Beware! It’s the season of spooky internal comms.
As the nights grow longer and the shadows creep in, we can’t help but share some of the most terrifying tales from the world of internal communications.
These are the kinds of stories that send shivers down the spines of communications leaders everywhere — from abandoned intranets to the files that won’t die, each one serves as a chilling reminder of what happens when things go awry in the workplace.
But don’t worry, we’re not here to scare you for long. With the right strategies and technologies, you can avoid each nightmare scenario and ensure your employees are kept safe from the monsters of comms gone wrong.
So grab a mug of hot apple cider, curl up under a blanket, and read on, internal communicators… if you dare.
#1. The abandoned intranet
It’s a cautionary tale we hear all too often.
The company’s intranet, once a thriving hub of communication and collaboration, is now a digital ghost town. There was once a time when employees would check in daily for company news, office events, and team updates. Now, it’s a desolate, dusty corner of the office’s virtual space, where outdated files collect cobwebs and employee profiles haven’t been updated since 2016.
No one posts anymore. No one checks it. Rumor has it that some employees haven’t even logged in for years.
As workers find more convenient ways to communicate on the fly, the old intranet withers away, trapped in the past. No matter how hard HR tries to breathe life into it, the abandoned intranet remains a relic of a bygone era — an eerie reminder that if communication tools don’t meet modern employee expectations, they’re doomed to fade into oblivion.
#2. The phantom shift swap
The shift swap app was supposed to make everything easier. But for one bus driver, it felt like a terrifying prank.
She submitted a request to swap shifts, expecting a quick confirmation. But when the shift was approved, strange things began to happen. Her name appeared on two shifts at once. Overlapping schedules. Double bookings. No matter how many times she tried to fix it, she was stuck in an endless loop of conflicting shifts. Her manager said she tried to adjust the schedule, but the terrors persisted. Colleagues wondered if she’d been cursed to work two shifts at the same time, forever trapped behind the wheel.
As the errors mounted, it became clear that this was no ordinary scheduling issue. It was a haunting glitch with no escape in sight.
The only way to help her escape this scheduling nightmare was a shift management tool with real-time integration into the comms platform — no room for terrible errors.
#3. The curse of the social scrolls
You’ve heard of the risks of “all work and no play” — but what about the other way around?
There was once a company who launched a social media-inspired internal platform to modernize the employee experience. It had it all — likes, shares, comments, and the ability to follow colleagues’ posts. Employees were thrilled, treating company updates like their favorite social media feeds.
But then, things took a terrifying turn.
It all started when a routine update on workplace safety spiraled into a viral nightmare. A sarcastic comment sparked a meme storm, and soon, the original message was buried beneath a graveyard of reactions.
Notifications haunted inboxes. Critical information got lost in the noise. Announcements became a race for likes and important deadlines were ghosted as employees spent time conjuring clever comments or trying to win thread wars.
The only way to save the team from this cursed scrolling nightmare was to strike the balance between employee engagement and efficiency — where important messages were prioritized and light-hearted engagement didn’t overshadow critical work updates.
#4. The cursed CEO email
Legend has it that whenever the CEO sends a company-wide email, chaos ensues.
The email arrives without warning. Employees feel a chill run down their spines as they open it. Suddenly, meetings are scheduled, projects are assigned, and urgent tasks appear out of nowhere. Everyone has that sinking feeling — you’ve just been “voluntold” for something new.
But the worst part? The email sits in your inbox, lingering, waiting for the poor soul who dares to click “Reply All.” And when they do, chaos breaks loose — a flood of unnecessary responses, confusion, and frantic attempts to undo the damage.
It’s a curse that haunts the office every time, and no one seems to learn the lesson. Some say that targeted messaging and group filters are on their way, ready to rid the company of frightening follow-ups… but then another all-employee email arrives and all hope of progress is lost.
5. The forgotten frontline worker
The newest member of the shipping team was excited to join the company — but something was off.
As the weeks passed, he couldn’t shake a deep feeling of total isolation. He never received the onboarding checklist that he was told to complete. He sent messages to his colleagues, but no one responded. The company’s communication channels were a maze he couldn’t navigate. He tried joining the team’s video call, but every attempt resulted in error messages.
