length by 3 minutes and reassess.
Engagement actions: Track whether podcast topics generate Slack discussion, meeting references, or survey mentions. Qualitative signals matter for executive buy-in.
Onboarding velocity: For onboarding series, compare ramp time for employees who completed the audio program versus those who did not. This gives HR a concrete ROI number.
Common mistakes to avoid
Over-polishing production quality. Employees do not expect NPR-level audio. They want authentic, timely content. A slightly imperfect recording published on Monday beats a polished one published 2 weeks late.
Making episodes too long. Internal podcast episodes perform best at 8 to 15 minutes. Anything over 20 minutes sees significant drop-off unless the content is exceptionally engaging.
Irregular publishing schedules. Commit to a cadence and stick to it. Weekly or bi-weekly works best. Monthly episodes lose momentum, and employees stop checking the feed.
Ignoring feedback loops. Run a 3-question pulse survey every quarter asking what topics employees want covered, whether episode length feels right, and what format they prefer.
Scaling from pilot to company-wide program
Start with a 6-episode pilot targeting one use case -- typically company news or onboarding. Measure listen rates after 4 weeks. If more than 30% of employees subscribe and listen, expand to additional formats.
Phase 2 adds department-specific feeds. Marketing gets a weekly creative brief podcast. Engineering gets a bi-weekly architecture decisions digest. Each department owns its content while the comms team provides templates and production support.
Phase 3 introduces AI voice cloning so executives can publish episodes from written briefs without scheduling recording time. This removes the biggest bottleneck in executive communication programs.
Within 6 months, a mature internal podcast program typically runs 3 to 5 active feeds reaching 50% or more of the employee base weekly.
Getting started this week
Pick your first format. Company news roundups have the lowest barrier to entry. Draft a script covering this week's top 3 updates. Record it in under 15 minutes. Distribute via Jellypod's team workspace with a private feed link shared in your main Slack channel.
You will have listenership data within 48 hours and enough signal to decide whether to expand the program.
