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When executives at Nokia Bell Labs brought engineers and scientists together from separate teams, their experiments led to the invention that we know as the vacuum tube.

Since then, the product has transformed hundreds of industries and solidified Nokia’s place in the telecommunications technology space.

The global revenue of their network infrastructure has been increasing by 22% year after year, and for the quarter ending March 31, 2021, it was €1.7B.

That’s the power of cross-functional collaboration. Many of the problems organizations face today need not one, but multiple teams or departments to work with one another. And in a survey of more than 2000 professionals, LinkedIn has identified cross-functional collaboration as a key leadership skill.

That’s why in this post, we’ll take a look at the meaning of cross-functional collaboration, its advantages, and best practices to facilitate cross-functional collaboration at work.

What is cross-functional collaboration?

Cross-functional collaboration refers to the concept of employees from different operational areas of a company working together as a team to complete a project or solve a problem. For example:

• Ecommerce website designers, developers, and copywriters may join forces to deliver a cohesive user experience.
• Sales, customer support, and marketing teams may engage in cross-team collaboration to create a uniform customer journey.
• Manufacturing floor staff and procurement managers may collaborate to reduce excess inventory and ensure stock availability.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Cross-functional collaboration has endless applications and possibilities depending on the business requirements.

Importance of cross-functional collaboration

So why would you want different departments to collaborate? The future belongs to cross-team collaboration. According to Deloitte, “We’re seeing a shift from hierarchies to cross-functional teams. Adopting team structures can improve organizational performance, while not doing so puts you at the risk of falling behind.”

We’ve covered some use cases above but the benefits of cross-functional collaboration go beyond that. These include:

Increased innovation

When you involve people from different parts of the business, you get different points of view. The combination of these unique perspectives can lead to creative ideas for solving problems and lifting production.

Better efficiency

Cross-functional collaboration can make your business operations more efficient. The more different departments collaborate, the more their workflows will evolve and improve.

For example, if a manufacturing company suddenly loses its regular supplier, sales representatives, the ordering department, and the warehouse manager can unite to find a new vendor.

With this cross-team collaboration, they have a high chance of quickly finding a new supplier that satisfies the criteria established by all three of them.

Faster acceptance and implementation of change

When you involve people from different spheres in a change initiative from the beginning, you also get their empathy, buy-in, and trust. And they spread this acceptance to other people in their respective teams.

The result? Everyone’s on the same page, and there are fewer delays in execution. For example, some companies have orientation programs where a new employee is required to spend some time in each department.

This leads to a better understanding of the challenges and decision-making processes in different parts of the business. So whatever team the employee ends up with, he’d still be able to welcome changes introduced by other teams. 

Enhanced organizational knowledge

This one’s a pretty obvious benefit of cross-team collaboration. When you collaborate with other departments, you also get to know the tools, processes, and best practices they are using.

The inner workings of a different department help you learn lessons that you can implement in your own team. For example, they might be using a better tool for data visualization which is also cheaper than yours.

Plus, you get a better sense of how your work and the other team’s work fits into the bigger picture.

Ways to streamline cross-functional collaboration

As you can see, solving problems that affect multiple teams or departments goes a long way in giving you an edge against the competition.

You may think that bringing people together from different teams would be easy, since they’re all part of the same company. But that’s often not the case, especially in medium and large-sized businesses.

Different departments may have conflicting agendas, values, goals, and priorities. And these differences prevent them from progressing on cross-functional projects.

So let’s see the core steps you can take to improve cross-functional collaboration in your business.

Have a clear vision

30% of employees worldwide cite inadequate vision as the reason for the failure of projects in their companies.

Image Source: PMI

If that’s the case for regular projects, you can imagine how high it would be for cross-functional projects.

When you don’t share a concrete reason for the existence of a cross-functional project, why would anyone prioritize it over the tasks within their own team?

Be transparent with the teams involved about why you started the project. Tell them why they were chosen for it. And clarify what’s the end goal.

For example, if you are launching an onboarding program with a mentor from each department, the vision could be to quickly transform new hires into long-term assets.

The more open your communication, the more invested different departments will be in the project’s success.

Gather the right team members

How you build your cross-functional team plays a big role in your project’s success.

For example, having a finance expert in the team will be crucial for a cross-functional project that involves cutting energy costs and becoming a more eco-friendly company. Plus, you’ll also need PR experts that can spread the story in news outlets and give the whole thing a positive spin.

When putting together a cross-functional team, also consider the diversity and influence exerted by every member within the organization. People who are well-liked and respected even outside their immediate departments make perfect candidates for cross-functional initiatives.

Clarify roles and responsibilities

Do any of these ring a bell?

“I thought he/she was going to do it.”

“I keep butting heads with someone in the other team doing my job.”

“I am reporting to two managers from different teams with different ideas on what my job is.”

If you don’t clear up the expectations from each cross-functional team member, your team will remain confused about what exactly they should do, and who will carry out each task.

Remember, employees with clarity on their roles report a high level of satisfaction (75%), effectiveness (86%), and productivity (83%).

Image Source: Effectory

So when engaging in cross-team collaboration, make sure to clearly organize both individual and collective tasks for your workers. Every employee should know what tasks they are supposed to do on their own, and what is to be done in collaboration with other team members.

Put up roles for everyone else to see

A study of American workers across many industries found that 20% end up duplicating the work of others. The reason? Not being able to reach the concerned coworker.

Image Source: Panopto

So while it’s good to clarify roles and responsibilities for each team member, they must also know what everyone else is doing and responsible for. This will help you in two ways:

• There will be no repeat or duplicate work. If someone is already handling a task, another person will not take it up.
• When a team member runs into a problem or needs some information, they’ll know who to reach out to.

