Blink alternatives for frontline teams: 10 reviewed (2026)

Get ready for this week’s Life at Blink spotlight! We’re thrilled to introduce a pivotal member of our Boston team — George Monk! As an Account Executive, George has been with Blink for nearly four years, making a significant impact from both sides of the Atlantic. Starting out in our London office, George was Blink’s first US SDR, pioneering our efforts to connect with U.S. businesses. Dive in to learn more about George, his journey, and what makes Blink such a unique place to work!

What initially attracted you to join Blink?

When I first joined Blink, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The idea of joining a startup initially made me hesitant because I was concerned about potential lack of structure and training programs. But eventually, I told myself, "Why not give it a shot and embrace the challenge?"

Blink was actually my first job right out of university, where I studied chemistry. It’s funny because, during my time at university, I had no idea what my career path would look like. I knew I was interested in joining the private sector, but my vision for the future was still blurry. It wasn’t until I joined Blink that I found a direction that truly resonated with me, and I'm glad I took that leap of faith.

What's a project you are proud of from your time at Blink?

I'm particularly proud of what we've achieved in the EMS sector, working with paramedics, EMTs, and medical technicians. It’s an area where Blink has really made an impact, especially with the younger workforce, who are typically between 18 and 25 and are very receptive to using our platform. When I first joined, our presence in the EMS industry was minimal — we were just starting to break into the market. But now, we're leading the charge. We've partnered with over 20 agencies, and Blink is becoming a household name in the industry. It’s been incredibly rewarding to watch that growth and know that we've made a real difference in helping these critical workers stay connected and informed.

How would you describe the company culture at Blink in three words?

If I had to describe Blink's company culture in three words, I’d say it's high-achieving, fun, and inclusive. We’re all about pushing ourselves to deliver the best results, but we also know how to enjoy the process along the way. There’s a strong sense of camaraderie, and despite how driven everyone is, it’s still an incredibly supportive and inclusive environment. 

What's one thing you're excited about for the future of Blink?

I'm really excited about Blink's future, especially as we focus on expanding our presence in the US. Bringing more household names and big brands onboard is something that really energizes me. We're making a significant impact, and I can't wait to see how we continue to grow in the American market. It’s thrilling to think about how far we’ve come and how much potential there still is to grow. 

Can you tell us about a recent initiative or program launched at Blink that you found particularly exciting?

A recent initiative that I find really exciting is the opportunity we have to help thousands of customers who’ve been left behind by the closure of Meta's Workplace. Being able to migrate them over to Blink is a huge opportunity not just for those businesses but for us as well. Meta announced they’d be closing in May, so it’s been a major focus for us since then. With the official discontinuation happening in August next year, I imagine we’ll continue helping with these migrations for months to come. It’s incredibly rewarding to know we’re stepping in to provide a solution when these companies need it most.

Why do you work for Blink?

I have the luxury of coming to work every day and genuinely enjoying it. I love the people I work with, and I love the diversity of our customers. Getting to work with companies from so many different industries keeps things exciting and fulfilling.

Intranets are changing.

The once clunky, desktop-bound relic has been making a comeback in the era of remote work and mobile design with modern intranet features.

Workers need access to the documentation as they step away from the desk. They require a way to communicate with their coworkers securely. To meet the demands of their growing mobile workforce, companies are taking another look at intranets.

While modern intranet features several quality-of-life improvements and productivity hacks, they aren’t always used to their fullest. A recent survey found 57% of employees saw no point in their company intranet. 

It doesn’t have to be like this. 

Let’s go over the best features a modern intranet design offers and how you can use them to increase engagement and boost productivity.

What does a modern intranet look like?

Modern intranets are mobile.

Instead of the old-fashioned office-bound software of yesterday, we have sleek, multipurpose apps. Workers can benefit from these systems on the frontlines or at a desk.

Despite being more accessible than ever, these intranets are more secure. Each employee can be granted access to only the materials they need. Each person has their feed, showing them the information and updates relevant to them.

The design is simple, and the emphasis is on easy-to-navigate, uncluttered browsing. You want your workers to find the required content quickly, so using the app doesn’t feel like a chore. 

Finally, a modern intranet isn’t just top-down. Employees can communicate with each other and with supervisors. They can generate content, engage with others’ posts, and develop personal connections.

The 8 best modern intranet features

• Newsfeed
• CMS
• Integrations and micro apps
• Single sign-on to integrations
• Employee directory
• Multi-way conversations
• Mobile-first
• Analytics

Modern intranet platforms should help you engage your employees and improve your company’s productivity. Here are the key features of a modern intranet.

1. Newsfeed 

A company-wide feed lets your employees learn about important issues and share achievements with others. You can configure stories to be shared with all workers or only those affected by a problem.

2. CMS

A content management system (CMS) lets workers access the documents and files they need. Workers can easily find the files and even share the files with others.

3. Integrations and micro apps

A modern intranet isn’t an isolated software system. Your intranet should integrate with the apps and programs you use every day. 

You should be able to connect with programs like Microsoft 365 and Slack. 

Besides the integrations, your employees will also benefit from micro-apps. Micro-apps are customized programs that let users request time off or provide anonymous feedback, all from the intranet itself. 

4. Single sign-on to integrations

Juggling multiple passwords can cause huge delays for employees. 60% of workers surveyed reported that passwords prevent them from doing their job. 

Remembering multiple passwords is hard. Single sing-on prevents this issue.

5. Employee directory

Finding the right person to connect with saves time for everyone. With an employee directory, you can find up-to-date contact information for every employee or only the employees you have access to. 

6. Multi-way conversations

Communication should be a two-way street. Instead of a constant flow of information from managers, let your employees provide feedback and chat securely with individuals and groups.

7. Mobile-first content

If your intranet is optimized for desktops only, it’ll only help desked employees. 

Statista expects the mobile workforce in the United States to grow by 15 million between 2020 and 2024. These workers need a mobile-friendly design to work effectively.

8. Analytics

Using analytics, you can check how each post in your feed performs, how engaged your employees are and compare these levels to previous periods. 

You should be able to track individual and group engagement and even see the active periods when your workers use the app.

