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12 ideas to increase employee engagement

We can boil employee engagement down to two key employee attributes.

Attitude – how an employee feels about the company, their co-workers, their managers, and their role. And behavior – the effort that an employee is willing to invest in their work.

These two attributes have a huge impact on your business.

When an employee has a positive attitude and is willing (on most days) to give their all, they’re more energized and productive. They’re keen to learn and find solutions for workplace problems.

Engaged employees are also more loyal to your organization. Teams with high engagement have turnover rates 18% to 43% lower than those with low engagement. They have lower rates of absenteeism, too.

It’s easy to see how employee engagement can help to build a more effective and efficient organization. You reduce costs linked to recruitment, sick leave, and low productivity. And you get the very best from your workforce.

Understanding the importance of employee engagement is the first step. However, finding ways to improve employee engagement within your organization, is another - And that’s what we’ll be focusing on here.

We’re going to explore a range of employee engagement ideas that you can put into practice at your business to increase engagement. But first, let’s take a look at how employee engagement applies to frontline organizations.

Employee engagement in frontline organizations

Employee engagement is so often focused on those working remote or behind a desk, rather than your frontline employees. Common activities or ideas to increase employee engagement actually actively exclude frontline workers, as well. Think in-office lunches, social happy hours, or team building activities during the standard workday. 

But the truth is frontline employees want to feel engaged in the same way a desk-based team does. They benefit from a sense of belonging and connection. And your business benefits too.

Engaged employees working on the frontline provide a better service for customers or patients. Like their office-based co-workers, they take less time off sick and are less likely to look for another job.

All frontline organizations should be looking to improve employee engagement - and it’s easier than you might think. Below are our top ways to improve employee engagement across your entire organization - applicable to not only desk-based teams, but frontline organizations as well. 

12 ideas to improve employee engagement quickly

Employee engagement goes way beyond team building activities and the standard annual employee review. The most engaged organizations weave employee engagement activities into the fabric of their workplace.

Our tips to improve employee engagement:

1. Embrace technology
2. Promote two-way communication
3. Recognize and reward
4. Offer growth opportunities
5. Foster work-life balance
6. Gather feedback from employees
7. Set clear expectations
8. Give regular feedback
9. Promote team collaboration
10. Celebrate milestones
11. Lead by example
12. Measure and act on feedback

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1. Embrace technology

Today’s tech is intrinsically engaging, to the extent that people spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on mobile apps. That’s a third of their waking hours.

People leaders can take advantage of this fact by embracing mobile tools to increase employee engagement. Of course, embracing a clunky old intranet is going to do more harm than good. It won’t offer the user experience that employees now expect from their tech. But with cutting-edge software and apps, leaders make the cornerstones of engagement – communication, collaboration, and recognition – more appealing and accessible to employees.

For frontline organizations, this can revolutionize the way you work.

Employees no longer need a desktop or company email to access internal comms. With an employee engagement app like Blink, they can simply use the smartphone in their pocket, meaning everyone stays connected.

Teams can access chat functions, recognition features, and company tools and resources – all from the same interface.

Leaders can make the most of employee engagement surveys and analytics features. They can use data to understand employee engagement like never before, finding more effective ways to improve it.

When you put the very best tech tools at the heart of your employee engagement strategy, you connect your frontline to co-workers and management. You also make measuring and improving engagement a whole lot easier.   

2. Promote two-way communication

Good communication is the key to employee engagement. It’s a way to share information and company values and to include every member of your organization in company culture. But 80% of professionals rate their organization’s communication as poor or average.

If your company comms aren’t hitting the mark, it may be because communication only moves top-down. Your leadership team speaks and everyone else listens.

You’re much more likely to motivate employees when you create channels for two-way communication. (Like they did at Domino’s). When you give them a voice, encourage them to speak up, and listen to what they have to say, employees are much more engaged.

In fact, employees who say their voice is heard at work are 4.6x more likely to give their all.

Creating two-way communication is harder in large, hybrid, and frontline organizations. How do you connect co-workers, managers, and leadership when they don’t physically cross paths? And what do you do when frontline employees don’t have a company email account?

Again, it comes down to having the right tech tools. You need communication channels that are easy to access – from the office, at home, on the shop floor, and on the road. So everyone stays connected and updated wherever they’re working.

3. Recognize and reward

When employees feel that hard work goes unnoticed, there’s less incentive for them to bring their A-game. So if you’re looking to improve your employee engagement strategy, recognition and rewards are another key focus area.

Some organizations go all out with a points and rewards system. Employees earn points for good work and can then spend points to get gift cards, company merchandise, or even make a charitable donation.

But there are lots of other ways to show your appreciation for employees. An employee of the month program or a simple thank you goes a long way. And – as we’ll see in a moment – rewarding high performers with training and career progression opportunities may prove more meaningful than small monetary prizes.   

However you approach recognition and reward, the key is finding a strategy that works for all employees. 

Perhaps a frontline employee stays late to get a job done. Or receives positive feedback from a customer. These employees should enjoy the same level of manager and peer-to-peer recognition as their office-based co-workers.

With Blink’s recognition tool, it’s easy to create a culture of appreciation. Anyone can send personalized messages of appreciation, sharing posts with individuals, teams, or the whole organization. 

4. Offer growth opportunities

Employees who have a clear career path are more likely to stay working with your company. They’re also more engaged and productive in their work.

But too often, the focus is on the professional development of management and office-based employees. According to McKinsey research, many employers underestimate the value that frontline workers place on learning and career advancement opportunities.

Of the 2,100 frontline employees McKinsey surveyed, 70% said they had applied for a promotion or a job with more responsibility. But only 25% of those who applied were successful. And 65% said they were unsure how to achieve advancement.