The basic information you should openly display for each team member includes:

• Full name
• Department name and job title
• Role within the cross-functional project
• Contact information

‍ A great way to streamline this process is to use an employee directory. Blink, for example, is an internal communication app that offers this feature.

It lets you create a directory where information about each worker can be displayed. Plus, employees can search or reach anyone in the directory via instant messaging. 

Ensure clear and regular communication

The ability to communicate the goals, status, and outcome of your team's work is crucial for cross-functional collaboration. When cross-functional teams don’t discuss project updates and requirements with one another, they cannot realize their full potential.

But cross-functional communication can be tricky. People are occupied with projects within their immediate teams, and no one may be willing to go the extra mile to communicate with other departments.

A great way to make communication easy for everyone is by implementing simple communication channels. Even better if you can provide a designated space for employees to share updates, exchange messages, and share documents.

That way, you make it easy for different departments to share information without switching between multiple apps.

Another thing you should do is to create a concrete communication strategy for your cross-functional project. The communication strategy will clarify how and when to send updates, and set communication expectations for the teams involved.

Create comprehensive documentation

Cross-functional projects are usually big, and big projects are scary. There are many moving parts that can overwhelm the teams involved. They may not know where to begin, how to carry out a task, or whom to ask.

In such a situation, documenting every aspect of the project can be a huge help. It clarifies processes and boosts productivity in both the short and long term.

Documenting involves writing down details about the project goals, baseline measurements, ongoing tasks, expected results, and more. Then making all this information available to the departments that have a stake in the cross-functional project.

You can begin by creating a project timeline to set and communicate the main tasks and a schedule based on when they should be completed as well as establish a project baseline.

Take construction projects, for example. These are typically complex cross-functional ventures because they require the design, procurement, and construction teams to collaborate deeply with one another.

And they have many tasks and subtasks to be managed on a strict timeline, as delays can lead to increased costs. Here’s what a project timeline might look like for such a project.

Image Source: GanttPRO

This level of detail in your documentation goes a long way in showing both the big-picture view and small tasks associated with the project, making the project vision easy to digest for all the team members.

Conclusion: how to streamline cross-functional collaboration

Cross-functional collaboration can be daunting, but its potential for your business can’t be ignored. It’s an opportunity to leverage the leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills from all corners of your company and use them to drive powerful results.

So use these strategies to set a solid foundation for cross-functional success. As your teams start collaborating, encourage them to keep adjusting and learning from the experience. Because these lessons will help you improve your organization’s ability to facilitate cross-functional collaboration even further.

And if you’re looking for a tool that can help enhance cross-functional collaboration at work, look no further than Blink. Request a free demo today.

There are more employee communication tools available than ever. Modern intranets. Employee apps. And a ton of software add-ons. But — as we’re sure you now know — there’s soon to be one big player missing from the market.

Workplace from Meta is being discontinued. So the platform’s many clients are now trying to decide on a Workplace alternative.

Whether you’re affected by the closure of Workplace or simply feel that your employee communication tools need a rethink, choosing a new internal communication tool requires careful consideration.  

You need a platform that promises to improve internal communications and employee engagement for your workforce. Something that facilitates easy communication between people at all levels of your organization.

Depending on your company and workforce, you may also need a tool that supports teamwork, company-wide updates, co-worker connection, recognition, feedback, and more.

The variety of software options available is an opportunity — and a challenge. It’s likely that there’s a perfect-fit platform out there. But the process of finding it can be tricky.

With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of questions you should ask when choosing a new employee communication tool. These questions will help you find software that performs as well as Workplace from Meta and meets the needs of your workplace.

But first, let’s take a quick look at the current employee communication landscape.

The employee communication landscape in 2024

In today’s digital workplace, effective employee communication relies on the right tech solutions. But if you’re looking for a new employee communication tool for your organization, chances are you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the number of options on offer.

There are tools suited to certain segments of the workforce — for example, desk-based workers or frontline workers.

There are internal communication tools that focus on a very specific area of employee communications, like surveys or video conferencing.

And there are tools that go beyond employee communication to support organizations with tasks like employee engagement and project management, either through integrations or as an all-in-one solution.

Some tools are also exiting the marketplace.  

Earlier this year, Meta announced that it would be discontinuing its Workplace tool. The platform will continue to operate until September 2025 and will remain read-only until May 2026. But many companies using Workplace from Meta are already looking to make a switch.

Deciding which tool — from this huge selection — is right for your organization can feel challenging. But it’s a priority for many business leaders in 2024, with 84% saying they plan to invest in more modern communication strategies.

You only have to look at some recent research to understand why. 

According to the Axios report for 2023 into the State of Workplace Communications, the cost of poor internal communications amounts to $15,000 per employee per year. And while 77% of leaders think the communications they share support employees to do their jobs well, only 46% of employees agree.

In its 2024 State of Business Communication report, Grammarly reveals how poor communication is impacting employees and organizations. As a result of poor communication:

• 51% of employees experience increased stress
• 41% of employees report lower productivity
• 31% of employees experience strained workplace relationships
• 26% of employees have missed deadlines

On the flip side, good internal communications lead to increased employee confidence, productivity, and work satisfaction. Ultimately, a much better employee experience and better business results, too.

Questions to ask when choosing a new employee communication tool

Ask the right questions and you’ll find it easier to create a shortlist of employee communication tools. Here are the things you should be asking yourself — and your teams — as you undergo your software search.

How do we rate our current communication channels?