Final thoughts: 8 modern intranet features your organization needs

A mobile intranet can make a huge difference in how your workers engage. 

Sharing information they need and letting them have a platform to connect with others is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity. 

You need a platform your workers can access from anywhere to communicate with coworkers and catch up on the news from the head office.

Blink has all of these features and more. Sign up for a free trial today to see just how big a difference a modern intranet can make for you.

Internal communication mistakes are eye-wateringly expensive. According to estimates, they cost US companies up to $1.2 trillion every year. Mistakes lead to lost business, missed deadlines, and lower employee productivity.

In frontline organizations, communication mistakes are often more pronounced — because it’s notoriously hard to reach employees who are on-the-go, working away from the office in demanding, hands-on roles.

Here, we look at how to avoid six common frontline communication mistakes, improving frontline comms in the process.

This is what we’re going to cover:

• The frontline employee communication challenge
• The link between communication and retention
• How to avoid six common frontline communication mistakes
• Frontline employee communication: essential considerations
• Frontline employee communications FAQs

The frontline employee communication challenge

Reaching your frontline employees with internal communications has never been easy. Unlike desk-based workers, they often spend work days on their feet, away from a computer and sometimes their coworkers.

Communication over a traditional intranet or via email is, therefore, unlikely to be effective. Frontline workers don’t always have a good Wi-Fi connection or access to an appropriate device. So it can be hard for them to perform basic tasks — like finding and downloading a policy document or an email attachment.

Varying shift patterns make it hard for comms teams to reach employees with real-time updates. And — unless you’re tailoring your content to frontline worker needs — the volume of information can easily feel overwhelming. Employees then end up missing critical messages.

For too long, frontline employee communication has been an afterthought. Organizations haven’t always had the strategy or technology they need to make frontline comms effective.

But now, with a renewed focus on employee engagement and retention — and with more tech tools on offer than ever before — many organizations are rethinking how they communicate with their frontline staff.

The link between communication and retention

In frontline industries, there continue to be high levels of staff churn. In transportation, annual turnover stands at 56.7%. In hospitality, the figure stands at 73.8%. This compares to a national average of 13%. 

One of the primary culprits behind these sky-high stats? Internal communication mistakes. 61% of employees considering switching jobs cite poor internal communication as a factor.

Good internal communication keeps employees in the loop. It helps them understand company values and goals. Effective communication channels support frontline employees to connect with coworkers and feel part of company culture.

Being empowered to do a good job. Strong workplace relationships. Feeling part of something bigger. These things boost frontline employee engagement and encourage loyalty.

But with just 40% of frontline employees saying they have a strong sense of connection to their direct leader and 43% saying they have a strong sense of connection to their organization, it’s clear that frontline companies have work to do.   

How to avoid 6 common frontline communication mistakes

Good frontline communication can be transformative for your organization. Here are the mistakes you need to avoid to keep your frontline workers informed and engaged.

Mistake #1: Sticking to the same ineffective frontline communication channels

Many frontline organizations still use paper methods of communication. They send out a newsletter or put memos up on an already crowded noticeboard.

These messages are easy to miss. The information can be outdated by the time it’s distributed. And communication only goes one way — there are limited opportunities for employee interaction.

Email is equally ineffective for frontline workers who don’t always have a corporate email address. And word-of-mouth messaging and phone calls are time-consuming for frontline managers.

Many workers are turning to the tech tools they use in their personal lives to bridge the communication gap. 55% of workers say that WhatsApp is their primary workplace communication tool.

But shadow IT platforms, like WhatsApp, are flawed, too. There are huge compliance and data security issues associated with shadow IT. It also lies outside the control of your comms team so there’s zero oversight. 

Making do with internal communication channels like these makes it hard for your comms team to communicate key messages. It also harms the frontline employee experience. 

How to solve it:

Move beyond this patchwork approach to frontline communication. Unify your messaging with the help of internal communication channels that frontline workers can access easily.  

A reliable way to reach employees is via an employee app, which employees can access on their smartphones. Here, you can bring together all strands of workplace communication and provide social-media-style tools that employees will enjoy using.

Common features include a dynamic company news feed, secure chat, and a content hub packed with essential policies and guides.

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This app becomes a go-to hub of communication and a single source of truth. Employees know they can use the app to quickly and easily find the information they need.

Mistake #2: Your frontline communication tech isn’t mobile-first

A frontline connection gap exists in almost every frontline organization. And it can make frontline employees feel like second-class citizens.

49% of frontline workers say that there are two separate cultures at play within their company: “one for the frontline and one for everyone else.” This unfairness can lead to division and disengagement. And too often, internal communication mistakes — and poor tech choices — are to blame.

Not all employee apps are created equal. And unless you choose a mobile-first solution, designed around the needs of mobile users, you’re likely to run into one (or all) of the following problems:

1. Your app offers an inferior user experience. It doesn’t support the features and functionality that your desk-based employees enjoy on the desktop version.
   
   
2. Your app is difficult for employees to access, either because it uses long-winded login methods or because it requires a corporate email address.
   
   
3. Employees don’t like using your app, either because it has a complicated interface or because it’s one of many digital tools they’re expected to use during the workday.

Problems like these create a two-tier system, with office-based employees getting better access to internal comms than their frontline coworkers. They also cause friction for employees, which means they’re much less likely to use the app.

How to solve it:

When choosing technology for frontline employees, get input from a wide range of stakeholders — including your frontline staff. They can tell you what features and functionality they’d like to see in an employee app.

Supplement this input with an understanding of best practice. The best apps for frontline workers provide the following as standard: 

• A mobile-first solution. This ensures the platform experience is equitable, with the same features and functionality available on both mobile and desktop versions of the software.
• A user-friendly interface. To ensure high levels of app adoption, it should be easy for frontline employees to learn and use the platform.
• Strong integrations. So frontline workers can access all workplace tech — not just your communication channels — from one dashboard.

Single sign-on technology. So employees only have to remember one set of login details to access all the tech tools they need.

Mistake #3: An HQ-centric approach to comms content

With the right technology, you can finally reach the frontline employees in your organization. But you can’t simply serve up the same content you’ve always delivered.