As well as highlighting the lack of growth for frontline employees, McKinsey made several recommendations:

• Share professional development, mentorship, and promotion opportunities with every team member
• Give managers the training they need to help employees establish career growth goals – and support them to achieve them. 
• Where a promotion isn’t possible, consider a lateral move or the assignment of new challenges within an employee’s current role to satisfy their hunger for growth

Ultimately, when employees are given the support they need to thrive in their careers, it’s a win-win. An organization retains employees and improves performance. Employees get to enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of expanding their talents.

5. Foster work-life balance

Achieving work-life balance as a frontline worker isn’t always easy. Shifts tend to be long and unpredictable. And when employees are supporting customers or patients, it can be hard to even take scheduled breaks.

This has long been accepted as “the way things are”. But with a third of workers saying that work-life balance is a top priority when looking for jobs, frontline organizations looking to increase employee engagement have a real opportunity – to outshine other employers and better support their staff.

You could offer predictable shifts and – where that isn’t possible – communicate shifts in advance. Consider flexible working and fair overtime policies. Encourage employees to get enough downtime by addressing an always-on culture.

Another key consideration? We know that 70% of frontline employees have suffered from burnout or felt at risk of burnout. This is something that the Starbucks team has taken on board.

Starbucks employees get access to a mental health care platform and free therapy sessions. They also get 10 days of backup care for the children or adults they care for, helping them balance the competing responsibilities of work and caregiving with less stress.

By helping employees to plan and enjoy their time away from work, organizations can count on improved productivity and engagement each time workers arrive for a shift.

6. Gather feedback from employees

Frontline employees are your eyes and ears on the ground. They can provide valuable perspective on what is and isn’t working operationally and how you can improve the customer experience.

But if your organization – like many frontline firms – is suffering from a frontline connection gap, you struggle to access that insight. More often than not, frontline employees don’t have the access they need to provide this valuable feedback.

This means you miss out on all kinds of frontline employee feedback – including their thoughts on employee engagement. You find it much harder to identify and address engagement issues before they affect morale and retention.

The first step to fixing this issue is developing feedback channels for all employees. Tech tools can help. An app like Blink allows you to send a feedback request to a frontline worker’s smartphone, meaning they’re much more likely to see it and respond. 

Remember that different employees prefer different feedback methods so open up a variety of options.

Make pulse surveys, annual employee engagement surveys, and manager one-on-ones part of your feedback request schedule. And give employees the option to leave feedback anonymously so they feel comfortable being completely honest.

With up-to-date employee feedback, you can make your employee engagement strategy more relevant and effective. You get to the heart of how employees feel – and discover the areas where change is most needed.

7. Set clear expectations

Uncertainty and employee engagement don’t mix. Role ambiguity creates stress and it’s one of the leading causes of employee burnout.

Employees need to understand exactly what’s expected of them. They need to know what work to do, how to do it, and who to do it with. Even when a frontline role involves a lot of autonomy, employees need guidance on their remit to feel confident and motivated.

Managers are responsible for setting clear expectations. And it all comes down to good communication.

Frontline managers should clearly define the role and its responsibilities for new hires. They need to set key performance indicators (KPIs) so employees know what success looks like. And they need to give clear instructions when assigning new tasks.

Employees also need to know how their role fits into the bigger picture. How do their tasks relate to overarching company values and goals?

By giving employees clarity you improve employee engagement. But you also promote accountability and show employees that their work is valuable.

8. Give regular feedback

Picture an employee – let’s call him Jim – who hasn’t had any manager feedback in a while.

Jim keeps running into the same customer service problem. But he doesn’t feel comfortable approaching his manager about it. And he’s not due a one-to-one for months.

So Jim keeps at it, doubting that he’s doing a good enough job but unsure what to do about it. Without regular manager input Jim feels less confident in his abilities. His job satisfaction inevitably takes a hit.

Now let’s picture a different scene.

Jim’s manager – let’s call her Jane – understands how important feedback is to employee engagement. She sets up regular, informal one-to-ones, where both she and Jim can raise any issues.

Jim gets to hear that he’s doing a great job. And gets useful, actionable advice on what he could do better. He gets recognition where it’s due and a regular reminder of role expectations.

Feedback needs to move in both directions. And it’s as relevant to your longest-serving staff as it is to new hires. Feedback boosts the confidence of employees and increases their job satisfaction, which means better employee engagement.

Employees also stand to benefit most when feedback is constructive. This means managers focus on facts, not opinions. They talk about the actions of an employee, not their personality traits.

They also approach feedback as a two-way conversation, where employees get a chance to share their thoughts within an open and supportive environment.

9. Promote team collaboration

Two heads are always better than one. And employees who work well together are happier, more productive, and less stressed. Team collaboration can help to prevent loneliness, too.  

Glassdoor research shows that 60% of employees with less than five years of work experience feel lonely all or most of the time. But 89% of all workers say that a sense of belonging within their company is essential for workplace happiness.

Bringing teams together, including frontline employees who tend to work alone, is therefore crucial to employee engagement. And it starts with company culture.

You need a psychologically safe environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing their thoughts and ideas. Like a calendar of team building activities. Special consideration for new hires and team members who work in isolation. And praise for team successes as well as individual wins.

The right communication and collaboration tools are another important part of the puzzle. Project management software helps people to collaborate when they’re not working in the same location. And chat tools allow workers to share problems, ideas, and solutions with ease.

Elara Caring is one of the largest care providers in the US, with around 32,000 carers working on their frontline. The company found it hard to connect its carers and was experiencing a collaboration problem.

By making Blink their communication hub, they improved team collaboration dramatically. Now 95% of employees say they feel more connected to the organization and their co-workers.

10. Celebrate milestones

Mavis Mills, an ASDA supermarket employee, recently celebrated her 80^th birthday. And the whole team celebrated with her. They decorated her checkout with banners and balloons and gave her gifts, flowers, and a cake.