Before you start looking for a new workplace tool, assess your current one. Whatever platform you’ve used until now — Workplace from Meta or an alternative — you need to clarify what you like and dislike about it. You’ll then have a clearer idea of what you need in a new solution.  

So consider how effective your current communication tools are and whether they have any limitations. Establish whether there are any significant integration gaps. Launch an employee survey to gather the thoughts of your workforce.  

Also, bear in mind what Grammarly said in its recent report: over the past 12 months, 73% of professionals say they’ve seen an increase in the variety of communication channels used in their workplace. But this isn’t leading to more effective internal communications.

Different workplace tools come with their own notifications, interfaces, and rules of engagement. Employees may feel confused about which channel is appropriate for which message. And conversations become disjointed and hard to track because they take place in multiple locations.  

The best solutions are streamlined and easy to use. So consider how many different communication channels you’re currently using. And whether these tools are successfully communicating key messages and encouraging employee engagement.  

You can look at adoption and platform engagement rates to better understand how employees interact with your current tech selection.

What do we want from this communication tool and partnership?  

Onto challenges, goals, and platform features. When choosing a workplace tool, think about:

• Your primary communication challenges. Perhaps messages are being missed. Or employees are failing to engage with the platform. Maybe there’s a disconnect between HQ and frontline workers.
  
  
• What you’re trying to achieve with this tool. Do you want it to enhance workplace collaboration, improve employee engagement, or amplify company culture? Maybe you want it to do all these things.
  
  
• Must-have features. What functionality do you need? This might include real-time messaging, video conferencing, document sharing, surveys, or social feed features.

Also, think beyond the platform itself. Sure, you need a communication tool that supports your organization’s style of communication. But it’s also useful to have a partner who understands employee communications — and your workplace challenges — inside out.

Here at Blink, we’re experts in employee communication and engagement. Unlike some of our competitors, this is our sole focus. Our clients can rely on us as a strategic partner, benefitting from our comms insights and ongoing support.

We work with our clients so they get the best from the Blink app. We offer extensive support through the launch phase, helping you to encourage adoption. We also pride ourselves on our responsiveness to client feature requests, feedback, and suggestions.

Will this communication platform work for all employees?

A good employee communication tool acts as a hub for your organization. It’s a place where co-workers connect, where they access collective knowledge, and where leadership shares important messages.

All pretty vital stuff. So it’s not fair to leave any employees out of the conversation. It’s not good for business either.

Unless everyone enjoys easy access to your platform, you fail to achieve the levels of workplace communication and employee engagement that you’re striving for.

Bear in mind that only 10% of frontline workers say they have high access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace. So when choosing a new employee communication tool, consider where and when your employees will be using it.

If your employees are fully desk-based, a desktop platform is likely to fit the bill. For hybrid teams, you need desktop systems with real-time communication and collaboration tools.

For frontline employees who don’t work at a desk — and don’t necessarily even have a company email address — you need a different type of workplace tool. A mobile-first employee app, available on employee smartphones, is your best option.

Of course, if you have a mix of frontline and desk-based staff, you need a solution that works for everyone. It should have the same extensive features on both mobile and desktop so no one misses out. And it should successfully bridge the gap between your company’s frontlines and head office.

What level of personalization and customization do we want?

The best employee communication tools offer personalization features. They allow you to adapt a platform to the branding and requirements of your organization. This is good for the employee experience and it helps improve employee engagement with your tool.

Don’t need a particular module? Then it probably shouldn’t take up space on the employee dashboard. Want the software to align with your company branding? This service should come as standard.  

If you’re a large, global company, it may also make sense to create mini-sites within your platform. Each of these sites can be branded and personalized for a different segment of your workforce to ensure they’re relevant and engaging.

So clarify what you expect in terms of platform personalization, then ask platform providers what they’re able to deliver. 

What integrations do we need?

As we’ve already touched upon, in today’s digital workplace, software overwhelm is a real problem. Throw too many tech tools at employees and you make them less productive and engaged.

That’s why a good employee communication tool is an all-in-one solution. It also integrates seamlessly with any other workplace software you like to use. 

This makes life easier for employees because they access all tools from one unified dashboard. It can also improve software adoption rate. When employees don’t have to worry about separate logins and passwords, they find it easier to use the tools at their disposal. 

Thanks to Blink’s digital hub, organizations enjoy 5x better adoption of existing tools. With single sign-on (SSO), users don’t have to waste time logging into different apps. This creates a streamlined and user-friendly experience — and it makes employees more productive, too.

What’s the user experience like?

Usability is another important consideration when choosing a new employee comms tool. There’s little point investing time in new tech if a large proportion of employees don’t actually end up using it.

The best employee apps require minimal employee training. They’re intuitive to use and navigate. There are few points of friction. It’s easy for admins to manage content and comms from the back end of the platform.  

Your chosen employee communication tool should also support you in boosting employee engagement. It’ll come with a social-media-style news feed. Employees will have the option to like, comment, and post. You’ll be able to launch pulse surveys and send out rich, multimedia content. 

If you’re switching from an existing tool — like Workplace from Meta — it makes sense to choose an internal communications solution with a similar interface and features. When a platform feels familiar, employees will find it easier to make the switch.

So how do you judge a tool’s user experience? A product demo helps you get a sense of what a platform is like in action. You can also look at a tool’s adoption rates and platform engagement rates to see how it’s working for other organizations like yours.

Find out what customers think of Blink. Take a look at our case studies.

What are the practicalities of this platform?

As well as considering the effectiveness of an internal communication tool, you need to consider its practical impact. So work with other departments, like IT and finance, to establish your requirements in terms of:

• Budget. How much are you prepared to spend? What’s the ongoing cost of a platform? Are there any hidden costs and does it represent good value for money?
  
