Communicating Change in the Workplace: 6 Best Practices

When it comes to intranets vs. employee experience platforms, what’s the real difference?

It’s getting harder and harder to tell. Here’s why. 

There’s been a revolution in the type of tech tools we use in the modern workplace. For a long time now, we’ve been moving away from static communication tools — like the traditional employee intranet — toward dynamic, engagement-centric platforms.

Intranet software is still the backbone of internal communication and collaboration in many organizations. But employee experience platforms (EXPs) play an ever-expanding role in the workplace ecosystem.

These user-friendly platforms are changing our expectations of what the employee intranet should be. They’re bringing together various digital workspace tools — for communication, collaboration, learning, wellbeing, and performance management.

Ultimately, they’re providing HR teams with an easy way to perform employee experience management — and much more besides. They’re having a big impact on company culture, employee engagement, and employee retention.

So is the intranet still relevant in a world of integrated EXPs? Let’s look at how the lines between these two types of workplace tech have blurred — and what this means for your organization.

The showdown: Intranets vs. employee experience platforms

Intranets 101: The old guard of workplace tech

An intranet is a private network that facilitates the sharing of information across an organization. It’s a hub for workplace resources, news, and tools.

Traditionally, the employee intranet has supported limited interactivity. It’s a tool for top-down employee communications — where leaders speak and employees listen.

Intranet platforms are often designed for office-based employees. Workers without a desktop computer or a company email address may struggle to access the tools and resources housed on the intranet.

EXPs explained: The future of employee engagement

An employee experience platform is a dynamic ecosystem. It integrates employee communication, engagement, and collaboration tools.

EXPs place a firm focus on employees and their experience in the workplace. They provide tools for recognition and co-worker connection. They support two-way internal communication, with essential features like employee surveys — and a news feed where employees can share user-generated, relevant content.

EXPs are often available via desktop and smartphone apps. So they allow HR and comms leaders to promote company culture and share vital information across the whole organization. Everyone — including your company’s frontline workers — can access EXP resources.

Blurred lines: When intranets meet EXPs

With the advent of EXPs, modern intranet software tends to go beyond the static experience of old. Intranet providers are incorporating more and more EXP features into their offering.

So why is this change taking place? Why are the lines between the employee intranet and employee experience platforms blurring? We put this shift down to three key factors.

#1. Tech trends that are changing the game

Technology has moved on drastically since the days of the traditional employee intranet. And modern intranet solutions are taking inspiration from EXPs.

Some now come with real-time communication tools that support fast and effective teamwork. Some have user-friendly interfaces that mimic the experience employees get on their favorite social media apps.

AI integration is another popular trend. It’s helping communications teams to create compelling messages. It’s also helping comms and HR teams make sense of the employee landscape, by turning complex employee data into actionable insights.  

#2. Employees are demanding better tech

Using tech tools in their personal lives, employees enjoy seamless experience. They get personalized recommendations. They can access tools from their smartphones. It’s quick and convenient for users to find the information and tools they need.

As a result, their expectations of workplace tech have become more exacting.

Old and clunky workplace tech creates a poor digital employee experience (DEX). It creates friction and frustration in the work day. This impacts employee productivity, satisfaction, and retention.

With this in mind, intranet software is evolving to meet the needs of today’s employees. Increasingly, you’ll find solutions that offer mobile-first, real-time, and personalized experiences.

#3. Building a business case for better tools

1 in 3 workers says workplace technologies are not being used effectively — and employers are wasting money on unused licenses. Employees would prefer fewer but more effective tools to help them do their jobs.

Unified platforms reduce tool fatigue. The right platform also improves ROI because you pay for a single software solution, designed to help you meet a range of business objectives. 

According to Gartner research, top business priorities for 2025 include:

• Change management
• Strategic workplace planning
• Building a strong organizational culture
• Leader and manager development

A comprehensive platform can help with all the above. You can use it to drive productivity, efficiency, employee engagement, wellbeing, and retention.

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Intranets vs. EXPs: What still sets them apart?

Intranet software providers are adopting many EXP features in a bid to improve their offering. But there remain some key differences between most intranets and employee experience platforms. These are:

• Content vs. experience: Intranet software prioritizes static content. It’s focused on providing employees with the resources they need to do their jobs. EXPs focus on experience and engagement, powered by interactive social features. They have a positive impact on the employee experience and company culture.
  
• One-way vs. two-way communication: Intranet solutions allow leaders to share information with employees. EXPs facilitate a dialogue. They give employees the tools they need to speak up and leave feedback — and for leaders to respond, showing they value the input of their workforce.
  
• User experience: Traditional intranet platforms are often legacy systems that have been updated, bit by bit, to meet modern workforce needs. EXPs, however, have been built with today’s workforce (and their expectations) in mind. They are consumer-grade, intuitive solutions that employees enjoy using.

These differences pose a problem. In platforms where these differences are more pronounced, you’ll struggle to meet diverse organizational needs with just one tool.

You may be able to share and store company resources but struggle to promote two-way interaction. You may be able to launch beautiful employee surveys while sharing company feedback remains a challenge. Document sharing may be easy, but knowledge sharing or facilitating collaboration with project management tools may be nearly impossible.

As we’ve already seen, using more than one platform causes frustration for employees and increases your software costs. So there’s a strong case for finding workplace tech that ticks all the boxes.

Why integrated platforms are the future

We may be a bit biased — but we believe that unified platforms are the future. Powered by seamless integration, they provide employees with the corporate communication, tools, and resources they need to thrive in their roles.

For example, an integrated platform can provide key features such as:

• An integrated social feed where employees can get relevant, engaging, and up-to-the-minute company news
• Task management features that bring all tasks together in one easy-to-understand dashboard
• Personalized employee journeys, with the platform delivering resources to workers as and when they need them 
• An exceptional digital experience across all devices, so you can roll the platform out to your entire workforce
• Robust analytics, that help you gauge what content is getting good engagement — and where there’s room for improvement

Of course, when bringing all of your workplace tools into one super platform, there are considerations you need to bear in mind.

You need to balance rich features with simplicity to avoid overwhelming users. You also need to personalize the platform experience to each employee to prevent information overload. Platform usage will drop if employees find your solution too complicated or irrelevant.  

A good intranet software provider will help you overcome these challenges and maximize the benefits of a unified platform. Key benefits include:

• Streamlined workflows. Employees don’t waste time switching between different workplace software. From Google Workspace and ServiceNow, to Workday and ADP, and everything in between, any tool they need is easily and quickly at their fingertips. This means better efficiency and productivity across your workforce.‍
• Improved engagement. An integrated platform takes the best bits of the intranet and places them all in one intuitive interface. It then builds in other engagement features — like recognition, learning, and instant messaging with coworkers — to create a thoroughly engaging platform and digital workplace.‍
• Data-driven insights. With everything in one place, it’s easier to make sense of platform data. Your team can track employee experience and engagement metrics, viewing them alongside key business data relating to retention and productivity. With enhanced reporting tools, you can get a better sense of organizational performance and have the insight you need to make targeted improvements.

Why choose? Get the best of both worlds

The distinctions between an intranet and an EXP are getting harder to spot. The lines between the two platforms are increasingly blurred and these software solutions often provide many of the same features.

So, when deciding on the right tech for your organization, it’s best to take a holistic view. It’s about creating the right ecosystem for your workforce that offers a single source of truth for internal comms and links to the tools and features you need to ensure productivity, engagement, and employee satisfaction.

You may choose to use an EXP to fill the employee engagement gaps left by your intranet software solution. You can also find EXPs that fulfill both roles — that of an employee intranet and an employee experience platform.

Either way, the right EXP will integrate with the other workplace software you use — including HRIS, learning and development, and wellbeing tools — to give employees everything they need in a single application.

Blink. And discover how an employee experience platform can enhance your existing employee intranet.

In her 2+ years at Blink, Ai has been instrumental in driving innovation and efficiency through data, analytics, and strategy. Her passion for problem-solving and building from the ground up has left a lasting impact by supporting Blink's growth and empowering our customers to engage with their frontline teams more effectively.