Celebrations like these bring teams together. They boost employee engagement for the person being celebrated and inspire other employees, too.

You can celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, passing probation, or the successful conclusion of a company project. Anything that fits with your company values and culture.

Of course, it’s easier to plan a celebration for on-site teams. You can organize a gathering in the office or – as ASDA did – around the checkout where Mavis was working.

But that doesn’t mean hybrid and dispersed frontline teams have to forgo celebrations. You can still improve employee engagement by celebrating milestones via internal communication tools.

For example, with the Blink Feed, you can share meaningful milestones with a team or the whole organization – and encourage employees to join in the celebration. You can celebrate little and often to show appreciation for employees on a regular, informal basis.

11. Lead by example

The leaders of today do things differently. Good leaders understand that transparency, fairness, and emotional intelligence help to improve employee engagement.

Unlike workplace leaders of the past, they know that when everyone, at all levels of a company, sticks to the same rules and values people feel more invested in a company’s success.

As a leader, this means practicing what you preach.

You should demonstrate the same commitment to two-way communication, collaboration, and recognition that you want to see in employees. You should model work-life balance so workers find it easier to follow suit.

By living and breathing company values and culture, you inspire trust and respect in your workforce. And when you join them in using the same communication and employee engagement tools, you make it much more likely that people will follow your lead. 

12. Measure and act on feedback

Gathering feedback is an essential part of any employee engagement strategy. But simply getting employees to leave feedback isn’t enough. You have to measure and act upon employee feedback, too.

Research shows that people who say their employer takes meaningful action based on their feedback are 37% less likely to look for another job. And they’re also much more likely to take part in future surveys.

So mine employee feedback for data. Then create employee engagement KPIs so you can measure progress. You can base targets around metrics like:

• Absenteeism rate
• Employee retention rate
• Employee net promoter score (eNPS)

It then all comes down to good internal communication. Share your feedback findings and engagement progress with employees. It shows that you take their views seriously and are committed to making improvements.

Employee engagement: the next step

In thriving organizations, the drive to improve employee engagement is more than just an HR team initiative. It’s something that the whole organization embraces as part of its ethos.

Communication, feedback, and recognition become part of everyone’s every day. And the organization benefits from better staff retention, productivity, and satisfaction.

Your organization may not be at this point yet. But wherever you are in your employee engagement journey, the 12 ideas listed above will help you move forward. Weave these activities into your employee engagement strategy and you’ll encourage the employee attitudes and behaviors you want to see.

When it comes to frontline organizations, the right tech tools are a priority because they make employee engagement so much easier. They provide the vital line of connection between every member of your workforce, from new hires to stalwart staff, and frontline workers to your office-based team.

Blink’s mobile-first super-app helps every frontline employee to feel valued and heard. And with a news feed, secure chat, recognition features, surveys, analytics, and more, you have everything you need to transform internal communication and employee engagement for the better.

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Think of your four top employees. 

According to data, there’s a good chance that one of them will quit this year. 

In 2021, 25% of employees quit their jobs.

Think about it: you track customer happiness to avoid churn. So, if you want to hang on to your workforce, you need cold, hard data.

That's where employee satisfaction metrics come in. By keeping an eye on these, you can spot a small problem before it becomes a big one.

And best of all, there isn't a sea of data points to muddle over. Here are the only 4 employee satisfaction metrics you need to know.

What is an employee satisfaction score? 

It’s hard to quantify sentiments — but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. 

You can take a combination of data points related to your employee’s satisfaction and get a clear picture of how happy your workers are. 

With an employee satisfaction score, organizations can make adjustments to ensure their workers are engaged, and therefore 17% more productive than their peers.

Happy employees stay longer and are more likely to recommend their job to their friends. 

How to measure employee satisfaction 

You can measure sentiment by finding out the following employee satisfaction metrics. 

1. Employee net promoter score 

Find your employee net promoter score (eNPS) by asking a simple question from your employees: 

On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend working at this organization to others?

This metric gives you a clear picture of how your employees feel. 

To turn the results into actionable insights, divide your respondents into three categories: 

• Promoters: Answered nine or ten.
• Passives: Answered seven or eight. 
• Detractors: Answered six or below. 

Gather insights about what you’re doing well from your promoters and what you could improve on from your detractors. 

Learn more about your passives to understand how to convert them to promoters. 

2. Absenteeism rate

The absenteeism rate measures how often employees don’t come to work due to unexpected sickness or other causes. 

Divide the number of absent days from the total number of working days in a given period — excluding holidays, vacations, and weekends. 

The average absence rate in the U.S. in 2020 was 3%. Use this number to get a benchmark for your organization. 

A high absenteeism rate across your organization could be a sign that your employees are feeling burnout. They may be overworked and stressed, making them more likely to get sick — or simply call in for a personal day. 

Try to optimize your employees’ workloads, improve your work culture, or provide tools to make their jobs easier. 

3. Employee satisfaction index

Sometimes the best way to understand how satisfied your employees are is to ask them. That’s what the questions in an employee satisfaction index aim to do. 

There is no mandatory set of questions, but the most common questions include: 

• How satisfied are you with your current organization? 
• How well does your current workplace meet your expectations? 
• How closely does your current role match your ideal job? 

Answers should be given on a numerical scale. ‘

You can make questions more specific to get a sense of your workers’ satisfaction with various aspects of their jobs — salary, coworkers, and duties. 

Consider adding your satisfaction questions to a larger survey. 

4. Turnover

Turnover is a measure of how many employees leave your company in a given period. It is a strong tell for how satisfied your employees are since happier employees are more likely to stay at an organization.

Calculate turnover by taking the total number of separations in a given period and dividing it by the average positions. Then multiply the result by 100 to find a percentage. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average turnover in 2020 was 57.3%. This includes both voluntary and involuntary turnover.  

Guru breaks down the average turnover by industry.