Long-winded corporate content is a no-no for busy frontline teams. You’re unlikely to engage them if you ask them to download a PDF policy document or scroll through long paragraphs of text. Remember: they’re consuming content on a small smartphone screen.

Likewise, if most of the content they see is geared toward office-based employees, frontline workers are likely to lose interest. Scrolling through lots of irrelevant information to reach frontline-specific content is a headache your frontline really doesn’t need.

How to solve it:

Long-winded, text-based comms are out. Short, snappy, visual content is in. 

Think of the kinds of messages that work well on social media platforms. Here, attention-grabbing headlines, multimedia posts, Stories, and straight-to-the-point text convey a lot of information very quickly and effectively.

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This is ideal for busy frontline workers who don’t have time to scroll through reams of text-heavy content. They get need-to-know information in bite-size form.

Personalization is also key. A home care worker doesn’t need to know about the faulty photocopier in the office. But elderly care updates? New incident reporting procedures? The latest shift availability? That’s all really useful and engaging stuff. 

Segment your audience so frontline workers only see information that relates to them, their location, role, and team.

Mistake #4: Too many corporate updates, not enough community

Your office employees can congratulate their coworkers on a successful sales pitch face-to-face. They can share ideas with a teammate on the way to lunch. Or chat about the latest binge-worthy series with their buddies while brewing a coffee in the office kitchen.

But it’s different for the frontline. Frontline workers don’t get the same opportunity for coworker camaraderie as their desk-based peers. There are few options for collaboration and only 30% feel seen and valued by their organization.

Corporate updates are an essential part of employee communications. But you can’t stop there.  Failing to focus on community across your communication channels leaves frontline workers feeling isolated from company culture — and each other.

How to solve it:

Becoming a connected organization is about more than passing news from HQ to the frontline. Effective communication goes both ways and — with the right tech tools — you can build a shared sense of culture and purpose.

To bring every member of staff into the conversation, ensure your platform supports employee interactions. Can they leave comments on news feed posts? React with emojis? Post their own content?

Also, look to launch the following:

• Fun, informal posts. Create polls, launch content challenges, and post event videos. This fun content encourages interaction and helps frontline employees to feel part of company culture.
• Shared interest groups. Communities are a great way to bring frontline employees together. They can find coworkers who share their interests and hobbies, and build meaningful workplace relationships.  
• Regular recognition. Organizations that make recognition an everyday part of the employee experience improve retention, employee engagement, and a sense of belonging. So encourage managers and coworkers to regularly create employee recognition posts.
• Group chat. Create group chats for each frontline team and location. When employees can easily connect with their coworkers, collaboration and connection improve.

Mistake #5: Communication is one-way

Top-down communications are important. You need to keep employees in the loop about company updates, safety announcements, and schedules. But if communication only flows one way, engagement will suffer.

Two-way internal communication shows employees you value them and their input. It demonstrates trust, which then gets repaid. You also get insights that drive smarter business decisions.  

Frontline workers interact with customers. They can spot supply chain bottlenecks and operational inefficiencies. They know which policies are causing frontline frustration — long before the C-suite does.

Without easy, two-way communication, leadership is left in the dark on issues that impact productivity, customer experience, and employee retention.

How to solve it:

Don’t settle for a digital bulletin board. Make your employee app a hive of interactivity by encouraging employees to join the conversation. Here’s how:

• Surveys. Launch regular employee surveys to gauge employee sentiment on everything from policy changes to break room design to internal communication strategy.
• Forms. Make it easy for employees to report safety concerns or suggest improvements using easy-access digital forms.
• Real-time chat. Give frontline workers a direct line to managers and coworkers with 1-to-1 chat functions.
• Interactive content. Craft content that encourages employee input: pose questions in news feed posts, create flash polls, or run a leadership Q&A.

By giving frontline employees a voice, you create a more engaged, informed, and empowered workforce — one that actively contributes to company success. 

Mistake #6: You don’t act on insights from employees and app analytics

If you’ve already rectified the other mistakes on this list, you’re now actively listening to employees and gathering a ton of useful internal communication data through your employee app.

But collecting feedback and analytics is only half the battle — it’s what you do with that information that really counts.  

Failing to act on employee insights weakens trust in the feedback process. When employees don’t see changes based on their input, they become disengaged and less likely to participate in future surveys or discussions.

Ignoring app analytics is equally costly. Unless you segment and analyze the data, you risk making internal comms decisions based on assumptions, not facts. This means missed opportunities to optimize content, improve reach, and create messages that resonate with employees.

The result? Internal communications stagnate, employee engagement declines, and your strategy fails to keep up with the evolving needs and expectations of your frontline employees.

How to solve it:

• Close the feedback loop. Every time you launch an employee survey or embark on a listening tour, tell employees about your findings and thank them for their contributions. Let them know what you plan to do next and keep them posted on any changes and improvements you make.
  
  
• Make proper use of analytics. Use app analytics to track internal communication KPIs. Look at metrics like platform adoption rate, leadership visibility, profile completion, and the number of responses, likes, and reactions your messages receive. Also, segment the data so you get a real sense of how frontline employees are using your internal communication tools. Then, make improvements based on your findings to make your internal communication platform work even better for frontline teams.

Frontline employee communication: essential considerations

Internal communication mistakes are costly. But can avoid them by remembering these guiding principles for frontline comms:

• Think mobile-first. Frontline workers spend all, or most, of their time away from a desk. They need communication systems that move with them.
• Provide short, engaging content. Busy frontline employees need information in an easy-to-digest format. So make like a social media marketer with succinct, visual, and highly engaging messages. 
• Connection, not just communication. Build an online company community by encouraging employee interaction and coworker conversations. 
• Commit to iteration. Continually evaluate your communication strategy and encourage regular feedback from your frontline employees. Then, make meaningful changes based on data, not instincts.

Is your frontline communication falling short?

You only avoid the communication mistakes we’ve looked at in this article if you have the right internal comms tech on your team. That’s where Blink comes in.

Blink is an employee app that offers the same great experience for frontline and desk-based employees.

With secure, single sign-on technology, a user-friendly interface, and deep integrations, it acts as a digital hub. It gives frontline employees access to the information, tools, and connection they need day to day — all via their smartphones.