Which Blink office do you work out of?

London.

What is your position at Blink?

I’m the Director of Revenue Operations at Blink, a role focused on empowering every team to work more efficiently and effectively by providing data, analytics, and strategic guidance while streamlining processes to eliminate friction.

At Blink, RevOps also oversees Business Intelligence. Recently, we launched an external analytics product that offers our customers valuable data and insights to enhance their engagement with frontline employees. Data is truly at the heart of the business, both internally and externally, and I’m proud and excited to be part of it. 

How long have you been at Blink?

Over 2 years!

What initially attracted you to join Blink?

At the start of my career, I worked in finance and business planning for a big company in Japan. Six years ago, I moved to the UK to join a portfolio company of the Japanese multinational I was working for at the time.

That experience marked my first exposure to the startup world, and I loved it. Working in London with a diverse team and encountering different ways of thinking was exhilarating. Since then, I’ve stayed in the startup ecosystem and made London my home. My career has spanned various areas, including finance, strategy, and data analytics, but my true passion lies in using data to identify and solve problems. RevOps has been the perfect fit, allowing me to take ownership of not only strategy and direction but also ensuring that great strategies are operationalised with the most effective cross-functional processes.

So, why Blink? Back then — and still today — two things stood out to me.

First, the business potential was, and remains, enormous. So many companies need effective tools for frontline communication. It’s a new and largely untapped market, which makes it challenging, but that’s exactly what excites me. Being part of a company with vast growth opportunities is incredibly motivating.

Second, especially after Covid, I wanted to do work that felt meaningful. We spend so much of our lives working, and I wanted to channel my energy into something I’m passionate about — something that makes a positive impact. Frontline workers often lack the tools to optimize their work, connect with colleagues, or access information from their employers. They’re too often left behind. I joined Blink because I believe it can change that, and I’m proud to contribute to a mission that benefits society in a tangible way.

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

I’m proud and excited that at Blink, you often need to create things from scratch — and have the opportunity to do so. As the first RevOps hire, I experienced the rewarding journey of building from zero to one. But the challenge doesn’t stop there; nothing is ever truly complete. Once you’ve accomplished one goal, you realize there are always more opportunities to explore and tackle.

I’m also incredibly proud of my team. It’s growing, and I’m surrounded by talented team members I respect. Although this is still the smallest team I’ve ever been part of or led, the impact we’re delivering to the business is the greatest I’ve achieved so far.

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

High-bar, customer-centric, and collaborative. 

I chose high-bar because we set high expectations for the quality of our work and the caliber of people we welcome to our team. With the current competitive industry landscape, we can’t succeed by doing ordinary work, and I believe we uphold excellent standards to bring out the best in ourselves.

We’re also customer-centric, with a mission to support not only our customers but also customers’ employees, frontline workers. 

Lastly, we’re collaborative. With limited resources, teamwork is how we achieve more. We’re a fun, intelligent team, and I love how we balance ambition with genuine support for one another at Blink.

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

I’m excited about the possibility of creating a new market for ourselves. A great example is Slack — before it existed, we didn’t even realize we needed it, but now it’s become the norm, even a verb! “I’ll Slack you!” has become part of everyday language. I believe Blink has the potential to become just as indispensable for frontline companies and their users, setting a new standard in the industry.

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

Two things stand out to me. First is the continuous launch of new features such as Communities, Stories, Voice and Video, Live Streams, and more. It’s truly remarkable, especially given the relatively small size of our product and engineering team. I feel confident that we’re making a meaningful impact in our industry and delivering real value to our customers.

The second is the progress we’ve made with data initiatives. For example, the launch of Advanced Employee Intelligence in August has opened up significant opportunities for revenue expansion while providing tangible value to our customers. This combination of innovation and impact makes it an exciting time to be at Blink.

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How engaged your frontline employees are directly impacts how successful they are as a team. If you can encourage engagement then productivity, quality, care, commitment, and retention surely follow.

Yet, no matter how clear the correlation is, it’s not always as clear how to achieve frontline employee engagement.

In this guide, we share expert insights for your employee engagement strategies — helping you create a positive working environment that inspires satisfaction and success.

From understanding the importance of communication and collaboration across the organization to leveraging technology for better team performance, this guide will cover the activities and tools needed to foster an engaging frontline culture.

The current state of frontline employee engagement

Recent employee engagement statistics tell us that only 21% of employees are engaged at work.

The percentage is likely lower when it comes to the frontline.

That’s because frontline employee engagement is often handled as an afterthought. There’s a misconception that when workers are out in the field, then they don’t ‘need’ to feel connected to the wider business. Or that because their role doesn’t require a computer, they won’t want digital tools to improve their experience.

We see from our work with frontline organizations that these assumptions are wrong, and that frontline employees do want to feel engaged.

Communication starts to flow much more freely when the right tools are in place (as much as 10x more for certain Blink customers); frontline staff are more willing and able to provide feedback (survey responses increase by 300%); and you can help almost every employee to better connect with the company’s mission and vision.

So why do so many attempts at frontline employee engagement fall flat?

Workers might resist not because they don’t want to engage, but because they have become wise to empty frontline engagement projects and initiatives. The programs that fail are the ones that misunderstand what frontline workers need to succeed — or that ask too much of them while delivering too little.

“Great, another thing to remember”

“It’s not a natural part of my day”

“It’s a one-off thing”

“It’s too hard to use”

To help create frontline employee engagement initiatives that work, we first have to understand why these employees have become disengaged in the first place.

Why frontline employees become disengaged

1. Lack of the right technology

According to Blink research on the health and social care space:

• Over one-third (34%) of employees can’t easily access workplace systems on their mobile
• Nearly 20% aren’t using their company’s intranet
• … and two-thirds of this ~20% aren’t even sure how to log on

Disengagement with — or lack of access to — company platforms leads to missed information and feelings of isolation. At best, this can impede a frontline worker’s ability to do their job (maybe they miss an important update or never receive new guidance). At worst, it distances them so much from the rest of the business that they exist in their own, dissatisfied silo.

52% of frontline workers say they would leave their job over tech tools, making leveraging the right technology a very easy win for keeping your frontline engaged and retained.

But we can’t take the same tech stack that desk-based workers use and apply it to the frontline.

As Ian Gordon, former President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring, told us in an interview:

“Being a frontline worker can feel like you’re on an island by yourself, and the solutions that you need must be quicker and more succinct. You can’t spend a lot of time signing in and navigating. You need to get to your answer now.”

The ‘right’ technology for frontline engagement will:

• Be intuitive and frictionless
• Allow the most essential, day-job-critical messages to cut through
• Facilitate the workflows that are most important to the ‘deskless’ front line: shift swapping, accessing pay stubs, providing feedback, and so on.

If your frontline tools don’t deliver on the above, then your frontline employee engagement efforts will be wasted.

2. No sense of belonging

Frontline disengagement can also result from a lack of community.
80% of frontline employees say that they are afforded few connection opportunities at work, according to McKinsey research.

And even if these opportunities exist, frontline workers aren’t always engaging with them. McKinsey found that frontline workers were taking part in the below methods of community and connection just once a month or less:

• Internal corporate communications (e.g., town halls)
• Watercooler talks with co-workers
• Employee resource groups
• Other work-related events

Touchpoints like these are all essential for building team spirit and rapport within frontline teams. And if workers aren’t engaging with them, then this speaks volumes about the types of community events that frontline leaders should invest in.

The best way to learn what works for your frontline is to ask them.

We touch on the concept of outside-in thinking in our whitepaper, ‘The frontline engagement roadmap: A step-by-step guide to driving transformative change’. Download your copy today.

3. No clear development opportunities

If you think that all engaged frontline workers are ‘rockstars’ — satisfied with mastering the job they have today rather than looking to step up — then think again.

There’s a very good chance you have ‘superstars’ in your frontline workforce as well. When engaged in a role, these employees are further motivated by the idea of career progression and will actively seek out opportunities to advance and develop. 70% of frontline workers apply for advancement opportunities when they are offered, seeking greater financial security, learning, and development.

But how easy is it for these employees to find this professional development?