  
• Security. Does this platform keep your company and employee data safe? What security practices does it follow?
  
  
• Scalability. Can the platform grow with your organization? How will it adapt to your changing needs?  

Final thoughts on choosing an internal communication tool

There are lots of employee communication tools to choose from. And — as Meta discontinues Workplace — lots of organizations looking for a new solution to meet the needs of their workforce. 

To find the right internal communication tool for your organization, you need to ask the right questions.

Think about what you like and dislike about your current solution. Clarify what you want from platform features and a software partner. Consider customizations, integrations, and the user experience. And be sure to think about all employees and their communication needs.

This should help you narrow down the list of options. You can then conduct research into your shortlisted platform providers, looking at their adoption and engagement rates — and taking them for a spin as part of a free trial or demo.

Find out if Blink is the right internal communication tool for your organization by scheduling a personalized demo. Book your demo today.

The employee intranet is a critical piece of the employee engagement puzzle. It keeps your workforce on the same page, supports the easy sharing of information and resources, and serves as a valuable tool to support internal communications, HR, and IT functions.

But historically, employee intranets have been developed with a desk-based workforce in mind, creating a gap in the workforce tech experience for frontline employees — the vast majority of the global workforce.

It’s a gap that these deskless employees are keenly aware of: Just 10% of frontline workers say they have enough access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace.

This lack of access is often a result of two simple reasons: Most intranets are 1) designed for a desktop computer experience and 2) accessible only through a corporate email address — two things that many frontline workers don’t have or use on a regular basis.

To overcome these issues, organizations sometimes try communicating with their frontline workers using memos on a noticeboard, SMS messages, or shadow IT. Yet this just furthers the disconnect, with desk-based workers getting a rich digital workplace experience — and frontline workers still missing out on all the benefits an employee intranet brings.

With frontline satisfaction and retention in need of urgent attention, a modern intranet, suited to all sectors of your workforce, can transform the frontline employee experience.

Let’s look at six ways that organizations can customize their intranet to make it more frontline-friendly. By incorporating these ideas into your own intranet, you can give your frontline employees — alongside your office staff — the communications, connection, and resources they need to thrive in the workplace.

6 ways to customize your intranet for the frontline

#1. Make all tools and resources accessible in one hub

Frontline employees work busy shifts with limited downtime. If they have to switch between lots of different apps, remembering multiple sets of login details, they’re unlikely to regularly use your workplace tools.

By putting everything your workforce might need in a centralized employee app, your frontline workers can benefit from quick and easy access to key tools and resources.

An employee app, accessible via smartphone or desktop computer, can act as a content hub where all policies, documents, and forms are stored. It’s where employees can catch up with company news, connect with coworkers, and fill out the latest employee surveys.

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With the help of single sign-on technology, a company app can also act as the gateway to all other workplace software, improving adoption of tools across the business. Employees need to sign on just once to access anything from training programs and shift-swapping software to time-off policies and employee benefits.

#2. Create different channels to satisfy all employee connection needs

While it may not take place around the famous water cooler, office-based workers get lots of opportunity during the work day for informal chit chat. But frontline employees — who often work disparately, away from HQ and on their own — tend to miss out on coworker connection. This can create a disjointed employee experience and get in the way of knowledge sharing, team building, and collaboration.

So when it comes to the company intranet, don’t just create channels for important company updates. Create channels suited to informal conversation and two-way communication, too.

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Here, employees can get to know one another and chat about their choice of topics. They can enter groups, building relationships with co-workers in the same location, in the same role, or with the same hobbies. By providing a variety of communication channels on your employee intranet, you satisfy the various connection needs of your workforce.

#3. Use mandatory reads to highlight important communications

Some frontline employees work in environments where safety and compliance are critical. Others interface with customers and need the most up-to-date information on inventory and processes. But these workers don’t always call into HQ before their shift starts, and they sometimes operate with less direct supervision than their office-based peers.

So how can you ensure critical updates get through to your deskless workforce?

By marking the latest policies, safety alerts, and best practices as mandatory reads on your intranet, they’re more likely to cut through the noise. 

Mandatory reads appear prominently on the intranet dashboard or the company news feed. They only disappear when an employee reads and acknowledges them. And by using backend analytics that track engagement and reading rates, your internal communications team can ensure that all workers, regardless of their locations, have received and read new need-to-know information.

#4. Surface personalized content based on teams and titles

If you primarily use your intranet for your desk-based workforce, it likely contains a lot of information that is irrelevant to your frontline teams. Serve this information to your frontline employees and they’ll become disengaged with your intranet, making it harder for you to communicate key messages.

Use intranet tools that allow you to personalize the user experience — and don’t simply make a distinction between your office and frontline staff.

Segment your employees based on their title, team, location, and tenure. Then customize their dashboard so it features the most relevant content. For frontline employees, you might like to include key contacts, “suggested for you” content, and news related to the frontline.

Similarly, when employees access the company news feed, they should see content relating to them and their roles. You can achieve this by selecting the audience for each post — whether that’s the whole company, your office staff, your frontline workers, or a particular team.

#5. Make it easy for managers to recognize great workers

A third of frontline workers say that a primary reason for leaving their position is feeling undervalued by their employer. Yet despite the role of workplace appreciation in engagement and retention, less than half of workers said they had received recognition from their organization, leaders, or peers in the previous month.

Frontline managers are well-placed to offer praise but — like the people they lead — these managers are busy, feeling like there are barely enough hours in the day. To build recognition into the frontline employee experience, make it easy for managers to tackle through an employee intranet with built-in rewards and recognition features.