Blink. And connect your frontline employees like never before.

9 ways to boost employee engagement in manufacturing organizations

The manufacturing industry has an engagement problem. Just 25% of manufacturing employees are engaged at work, making it one of the least engaged occupations in the US.

Employee engagement is the extent to which workers feel satisfied with their jobs and are aligned with organizational values. It also influences how able and willing they are to give 100% to their work. 

So the stat above is worrying. But it also presents an untapped opportunity for forward-thinking firms.

When you improve employee engagement, you create a stronger connection between employee and organization. This leads to better retention, productivity, and business results.

With Deloitte’s 2024 Manufacturing Industry Outlook listing skilled staff shortages as one of the industry’s primary challenges over the coming year, there’s never been a better time to put an employee engagement strategy into action.

Take a look at our ideas for manufacturing employee engagement to swim against the tide, attract additional employees and motivate the ones you already have.  

The importance of employee engagement in manufacturing

It is without question that employee engagement is important to every organization in every industry.

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Engagement has a direct impact on talent acquisition and retention. Staff are less likely to take time off sick and productivity sees a 14% uptick. Happier, more satisfied staff produce better, more cost-effective results for your company.

But in manufacturing, employee engagement can help you to overcome a range of industry-specific challenges. There’s a link between manufacturing employee engagement and all of the following:

• Quality management – engaged employees care more about company goals – they’re more likely to spot and report quality issues
• Safety and risk management – engaged employees pay more attention to the critical comms sent out, which can often include safety and risk management documents. Engaged employees also hold themselves accountable for their impact on the team and work environment, which will lead them to paying more attention to health and safety. 
• Customer experience – there’s a link between employee experience (EX) and customer experience CX) – engaged employees manufacture better products and provide a better service
• Business results – when quality, safety, and CX improve, you improve overall business results – costs go down, sales go up

Key factors influencing employee engagement in manufacturing

If you want to improve the manufacturing employee experience at your organization, you need a strategy. This plan sets out how every part of your company – not just your HR team – is going to work together to improve engagement.

Your strategy should also consider the key factors that affect employee engagement in the manufacturing workplace.  

Communication

Internal communication within a manufacturing organization can be tricky. 

To start, the majority of manufacturing frontline employees don’t have business emails. This creates an initial barrier to cross —of how to even communicate with these workers. 

Then you have teams in the office and on the factory floor, plus a variety of login, language, and time constraints. To give updates on safety protocols and equipment issues, and to share company culture, you need communication channels that deliver the right information to every employee.

The physical work environment

Your workplace should be a safe and comfortable environment for employees. Equipment and protocols have to support the physical wellbeing of workers. And staff need easy-access communication channels so they can report hazards and safety concerns.

Training and development  

Training and development are key in a fast-changing sector like manufacturing. So employees can deliver products to the expected standard. And so you can retain more of your workers by giving them new challenges and a clear career path.

Manufacturing employees are often responsible for repetitive tasks. And it can be hard for them to see how their work fits into the bigger picture. Workplace leaders bring meaning to employee work by recognizing their efforts and sharing company goals and values.  

9 ways to improve employee engagement in manufacturing

Looking to improve employee engagement at your manufacturing firm? The following ideas will help you enhance the employee experience and reap business rewards.

1. Invest in technology

AI, automation, robotics – manufacturing tech is coming on leaps and bounds. But technology doesn’t just improve manufacturing processes. You can use it to boost employee engagement, too.

An employee app like Blink supports easy communication across your organization. As a mobile-first solution, available via smartphone, you can put mandatory reads, new safety protocols, and essential company updates at the fingertips of every employee.

You also bring together the tech tools your teams already use. With next-level integration capabilities, Blink puts information and resources in one easy-access location. You provide a friction-free, user-friendly interface that your employees enjoy using.

Technology streamlines work – and keeps employees in the loop. Just be sure to choose tools suited to both frontline and desk-based workers, and accessible for those with a company email or without. In doing so, you create an equitable working environment and raise the engagement bar for everyone.

2. Open communication

In workplaces that prioritize honesty, personal openness, and mutual respect, workers are 80% more likely to report high emotional wellbeing. Open communication helps keep employees happy.

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You can put the rumor mill out of action and adopt a more open communication style by letting information move freely between all members of your organization:

• Leaders keep employees in the loop, sharing key updates and supporting workers to understand the bigger picture.
• Managers have an open-door policy and regularly connect with their employees, offering feedback, updates, and – crucially – listening to what they have to say, too.
• Workers are encouraged to contribute – they collaborate with each other and feel comfortable raising issues and ideas with decision-makers

So how do you make this kind of communication a reality within your manufacturing organization?

Firstly, you need the right communication channels. These should be suited to your way of working and link every member of the workforce. In a large, modern workplace, a noticeboard crammed with paper memos simply won’t cut it.

Secondly, leaders need to leave egos at the door. Open communication means sometimes hearing things you don’t want to hear. Remember that negative feedback is often more valuable than good as it highlights areas for improvement. And encourage managers to lead by example.

Lastly, bear in mind that open communication can be taught. So train employees in information sharing, active listening, empathy, and teamwork. Teach them which communication channels are the most appropriate – and how often they should be using them. 

3. Translation capabilities

Most manufacturing organizations have a diverse, multinational workforce. And many frontline employees don’t speak English as a first language. So if you’re not already translating company comms, this is a really easy way to boost employee engagement across the board.

Resources, information, and internal communication should be available in the languages your workforce speaks. That way everyone receives the same message and enjoys equal access to information. This also eliminates the bottleneck that managers create, having to be the translator themselves and spending their hours on managing the communication channels that their employees don’t have access to.

For example,The Blink app supports over 100 languages. Contributors can translate posts and resources at the click of a button, making all of your content accessible to everyone on your team, regardless of the language they prefer to use.

With effective, accurate translation, you get everyone on the same page – and include everyone in your company culture.

4. Recognition programs

Recognition makes employees feel valued. When you appreciate and reward employees who go above and beyond, you motivate them and inspire other employees to follow suit.