Lack of development opportunities came up as a theme — and a reason for leaving a role — among the health and social care workers we spoke to in 2021. Further research has found a similar trend in the retail space, where 32% of frontline workers cite a lack of career development as a turnover factor.

“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.”

Frontline leaders should strive to offer clear development opportunities to frontline workers, plus training and learning resources wherever helpful. This could include anything from providing access to relevant training courses and a Hub for training materials, or offering them direct opportunities to move into managerial roles.

There’s also something to be said for training and empowering first line managers to help frontline workers develop. 73% of frontline employees agree that having a manager who supports their career progression is key to career advancement.

4. They don’t feel listened to

The 2021 Blink research we mentioned earlier was called our Listen campaign. And it got its name for a reason.

In it, we surveyed 1,000 frontline UK health and social care workers to find out how their day-to-day lives could be improved. And one word cropped up again and again: listen.

Over one-third of the frontline workforce feels their organizations would fail to act on employee feedback — and that needs to change if we want them to keep providing it. To truly empower your frontline employees, you need to show them that you value what they do and that you hear what they say.

No more out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality. No more assuming your frontline is ‘getting on just fine’. If your frontline workers don’t feel heard, your engagement strategy isn’t working. It’s as simple as that.

5. No culture of, or channels for, recognition

Nearly 4 in 10 (37%) frontline workers don’t feel as valued as their desk-based counterparts. We were saddened to learn this from our Listen research, but not all that surprised.

After all, the recognition strategies that work for desk-basked employees can’t be efficiently deployed for the front line. A line manager can’t send a team-wide or company-wide email celebrating someone’s contribution. You can’t all get together at 5pm on Friday to toast the week’s achievements.

As with the tooling and community-building tactics we looked at above, frontline recognition requires a unique approach. How can you bolster both technology and community to give credit where credit is due?

It’s also important to make sure that feedback is given as soon after the event as possible. So ask yourself: what are the platforms that allow a quick turnaround of employee recognition in a fun, engaging way?

Help employees feel valued with Blink

Frontline employees deserve to be recognized for the hard work they do: for being the backbone of an organization’s success.

Without this, it’s no wonder they become disengaged.

6. Inefficient communication strategies

In our research, almost one-fifth of workers state that they don’t receive relevant internal communications from their employer organization.

An effective comms strategy combines group and 1:1 Secure Chats, regular Feed updates, engaging company news announcements, and more — all wrapped up and delivered in a platform or platforms that frontline workers want to engage with.

Given anything less than this, frontline teams can feel left out of the loop and unable to participate fully in their organization’s culture.

Get your frontline-centric communication strategy right and you can expect to see frontline employee engagement pay off in a myriad of ways.

Blink’s best advice for frontline employee engagement

Use tools that work for them

Your frontline staff need digital tools that work for them: where they need them and when they need them. From seamless integration with your current tech stack, to push notifications, single sign-on capabilities, and more, there are a number of tools that make it easy for frontline employees to engage on the go.

A frontline engagement app like Blink allows your workforce to easily access everything from one single platform. We’re talking company news, training materials and resources, inter- and intra-team communications, feedback surveys — the list of features keeps growing.

No more complex systems to navigate or multiple passwords to remember. Blink provides you with a simple, intuitive mobile app that gives your frontline employees the power to stay connected and engaged.

Book a free demo today

Conduct regular pulse surveys

Your frontline staff are the eyes, ears, and face of your organization. Listen to what they have to say, and you can learn more than you’d realize about your product or service, how happy customers are, and how well your processes are working today.

Pulse surveys offer up a consistent and user-friendly way to gather frontline feedback, no matter where your teams are working.

The data you gather can help identify areas of improvement — both internal and external to the business. This, in turn, will have a positive impact on all the essential metrics: frontline employee engagement, customer satisfaction, plus revenue and ROI.

💡 Learn more about How To Conduct Your First Employee Engagement Survey today.

Listen to and action feedback

Remember that statistic about frontline workers not believing their feedback will be actioned? Now is your time to win back their trust.

Remember, employee engagement should be earned. It won’t be given freely.

As a frontline leader, making sure that feedback is heard and put into action should be an essential part of your wider engagement strategy.

Be open and honest with the results of your surveys — and communicate what you’re doing as an organization to action this feedback.

Never present results as better or worse than they actually are, and always encourage an open dialogue about the outcomes of feedback initiatives. If you want your employees to offer their feedback on an ongoing basis, you need strategies that communicate to them how you’re hearing what they say.

You could even share your survey findings in a company-wide Feed announcement, along with specific objectives the organization has taken from the results and when these new initiatives will be put into place.

This doesn’t add any extra pressure to your frontline, but it does make your employees feel heard and valued.

Create engagement champions

Setting off on a frontline employee engagement transformation isn’t easy — or, it doesn’t feel easy at the start, at least.

We look at the power of allies in our frontline engagement roadmap and Ian Gordon also referenced how influential they can be:

“You need to find someone who has the energy, passion, and is empowered enough to lead the initiatives. That person could be the project lead, but preferably it’s someone from the frontline or with frontline experience. The frontline needs to have that relationship with management all the way up and be comfortable to share their concerns.”

Ian Gordon, Former President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring

These allies, or engagement champions, can help drive initiatives both top-down and bottom-up, facilitating two-way communication between management and staff. They can also support the adoption of new tools, ensuring that frontline workers are comfortable and engaged as new technologies are implemented.

Blink Champions are the cornerstone of a successful launch with the frontline’s leading engagement app. Their role includes:

• Working with other Champions to ensure the launch is a success
• Raising awareness of Blink
• Encouraging others to use the app
• Being active in the Feed
• Educating their team on how to use the app
• Being an advocate for Blink
• Becoming an expert on Blink

Get commitment from every level of management

Ideally, you’d have engagement allies from the front line to your C-Suite.

If your company’s mission is to boost frontline engagement, then every staff member in an authority position needs to show their support. Yes, engagement should be enabled by managers buying into the right digital solutions, but it should also be held up by your company’s values and all aspects of your leadership.

Our research also demonstrates that frontline staff want senior management to listen to them, communicate with them, and respond to them. A simple, yet frequently forgotten, task.

First line managers could be a particularly interesting group to engage with: making up 50% – 60% of a company’s management and directly supervising as much as 80% of the frontline workforce.

When employees interact with their first line managers daily, it’s essential that those individuals set an example and demonstrate engagement through their behavior.

Managers should also be available to listen to frontline workers and act upon any issues they identify. This will help drive the desired engagement from the bottom up, inspiring the workforce to keep engaging regularly.

Recognition and reward

Forward-thinking companies are already investing in co-worker recognition tools. This helps deliver meaningful recognition and rewards to their employee base, reminding employees how valued they are.

Such approaches can quickly encourage motivation, nurture employee wellbeing, raise employee morale, and boost engagement levels across the board.

You should also consider directly rewarding engagement (interactions with your employee app, for example) to reinforce and reward the behavior, creating a positive ripple effect to inspire more engagement.

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What your business stands to gain

Frontline employee engagement = fewer absentees

Teams within the top 20% of employee engagement scores realize a 41% reduction in absenteeism. Imagine what your frontline organization could do with fewer empty shifts and less time spent finding staff to cover sickness — plus the additional revenue this will inevitably create.

Frontline employee engagement = lower turnover, higher retention

The cost of replacing an employee can range anywhere from 50% – 250% of their annual salary. So it’s no surprise that 87% of HR experts consider employee retention one of their highest priorities.

Why are we telling you this in an article about employee engagement? Because engaged workers are more likely to stay with their employers.

Disengaged workers will either be in an active search for their next role or much easier to sway should a desirable opportunity arise elsewhere. If you can create an engaging employee experience, however, you’ll retain your best talent.

Frontline employee engagement = a healthier bottom line

Engaged frontline employees deliver better quality of service, leading to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

92% of business executives believe that engaged employees perform better. And with engaged frontline workers performing at their best, better business outcomes are a natural development.