If your turnover is higher than your industry average, it’s likely your employees are unsatisfied.

Final thoughts: the 4 employee satisfaction metrics you need to know

To keep your employees engaged, happy, and productive, it’s important to actively track their overall satisfaction in their roles. 

You can do this by surveying your employees and gathering their feedback. With the data guiding your way, it’s easier to zero in on what you can do to improve your organization. 

The frontline industry is currently facing more challenges than most when it comes to empowering staff.  

The Great Resignation, toxic leadership and the rise of “Quiet Quitting” led to a frontline feeling overworked and undervalued. Today, frontline employees need to feel more supported, confident and empowered in their roles.

And there is hope. Slowly but surely, companies are beginning to realize the importance of empowering their frontline employees. And as more organizations come to see the value of Diversity & Inclusion (DE&I), the frontline sector is starting to transform. Workers are beginning to feel appreciated again, and they are finally able to do their jobs with pride. 

But only if their leaders take charge.

So, how can you better empower frontline employees? What does employee empowerment even mean, anyway? And how does this affect your frontline workers specifically?

Read on to learn everything you need to know about empowering your frontline team, from what frontline empowerment really is, to why it matters and how you can implement it. With the right tools and empowerment strategies in place, your frontline can be more engaged, productive, and empowered than ever before!

Key challenges faced by frontline employees

80% of the global workforce already performs physical or deskless work. In order to keep things running smoothly for the majority of the  global workforce, those on the frontline need to be able to rely on a few things. 

Unfortunately, many of them are currently facing challenges that are making their jobs more difficult than they should be.

• Pay increases have not kept up with inflation: This means that those on the frontline are struggling to make ends meet, and it can be hard to keep morale high when you're not being rewarded for your hard work.
• The frontline are often passed over for opportunities their desked peers are given: This can make it harder for them to advance in their careers and stay motivated or productive on the job, which has led to frustration, disillusionment, and the rise of the Great Resignation.
• If treated like desk-based workers, the frontline can't succeed: Deskless employees need to be given the necessary tools and training to perform their jobs well, as well as access to technology that improves communication and collaboration. Without it, companies will continue to see a lack of productivity and engagement among their workforce.
• Lack of leadership enablement: Leadership needs to let go and resist the urge to try and fix all problems themselves. They need to trust that mid-level managers have the ability to train and support the frontline. When a problem occurs, leaders need to equip managers with the right tools to overcome frontline challenges.  
• Lack of frontline engagement: Without two-way communications, it is more difficult for leaders to make the frontline want to engage. As such, they are struggling to build trust and confidence with their teams. The truth is, if you're good to the frontline, they'll be good to your bottom line. You need to show your frontline you care to earn their engagement.
• No ambassadors: Without frontline ambassadors, there's no way to drive good will, reputation and sales. Frontline employees are the face of your company. If they love their jobs, they'll naturally want to spread the word about what you do.

Because of these industry challenges, many frontline employees have been left unhappy, unmotivated, and leaving companies faster than you can say quiet-quitting.

Today , leaders are facing a limited workforce. Because of this labor shortage, they are looking for more effective ways to reach higher levels of productivity, employee retention and ultimately, success.

What does frontline empowerment mean? 

So what actually is frontline empowerment? What's the substance behind the hype?

At its core, frontline empowerment is about giving your frontline workers the freedom and authority to make decisions and take valuable action on their own. This means providing them with all the resources, information, training, and tools they need to succeed at their jobs.

Of course, empowering your frontline won't happen overnight - it takes time and effort. But by introducing the notion of 'doing more with less', using effective employee tools to drive change and productivity, and committing to ongoing communication and training, you can create a successful and sustainable culture of empowerment that will benefit everyone involved.

Why empowering the frontline is so important

Did you know that almost all (90% of) organizations say success depends on empowering frontline employees to make decisions in the moment?

With a culture of empowerment in place, those on the frontline can bridge the gap between management and the rank-and-file, allowing them to collaborate more effectively and achieve higher levels of engagement. This in turn boosts engagement across your entire workforce, creating a culture where everyone feels valued and motivated to succeed.

Additionally,  there's no lack of research to back the frontline empowerment trend. A 2020 Harvard Business Review Analytic Services survey gathered the insights of 464 business executives across an array of industries.The findings were clear: organizations empowering their frontline employees are seeing an array of benefits, and those who are not are falling behind. 

Here are a few reasons why frontline empowerment is vital to your corporate culture and overall company success:

1. Cultivating a sense of belonging to retain the best talent

"The vast majority of deskless workers (97%) report that they would stay in their current roles if their conditions improved. Such conditions go beyond a pay rise, meaning that HR needs to offer deskless workers the same opportunities as their deskbound counterparts."

This means prioritizing your team's mental health, giving them the right technology and resources they need to thrive and investing in their engagement and empowerment to create a true sense of belonging. In order to retain the best talent and build a strong, engaged workforce, empowering your frontline is essential.

It helps to create a collaborative culture where everyone feels like an integral part of the team. This kind of environment reduces turnover rates and builds up a strong sense of camaraderie that drives long-term success for your organization.

2. Improving frontline engagement and morale

Empowered frontline employees are engaged frontline employees. An engaged frontline workforce means better employee morale and cohesion between your frontline teams. 

By empowering the frontline, you are also giving them the authority to make decisions on their own and take action in real-time - something that is vital when dealing with fast-paced, dynamic business environments. In turn, this continuous flow of engagement not only keeps everyone motivated and engaged, but it also creates more transparency and trust between management and those on the frontline.

With engagement as a natural part of your organizational culture, you can also expect to see improved productivity,  performance and results from your frontline teams. On top of this, a disengaged employee costs around 34% of their annual salary, meaning that strong engagement can actually have a direct positive impact on your bottom line.