By providing ready-to-go templates, managers can easily but meaningfully personalize and post messages of recognition to a company news feed or a group chat. With just a few clicks, managers can show appreciation for hard work, highlight successes, or celebrate an employee birthday.

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Highlight employees on public channels within your intranet and recognition will take on a life of its own. Coworkers and other managers can like the post and comment with their own words of praise, amplifying the post’s impact.

The fewer steps involved in employee recognition, and the more visible you make it, the more likely it is to become an integral part of company culture.

#6. Analyze intranet data to identify gaps and opportunities

A modern intranet is more than just an information hub — it’s a way to capture, measure, and analyze employee engagement rates. It also allows you to segment data by division, location, and more criteria to unearth more granular employee-level insights.

By examining intranet engagement data for your frontline workforce, you can build a clearer picture of which strategies are working — and which could be improved. Also, consider using employee surveys to ask your frontline about their intranet experience. You may discover points of friction and reasons why employees aren’t using your intranet.

With these data-backed insights, you can make targeted and informed decisions about how to customize your intranet to maximize frontline employee engagement.

A frontline-friendly culture can be built on the intranet

While standard intranets don’t always work for a frontline workforce, there are ways to customize your employee intranet so it meets the needs of everyone.

Personalize your intranet experience so its content and chats are more relevant to frontline employees. Give your dispersed workers recognition and coworker connection opportunities. Above all, make your intranet easy to access and use via a mobile app.

By doing so, you’ll make your intranet more engaging — and provide a reliable source of information and connection for all employees.

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Blink, the leading mobile-first employee experience platform, today announced a new partnership with Ennismore, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing lifestyle hospitality brands, to launch an internal app, powered by Blink. With Blink’s white-labeled app, Ennismore’s 25,000+ employees across hundreds of properties and locations will have seamless access to real-time communication, collaboration tools, and critical company information in one intuitive mobile app.

Blink’s all-in-one platform, which Ennismore has chosen to replace its instance of Workplace by Meta, will continue to elevate its employee experience and empower Ennismore’s workforce with:

• Chats and voice memos that streamline and accelerate day-to-day operations
• Instant voice and video calls for effortless collaboration across teams and locations
• Knowledge Hub where employees can easily find company policies and procedures
• Platform extensibility to provide frictionless access to other HR systems

“At Ennismore, exceptional guest experiences start with an engaged team,” said Marcos Eleftheriou, vice president of culture and corporate communications at Ennismore. “Our team members need instant access to information, seamless collaboration, and a strong sense of community. That’s where our partnership with Blink comes in. We’re excited to introduce our new internal app, powered by Blink, to our team and give them the same great experience they create for our guests every day.”

By offering a social media-inspired and mobile-first experience by Blink, Ennismore will continue to provide a vibrant, inclusive workplace culture where every team member feels connected and part of their global community, regardless of location or position.

“Our mission is to help every company deliver digital experiences that elevate their business and their culture, so they win in the market,” said Sean Nolan, CEO and co-founder of Blink. “Hospitality runs on great people, and we’re thrilled to partner with Ennismore to make work simpler, smarter, and more rewarding for their teams — no matter where they work or what their role is.”

By bringing Blink to its global workforce, Ennismore is enhancing communication and collaboration as it continues to invest in the future of hospitality by ensuring its teams have the tools they need to thrive.

Employee experience (EX) is how your organization makes workers feel at every stage of the employee journey. EX impacts employee engagement, employee productivity, and retention — which means that building a consistently positive employee experience makes a big difference to your business.

Positive EX is particularly important for frontline employees. These people are the face of your organization. The frontline experience directly affects product quality and customer satisfaction.

But the frontline employee experience is falling short: 

• A recent Quinyx report found that 1 in 2 frontline workers have thought about quitting their jobs in the past year due to low pay, stress, and irregular working hours. 
• O.C. Tanner research reveals that 2 in 5 frontline employees say they’re viewed as inferior by employees in the office, and more than a third say their work is not valued as highly as office work.  
• Frontline employees are hard to reach. Working in isolation, away from HQ, they often feel disconnected from company culture and comms — and don’t get access to the same tech tools as their desk-based peers. 

The demands of shift work. A sense of inequality. A feeling of disconnection. There are lots of barriers getting in the way of a positive frontline employee experience. To overcome these barriers, you need a targeted approach that keeps frontline needs front of mind. 

The good news is that there are actionable steps you can begin taking today to create a positive employee experience across your frontline — ultimately helping your organization boost employee engagement, productivity, and retention. 

8 steps to building a positive employee experience for your frontline workforce

To create a positive employee experience for frontline workers, consider these eight areas of opportunity:

• Develop an employee experience strategy
• Create a positive company culture
• Give employees development and growth opportunities
• Establish effective communication channels
• Recognize employee achievements
• Improve the physical and digital work environment
• Hone onboarding and offboarding 
• Ask for employee feedback

Let’s take a closer look at each of these actions. 

Step 1: Develop an employee experience strategy

Gallup looked at companies with a strong workplace culture to find out what they had in common. They found that companies with the best culture were committed to developing a positive employee experience across the whole employee life cycle.

In the most successful organizations, employee experience and employee engagement sit at the center of company strategy, informing how they hire, onboard, and develop talent. It also informs how they motivate their teams, set goals, and communicate to their employees.

Achieving this holistic approach is easier when you have a thoughtfully crafted employee experience strategy — one that tackles all five stages of the employee lifecycle:

• Attraction
• Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Development
• Separation

To create a strategy suited to each of these employee journey stages, use employee feedback to help you uncover weaknesses at each stage. You can then set EX goals that align with organizational goals — and develop initiatives that will help you achieve them. 