Bottom line improvements for highly engaged organizations include:

• 10% higher customer ratings
• 18% higher sales
• A 23% difference in profitability

In this way, an increase in engagement from frontline employees can be felt by every stakeholder, in every department, and at every level of the business.

What now?

Achieving operational excellence is a challenge on its own. Doing so while also investing in employee experience can leave frontline management teams feeling overwhelmed.

So let’s break it down into simple steps.

If you understand why frontline employees disengage, what motivates them, and how to keep them engaged, then you can establish a frontline engagement strategy that truly works.

Companies can unlock tremendous value from their workforce, demonstrate a real commitment to their employees, and drive positive business outcomes — all by leveraging the power of frontline employee engagement.

How can Blink help?

At Blink, we understand the importance of engaging with frontline employees. We’ve helped over 250 frontline organizations increase engagement and performance throughout their frontline.

Our frontline engagement app helps you measure and manage employee engagement in real-time to drive sustained improvements across your business. With our advanced analytics and tailored solutions, you can quickly identify problem areas, create action plans, and keep your employees engaged.

With our comprehensive suite of solutions, we’ll help you unlock the power of your frontline and achieve the results you’re looking for.

Get started with a free demo

Is your comms still cutting it — or has your strategy fallen behind the times?

Any comms strategy worth its salt is totally up to date — because internal comms trends and employee expectations evolve fast.

What worked even a year ago might already feel tired to employees. That means your messages land with less impact, and the engagement you were counting on slips away.

So how can you tell if your internal communication strategy is still working — or whether it’s time for a refresh?

Start by watching for these tell-tale signs that your approach needs a glow-up in 2025 and beyond.

6 signs you need to upgrade your internal communication plan

#1. You’re still broadcasting, not conversing

Top-down comms were once the norm. But employees are no longer happy to be the passive recipients of company news. Why? We can point the finger firmly in the direction of social media.

Thanks to the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, we’ve been publishing our own content for decades. We’ve also been interacting with big brands and celebrities who were once completely off-limits.

Employees expect a similar experience in the workplace. To the point that top-down communication now feels like a form of gatekeeping.

When you broadcast information instead of starting a conversation with your workforce, they’re left thinking: What have they got to hide? Are they scared of employee feedback? Is the organization simply uninterested in what we think? 

This lack of trust and transparency harms the employee experience. And if this sounds familiar, you need to flip the script.

How? With a culture of two-way communication — and the communication tools that can facilitate it. Think interactive news feeds, polls, surveys, and leader Q&As.

The C-suite still shares essential information. But employees can reply, react, and respond to messages. They can share their ideas via polls and surveys. They can spark conversations with co-workers and managers.

You make employee communications more interactive, improving comms engagement in the process.

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#2. Your engagement metrics are mysterious… or missing entirely

You can’t fix what you can’t measure.

If you don’t know who’s opening your messages, which channels are driving the most engagement, or how comms are actually landing across your workforce, you’re working in the dark. And you’ll struggle to make targeted internal comms improvements.

Modern communication tools give you easy access to reliable internal communications metrics. You can:

• Get real-time data on reach, employee sentiment, employee engagement, and more
• Draw links between your comms performance and company KPIs, like customer experience, employee retention, and business revenue
• Segment your data to shine a spotlight on the departments, teams, and locations where comms aren’t cutting through

With the effective tools for analytics and reporting, you can put data at the center of your internal communications plan. Which means less instinct, more insight — and meaningful comms improvements.

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#3. Everything sounds like it was written by legal

You know the tone. Overly polished, overly cautious, super-jargony corporate speak. The kind of language that makes every internal message feel like you’re wading through a set of terms and conditions.

This type of language is completely forgettable. It’s unlikely to spark interest, engagement, or interaction — particularly with younger generations within your workforce. And it takes longer for even your smartest employees to read.

So is your comms TOV giving more corporate robot than relatable human? Try reading your messages out loud. If it doesn’t feel like something you’d actually say to someone face-to-face, it’s probably way too formal for your internal communication channels.

To fix it, you can humanize your comms in the following ways:

• Use plain language — no long and complicated words, confusing acronyms, or corporate jargon
• Use a conversational tone — writing more or less as you speak
• Break up long blocks of text — this makes messages less overwhelming and easier to scan and read
• Show a bit of personality — empathy, gentle humor, and the odd personal anecdote go a long way

Above all, remember that the role of comms isn’t just to inform employees — it’s to connect with them. And it’s much easier to do that when you sound real and relatable.

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#4. Frontline workers feel left out

Frontline communication is too often an afterthought. And it’s harming the frontline employee experience.

Most legacy internal communication tools were designed for desk-based workers, so they don’t translate to a mobile format. They also require a corporate email address — something many frontline employees simply don’t have.

You can survey your frontline workers to find out what they think of your comms. And — if they’re feeling left out of the company conversation — this is another sure-fire sign your comms strategy needs some TLC.

The golden rule? If it doesn’t work well on mobile, it doesn’t work for everyone.

So in 2025, you need to go beyond paper memos, personal messaging apps, and word-of-mouth information to embrace mobile-first communication tools, suited to frontline workers.

These tools provide an exceptional experience on desktops and smartphones. And they give all employees easy and intuitive access to company comms, culture, and connection.

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#5. Your comms channels are working against you

Got a strategy that starts and ends with email? Or SharePoint? Or — on the flip side — so many channels that no one knows where to look?

Both extremes create issues. A one-channel approach makes it hard to reach everyone. But piling on too many platforms without a clear strategy leads to confusion, noise, and missed messages.

Different employees prefer different communication styles. Gen Z might favor short, social-style updates. Other generations may be happy with email. But when there’s no central system or channel clarity, employees are left asking: “Wait — where was that shared?”

Worse still, your internal communications team ends up unsure where to publish updates, and messages get scattered across tools. The result? Diluted impact, clutter, and poor reach.

The fix? Create a unified company communications hub that serves as a single source of truth and supports a mix of clearly defined channels — with audience segmentation baked in.

That might include:

• Instant messaging for real-time collaboration
• A news feed for top-down updates
• Communities for employee-generated content and co-worker conversation
• A content hub or resource center for evergreen info
• Targeted notifications based on role, location, or department

This structure reinforces important messages, helps employees find what they need, and keeps your comms ecosystem organized, strategic, and effective.

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#6. You’re still treating comms like a service, not a strategy

Your internal comms team deserves a seat at the strategy table. But in many organizations, this still simply isn’t the case.

27% of internal comms professionals surveyed by Gallagher said they lacked leadership buy-in and were left out of decision-making. Many comms teams are still treated like a message delivery service, rather than a strategic partner.

This is one of the biggest comms mistakes you can make. Because when internal communications are involved in corporate strategy from the outset, they can:

• Drive alignment across the entire company
• Improve change communications
• Super-charge company culture
• Connect boardroom and breakroom like never before

With top-level insight and input, your comms team finds it easier to achieve the metrics laid out in your internal comms plan — and achieve metrics relating to wider business performance. We’re talking productivity, employee retention, and employee engagement.

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How does your comms strategy stack up?

If you’ve identified one or more of these internal communications issues, rest assured that you’re not alone — and you’re not stuck.

Every one of these challenges is fixable. In fact, just recognizing the gaps in your strategy is the first step toward building a smarter, more effective communications plan.

What next? Upgrade your internal communications strategy and tools to reflect the needs and expectations of the modern workforce.

A modern comms plan is flexible, human, and data-driven. It supports the sharing of relevant, personalized communications to every member of your workforce. It meets employees where they are — over mobile-first tools and a rich mix of communication channels.

Most of all, an up-to-date strategy recognizes that modern internal comms is not just a service but a vital part of your corporate culture, change initiatives, and employee experience.

‍Blink. And give your internal comms strategy the makeover it needs.

Employee engagement is a critical focus for People teams— or any other business leader. Learn what it is, why it’s important, and how to improve it in our complete guide.

Employee engagement is the difference between soaring productivity rates and a sense of stagnation. It’s fifty people applying for a single vacancy, rather than fifty vacancies and one applicant.    

Yet for all its importance, companies frequently misunderstand what employee engagement is and what it looks like. That's why we’re here to help. 