So when an employee hits a professional or personal milestone, when someone highlights a safety issue before it becomes a hazard, or when a team consistently meets their targets, give them the public recognition they deserve. And encourage co-workers to praise one another, too.

You can give recognition in company meetings, on the blog, or in the newsletter. Or ensure you reach every member of staff with recognition updates by using a digital solution like Blink.

With Blink’s recognition feature, you can post instant, personalized messages to highlight staff achievements. You add a recognition post to the company news feed and start building recognition into your company culture in just a few clicks.

Praise goes a long way. But you may also like to consider perks and prizes. Gift vouchers, an extra paid day’s leave, or a catered team lunch can all incentivize your teams. For manufacturing firm, JFE Shoji Power, sweepstake competition prizes helped them to fill overtime shifts.  

But before you put a reward program into place, survey your staff. Find out what they really want in terms of recognition and reward. That way your recognition program stands to make the most impact.

5. Opportunities for advancement

It’s not just your office-based team who are keen to advance in their careers. 70% of frontline employees have applied for advancement opportunities. But this group doesn’t always get the resources or support they need to move up the career ladder.

When you’re looking to improve employee engagement in a manufacturing organization, allowing all employees to learn and advance within their roles is crucial. It gives employees something to work towards and feel excited about. And it makes them much more invested in doing a good job.

There are lots of things you can do to support career growth.

• Map out clear career goals with employees, offering training and mentor support to help them achieve them
• Give workers more responsibility during the standard work day, encouraging them to take ownership and make decisions where appropriate
• Cross-train and rotate jobs to bring variety to an employee’s workplace experience
• Ensure everyone is aware of training and career opportunities within your organization, highlighting typical career pathways and the perks of promotion

6. Regular, two-way feedback

As we mentioned earlier, open communication is an important part of employee engagement. You can facilitate this type of interaction by providing regular opportunities for two-way feedback.

Regular 1-to-1s between employees and managers help to maintain open lines of communication. These meetings are an opportunity to align goals, resolve conflicts, and identify areas for development.

Crucially, employees get the chance to raise queries and issues, too. They can provide insight into the manufacturing employee experience and any challenges they’re currently facing.

Just remember, this type of interaction needs to take place regularly, not just once or twice a year. To build trusting, open relationships, you need to build this type of communication into every single week.

That means managers spending time on the factory floor, seeing for themselves what excites, challenges, and frustrates workers. It means creating impromptu feedback opportunities. And it means using digital solutions to make feedback and communication easy, even when managers and workers aren’t based in the same location.

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7. Create a safe environment

The manufacturing industry in the US has some of the highest rates of occupational injury and illness. But you don’t get high rates of manufacturing employee engagement unless staff feel safe at work.

When employees feel safe:

• They can focus on their work
• They feel a greater sense of morale
• They feel valued and supported
• They trust in workplace leadership

Prioritize workplace safety and you also create a virtuous circle. Safe environments lead to better employee engagement. And engaged employees help to improve workplace safety going forward. There are 70% fewer safety incidents in the most engaged workplace environments than there are in the least.

Leaders and managers should regularly reassess the safety performance of equipment and protective wear. Careful plant design can help to mitigate safety risks, while clear risk assessment and safety protocols help workers identify and rectify issues before they lead to a safety incident.

But workplace safety isn’t just about having the right equipment and protocols. It’s about fostering a company culture with safety at its core.

To do this, you need psychological safety in addition to physical safety. This is where people feel safe voicing their opinions because they’re not worried about being judged, blamed, or punished.

Give employees a sense of psychological safety – and the right communication tools – and they’ll be more likely to report safety issues. Digital tools, rather than pen and paper methods, help safety information to travel both ways, reaching decision-makers and factory floor workers quickly.

8. Invest in training and onboarding

Manufacturing processes are prone to change. Employees need to keep their knowledge of tech and equipment, as well as their skills, up-to-date. This helps to create a safe environment for everyone working on the manufacturing team. And it boosts employee engagement, too.

Research from 2023 reveals that:

• 71% of manufacturing employees say that training and development is important to them in their work life
• 35% say they aren’t getting the quality of training and development they expect
• 28% said they would leave their employer soon because of poor training and skills development

Onboarding is not to be overlooked either. When new hires start working for a company, there’s lots to learn. Safety protocols. How to use equipment. Company values. Who they can turn to for feedback and support.  

Some organizations, lacking manpower, don’t put enough time and effort into onboarding. But this is where you lay the foundations of employee experience. And it can make or break an employee’s engagement with your firm.  

You can maximize onboarding benefits without spreading their staff too thin, with the help of a digital onboarding process.

Employees access guides, rules, and resources via the company portal. They can refer back to resources as and when they need them. It’s also easy for your teams to update resources with the most up-to-date information.

Managers and co-workers can then supplement this online learning with face-to-face input ensuring a positive experience for new employees.

9. Implement employee surveys

You can never really be sure how your staff are feeling unless you ask. So before you implement an employee engagement strategy for your manufacturing organization, it makes sense to conduct surveys.

As well as listening to employee concerns during manager 1-to-1s, surveys allow employees to give feedback on specific aspects of their role and on what they feel could be better within the organization.

Follow up with a regular schedule of surveys and you build a complete picture of the employee experience:

• Annual surveys give you insight into employee engagement progress
• Quick and easy pulse surveys give you an up-to-the-minute snapshot of employee sentiment
• Lifecycle surveys help you understand the challenges facing employees at each stage in their journey

To get feedback from as many employees as possible, you need to communicate openly. Tell employees about the insights your surveys have uncovered. And share your plan for acting upon their feedback as well as any results.

By engaging employees in every stage of the feedback process, they’re much more likely to respond next time you send out a survey request.  

You’ve read the tips. Now get some real-life inspiration! Aggregate Industries has already put these employee engagement tips into action. Find out how this manufacturing firm improved digital engagement across their frontline with Blink. Watch the webinar now.

In conclusion

In manufacturing, employee engagement can be transformational. When you improve the employee experience, you improve product quality, workplace safety, and customer service. You also find it easier to attract and retain staff in a tough labor market.

In an engaged workplace, information flows between all members of your workforce. Work is more meaningful thanks to clear company values and a sense of the bigger picture. Employees are empowered to do their best work, every day.

