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Utilities communications teams brace for churn

Utilities communications teams brace for churn

Utilities communicators are preparing to leave in unusually high numbers. Murray McIntosh’s latest survey suggests churn is building across a sector already under pressure on trust, transparency, sustainability, and public accountability.

Murray McIntosh has warned of a potential exodus from utilities communications teams, with new research showing 52% of strategic communications professionals in the sector plan to move roles within the next six months, and 64% have interviewed for a new position in the past year.

The recruitment specialist’s Strategic Communications Report 2026 points to unusually high workforce mobility across suppliers, networks, regulators, and trade bodies at a point when utilities organisations are facing sustained scrutiny over affordability, resilience, environmental performance, and customer trust. The figures suggest the sector could lose experienced communicators just as public engagement and transparency are moving closer to the centre of operational performance.

The report also highlights a fast-changing skills mix inside communications teams. Alongside core communications capabilities, employers are increasingly looking for data literacy, AI, data science, and coding skills as utilities organisations deepen their use of digital tools, predictive analytics, and data-led decision-making. In the survey, 82% of communications professionals said AI has already affected, or will imminently affect, their role, the highest level recorded across the industries covered.

Lauren Maddocks, Associate Director, Policy and Public Affairs at Murray McIntosh, said: “Utilities organisations are operating in one of the most scrutinised environments of any sector, yet they are at real risk of losing the very communications talent needed to navigate that scrutiny. When public trust is fragile, and expectations around transparency, sustainability and accountability are rising, experienced communications professionals aren’t a ‘nice to have’, they are fundamentally critical.”

The findings frame communications capacity as a business issue as much as a reputational one. If turnover accelerates, utilities organisations may find it harder to explain regulatory change, respond consistently under pressure, and maintain credibility with customers, policymakers, and the media during a period when the sector is being watched closely from multiple directions.

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BQ

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