Whether you're looking to better understand the definition and importance of employee engagement, drive employee engagement in your organization, or simply understand examples of employee engagement, this complete guide to employee engagement has something for you.

What is employee engagement? A simple definition

Employee engagement is the ongoing process of ensuring your workforce feels satisfied with their job, aligned with your organization’s values, and supported enough to give 100% during work hours.

Research by SHRM defines the term employee engagement as relating to the level of an employee's commitment and connection to an organization, while Investopedia defines employee engagement as describing the level of enthusiasm and dedication a worker feels toward their job.

At Blink, we believe true employee engagement is a combination of two equally important parts:

• Attitude - the commitment a worker feels toward the company
• Behavior - the effort that an employee is willing to invest in their job

Whichever way you look at it, maintaining employee engagement is a key factor in determining how successful an organization will be. It also provides key insights into employee satisfaction and sentiment, which can help identify areas that may need improvement.

To better illustrate what employee engagement looks like, here are some of the key attitudes and behaviors of engaged vs disengaged employees:

What is employee engagement for employers?

HR is all about people. So it makes sense that, if that is your role, you want the best for your co-workers.

Still, there’s more to it than that.

Employee engagement is important because it affects the performance of your company. Think back to a job you’ve not enjoyed in the past  — did you give as much to that role as you did to the ones you loved?

Now extrapolate this out across an entire company of unhappy, unmotivated workers. In toxic environments, productivity nosedives. Depending on the type of organization you work for, this could mean a lower output rate, poor customer service, an increase in safety incidents, reduced patient satisfaction, missed deadlines, or any other number of issues.

What is employee engagement for employees?

For employees themselves, engagement isn't so much a daily activity they schedule time for. It's a natural byproduct of a strong employee experience.

Engagement is directly correlated to a positive work environment; when people feel respected, appreciated, and valued for their work, they are more likely to be an engaged employee. It's about being part of something bigger than just your job title — it’s that sense of satisfaction and fulfillment when you know you are making a difference.

Different groups of employees have different engagement expectations — and when those expectations match the day-to-day experiences of their roles, employees are more likely to be engaged.

Whether it’s your dispersed, frontline teams or your first-line managers, it’s worth getting to know what your employees expect from their engagement experience.

Why is employee engagement important?

Employee engagement efforts don’t need to be expensive, but they do need to be intentional. Issues created by poor employee engagement practices can cost your company thousands.

These include:

• Reduced productivity: people don’t work well when they’re unhappy. If teams are consistently falling short of productivity targets you know to be reasonable, there’s a good chance they’re unhappy at work
• Absenteeism: unhappy employees stay at home and use more sick days and mental health days than those employees who enjoy their jobs and work environments
• Presenteeism: Between May 2021 and November 2022 alone presenteeism rose by 18%. As the cost of presenteeism has historically been found to significantly outweigh the cost of absenteeism, this is one common challenge for engagement leaders to tackle.
• High employee turnover: if someone is disengaged, it makes them more likely to leave. Replacing employees is super expensive (think six to nine months’ salary, plus up to 213% of the total annual salary depending on the seniority of the position). Along with being a cost drain, the extra workload will put pressure on your other, potentially unhappy, employees while you find a replacement
• Employer brand damage: a stream of employees leaving your organization won’t do your reputation any good. Not only will you end up with a large list of vacancies, but you’ll also struggle to find people to fill them. With more job seekers than ever using online review sites, such as Glassdoor, to screen companies before they apply, a poor reputation for employee engagement has never been so damaging

This creates a cycle that your organization doesn’t want to slip into. Breaking it, or making sure that your company doesn’t start to slip down it, is an essential task that requires time and dedication to tracking — and improving key metrics.

3 core benefits of employee engagement

Gallup provides interesting insights on the benefits of employee engagement. Organizations with highly engaged employees experience:

As you can see in the employee engagement statistics above, there is a vast array of benefits to be gained from increased employee engagement. In the below sections, we’ve found some of the most compelling evidence for three core benefits of employee engagement:

1. Greater discretionary effort
2. Improved job satisfaction
3. Increased employee retention

Greater discretionary effort

Improved discretionary effort offered by engaged individuals is one huge benefit of employee engagement initiatives.

Those with high engagement levels often perform above expectations and develop meaningful relationships with their peers, contributing to improved outcomes for everyone involved. These efforts are what is known as ‘Discretionary Effort’.

The discretionary effort your employees put in directly impacts the success of your business outcomes, whether it’s your overall employee output rates, your patient safety outcomes and satisfaction levels, or a direct increase to your bottom line.

Improved job satisfaction

Employee engagement has the dual benefit of improving both organizational success and job satisfaction on a personal level. 

This is because engagement initiatives themselves provide employees with more development opportunities, better recognition for good work, and better prospects for career growth. When employees reap these benefits offered to them by engagement strategies, they feel like they make a real impact on the success of an organization, and that what they are doing is meaningful. 

Don’t underestimate the historic power of meaningful work on your employee satisfaction levels — nine out of ten employees would take a lower salary for more meaningful work.

Increased employee retention

Employees are more likely to stay with the organization when they are more satisfied and engaged. 

Research by the IJECM (International Journal of Economics, Commerce & Management) found that job satisfaction is a reliable and relevant predictor of employee retention. Highly engaged employees develop a greater sense of attachment to the organization and become more loyal, resulting in up to a 43% difference in employee turnover according to further employee engagement research.  

How to improve employee engagement

There are a number of ways to improve employee engagement, but, at Blink, we like to think of engagement efforts as being split into three key categories:

1. Delivering on the 10  key drivers of employee engagement
2. Identifying the employee engagement strategies and tactics that work for your employees
3. Ensuring the best employee engagement tools and software

Key drivers of employee engagement

In order to improve employee engagement, you must understand what drives it, and focus your efforts there. What core experiences and tools do you need to provide to your workforce in order to boost the overall employee experience and drive engagement?  

Key drivers of employee engagement include but aren’t limited to: 

1. Safe, dedicated working environment
2. Tools and processes
3. Feeling valued and involved
4. Psychological safety
5. Fairness
6. Ownership
7. Autonomy
8. Progression
9. Leadership
10. Work-life balance.

By focusing engagement efforts on enabling these core engagement drivers, you will be much more likely to see significant engagement improvements.

Employee engagement strategies and tactics

An employee engagement strategy is the plan of action you take to bring about an increase in employee engagement levels. On the other hand, tactics are the individual steps and actions that will get you there. In the context of an employee engagement strategy, this means the tactics are the specific engagement actions your teams take to implement the initiatives outlined in the strategy.

Employee engagement strategies combine a number of tactics, such as the use of team-building exercises, offering career growth opportunities, providing more effective recognition for good work and positive behavior changes, or improving your internal communication processes.

In order to effectively craft an engagement strategy, it’s important to have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, and how you plan to get there.

By having a clearly defined strategy, it is much easier to measure the success or failure of any engagement tactic you try. When you identify which tactics work and which don’t, you can adjust your future strategy accordingly.

Employee engagement tools

Employee engagement tools are products and tech solutions that enable companies to measure, manage, and improve employee engagement levels.

Employee engagement software comes in many forms, from survey software used to collect employee feedback and communication platforms providing a channel for discussion between teams.Engagement analysis tools can also provide insight into how your engagement efforts are faring.

However, if your staff are juggling a number of platforms and tools for different parts of their work, it will be inconvenient and you're not likely to see great engagement results. That's why an all-through-one engagement super-app is the best choice for any business wanting to consolidate engagement efforts.

A super-app brings together all of your employee communications, engagement surveys, recognition programs, and employee rewards into one, central platform. 

This will not only make your life easier but will also ensure a more consistent experience for employees while enabling you to get an aggregated view of their engagement levels with just a few clicks.

Examples of employee engagement in action

How Go North West achieved 96% monthly active engagement app users

The challenge

Like many frontline organizations facing a digital inclusion gap, Go North West faced challenges when it came to digitizing processes and communications in their organization. Historically, their internal comms were split across various channels, such as emails, mail to drivers' home addresses, depot noticeboards, and unregulated social media platforms. 