Getting to this point may feel like a challenge, particularly if you haven’t given much thought to employee engagement up to this point. But it’s a lot easier to make engagement improvements when you harness the power of technology.

With the help of a mobile-first employee app, you connect every employee, from your HQ office to the factory floor, regardless of their access to a company email or not. You can conduct surveys, give recognition, and provide easy-access training resources. You can translate information into a variety of languages.

Get an employee app on your team and you’ll find it easy to reach and engage every member of staff, whatever their preferred language and whatever their role.

Ineffective communication costs companies $15,000 per employee per year. That’s because effective internal communications do so much good for your business.

They keep employees engaged and in sync with company values. Your teams find it easier to solve problems, make decisions, and collaborate. All of this boosts customer satisfaction and your bottom line.

It’s clear. Strong internal communication is a business essential. But how do you know if you’re doing a good enough job?

This is where internal communications metrics and KPIs come in. By tracking metrics and KPIs, you get a ton of useful data, that you can then use to judge the success of your internal communication strategy.

To get you started, we’ve created this list of 12 internal communications metrics and KPIs. Use them to understand and assess your internal comms performance. Then, find ways to improve it.

Why track internal communications metrics and KPIs?

We know that internal communications can make or break a business. So you need to approach company comms with strategy.

That’s the first step. The second is working out whether your chosen strategy is making a difference. And for this, you need internal communications metrics and KPIs.

These metrics help you to track your performance over time. They help you put your efforts in the right places and get the best possible results.

By gathering and analyzing comms data you get to:

• Assess the effectiveness of your internal communication strategy, identifying successes and areas for improvement
• Make data-based decisions — which tend to be wiser than those you make with your gut
• Find employee groups that you’re failing to reach and messages that you’re failing to land
• Justify internal communications investment

Getting started with communication metrics

Before we get to our list of communication KPIs and metrics, let’s cover some basics. Here are a few things to consider before you start measuring your internal comms performance.

Choose measurable, relevant metrics

You need a clear plan for gathering and measuring data. So before you commit to tracking a metric, make sure the data is accessible. Metrics should also be relevant to your internal communication goals — and overall company goals, too.  

Use qualitative and quantitative data

To get a full picture of your internal communication performance, you need both concrete numbers and in-depth detail. For this, you need to gather both qualitative and quantitative data.

Set goals and a schedule

Record internal communications metrics before you make any updates to your comms strategy. Set measurable goals. Then schedule your next metric check for 90 days, six months, or a year from now.

Involve your organization

When the whole company gets behind an initiative, it’s easier to see it through. So involve employees, managers, and leaders. Share internal metrics with them. Give updates, take action, and communicate results.

Be open to change

Internal communication trends and technologies evolve. So do your business goals. So be prepared to update your communication metrics and strategies to keep them relevant.

12 internal communication KPIs and metrics to track

So, let’s dive in. Here’s our list of internal communication KPIs and metrics. You may like to measure some or all these metrics to gauge your internal comms progress.

Employee engagement  

Internal communication and employee engagement are closely linked. Strong internal comms support engagement by:  

• Aligning employees behind your business values and goals
• Helping employees build strong workplace relationships
• Making employee voices heard
• Recognizing employees

Where there’s good communication, employees become more engaged with their work and your organization. This prompts a positive cycle because engaged employees are more likely to read and act upon your comms.  

Because there’s such a strong link between engagement and comms, employee engagement rates are a really good indicator of comms success. So to find out how successful your communication strategy is, you can use employee engagement KPIs.

You can gather this data with the help of employee surveys. You can also look at employee retention, absenteeism, and internal promotion rates.

Message open rates

If you send messages via an internal communication tool, you should be able to track your open rates. This communication metric tells you how many employees read your emails, newsletters, and announcements.

If you find that lots of messages go unopened and unread, there are several ways you can improve things. 

You could vary the time of day you send messages. Or the frequency with which you send messages. You could switch up your subject lines. Or try segmenting your employee mailing list so employees receive personalized communications. 

Some experimentation could reveal an internal comms style that better suits your staff.

Message open rates can also reveal whether one communication channel outperforms another. If this is the case, it makes sense to focus on that communication channel as a way to better reach employees.

Message and feedback response time

When your workers respond quickly to internal messages, you learn three things.

First, it’s easy for employees to access the message and therefore the communication channel.

Second, employees are engaged and want to respond to messages promptly.

And third, the meaning of your messages is getting through. 

So track employee response time for your internal communications and feedback requests. If you find that it’s taking a while for employees to read and respond to messages, you might like to consider:

• Streamlining communication channels so employees don’t waste time switching between them
• Setting clear and fair expectations for message response times
• Encouraging managers and leaders to lead by example
• Seeking feedback from employees to find out what’s preventing a speedy response

Communication tool adoption

Internal communication tools are an investment. So you want to be sure that your chosen communication software is proving a hit with employees.

Adoption rates show you how many workers are using a new communication tool. High adoption rates are great for proving a return on investment (ROI) and the tool’s usability.

Low adoption rates suggest resistance among the workforce to using your chosen tool. If this is the case, you could try one of the following ideas. 

Software training  — so all employees understand how to use your communication tool and what they stand to gain by using it

Software ambassadors — give software training to a group of employee ambassadors who then support their peers in using your intranet or app

If your chosen tool isn’t intuitive to use or doesn’t suit all members of your workforce, you may also have to go back to the drawing board to reconsider the tools you use.

Content consumption metrics

It’s important that employees engage with essential content, like company policies and training documents.

To find out how employees interact with this content, you can use content consumption metrics. We’re talking page views, page engagement, content downloads, and message shares.

If you’re getting high rates for all these metrics, your content is easy for employees to access and understand.

Low rates suggest you should assess the clarity and layout of your internal content. It should be easy for employees to read, digest, and act upon the information you’ve provided. That might mean:

• Writing useful, descriptive headlines
• Using simple language
• Breaking longer content down into manageable sections
• Making use of images and videos to make your content more engaging

This internal communication KPI also shows you something else. The pages that are most useful and effective. You may like to use these pages as a best practice template moving forward.