The more he tried to reach out, the more he realized — he was completely alone in the company’s communication void. It was as if no one knew he existed.
As he worked the quiet aisles of the fulfillment center, he began to wonder if he was doomed to wander the similarly empty virtual hallways of the company, disconnected and invisible.
A simple mobile-first comms platform, intuitively designed to onboard frontline and remote workers smoothly, could have saved him from this forgotten fate.
#6. The jump scare alert
Every time the company intranet sends a new notification, employees flinch.
It’s never good news. The dreaded ping of a new notification means another last-minute all-hands meeting, a new policy change, or another round of mandatory compliance training. No one is safe from the frenzy of pings, dings, and buzzes, each one causing a ripple of jump scares throughout the employee base.
The never-ending notifications aren’t just constant, they almost feel cruelly timed — catching workers off guard during lunch breaks, late-night shifts, or right when they’re about to clock out.
Each alert leaves employees with a sinking feeling: What fresh horror awaits?
The employees often look into the distance and share stories of friends whose employers use message segmentation and smart notifications to personalize alerts and reduce irrelevant pings. “If only we were so lucky,” they whisper into the abyss.
#7. The files that won’t die
It started with an innocent attempt to delete an outdated HR file.
But no matter how hard the HR team tried, the file kept coming back, plagued by ghostly glitches. They uploaded a newer version, yet “Benefits2024” turned into “Benefits2024_v2,” then “Benefits2024_FINAL,” then “Benefits2024_FINALFINAL.” It didn’t matter how many versions she created — the old files returned to haunt the intranet, filling up space and confusing employees. Soon, the page was cluttered with so many versions, no one knew which file was the real one anymore.
It was a digital graveyard of files, and there seemed to be no way to stop the nightmare.
These haunted files could only be put to rest in a dynamic content hub where other systems and tools integrated with ease — leaving the intranet free from undead debris.
#8. The dreaded “let’s split up” slip-up
In an effort to cover more ground and engage employees where they are, the internal comms team made a fateful mistake: they split up into different task forces.
They had specific groups for HR updates, operations, and company culture. Instead of coming together to create a unified message, each team worked in silos, unaware of what the others were doing. Emails flooded employees’ inboxes — some with safety updates, others with event invites, and still more with policy reminders.
Before long, messages contradicted each other. Employees grew confused, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of communications. They didn’t know whose emails to prioritize, which deadlines were real, or where to turn for accurate information.
The split had fragmented not just the comms strategy, but the workforce itself.
If only the team had used a modern all-in-one comms platform, where unified company-wide and targeted messages could be sent with ease, they could have avoided this chilling fate altogether.
#9. The faceless leader
There’s a chill in the air whenever a company-wide message arrives from… The Leader.
No one knows who they are. No one’s seen their face or heard their voice. All they know is that every few weeks, a cold, impersonal email appears in their inboxes, filled with company updates, policy changes, and new directives. The messages are distant, robotic, and completely one-sided. Employees can’t reply. They can’t ask questions. They can’t even tell if The Leader knows what’s really going on at the frontline.
The faceless leader simply delivers information, never seeking feedback, never engaging in conversation. It feels like a ghostly figure hovering over the organization, whispering commands from the shadows.
The team grows frustrated, morale dips, and engagement begins to vanish into thin air.
With a comms platform that encourages two-way dialogue, maybe The Leader could finally step out of the shadows, engage with employees directly, and build trust. Until then, employees are left haunted by the eerie silence on the other end of the message.
Don’t let internal comms frights keep you up at night.
While these spooky stories may send a chill down your spine, they don’t have to haunt your workplace.
With the right internal communication tools — from mobile-first apps that keep everyone in the loop no matter where they work, to message segmentation that prevents information overload — you can save your employees from these hair-raising horrors.
This Halloween, don’t let outdated technology, disjointed messaging, or phantom notifications haunt your team. After all, internal comms should unite — not cause fright.
Blink. And deliver all treats — no tricks — with your internal comms this Halloween season.