With so many paper-based operational processes, Go North West faced high levels of non-adherence and inefficiency. On top of this, they were also facing an industry-wise staff shortage in the wake of the Great Resignation and COVID-19, which made growth for the company more difficult to achieve.

The solution

The first solution to the engagement challenges faced by Go North West lay in using Blink’s Hub — the super-app’s central portal for accessing processes, documents, and tools. Go North West could now use this to share duties,schedule, and running boards for easy access and updating.

After this, the company had to ensure critical information such as route diversions could reach all members of staff quickly and efficiently. This was where the team used the Blink Feed — a company-wide, mobile-first communications channel, supplemented with the use of Chats to fulfill shift swaps and fills and ensure smooth service delivery. 

The team at Go North West also needed to streamline how they provided drivers and other members of staff access to critical processes and resources. This was where Blink’s Digital Forms and Custom Apps stepped in to revolutionize how the organization worked. 

By moving to digital processes from outdated paper-based processes, drivers were able to:

• Request annual leave with a few taps from the app, made easier with functionality such as auto-population and validation  
• Access their schedules through one-click access to DAS-Web 
• Submit near-miss reports via a custom app on Blink, allowing them to log incidents quickly and easily, increasing the number of submissions to drive process improvement

The outcome

The outcome of this engagement tech overhaul was a resounding success. Engagement levels, retention, and digitization efforts were all improved. 

What did this look like in terms of engagement? Well, alongside achieving 96% monthly active app users, Go North West also saw:

• 30,000 opens of DAS-Web per month
• 6,000 Chat messages per month
• 98,000 opens of Hub content
• 17 daily app opens per user
• 186 monthly app opens per user

What a result! Widespread success across the operation, with Go North West achieving its goal of higher engagement.

The use of Blink’s engagement super-app has enabled the team to move into a digital-first future and deliver an efficient service that allows them to better serve their employees — and customers. A win-win for everyone.

Want engagement results like these? Book a free Blink demo today.

How to measure employee engagement

Measuring employee engagement should be a continuous process.

It’s not just something you need to focus on when employee morale is down and stop as soon as it reaches manageable levels… it should be a central part of the HR or People team’s day-to-day activities.

So, before implementing any of the below, ask yourself:

• How much time should we dedicate to this a week?
• Who should be in charge of this area?
• Who can manage the on-the-ground responsibilities associated with this?
• Are there any tools (e.g. a new employee super-app) that could help us manage this workload?

In terms of exactly what to measure and how to measure it, there are two key areas you need to focus on:

1. The data that already exists in your company
2. Data that you actively go out and collect.

Measuring employee engagement using existing data

This is data that your HR team won’t have to set up any new processes for; it (should) already be monitored by various departments. The key here is collating it, as there’s a good chance that inter-departmental silos mean that you won’t necessarily be able to access it right away, let alone see the big picture.

We’re talking about:

• Absence rates
• Employee turnover
• Number of complaints to line managers
• Number of complaints to HR
• eNPS scores
• Customer reviews
• Customer retention
• Sales
• Turnover
• Social media engagement

There could be a myriad of reasons why customer satisfaction has dipped, so take a look at it alongside some of the other metrics listed, over an extended period of time.

For example, do eNPS scores dip when employee turnover is highest? Do customers write poorer reviews when absence rates are particularly high? Start to compare ‘result’ metrics (like sales, turnover, customer satisfaction, and customer retention) with employee wellness to see whether you notice any patterns.

From there, measure, measure, measure! Set up dashboards with all your chosen metrics so that you can track and compare them at a glance. You can then monitor employee engagement via its direct consequences — absence rates going down and productivity going up is a sure sign that your efforts are working.

To assess your current data, an engagement analytics tool can help. It will look at the data you already have (like those mentioned above) to identify how engaged your people really are and provide real-time insights into what might need improvement.

All of the above help to paint a picture of where you are with employee engagement, but they aren’t the only weapon in your arsenal. So, once you’ve got those dashboards up and running, move onto…

Measuring employee engagement by collecting new data

What’s the best, most efficient way of understanding your employee engagement levels?

Just ask them.

Regular, anonymous employee engagement surveys are the most efficient way of doing this. You might see these referred to as “pulse” surveys, and they are so much better for measuring engagement than the traditional annual long-answer survey for the following reasons:

Response rates tend to be higher. It’s much easier to encourage employees to complete three quick “rate on a scale” questions with an optional “any further comments” box than three pages of long-answer questions that they don’t have time to do.

You can keep them focused on one single issue each time. This gives your HR team a much better chance of addressing feedback successfully and sharing what they’ve done to address their co-workers’ concerns.

They encourage constructive feedback. The issue with running an annual survey is that employees see it as their single opportunity to get everything off their chests. 

It’s difficult to respond to 12 months of input from an entire company in any meaningful way, particularly if the topics covered range from disagreement with the company’s strategic direction or low staff retention to dissatisfaction with the options offered in the cafeteria.

How to use your employee engagement data

Whether you’ve noticed that your absence rates are soaring way above your industry average or carried out a highly targeted pulse survey, you need to take action from this data. Understanding exactly how to use your employee engagement data is therefore crucial.

Align key stakeholders with a plan of action

First, sit down with all relevant stakeholders and agree on a workable course of action. Involving stakeholders here keeps things grounded — it’s tempting to offer your workforce the moon on a stick when they’re unhappy, but this isn’t realistic. Avoid promising things you can’t deliver on — broken promises won’t be taken well by your employees, no matter how ambitious they are.

If, for example, your employees have stated they want better quality break rooms or equipment, it’s wise to take the time to align with the leadership suite on whether they have the resources to help with this before you promise a tech overhaul or new break room to your workforce.

Track improvements in data with KPIs

Second, it’s super important to track these improvements against realistic employee engagement KPIs. Change in organizations is gradual, so make sure your targets reflect this and avoid the temptation to try and go from 0 to 100 in three months.

If none of your employees are having regular one-to-one contact with their line managers, an example target structure could look like this:

• 3 months in: 20% of all employees having regular catch-ups
• 6 months in: 40% of employees
• 9 months in: 60% of employees
• 12 months in: 80% of employees

You could also consider how you roll this out. It’s much easier to coordinate regular catch-ups for office-based positions, so you could focus on getting a full 100% in the first three months for office-based teams as a quick win. Whilst you do this, you can sort out the infrastructure for deskless and dispersed teams to be able to do this further down the line.

Consider new tech

Finally, think about any tools that might help you meet these targets and/or address employees’ concerns.

There’s now plenty of workplace tech to help with a range of issues, like employee apps to help communication, productivity software to help meet targets, and advanced CRM features that make meeting customer needs much easier for frontline employees.

Check with your leadership team to see what sort of support they could offer here. They’ll be looking for a solid return on investment and plan before giving the green light, so make sure that if you’re making a direct request for new software, you build a solid business case about why you need it.

Download: the essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience

Communicate your plan of action

The golden rule: never assume that your workforce will notice your efforts to improve things without you communicating it.

Your workforce is busy, and meaningful change takes time — so you’re not going to make everything perfect right away. To really show your employees that you’ve taken their feedback on board, you’ll need to be explicit.

Include announcements about your planned improvements into your internal communications strategy. If you’ve conducted a pulse survey, share the results. This is a gesture of transparency that people will really appreciate—and emphasizes that you’re taking employee feedback seriously.

When announcing any improvement plans, consider:

• The channel that would work best: would more people see it via email, on a noticeboard, or via a mobile-first employee app?
• The frequency of your communication: how frequently should you update your employees on the progress you’re making towards these goals

You could also consider providing updates in person at company meetings, as this adds a welcome personal touch.

Remember the small things alongside big things

Big, organizational changes take time, but there are smaller things you can do for your workforce in the meantime.

Reworking the employee journey so there are more obvious routes for internal promotion takes time. Easier things like upgrading the coffee machine, setting up a couple of lunchtime clubs, or getting a pool table for the break room does not.