3. Satisfied staff leads to satisfied customers 

Frontline workers are the first point of call between your organization and your customers, yet they remain an afterthought in many digital workplaces. This causes a lack of motivation in workers and a disconnect from the wider workforce – and their customers.

Simply put: when you empower frontline staff, you improve customer satisfaction.

Customer feedback, whether positive or negative, is extremely valuable to any business. And in order to get that feedback, you need your frontline employees, who are interacting with customers on a daily basis, to feel empowered and engaged to take action.

By giving the right tools and resources to your frontline teams, as well as giving them autonomy over how they do their jobs, you can facilitate better interactions with customers and improve overall customer satisfaction levels.

How to introduce, implement and sustain frontline empowerment

While HR trends state a range of strategies on the horizon for the frontline in 2023, including implementing mobile-first self-service enterprise software, increasing career opportunities and improving working conditions, one thing is clear. HR will drastically increase investment in its deskless workers over the coming months and years.

So how can you keep up with the trend? How can you introduce, implement and sustain frontline empowerment within your organization? Here are our eight top tips:

1. Start a frontline management flywheel to drive success 

As leaders looking to empower their frontline, it's vital to define the standard you want to achieve. Defining this level of performance will help you set a standard to aspire to. A frontline management flywheel - defined by small management wins that accumulate over time to drive overall business growth - can help you map out how to start, implement and sustain successful empowerment initiatives.

Some core components of a frontline management flywheel include setting clear goals, aligning the right resources behind those goals, measuring progress and scaling success as you go.

2. Provide the right training for each level of worker

Ongoing and engaging training is key when it comes to empowering the frontline. This means making sure that your deskless workers have access to the right training programs and resources to be successful in their jobs, as well as investing in regular management training for those at the top of your organization.

For deskless workers, this means providing virtual or on-the-job training, as well as investing in coaching and mentoring programs that can help them to grow. For management-level employees, this means providing opportunities for professional development or leadership training.

3. Give them decision making abilities 

In order for frontline empowerment initiatives to be successful, it's important that your frontline workers are equipped to make important decisions on the spot. Providing them with the right tools, resources and training can help them lead effectively, and empower them to make quick decisions when needed.

Equipping frontline managers to lead, make important decisions with confidence and empower their teams to do the same will help to drive better results for your organization as a whole.

One great example of this is Salutem's SELF initiatives - giving employees opportunities to be part of important decisions by empowering them with a Salutem Employee Listening Forum facilitated by the Blink employee app – an intuitive, two-way, all-in-one solution to employee communications.

4. Provide the right tools and technology

With 52% of frontline workers claiming they would leave their job over tech tools, it’s clear to see the impact that the right employee technology and digital employee experience can have on a company.

Empowering the frontline is not just about giving them more autonomy in their roles – it's also about giving them the right tools, training and resources they need to be successful in these roles.

By investing in key employee technology platforms, you can equip your frontline teams with what they need to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively, to reach better performance and results.

This might include employee scheduling software, communication and collaboration tools, or even data analytics software that can help deskless workers make more informed decisions on their own. 

5. Get and give regular feedback

As with any other important initiative in your organization, empowering the frontline requires a commitment from leadership. This means that as a leader, it's important to get regular feedback on how these initiatives are going, as well as giving your frontline managers and employees the opportunity to provide their own feedback about how you can continue to grow and improve their employee experience.

By making a commitment to getting and giving regular feedback, you can stay on top of the changes and challenges that come with empowering your frontline team, and continue to make meaningful improvements along the way.

6. Have a thorough onboarding process

At Blink, we recently held a five-day hackathon where our conversations highlighted that onboarding processes are not only key to a successful retention strategy at our company but also for many of the large organizations that we work with.

Your onboarding process is where your employees get their first impression of what it's like to work at your organization. And so, it's important that this experience is a positive one, and that your deskless workers are set up for success right from the start. Unfortunately, only 12% of employees feel strongly that their organization does a great job onboarding new people.

This might include providing ongoing training and support during onboarding, or making sure that all of the necessary tools, including employee experience tools, and resources are available, accessible and set up from day one.

Blink's Hub - a centralized and secure frontline environment where digital forms, policies, safety guidelines and other relevant documents are stored - allows frontline organizations to store private and secure information that are shareable by teams. These allow frontline workers to access relevant documentation (training, e-learning materials, videos) to accelerate their onboarding process.

Blink's Directory also allows users to know who's doing what and in what team, making onboarding a whole lot smoother for leadership, too.

7. Recognize and reward hard work

To empower your frontline team and create a sense of autonomy and ownership, it's essential to recognize their hard work and reward them accordingly. You can think about offering the right mix of rewards, recognition and incentives that can motivate them. 

Why? Well, 36% of employees say lack of recognition is the top reason to leave their job, while

more than 40% of employees feel that being recognized often means they put more energy into their work.

Addressing this will require regular performance reviews, incentive programs or even creative rewards such as Kudos, personalized gift cards or experiences that can motivate your frontline team to continue doing their best work.

How Blink can help you empower your frontline

Employee Surveys

With Blink's Employee Surveys, you can regularly pulse check your frontline to get a consistent sense of what's going on for your workforce. By gathering reliable, real-time data you can ensure you're doing what's right before it's too late. By maximizing the right initiatives, HR leaders are able to encourage getting and giving regular feedback.

Feed

Create a sense of belonging using Blink's Feed. The Feed opens up multi-directional conversations allowing the frontline to share thoughts and feedback through polls, sentiment through reactions, likes and comments. With Feed, you're able to create a culture of constant improvement, and encourage your frontline to continue putting their feedback forward.

Employee Recognition 

Blink's Recognition feature allows anyone in the company to recognize hard work and achievements, as well as spread positive word of mouth about their team members. By giving your frontline team the opportunity to recognize each other's work, and by providing regular recognition programs and incentives, you will empower your employees.