Employee sentiment analysis

Employee sentiment analysis tells you how employees feel about your organization. It’s the general mood or vibe that currently represents your workforce. And it’s based upon the content of the posts they write, the messages they send, and the feedback they give.  

You can manually assess employee sentiment. But by far the easiest way to summarize the thoughts of your staff is with the help of a sentiment analysis tool.

Some tools scan content for keywords. They then compare the number of negative and positive keywords.

Other tools are more advanced and more accurate. Thanks to AI and natural language processing (NLP), they have a better understanding of human language. This means they’re better at summarizing the emotion behind a piece of writing.

Blink communication software has powerful analytics that allow you to analyze employee sentiment. You can also track communication flow, to find both positive and negative company relationships.

Leadership visibility

To ensure engagement with internal communication channels, all members of staff must be seen to use them — including your leaders.

You can measure leadership visibility through a combination of qualitative and quantitative data:

• How often leaders send out messages
• The number of opens, likes, and shares leadership messages receive
• The sentiment of employee responses to leadership messages
• The consistency of messaging in leadership communication

If you’re embracing a two-way communication style within your organization (which we believe every company should), leadership involvement is an important part of the picture.

Profile completion

If you use a modern intranet or an employee app, employees can usually set up profiles. Other employees then search these profiles to find team members and learn more about them.

Employee profiles support stronger workplace relationships, information sharing, and collaboration. So they’re a really important part of your internal comms strategy.

But they’re only useful when employees take the time to complete their profiles. So this is another great internal metric to track.

What percentage of employees have a completed profile? What percentage of each profile is complete? Which fields do employees tend to leave blank?

Find answers to these questions. Then, by either motivating employees or reconfiguring your profile pages, you can improve completion and communication.

Employee advocacy score

Employee advocates are happy to recommend your company as a place to work. They’re also happy to recommend your products or services.

They’re more likely to do this if your company has a culture of good communication and clear messaging. So another of the internal communications metrics to add to your list is an employee advocacy score.

You can calculate your employee advocacy score using a variety of different metrics:

• Surveys asking employees whether they’d recommend your products/services/work culture
• The number of quality employee referrals for roles within the company
• How often employees repost company content on social media or internal newsfeed channels

If lots of employees are promoting organizational messages and values externally, this is a clear sign that your internal communication strategy is working well.

Employee turnover

Engaged employees are less likely to leave their jobs. And we know that good, two-way internal communication is one piece of the employee retention puzzle.

That’s because, with effective internal comms, you can:

• Create a sense of belonging
• Help employees find purpose in their work
• Give employees the information and resources they need to fulfill their roles

So include employee turnover rate as one of your internal communications KPIs. While it doesn’t give the full picture, you can view it alongside other internal metrics to see whether your comms strategy is making a difference. 

Employee satisfaction rates

Poor workplace communication causes stress and harms staff satisfaction. The opposite is also true. Companies with honest feedback, personal openness, and mutual respect enjoy higher levels of employee emotional wellbeing.

This means you’re unlikely to achieve high rates of employee satisfaction without effective internal communication.

To discover how satisfied employees feel, anonymous surveys are a useful tool. It means employees can give honest and useful feedback. It’s also worth keeping your question simple and concise, like this one: 

Overall, how satisfied do you feel with your job at [company name]? 

Send out your staff satisfaction survey on a quarterly, six-monthly, or annual basis to track your progress over time.

Customer satisfaction rates and sales

Employee satisfaction is directly linked to customer satisfaction and a company’s financial performance.

According to Gallup, happy and engaged employees help their company improve customer relationships and achieve organic growth. Highly engaged businesses see a 10% improvement in customer ratings and an 18% improvement in sales.

Surveying customers and tracking business revenue are other useful ways to assess the wider impact of your internal communications strategy.

How the right internal comms tools can help

To make the most impact, you’ll have to dig down into the data.

You can segment your communication metrics for different communication channels, departments, and employee devices. You can even segment them according to the employee life cycle stage.  

When you understand your internal metrics on this level, it’s easier to find root causes and make impactful comms improvements.

But to make data collection and segmentation quick and easy, you need the right internal communication tools. Internal communication software, suited to your organization:

• Makes internal communication more engaging and effective
• Ensures the right people are getting the right comms
• Ensures that everyone has access to company comms — not just those with a company computer or email address
• Provides actionable data that helps you measure the success of your internal communication strategy and make improvements

So, as well as choosing an internal communication software that your employees are excited to use, you need to find a tool with robust analytics features.

Use Blink’s super app for internal communication and you tick all the boxes, particularly if you run a frontline organization.

With Blink, you can send internal communications to every employee smartphone. You can also use analytics functions to track employee engagement, improve your content, and build stronger workplace relationships.

Use employee engagement software to engage your workforce every step of the way

The employee lifecycle incorporates the following stages:

• Preboarding: The time between an accepted offer and an employee’s first day
• Onboarding: Orientation, training, and support delivered over a new hire’s first months in a role
• Development: Support for learning and career growth
• Engagement: Building a workplace culture of connection and belonging
• Retention: Keeping top talent invested in your organization and their work
• Transition: Supporting change and offboarding with care

The challenge for managers and HR teams is ensuring high levels of employee engagement at every point in that journey.

We know that just 23% of employees are engaged at work. And that disengagement hurts everything from employee retention to customer loyalty to employee well-being to productivity.

So how do you maximize the employee life cycle, ensuring levels of engagement that drive business success?

It helps to have the right employee engagement software on your team. With employee engagement tools, you can create a seamless, consistent, and personalized journey for all employees — whether they’re working in the office, from home, or on the frontlines of your organization.

Let’s take a look at how you can make that happen. Here’s how to use software tools to improve engagement throughout the employee lifecycle.

How to enhance the employee lifecycle with engagement software

#1. Preboarding: Creating a great experience before day one

First impressions matter. And the preboarding phase is your opportunity to introduce a new hire to company culture and set the tone for their employee experience.

An effective preboarding process welcomes new employees to the organization. It also calms those inevitable nerves, as it gives new staff all the information they need to prepare for their first day.