Implementing a couple of easy-to-manage changes (either that your workforce has specifically asked for, or just off your own back) emphasizes your commitment to improvement while you’re working towards the more structural stuff. It’s not a substitute, but it is a good reminder to your workforce about what you’re trying to do.

Blink. And your employee engagement strategy takes shape. 

Blink is the all-through-one engagement super-app that your business needs to make sure employee engagement isn’t an extra task on your list, but part of a holistic approach to people management.

Our platform includes all the tools you need for effective employee engagement, from surveys and feedback loops to recognition programs and rewards. We also provide comprehensive reporting dashboards and insights to monitor progress, track performance, identify problem areas and create actionable plans. 

When it comes to employee engagement, Blink is the perfect solution for businesses of all sizes. 

No matter where you are in your engagement journey, we’re here to help you create the best possible experience for your employees and drive maximum success for your business.

Get started with Blink today.

Today’s employees routinely use digital tools to manage their personal lives — for banking, shopping, fitness, and even dating — and now expect a similar level of convenience and connectivity in their professional environments.

Forward-thinking organizations are meeting these expectations through employee experience software platforms that transform how teams communicate and engage. Solutions such as Blink’s employee experience platform enable staff to feel more connected, motivated, and loyal to their company by simplifying communication and recognition.

Frontline teams, in particular, benefit from a unified employee experience solution. The “frontline connection gap” often leaves these employees isolated from leadership and peers, reducing both satisfaction and retention.

A mobile-first employee experience platform, such as Blink, bridges that gap by bringing everyone together wherever they work. It gives each employee a stronger sense of belonging, supports regular recognition, and creates continuous communication that makes work more fulfilling.

This guide from Blink outlines some of the best employee experience software platforms available today — helping you identify the right solution to connect your workforce and elevate engagement across your organization.

Whether your organization has frontline, desk-based, or hybrid teams, an employee experience software platform like Blink’s employee experience platform helps you meet and exceed modern employee expectations and deliver measurable improvements across engagement, operations, and culture. Here’s what effective employee experience software can help you achieve:

Enhanced employee engagement

Low employee engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion, according to Gallup. Employee experience platforms like Blink enable two-way communication, recognition, and collaboration that increase loyalty, satisfaction, and productivity.

Streamlined HR processes

The best platforms automate repetitive and time-consuming HR tasks such as time tracking, performance appraisals, and routine communication. By handling these automatically, HR teams free up time for human-touch, value-add work that improves the overall employee experience.

Improved talent management

Around 65% of frontline employees are unsure how to progress in their careers. Employee experience software provides continuous feedback, coaching, and development tools that help managers identify high-potential talent and guide employees toward advancement.

Data-driven insights

Comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities enable organizations to measure engagement, sentiment, and performance. Blink’s platform, for example, supplies real-time insights that support better decisions, highlight trends, and surface issues early.

Employee recognition and empowerment

Employee appreciation and self-service tools make staff feel valued and informed. Access to essential information anytime, anywhere fosters a sense of support and connection across the organization.

A positive company culture

Transparent communication and meaningful connection — both core features of leading platforms like Blink — build positive company culture. When employees feel proud of where they work, satisfaction rises, churn decreases, and employer branding strengthens.

Key things to look for when choosing an employee experience software platform

Now that the benefits of an employee experience software platform are clear, it’s important to identify the key capabilities that define an effective solution. When choosing your platform, consider these essential features — many of which are core to Blink’s employee experience platform:

User-friendly interface

The best employee experience platforms minimize the learning curve. They should feel intuitive and familiar from day one, encouraging quick adoption across all teams.

Personalization and customization

Every organization is different. Choose a platform that lets you tailor tools and workflows to your company’s structure and employee needs.

Employee self-service

When employees can access the information and tools they need independently, HR teams spend less time handling routine requests and more time on strategic, people-focused initiatives.

Integration capabilities

For a seamless employee experience, ensure your platform integrates smoothly with existing business systems — from scheduling and payroll to communication tools. Blink, for example, integrates across multiple systems to provide a unified digital workplace.

Mobile accessibility

Frontline workers and remote employees often lack equal access to company tools. A mobile-first platform like Blink enables engagement and communication anywhere — whether on the shop floor, in the field, or during a commute.

Analytics and reporting

Select software that delivers robust analytics on engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Data-driven insight helps HR teams make informed decisions and address trends early.

Comprehensive feature set

To reduce the need for multiple apps, look for a platform that combines employee engagement, feedback, rewards, performance management, and learning and development. Blink’s platform consolidates these into one accessible hub, simplifying management and improving the overall employee experience.

‍

15 best employee experience software platforms

1. Blink

Blink is a leading employee experience app and communication platform purpose-built for frontline teams. As a mobile-first solution, Blink unifies dispersed workers and connects them with leadership through an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

Users can quickly launch pre-loaded or custom employee surveys, add mandatory reads to a shared company news feed, recognize colleagues for outstanding work, and access real-time insights on engagement, satisfaction, and retention.

Built around frontline accessibility, Blink’s Hub centralizes essential information, including pay stubs, schedules, and key documents. Its interface encourages high adoption and consistent daily use — ensuring every employee stays informed, valued, and connected.

Key features

• News feed
• Employee surveys
• Employee recognition
• Secure chat function
• Content hub (Blink Hub)
• Insights and analytics
• Integrations
• Mobile-friendly design
• Content translation

Even after identifying the right employee experience management software, securing senior leadership buy-in remains essential. Before presenting your case, gather evidence and insights in the following key areas — all central to the successful implementation of a platform like Blink.

Developed by the team at Blink, the platform brings together communication, engagement, and HR functionality in one secure space. It’s designed to strengthen connections and alignment across all levels of an organization while reducing the administrative burden on HR teams. The essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience

Scalability: Evaluate how your chosen platform will adapt to your company’s future needs, including long-term growth and an expanding workforce. Blink’s platform is designed to scale seamlessly as organizations expand, supporting larger teams without adding administrative complexity.

Implementation: Assess how straightforward it is to deploy your software and integrate it with existing systems. A solution such as Blink simplifies this step with pre-built integrations and guided onboarding.

User adoption: An employee experience platform only delivers value when employees actively use it. Confirm that your software has a proven record of adoption. For example, 97% of employees at Care Synergy now use the Blink app, demonstrating how intuitive design drives engagement.

Vendor reputation and support: Review customer testimonials and case studies to verify a provider’s reliability and service quality. Blink’s long-term partnerships and customer success programs help ensure ongoing performance and satisfaction across industries.

Case study: Elara Caring

Elara Caring employs more than 32,000 caregivers who provide in-home and hospice support to patients across the United States. The organization faced a significant communication and coordination challenge:

• Without company-issued phone numbers or email addresses, caregivers felt disconnected from both colleagues and headquarters.
• An outdated manual scheduling process left hundreds of shifts unfilled each week.
• The existing HR platform failed to meet employees' operational and engagement needs.
  

To close these gaps, Elara Caring implemented Blink’s employee experience platform, developed by joinblink.com. The mobile-first platform unified essential communication, scheduling, and feedback tools into a single, secure, accessible application. Managers and caregivers could now share updates through a company news feed, manage shifts in real time, and recognize great work — all from their smartphones.

The impact was immediate. Workforce efficiency improved, communication bottlenecks were eliminated, and employees felt more connected to both their teams and leadership. Ninety-five percent of employees now report stronger connections to Elara, and 96% would recommend Blink’s platform to others in their field.

Read the full Elara Caring case study on joinblink.com

2. Culture Amp

Culture Amp is an excellent choice if you want to improve your performance tracking process. You can set and track employee targets, create personalized L&D plans, and access historical conversation and 1:1 data so managers can provide actionable feedback.   

This employee experience management software also gives you access to a ton of data. This provides a great basis for analysis and insight. And the platform even does some of the hard work for you too, using employee engagement stats to predict staff turnover.

Key features

• Reporting and analytics
• Turnover prediction tool
• Performance reviews
• Goal tracking

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

3. Bonusly

Bonusly is a great option for employee recognition. Employees meet personalized targets and build up points, which they can then use to claim a selection of rewards,  all via the platform.