Step 2: Create a more positive company culture

A positive company culture supports a positive employee experience. So what can you do to improve the culture within your organization?

Define core values and incorporate them into the workplace

When you get clear on your company’s core values, you unite employees behind one definitive version of company culture and establish how people should work together and the goals you’re all working towards.

Once you’ve defined your values, think about how you’ll express them across every stage of your employee journey. Also, weave them into your internal communications regularly to reinforce their importance.

Foster a supportive and inclusive environment

Employees who feel that they belong at an organization are 5.3 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. So to build a positive and productive workplace culture, you need to ensure that everyone feels supported and included.

That might mean taking an in-depth look at your diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and how they are lived across the employee journey. It might mean working to create a culture of psychological safety and open communication, where everyone feels able to share their ideas and concerns.

For frontline teams, it could mean ensuring employees get opportunities to build relationships with co-workers — and that they get access to the same tools and resources as their desk-based peers.

Promote wellbeing and work-life balance

Another characteristic of strong and resilient workplace cultures is an emphasis on wellbeing in work and in life. Companies that show concern for the holistic wellbeing of employees — caring about them as people, not just workers — are more likely to create a more engaging employee experience.

Gym memberships, mental health support, financial planning, and volunteer days can all improve the physical and mental wellbeing of employees. For many employees, work-life balance is another key factor — and there are various strategies you can use to bring flexibility to frontline work. 

You can share frontline worker shifts at least two weeks in advance, giving them more time to plan their out-of-work lives. You can give them access to shift-swapping tools so they can exchange shifts with co-workers without manager involvement.

Or follow the example of the Principality Building Society, which made the decision to shut their branches half an hour before the end of retail employee shifts. This allows employees to finish tasks and leave on time, without having to serve customers for those last minutes of the day.  

Step 3: Give employees development and growth opportunities

Frontline workers are often overlooked when it comes to training and career progression. McKinsey research shows that 65% of frontline workers are unaware or unsure of how to achieve advancement. Only 32% say that they receive education or training in the workplace.

But training and development can have a big impact on the employee experience. McKinsey also revealed that frontline employees rank job growth or promotion above pay and benefits. In fact, it’s their top priority in the workplace.  

Make it easy for frontline employees to access development resources by choosing training programs that can be accessed via mobile devices. Micro-learning features are also a good idea, allowing employees to complete short lessons, fitting learning around their busy schedules.

Communication is key, too. The connection between a frontline role and opportunities elsewhere in the organization isn’t always clear. Managers need to make employees aware — very early in the employee journey — of the career progression options available to them.

Step 4: Establish effective communication channels

Good internal communication is the foundation of employee engagement and any successful employee experience strategy. But frontline employees are more likely to miss out on vital and culture-building communications if they’re put on a noticeboard or sent via email.

Frontline workers need communication channels that they can access on the go, on their smartphones. They need streamlined channels, so they know exactly where to find the information they’re looking for. To ensure engagement, they should also only receive content that is relevant to them.

Communication channels should allow frontline workers to connect with co-workers, too. The 32,000 frontline care workers at Elara Caring, working alone in clients’ homes, often felt isolated and lonely. This harmed employee satisfaction.

Now, with the help of Blink, the team can communicate easily over a dedicated company app. This means more knowledge sharing, stronger co-worker relationships, and a more positive employee experience.

Step 5: Recognize employee achievements

Employees experience more job satisfaction when they receive recognition from managers and peers. The act of giving recognition is also good for staff morale.

You can recognize an employee on their birthday or a work anniversary. You can highlight project success or how an employee has demonstrated company values.

But giving rewards and recognition to frontline workers requires more intention: Because frontline employees don’t work in the office, there’s less opportunity for informal thanks.

This is where digital recognition tools can help. By sharing praise and rewards on your digital communication channels, you make recognition a more visible part of company culture — even for your frontline. So you get to boost employee productivity, motivation, and satisfaction across the board.

Step 6: Improve the physical and digital work environment

Design a safe and comfortable workplace

The physical work environment has a big impact on employee wellbeing and productivity. You need to ensure the workplace is safe and comfortable and doesn’t put undue physical strain on your workers.

To improve frontline workplace safety and comfort, you should:

• Provide the necessary personal protective equipment
• Conduct regular mandatory training so everyone knows safety protocols
• Provide channels where employees can communicate safety concerns quickly 
• Run regular safety audits

A well-designed work environment prevents accidents and injuries, reduces stress, and improves job satisfaction. 

Use tools to streamline processes and improve efficiency

Only 10% of frontline workers say they have high access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace. But the digital employee experience is crucial to your overall EX.

Give employees too many tools — or tools that add friction to their workday — and you risk creating frustration and disengagement. Avoid using any tech tools and you’re left with inefficient paper processes. Either way, you end up harming employee satisfaction.  

When choosing tools for a frontline workforce, look for:

• Mobile-first tools, that don’t require a company email address and are available on employee smartphones
• A tool that brings all company software into one hub, so employees don’t have to remember lots of logins and passwords

The best employee apps are built with the frontline in mind. They’re intuitive to use and offer a host of useful features. They allow workers to chat with co-workers, get company updates, select their benefits, view pay slips, complete the onboarding process, and sign up for shifts — all via their mobile device.

Step 7: Hone onboarding and offboarding

To build a better employee experience for your frontline, you need to consider every stage of the employee journey:

Craft an effective onboarding process for new employees

Onboarding is a process that should start before an employee’s first day at your organization and last for at least three months. It should incorporate regular recognition and two-way feedback, along with goal setting, team building, and skills development.