You can use employee engagement software during this phase to:

• Sustain employee communication between the offer stage and an employee’s first day
• Share useful documents and get employees to sign any necessary paperwork
• Share welcome messages from managers and team members
• Provide a road map of the onboarding process, so new hires know what to expect

With Blink’s Employee Journeys, you can use start-date triggers to send tailored employee communications ahead of their first day. You can also include an employee’s line manager in the journey for a seamless and supportive experience.

#2. Onboarding: Setting the stage for success

According to Gallup, employees who get a great onboarding experience are 2.6x more likely to be “extremely satisfied” at work. They’re also more likely to stay working for you.

This is a crucial time. The first 90 days in a role are considered some of the riskiest in terms of employee retention. New hires start working for you with high hopes and expectations. If the reality is too far from what was promised during recruitment, they’re likely to jump ship.

The good news is that employee engagement software can help you maximize engagement and minimize that attrition risk during the onboarding process. 

Here are some key actions to take at this stage to boost — and maintain — employee morale:

• Personalize the onboarding journey, ensuring content is hyper-relevant at key employee milestones with customizable templates
• Provide self-serve access to resources, training, and team profiles, so employees can get to know the entire company and their co-workers
• Check in regularly with pulse surveys, offering recognition for employee efforts and seeking their real-time feedback on the onboarding process
• Train employees on how to use your employee engagement and internal communication tools, plus existing HR systems like Workday

Employee engagement software helps you deliver the right information to new employees at the right time. This prevents overwhelm and ensures a streamlined onboarding process.

You also free up a resource that is better than any bot at inspiring employee engagement — your real-life employees.

By leaving your software to take care of the nuts and bolts of the onboarding process, managers and co-workers can spend more time with your new hire. That means they experience meaningful interactions and feel part of the team more quickly.

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#3. Development: Nurturing growth and learning

In its 2025 Global Culture Report, O.C. Tanner explores why some employees are thriving, while others are only surviving. It reports that employees are 68 times more likely to thrive at work when their organization prioritizes skill-building and career development.

Nurturing employee skills and supporting them to reach their career goals is key to engagement and retention. And the right employee engagement solutions help you to achieve that.

You can use your software to:

• Integrate training modules into your employee engagement platform to deliver a seamless experience
• Craft personalized development plans that align with employee and organizational goals
• Offer gamified and micro-learning training sessions to engage busy employees and allow them to learn at their own pace
• Track progress toward personal and departmental objectives, offering regular support and recognition

With Blink’s employee intranet, seamless integration with L&D software is easy. With single sign-on technology, employees can access the latest training modules via the intuitive Blink interface — in just a few clicks. No additional login details necessary.

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#4. Engagement: Building a culture of connection and belonging

Supportive workplace relationships are a bedrock of employee engagement. So helping employees to make connections with coworkers — and to feel part of company culture — is a sure-fire way to improve the employee experience. 

If you have a remote team or lots of frontline employees, this is something you have to be very intentional about. It’s easy for people who work away from HQ to feel disconnected from the wider organization.

Luckily, this is another thing that an employee engagement app can help with. You can use your platform to:

• Share real-time company news and amplify company culture via a multimedia news feed
• Support employees to find like-minded co-workers with social features, like communities, which are based around hobbies and interests
• Encourage co-workers to collaborate and share knowledge, exchanging resources via team messaging tools
• Measure engagement with the help of employee surveys, employee sentiment analysis, and advanced analytics on platform usage

A tool like Blink is available via an intuitive employee app. So employees can get company news and interact with co-workers via their smartphones. This ensures all employees — no matter where they work — experience the sense of connection and belonging that is key to engagement.

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#5. Retention: Keeping top talent invested

Talent retention is about more than competitive pay. In fact, research shows that engaged employees look for a 31% pay increase to consider taking a job with another organization.

So what can you do to inspire this type of loyalty among your employees? Besides fostering employee development, career growth, and performance management — all while creating a culture of recognition — you can harness your employee engagement software to reduce employee turnover. 

Here’s how:

• Use platform data and employee feedback to identify disengaged employees and their pain points, staying ahead of potential issues
• Launch well-being initiatives, providing resources and programs that support physical mental, and emotional health and boost employee satisfaction
• Make social recognition an integral part of company culture, showing employees that you value their contributions

Your software allows you to track employee engagement — and discover areas of the employee experience that need improvement. These actionable insights can help you pinpoint the benefits and workplace changes that will make the biggest difference to employee retention.

Read more: How to make employee retention your competitive advantage

#6. Transition: Supporting change and offboarding with care

The employee lifecycle doesn’t end when an employee hands in their notice. How you handle transitions — whether that’s a promotion, a role change, or an exit — can impact your employer brand and the morale of remaining employees.

So treat transitions as a chance to gather useful feedback from your employees. Try to discover what they did and didn’t like about the employee experience — and seek concrete ways to improve employee engagement.

You can use your employee engagement software at this stage in the employee lifecycle to:

• Provide resources and support as an employee transitions to a new role
• Send automated exit pulse surveys to capture valuable feedback before an employee leaves
• Create a centralized content hub where employees can document workflows, processes, and critical knowledge before leaving
• Analyze employee feedback to inform future engagement strategies

End the relationship on a positive note and ex-employees are more likely to recommend your organization as a place to work. They may even “boomerang” back to you when looking for their next role.

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Maximize your employee lifecycle with the best employee engagement tools

The employee lifecycle is a series of opportunities to engage, develop, and retain talent. And good employee engagement software provides tools to optimize every stage of that journey.

With the right platform, you can improve internal communications, training, recognition, and connection. You can inspire employees to feel more invested in their work, so they’re happier and more loyal to your organization.

Pick a mobile-first engagement tool and you ensure that every member of your workforce gets access to the same great employee experience. They can access your platform via their smartphones, checking in at a time and place that works for them.

So what does all of this mean for your organization? Sustained engagement throughout the whole of the employee lifecycle across your entire organization means: 

• Improved productivity
• Reduced absenteeism
• Lower levels of attrition
• Improved employee well-being

According to Gallup, high engagement teams also experience a 23% increase in profitability, which makes employee engagement software an excellent investment for any organization.

‍Blink. And find out how an employee engagement platform can transform the employee life cycle.