Whether you want your team to go above and beyond for customers, meet their sales quota, or simply engage with a request for employee feedback, Bonusly helps you to promote and recognize the employee behavior you most want to see.

Key features

• Peer-to-peer recognition
• Employee rewards
• Goal setting
• Reporting and analytics

Pricing

• Core: $3 per user/month
• Pro: $5 per user/month

Contact sales team for custom plans

4. Lattice

With Lattice, you’ll find it easy to launch employee surveys, celebrate employee wins, and get real-time experience data with the help of the platform’s Pulse feature and sentiment analysis. Lattice also supports employee development opportunities. It connects individual work to business outcomes so employees can view their progress easily.

Key features

• Reporting and analytics
• Employee surveys
• Employee recognition
• Goal management

Pricing

• Performance Management + OKRs and Goals: $11 per user/month
• Engagement: +$4 per user/month
• Grow: +$4 per user/month
• Compensation: $+6 per user/month

5.  Qualtrics XM

Qualtrics XM offers several products, one of which they’ve designed specifically for people teams. The employee experience platform uses AI and automation, so you can continually gather and assess employee feedback and get to know employee views at every point in the employee life cycle.

Data analytics tools help you to connect employee feedback to customer experience and business outcomes – so you can target employee experience improvements where they stand to make the most difference.  

Key features

• 24/7 technical support
• Automation tools
• Analytics and reporting
• Action plans

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

6. Workhuman

Workhuman is built around social recognition. Team-based social feeds support peer-to-peer appreciation. Employees gain recognition points, which they can exchange for personalized and locally sourced rewards. And an AI-powered Inclusion Advisor gives real-time feedback on recognition posts to prevent unconscious bias and promote a culture of belonging.

Key features

• Employee recognition
• Performance management
• Translation into 34+ languages
• Community building

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

7.  Mo

Mo is one of the best employee experience software platforms for team communication and appreciation. It allows you to share successes, recognize results, and reward good work.

Standout features include the Mo assistant, which helps people managers to remember work anniversaries and prompts them to appreciate employees who haven’t had a pat on the back in a while, and the social feed, where you can start conversations, prompt employees to start conversations, and ask for employee feedback.

Key features

• Team appreciation
• Social feed
• Employee feedback
• Insights

Pricing

• Starter: $3 per user/month
• Level Up: $5 per user/month

Contact sales team for custom plans

8. Motivosity

Motivosity provides tools for every stage of the employee journey. From recruitment to onboarding to development to career progression and even an employee’s company exit experience. The basic plan gives you access to a company social feed, great for important announcements and getting to know co-workers. Add-ons include Recognition and Rewards, Manager Development, and Employee Insights.

Key features

• Social feed
• Employee recognition
• Manager training
• Surveys and insights

Pricing

• Motivosity: $2 per user/month
• Recognition and Rewards: +$2 per user/month
• Manager Development: +$2 per user/month
• Employee Insights: +$2 per user/month

9.  WorkTango

WorkTango (formerly Kazoo) allows you to highlight the strengths and skills of peers and employees, while a points and rewards system incentivizes key behaviors. It’s one of the best employee engagement platforms for teams who want to make recognition an integral part of their company culture.

Key features

• Employee recognition
• Goal setting and feedback
• Surveys
• Analytics and reporting

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

10. 15Five

15Five is one of the best employee experience software options if you’re looking to connect employee work with business objectives. Managers and employees can create career paths that motivate performance. Employees can identify their strengths and how these align with their goals.

Key features

• Goal setting tools
• Feedback
• Employee recognition
• Manager coaching

Pricing

All of the following prices are billed annually:

• Engage: $4 per user/month
• Perform: $8 per user/month
• Focus: $8 per user/month
• Total Platform: $14 per user/month

11. Leapsome

Leapsome is a solid employee engagement software, particularly if you’re looking for a solution that can scale with your company. You can select the modules you need, adapting the software to the size and budget of your organization. With Leapsome, you can run meaningful, well-structured meetings. You can also congratulate co-workers publicly and share private feedback too.

Key features

• Employee feedback
• Learning and development
• Goal setting
• Employee competency framework

Pricing

Pricing starts at $8 per user/month with the option to add on the extra features you need

12. BambooHR

BambooHR provides a huge range of HR tools. Teams can use it to track payroll, hours worked, and paid time off. The platform offers recruitment and L&D tracking tools.

As well as making life easier for HR teams, BambooHR has a couple of features designed to improve the employee experience. Wellbeing and eNPS surveys help teams to understand the employee perspective, while performance tracking tools support employee progression. 

Key features

• Performance reviews
• Time tracking
• Payroll management
• Applicant tracking system (ATS)

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

13. Officevibe

If you’re looking for an easy and effective employee survey tool, Officevibe is an excellent choice. Officevibe is just one of the HR products available under the Workleap umbrella and this offering is laser-focused on employee experience.

The platform gives managers tools to become better leaders and build happier teams. Pulse and customized surveys, peer-to-peer recognition, and 1-1 meeting tools that guide meaningful and productive conversations are all at a manager’s disposal.

Key features

• Surveys
• Employee feedback
• Employee recognition
• Performance tracking

Pricing

• Free: $0 per user/month
• Essential: $5 per user/month
• Pro: $8 per user/month

14. Workvivo

Another good employee experience management software, Workvivo helps organizations streamline their communications and showcase their company culture, even when teams work remotely. When posting on the social feed, employees can link their posts to company values and goals. And with the Badge Feature, managers can recognize employee achievements publicly.

Key features

• Social feed
• Employee recognition
• Content hub
• Analytics & insights

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

Read more: Workvivo alternatives

15. Jostle

An intuitive platform with a quick and easy setup process, Jostle is another popular employee engagement platform. It works to connect everyone within an organization, providing a social feed and a space for shared documents.

Managers can set tasks and then use built-in chat functions to track progress. They can also separate the social feed by location or team, ensuring that the right information reaches the right people.

Key features

• Social feed
• Surveys
• Peer-to-peer recognition
• Document and policy sharing

Pricing

Prices depend upon the number of employees you have. For an organization with 15-50 employees, prices are as follows:

• Bronze: $5 per user/month
• Silver: $9 per user/month
• Gold: $12 per user/month

Smaller organizations can expect to pay more per user. Larger organizations can expect to pay less. Prices for the Platinum plan are available from the sales team.

Additional considerations for HR teams

You may already be sold on a particular employee experience management software, but getting senior leadership buy-in is a vital next step. Before entering conversations about the type of tool you’d like to implement, be sure to gather information on all of the following:

Read more: The essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience

• Scalability – Find out if and how your chosen platform will respond to your company’s future needs, considering long-term company growth and an increase in the number of employees.
  
• Implementation – Determine how easy it is to implement your chosen software and whether it integrates with your other existing systems.
  
• User adoption – An employee experience platform provides very little value if employees don’t use it. Check whether your chosen platform has a user-friendly interface and a history of high adoption rates. We’re proud that 97% of employees at Care Synergy are now using the Blink app. Find out more by watching our on-demand webinar.
  
• Vendor reputation and support – Take a look at customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies to find out whether your software provider has a good track record in terms of product quality and client care.

Case Study: Elara Caring

Elara’s 32,000 carers spend their workdays caring for patients in their homes or in hospice settings. The company faced a million-dollar communication problem:

• Without company phone numbers or email addresses, carers felt disconnected from their co-workers and head office
• Carers wanted shift opportunities but an inefficient manual system meant hundreds of shifts went unfilled each week
• The company’s existing HR platform was failing to meet the needs of employees and the wider organization

Elara saw a solution in Blink. Our platform gathered all the information and tools that employees needed in one easy-to-use platform that everyone could access from their smartphones. Employees and managers had access to a social feed, shift scheduling, employee feedback and employee recognition tools.  

The result? Improved workforce efficiency and streamlined communications. Thanks to Blink, Elara has transformed the employee experience. 95% of employees now feel more connected to Elara and 96% would recommend the platform.

Read the full Elara case study.