For frontline employees, it makes sense to make onboarding resources available via smartphone. That way, they can read FAQs, complete mandatory training, and learn about company policies at a time and place that suits them.

Conduct exit interviews

Exit interviews are another integral part of any employee experience strategy.

First, because when you treat employees fairly and positively even as they leave your organization, you show other employees that you value the person, not just the worker.

Second, because exit interviews can reveal areas for employee experience improvement. Whether it’s progression opportunities, pay and benefits, company culture, or internal communication, finding out what prompted an employee to leave can give you lots of food for thought.

Step 8: Ask for employee feedback        

Offboarding feedback is important. But don’t wait until employees are leaving your organization to ask what they think of their employee experience. Schedule regular employee surveys to get feedback and learn t how they think and feel about your organization.

Use employee surveys

You can use quarterly employee experience surveys to assess employee sentiment. By asking the same employee survey questions every quarter, you can benchmark your performance and see which of your employee experience initiatives are making the most difference. You can then update goals in your employee experience strategy.

You can also use pulse surveys to get a snapshot of your employee experience at any given moment. This helps to ensure any employee experience issues are identified and dealt with promptly.

For either type of survey, be sure to ask demographic questions. These allow you to segment survey responses by employee journey stage, department, or team — revealing more detailed insights without compromising employee anonymity.

Follow survey best practices

To get the most from your employee surveys, follow survey best practices by:

• Allowing employees to respond to surveys anonymously. That way, you get honest and valuable answers.
• Sending employee surveys in a format that’s accessible to everyone. Mobile-first survey software ensures every member of staff — whether they’re working in the office, at home, or on the frontline of your organization — gets to give their opinion.
• Developing a survey communication strategy. Keep employees in the loop, thanking them for their feedback and clearly communicating how you plan to act upon it. This ensures ongoing engagement with the feedback process.

The role of technology in the frontline employee experience

The digital employee experience is a big part of the employee experience. But it’s particularly important for frontline workers who don’t spend their days at a desk.

With the right technology, you connect everyone — including hard-to-reach frontline employees — to internal communication, co-workers, and vital workplace resources. This helps improve EX, boosting employee productivity and retention in the process.

Many workplace tech tools are designed for office staff. They work beautifully for your team at HQ. But don’t provide the same features and level of functionality for your frontline workers.

To prevent tech from widening the gap between the frontline and desk-based worker experience, you need tech tools and employee experience software with the following features:

• An easy-to-use, intuitive interface with a minimal learning curve
• A mobile-first design, so all features are accessible via an employee’s smartphone
• Single sign-on security, so employees can log into all workplace software with one set of login details
• No email required — some frontline workers don’t have a company email address so it’s important that workplace tech works without them

Blink’s employee app ticks all these boxes and more.

It provides a news feed, group chat, and 1:1 messaging for easy communication. It gives managers EX-boosting tools, like recognition and employee surveys. Blink also integrates with other workplace tech, creating a one-stop shop for your frontline team.  

But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what Lorna Murphy, Operations and HR Manager at transit company Abellio had to say about the Blink experience:

“Using Blink, Abellio bus drivers can access a system of simple pathways that makes it easy for them to report issues, start a conversation with management or colleagues, or go about their day-to-day tasks such as checking shifts and accessing payslips, reconnecting them back to the organization they work for via one simple, easy-to-use app.”

Use Blink to create a positive employee experience across your frontline. Schedule your personalized demo today.

Let’s create digital experiences your people will actually enjoy

It takes seven clicks to find your schedule. The training video won’t load on mobile. Your last question to HR? Still sitting in an unread inbox. Welcome to your Monday.

Now flip that:

You open one app. Your schedule’s there. So is your manager’s announcement. You give quick feedback on your shift — and get a response before lunch.

That’s the difference good digital design makes.

In 2025, the user experience employees have with workplace tech is the employee experience.

We use communication tools to message teammates, take training, request time off, and recognize each other. When those tools work well, they reduce friction and boost morale. When they don’t, it shows — in employee engagement, retention, and productivity.

This is why digital design deserves a seat at the employee experience strategy table.

What is employee experience design, anyway?

Employee experience (EX) design means applying a thoughtful, human-first design approach to every moment that shapes someone’s experience at work — physical, digital, and cultural.

That includes onboarding and learning, the work environment, feedback loops, employee recognition, collaboration tools and technologies, and even how values show up day to day.

Think of it like UX — but for your people.

At each moment in the employee journey, ask:

• Who’s the end user here? A new hire? A frontline shift worker? An overwhelmed manager?
• Where does this moment fit in the bigger picture? Is it part of onboarding, communication, or recognition?
• What are they feeling — and what do they need right now? Confidence? Clarity? Connection?
• How can we make this interaction seamless and satisfying? Whether it’s tech, a conversation, or a checklist.
• And how will we know it’s working? What data or feedback loops will tell us?

The goal isn’t just to “optimize” moments — it’s to make them feel intuitive, personal, and friction-free.

By carefully crafting experiences, both big and small, you help your people feel valued and give employee satisfaction a boost.

And because tech tools are a huge part of today’s workplace experience, digital employee experience (DEX) design forms a big part of the picture.

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What good EX feels like: 5 signs you’re doing it right

When we’re talking about tech tools, good EX looks something like this.

Effortless

People find what they need fast. There’s no need to dig through resources or ping the IT team for help. Systems are designed to be intuitive and free from points of friction.