Blink Champions

Without team members championing your empowerment initiatives, it can be hard to get them off the ground. As such, Blink Champions are the cornerstone of a successful launch for your next frontline empowerment initiative. The role of a Blink Champions includes:

• Working with other Champions to ensure the launch is a success
• Raising awareness of Blink and encouraging others to use the app
• Being active in the Feed
• Educating teams on how to use the app
• Being an advocate for Blink.

Hear from Brittany Schlacter, Communications Specialist and Blink Champion at The Rapid:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pbi0QDbucpY

Final Thoughts

The race is on for frontline leaders to empower their workers. And fortunately, frontline leaders know this is needed and are ready to take the necessary steps to make it happen.

We've highlighted some of the ways that you can empower your frontline team, including investing in your digital transformation efforts, recognising and rewarding hard work, and using Employee Surveys to gather and act on feedback.

By implementing some of these initiatives, you can create a sense of autonomy and ownership among your employees, driving productivity and growth in your organization.

To unlock frontline empowerment to its highest potential, consider investing in the Blink employee app. With tools like Employee Recognition, Hub, Feed and a dedicated champion team, you'll be able to empower your frontline employees in no time!

URGENT: Is email holding back your internal comms?

What’s that ping? Another email landing in an already overflowing inbox? 

If you still rely heavily on email for internal communication, it’s time to rethink. 

With a wealth of other digital tools available, email is no longer the de facto king of workplace comms. And if you have frontline employees working for your organization, there’s no doubt that email is falling short.

A retail assistant, a hospital nurse, a warehouse worker — these employees don’t have time to check their emails regularly. Some deskless workers don’t even have a company email address or corporate device, making them even harder to reach via traditional email communication.

So what’s the solution? Let’s take a closer look at why, in 2025, email can’t be your only internal communications strategy — and what makes for a standout alternative.

The pitfalls of email-only communication

Email-only communication is bad news for your business. Here’s why.

Information overload and inbox fatigue

Employees receive hundreds of emails every day, meaning it’s easy for important messages to get lost in the noise.

Critical updates compete with meeting invites, company newsletters, and automated system messages. There’s no clear message hierarchy and things can get pretty messy, pretty quickly.

The result? Employees end up missing essential communications so it’s hard for internal comms teams to keep everyone on the same page.

Poor engagement

Harsh but true: In a world of social media interactivity, emails are dull and uninspiring.

These text-based messages don’t tend to include eye-catching graphics, images, or videos. And they’re not particularly good at engaging employees.

This means workers have less incentive to check their inbox. And your internal communications do very little to boost employee engagement and the employee experience.

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The frontline connection gap

Frontline employees don’t have regular access to email. They work in hands-on roles that involve limited screen time, if any.

Unlike office-based staff, these workers aren’t sitting at a desktop computer being alerted to the latest inbox arrival. Instead, they rely on mobile devices and personal email accounts to check in with internal communications as and when they can.

This makes email a poor fit for real-time, relevant, on-the-go updates. Emails from HQ are lost among personal messages. Information can be outdated by the time workers see it.

You end up with a frontline connection gap that harms the employee experience and increases the risk of poor communication or miscommunication across your organization.

Delayed and one-way communication

A company-wide email is a monologue. You send it on behalf of senior management and everyone else (hopefully!) reads it. Employees are forced into a passive role — they don’t have the opportunity to reply, share their ideas, or ask questions. It’s the ultimate form of top-down communication.

Even one-to-one emails have their flaws. There’s often a delay between receipt of an email and a reply, which can make collaboration with remote workers challenging.

In a world that thrives on instant responses, interactivity, and two-way communication, email feels increasingly outdated. And it’s failing to deliver the employee engagement and culture-building benefits offered by modern internal communication tools.

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No analytics, no insights

When sending messages via email, you’re in the dark. There’s no way to track if employees have read or engaged with key messages. So it’s hard to know if emails serve as effective communications or if there's a better channel to use.

This makes it challenging to gauge employee feedback and make improvements. If you don’t know how your messages are landing, how can you make meaningful changes to your internal communication strategy?

The multigenerational workforce has different communication needs

Email was once a logical first choice for company communications. But times have changed.

Millennial and Gen Z workers — who now account for over 50% of the workforce — prefer mobile-first, instant communication. Think WhatsApp, Slack, and social media-style updates.

Gen X and Boomers may still be comfortable with email. They didn’t grow up with social media and the internet in the same way as younger generations. 

But now that they too use social media apps in their personal lives, they’ve grown accustomed to the instant messaging experience — and they appreciate fast, direct access to critical information, just like their younger coworkers.

When looking at alternatives to email, you need to pick an internal communication tool that is accessible, engaging, and inclusive for all generations within the workforce. A mobile-first employee app can help you cover all the bases.

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Why a mobile-first app is the answer

A mobile-first ‍employee experience platform brings internal communications to every employee smartphone. In just a couple of taps, they can access the latest company news, chat with coworkers, sign up for shifts, and track down that policy doc they’ve been meaning to reread.

An app beats email hands down. Let’s take a look at all the ways it can improve your internal communications.

Clearly defined communication channels

Over email, news about the latest company event, critical safety updates, and messages from coworkers are jumbled together.

You can flag important messages or write URGENT in dreaded capital letters. But as new messages still push emails down an employee’s inbox, there’s a good chance things will be missed.

An employee experience platform gives you defined internal communication channels. Depending on the needs of your company, this might include:

• Essential updates that have to be acknowledged by employees before they disappear from the dashboard
• A news feed, where employees can find company updates, culture, and connection
• Instant messaging tools for group and one-to-one chats
• A content hub, where you can keep documents like policies, FAQs, and safety guidelines
• Digital forms that make it easy for employees to contact HR about their next vacation or their shift availability
• Communities, where like-minded coworkers can connect over projects, interests, and hobbies

By putting everything in its place via a multi-channel approach, it’s easier for employees to see essential messages and find the information they need.