‍Example: A restaurant worker views their upcoming shift schedule via a dashboard on the employee app. They don’t have to message their line managers or co-workers to get the latest info.

Personal

Content and tools are personalized to each employee. Employees enjoy experiences that are tailored to their roles, locations, and interests.

Example: Your HR department lead sees a dashboard built for their role, with shortcuts to key tools, relevant company news, and the latest workforce insights.

Connected

Everyone feels part of the same conversation and nobody feels left out. All employees have equitable access to company tech tools.

‍Example: A warehouse employee doesn’t need to use a communal computer in the break room. Thanks to a mobile-first platform, they can access resources and catch up on company news using their smartphone.

Dependable

Resources are always relevant and up-to-date. Messages are consistent. Tech tools have all the functionality employees need.

Example: Employees use a streamlined selection of tech tools — so messages and experiences are consistent across every touchpoint.

Empowering

Employees can take action, voice opinions through easy feedback channels, or get support in just a couple of clicks.

Example: A retail worker submits feedback via their smartphone, then views updates on workplace improvements over on the company news feed. 

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Barriers to good EX — where it breaks down

So now we know what good EX looks like, time to find out why many organizations struggle to turn their EX ambitions into a reality as part of their digital transformation. Here’s a roundup of the usual suspects.

A fragmented tech stack

“Which tool do we use for that, again?”

A cluttered and disconnected tech stack is overwhelming for employees. They spend their time switching between tabs. They struggle to remember which app performs which task. And that’s before we even get started on all those login details.

If your tech tools aren’t working together, smoothly and efficiently, you’re creating a scattered (and suboptimal) experience for employees.

Over-reliance on email or manager cascade

Email isn’t the best communication channel for every employee. Frontline workers, for example, are unlikely to check their inbox during the work day.

Putting managers in charge of relaying key messages is no better. It’s a sure fire route to an overstretched management team — and inconsistent messaging.

These methods of workplace communication don’t fit the world of fast-paced, modern work we now operate in. And they do nothing for EX.

Top-down comms that don’t invite feedback or interaction

If employees can’t respond, react, chat, or ask questions, you’re not communicating — you’re broadcasting. And this kills employee engagement.

You need tools that allow employee communications to move in all directions, with an interactive news feed, surveys, digital forms, and instant messaging functions.

Intranets that miss the mark

The company intranet is still the backbone of digital employee experience in many organizations. But legacy intranets are often clunky and outdated — and a real drain on EX.

Unless your intranet platform meets the needs of a tech-savvy and highly connected workforce, it’s falling short. You need a modern social intranet that provides an engaging, consumer-grade experience for employees.

Frontline employees excluded at key moments

Are your frontline workers always the last to know company news? And the least likely to use workplace tech?

You can’t make big improvements to EX unless you take the whole organization with you. That includes those hard-to-reach employees working on the frontline of your business.

For that, you need mobile-first tools that provide the same features and functionality across both mobile and desktop versions.

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Designing digital experiences your workforce will love

Digital employee experience in need of a reboot? Then here are a couple of guiding principles to bear in mind.

Build with empathy

Of course, the best tech tools support operational efficiency and productivity. But to achieve good EX, you need to move beyond business goals to really empathize with your end users.

That starts with an EX audit. Learn how employees are feeling at each digital and in-person interaction and find out how you can make their journey as smooth and stress-free as possible.

To get reliable data, speak to employees — run focus groups, conduct interviews, and embark on listening tours. Seek employee feedback on touchpoints throughout the working day and the employee life cycle.

Design together

When it comes to employee experience management, a cross-functional team works best. To create a joined up employee experience — and an integrated selection of tech tools — you need stakeholders working together.

The C-suite, HR, internal communications, IT, operations, frontline, and office-based employees should all get a say in what the digital employee experience will look like.

Map user journeys

Frontline employees vs. office-based staff. Hourly vs. salaried workers. New hires vs. long-time leaders.

Each employee persona has different needs — and your tools should reflect that. Aim to provide personalized experiences for employees in different roles, departments, and locations.

With an employee experience tool like Blink, you can create personalized user journeys, segmenting your workforce so they get a tailored experience across the whole platform. This can lead to a massive uptick in employee engagement — as well as employee retention.

Prioritize mobile-first design

Don’t shrink a desktop tool to fit a smartphone screen. Instead, opt for software that’s been designed with the mobile experience front of mind.

An employee app like Blink makes it easy for you to reach your workforce — who, let’s be honest, already live on their phones. It’s also an excellent way to reach frontline employees.

By taking your tech tools mobile, you create an equitable experience for all employees, no matter where or how they access your software.

Make feedback loops part of the design, not an afterthought

The best experiences evolve with employees. So treat EX as an ongoing exercise in empathy. 

Use data and employee feedback to iterate and improve systems. Continually reassess how employees use your tech tools — and how you can make experiences even better.

To make this process as easy as possible, embed feedback loops into your tech tools. Ask for employee feedback, right within your software. And ensure leaders have access to the data and analytics they need to make meaningful EX improvements.

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Upgrade EX to get more from your digital tools — and your workforce

The right tech tools don’t just support EX — they help shape it.

They determine whether employees spend their days in a state of friction-free flow. Or whether frustration and stress color the workplace experience.

A modern intranet. An employee app. An internal comms platform. A dedicated employee experience tool. Whichever platforms you’re using, look at them from the employee perspective.

Tailor tools to their needs. Personalize experiences for each employee. Prioritize interaction, feedback, and mobile-first design to elevate and streamline EX.

In doing so, you’ll delight employees, earning their trust and driving engagement, so you get the very best from your workforce.

Blink. And design an employee experience that works for everyone.