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Instant, real-time communication

Instant messaging tools are a standard feature of employee experience platforms. These social tools support real-time, remote conversations. And they can be used to replace emails and the unauthorized shadow IT, like WhatsApp, that frontline teams often resort to using.

In addition to real time chat, you can share fresh and relevant updates over the news feed, segmenting employees so they only see news that relates to them. You can also use push notifications to highlight time-sensitive information and ensure nothing is missed. 

Better reach and accessibility

Employees can log into an employee experience platform without a company email address. This — along with the fact that the app is available via smartphone and doesn’t require a desktop computer — means that all employees, even those working on your frontline, have access to vital employee communications.

Sharing critical messages — think crisis communications, or timely updates to business goals — with everyone gets easier. But there are other benefits to improving internal communications for frontline workers. You also improve frontline employee engagement, boosting satisfaction and loyalty among a traditionally hard-to-reach, hard-to-retain group of workers.

More interactivity and engagement

Employee apps are built to offer an interactive experience. You can launch polls and employee surveys. Employees can comment or leave emoji reactions on news feed posts. With your permission, workers can even post their own content. Peer communication has never been easier.

Multimedia content is also a must, meaning you can move beyond text-based email communication to embrace Insta-worthy internal comms. You can use infographics, videos, and photos to distill complex messages into digestible, engaging content.

Easy-to-access analytics

Over email, it’s hard to keep track of who has read and responded to your messages. And it’s near impossible to understand how you’re doing in terms of employee engagement.

With an employee experience platform, you get access to the effective tools you need to make meaningful changes to your internal communications strategy and the wider workplace experience.

You can use analytics to understand how employees use your app and consume internal comms. You can track engagement trends and drill down into the data to find teams or locations where messages just don’t seem to land.

Armed with this insight, you can identify areas for improvement, setting internal communication KPIs and using data to make more informed decisions regarding your internal communication plan.

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Is it time your organization moved beyond email?

Email alone is no longer enough to drive an informed and engaged workforce. For a truly successful internal communication strategy, you need an internal comms tool that is:

• Instant. Everyone gets messages when they matter most.
• Interactive. Employees can engage, react, and be part of the conversation.
• Inclusive. Deskless and office-based workers should get equal access to internal comms.
• Insightful. Analytics help you understand what’s working and what isn’t.

The best employee apps support a strong company culture of connection and are built on bottom-up communication. They help you keep pace with the latest internal comms trends and put all the internal communications tools you need in one place.

By relegating email and elevating an employee experience platform, you create a single source of truth, where everyone can instantly access company news, share peer-to-peer communication, and collaborate with each other — right from their smartphone.

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Blink. And replace outdated email comms with a modern employee experience platform.

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. 

The workplace has evolved, and traditional legacy portals simply do not cut it anymore. When evaluating different company intranet solutions, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. Knowing exactly which modern features matter most will help you cut through the noise and find the perfect fit for your frontline workforce.

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.

Customer experience has a big impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty, along with long-term business success. But it’s getting harder to keep customers happy.

Gallup research reveals that employees are becoming more demanding and they’re expecting higher levels of service, particularly as the cost of products and services is rising.

To keep pace with changing expectations, 86% of customer service leaders told Gartner that customer experience is a top priority for 2024. Organizations are investing time and money in finding new ways to boost customer satisfaction.

Here, we look at the true impact of happy customers on a business. We also explore eight strategies you can use to create a customer experience your customers are sure to shout about.

The importance of happy customers

Happy customers are a sign that your product and service are meeting expectations. Happy customers are also good for business. Here are the benefits you can expect when you keep your customers satisfied.  

Customer loyalty

According to Forrester research, “customer-obsessed” companies enjoy 51% better customer retention than less customer-focused organizations.

When you provide excellent customer experiences, you get more satisfied customers. These people are more likely to shop or do business with you again — because they already know and trust your brand.

Brand advocacy

Happy customers are more likely to become brand advocates. They’re inclined to share their positive experience of your brand in person and online.

This matters to your business because 92% of people trust word-of-mouth marketing more than advertising — and because 50% say they trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family.

Brand advocates encourage others to trust your brand and shop with you, so you can spend less on marketing campaigns.

Improved revenue

By creating brand advocates, your brand builds a positive reputation that drives sales. And by encouraging repeat custom, you save on customer acquisition costs — it’s much easier and cheaper to convert an existing customer than it is to convert a new one.

This explains why, according to McKinsey, customer experience leaders achieve 2x greater revenue growth than those who lag behind.

How to keep customers happy and loyal

Now we’ve covered the benefits of prioritizing customer satisfaction, let’s look at how to create happy customers for your business. To improve the customer experience, tick off the following tasks:

1. Invest in employee experience
2. Ensure customer-facing employees have the resources they need
3. Treat each customer as an individual
4. Provide a variety of touchpoints
5. Do customer research
6. Leverage automation
7. Track customer satisfaction and retention
8. Create customer experience goals

1. Invest in employee experience

Customer experience is directly linked to employee experience (EX).

The more happy and engaged your employees are at work, the better experience they produce for customers. Achieve high levels of employee engagement and the quality of your products, service, and customer interactions improves.

Gallup puts a figure on it. Its research shows that companies with high levels of engagement achieve a 10% increase in customer loyalty and a 23% increase in profitability. Employee engagement also leads to better productivity, performance, and employee retention, all of which benefit customers.  

To improve the employee experience, employee engagement software is a game-changer. The right software helps you foster a strong company culture, where every employee has the support and resources they need to succeed.

It gives you tools for employee surveys and recognition. Employees can use your engagement software to communicate with their managers and peers, which fosters a sense of belonging. You can also use these tools to analyze employee engagement, identifying issues and areas for improvement.

By investing in the employee experience, with tech tools that connect customer-facing employees to company culture, you build a workforce that cares deeply about customers.

2. Ensure customer-facing employees have the resources they need

You create more happy customers when employees can access the right resources at the right time. With easy access to customer and product information, employees can:

• Give quick and accurate responses
• Tailor interactions to create a more personalized experience
• Take the initiative to solve problems and enhance the customer experience
• Create a consistent and predictable customer experience

Make resources available via an employee app and frontline employees have everything they need at their fingertips. You can also incorporate internal communication tools, so employees can learn best practices and gain customer insights from co-workers.

When employees have the right resources, they feel competent and confident supporting customers. They’re also more likely to experience positive customer interactions, which improves the employee experience and (as we saw in the point above) further fuels customer satisfaction.

3. Treat each customer as an individual

81% of customers prefer companies that offer a personalized experience. But 61% say most companies treat them like a number.

To treat your customers like individuals, start with the basics. Learn and use customer names. Encourage your customer service representatives to listen and to have real, empathetic conversations with customers, rather than just repeating phrases by rote.

Also, ensure your systems and processes flex to each new customer interaction. Give customer-facing employees autonomy so they can adapt their approach to the customer in front of them.

For example, employees at the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain famously have a $2000 budget per day to improve guest experiences without managerial approval.

4. Provide a variety of touchpoints

Convenience means different things to different customers. So they should be able to reach out to you in the way that best suits them.

Looking at the demographics and communication preferences of your target market, determine which touchpoints are most in demand.

You may like to provide customer support over the phone, email, or live chat. Social media support is proving popular with Gen Z and Millennial customers, with 17% of all consumers getting customer service over direct messages on social channels. 

Just ensure the experience is seamless. Your customer service agents should be able to see where a particular customer is up to, no matter which combination of communication channels they’ve chosen to use. This prevents customers from having to repeat the same story each time they speak to someone new.

5. Do customer research

McKinsey recently shared the story of a mobile telecom operator that was having a hard time hanging on to its customers, many of whom were being enticed by cut-price offers from competitors.

After trying and failing to stem the tide by tying customers into contracts and offering great deals to new customers, the CEO listened in on customer service calls. He identified countless customer pain points.

By tackling these pain points, the company reduced its customer churn rate by 75% and doubled its revenue over the next three years. As the CEO said, “It’s amazing the things you can do when you shut up and listen to your customers.”

You can’t keep your customers happy if you don’t understand what they want. To find out what your customers really think of your products and services, you need to seek and analyze customer feedback.

You can gather this feedback using customer surveys. You can also surface customer views with the help of existing customer call transcripts, social media posts, and company reviews.

Also, tap into the knowledge of your frontline workforce. They deal with your customers day in and day out — so they’re well-positioned to shine a light on customer needs, frustrations, and expectations.

Using this research and insight, identify the most common customer pain points. Then develop a plan for resolving them to boost customer loyalty and create more happy customers.

6. Leverage automation

77% of customer service teams are already using AI. It’s helping to make customer support quicker and more effective.

Customers can use a self-service knowledge base to find answers to their questions. Chatbots can answer routine queries, passing customers onto an agent when requests are more complicated.

With the help of automation tools, your customer service team has more time to provide stellar service to the customers who need it most.

But getting the balance right is important. Consumers still value human interaction. Live phone conversations are still one of the preferred methods of contacting companies for help and support, even among younger age groups.

So leverage automation — but maintain a variety of communication channels to ensure every customer gets the experience they expect.

7. Track customer satisfaction metrics

You can identify issues with customer happiness by tracking customer satisfaction and retention rates using your customer relationship management (CRM) software.

You could track metrics like your net promoter score (NPS) and your customer satisfaction score (CSAT). You can keep tabs on how your customer service team is doing with resolution rate, first contact resolution rate, and customer effort score (CES) metrics. 

By tracking customer satisfaction at all stages of the customer journey — and by analyzing customer behavior across your website and other interactions — you get to know which areas of your business have the biggest impact on customer happiness. 

You also identify areas where there’s room for improvement and can then allocate resources based on your findings. 

Follow the right customer KPIs and you can identify gaps in the customer experience — and close them — before they begin to erode customer happiness.

8. Create customer experience goals

Once you have a clear handle on how happy your customers are, you can set customer experience goals based on customer satisfaction metrics.

Choose goals you can measure — such as driving 10% more revenue from existing customers or lowering your average customer service response time to five minutes. Measurable, time-specific goals are easier to track and work towards because you have a clear definition of success.

Finally, everyone on your team should know what you want to achieve and why. Using internal communication tools to share your goals gets all employees on the same page. This is particularly useful for those who facilitate the customer experience.

In summary: 8 strategies to create happy customers and boost loyalty

Prioritizing the customer experience helps you keep customers satisfied. It also boosts brand advocacy and revenue.

Providing fast and convenient customer service, via a range of channels, is essential. You should also treat your customers as individuals and seek their feedback regularly.

While AI is a feature of customer service in many organizations, it’s important to harness its benefits while ensuring customers can always access an empathetic, human customer support agent.

These strategies are all crucial if you want to keep your customers happy. But they’re unlikely to be successful if you don’t also invest in the employee experience.

Workers who enjoy a positive employee experience provide a better standard of customer support. They’re more likely to go above and beyond to give customers the kind of service they remember positively.

To better engage your customer-facing employees, mobile-first employee engagement tools — such as an employee app — are key. They’re a place where you can share useful resources, where co-workers can connect with each other, and where you can build a strong company culture.

Using these tools, you improve the employee experience and employee engagement — which means you’ll find it much easier to satisfy customer expectations and win customer loyalty.

To learn more about communication tools that empower your workforce, including your customer-facing team members, explore Blink today.