Employee chat for hospitality teams: what to look for

Are your internal comms authentic… or anonymous?

Traditional internal communications usually focus on the latter. They’re often overly polished, overly formal, and 100% vanilla. So they’re doing next to nothing for comms engagement.

Employees today want to relate to each other and see personality. They want to hear from people, not just about them. They want honesty over polish. Real talk over corporate speak.

That’s where POV (point of view) content comes in. POV content is engaging, memorable, and well-suited to a world where everyone with a social media account is a content creator.

Here, we take a look at all the reasons POV content works — and how you can weave it into your internal communication strategy in 2025.

What is POV content — and why does it work?

POV content is authentic content created by people within your organization, not your comms team.

It’s a “day in the life” video from a depot manager. A behind-the-scenes look at the retail crew prepping for a Monday morning. Snaps from the latest marketing team lunch.

It’s first-person stories and unfiltered moments, personal and imperfect, created by everyone from your execs to frontline employees to hybrid work staff. And it’s one of the key internal comms trends we’ve seen companies embracing in 2025.

Here are all the reasons POV content deserves a place within your internal communication strategy.

It builds empathy across departments and roles

When someone shares their story — the highs, the struggles, the interesting little details of their day — it helps to build bridges.

Frontline employees get insight into the challenges of your scheduling team. Your HR department comes to understand how busy a day in the life of a frontline worker actually is. Your C-suite starts to feel like real, relatable human beings.

POV content helps teams understand each other — and that drives better cohesion and collaboration.

It helps people feel part of company culture

When you incorporate POV content into your internal comms, employees hear from a diverse range of voices. So they’re more likely to see themselves reflected in internal messaging.

This is great for culture building. Employees feel part of something bigger. They don’t just receive corporate updates and a monthly newsletter. They build an emotional connection with your organization and their peers.

It makes your comms content more engaging

When communication feels more human and less corporate, it’s more interesting. Employees are more likely to tune into your internal comms channels because the content they find there is fun, real, and relatable.

Improved comms engagement is linked to improved reach and recall. And when employees enjoy your internal content, they’re more likely to lean into the company conversation — making your comms platform an evermore vibrant place to hang out.

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Why POV content matters now more than ever

Wondering why now? In 2025, POV content deserves a place within your internal communication plan because it helps you overcome some of the comm team’s most pressing challenges.

Disconnection is real

Frontline employees can feel miles away from HQ — both physically and culturally. Hybrid teams are, likewise, often left out of the loop.

The old ways of communicating — think internal emails and town hall meetings — were designed with desk-based and office-based teams in mind. And they now fail to cut through for your entire workforce.

In contrast, POV content tends to be short-form and engaging. It’s a way to bring hard-to-reach employees back into the comms fold, where they’ll find lots of other culture-building and information-sharing comms.

Employees are less trusting

There’s a ton of research out there to show that younger employees are a lot less trusting of institutions and authority figures than the generations that came before them.

So that official-sounding memo? Employees are liable to view it with a huge dose of skepticism. 

People trust people. Not generic messages. Not the corporate voice. So if you want your internal comms to build trust, POV content can help.

It’s a way to build community

Community is something today’s employees are craving.

Employees who feel that they belong within your workplace report greater job satisfaction and lower levels of burnout. And companies that prioritize community-building report better rates of retention.

POV content helps you build a welcoming workplace community — a place that celebrates individual employees, their perspectives, and their journeys. And this content isn't just good for culture, it's good for your business goals, too — helping to improve communication, employee experience, and employee engagement.

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How to bring POV into your internal content

So how do you put POV content into practice? How do you encourage employees to become internal content creators? And how do you guide them to create the kind of content you know will hit the mark?

Here are some practical tips on how to develop a regular stream of POV content for your internal communication channels:

• Employee take-overs. Invite employees to “take over” your intranet or employee app for the day. Give them the mic. Let them show what the workplace looks like from their perspective.
  
  
• Use Stories and short-form video. Short-form videos are a prime example of Insta-worthy comms. They’re easy to create, authentic, and can convey lots of information in seconds. What’s more, they’re proving very popular with employees.
  
  
• Spotlight real moments. Go beyond the latest conference or your end-of-year social. Highlight those less glossy moments — the tricky shift, the lesson learned, a tough moment where company values shone through. Encourage people to capture big milestones and the messiness of day to day work.
  
  
• Normalize imperfection. POV content shouldn’t look like a brand campaign. So encourage smartphone-filmed videos and text written in an employee’s unedited words. Highlight and celebrate examples of imperfect content on your internal comms channels to encourage people to give content creation a go.

Tools and tips for making it sustainable

POV content is most effective when it becomes part of your comms rhythm — not a one-off campaign. Here’s how to embed it into your internal communication strategy.

Ask: “Who can tell this story best?”

Before creating any new internal comms message, consider whether the comms team are the best people to craft it.

Consider the following: 

• Would this message mean more coming from an employee, in their own, unpolished words?
• Will it resonate better?
• Will it feel more authentic?

Create templates or prompts to help employees get started

Give employees a structure to follow and you’re more likely to spark their creativity and get content that sits neatly alongside your other internal comms messaging.

Employees may need guidance on content formats — for example, the ideal video length or the need for paragraphs in their posts. Prompts can also prove useful. Here are a few ideas:

• Share your weekly wins
• Share the why behind what you do
• Favorite work hack. Go!
• One photo that sums up your week
• Three things you wish people knew about your job.
• “The best thing about working in my team is…”

Curate and amplify top content

You can’t expect a POV content campaign to sustain itself. It needs input from your internal comms team — and real-time insights from analytics tools and employee surveys — to build and maintain momentum.

So shine a light on great POV content. Create a “voices of the week” roundup. Pin top posts to the homepage. You’ll encourage first-wave content creators to continue doing what they do — and maybe inspire some budding creators to contribute too.

Mix in leadership POVs

Your leadership team can set an example for the kind of personal, unpolished POV content you want to see on your internal comms channels.

So humanize your leaders and bring them closer to employees by giving them opportunities to share their personalities, challenges, and workday experiences.

Some ideas?

• A selfie-style video answering an employee question
• A photo from their week with a personal reflection
• A note on what they’re learning right now
• A personal story or anecdote

Put a few guardrails in place

Encouraging POV content doesn’t mean giving employees free rein across your workplace communication channels.

To ensure content aligns with your company values and to hear from a range of employee voices:

• Set expectations around respectful content and inclusive language
• Provide support for those who are unsure how to share
• Review posts before they go live — but avoid the temptation to over-edit
• Experiment with a pilot content creation group to see what works and what doesn’t

You can have it all. Authenticity and content that fits your company’s tone of voice. You just need to put a few boundaries in place. 

The best internal communication tools will give you the permission settings you need to exert just the right level of control over employee-generated content.

Handing the mic to employees for maximum comms impact

People connect best with people. Not anonymous corporate entities. Not executives who keep them at arm’s length.

When you open the door for employees to share their real stories, you do more than boost comms engagement — you strengthen culture, build trust, and create a sense of belonging that translates into measurable results. Gallup says companies with highly engaged employees have up to 21% higher profits and lower turnover.

POV content is one of the simplest ways to make that happen.It shows real, relatable, and diverse views clearly. This helps employees see themselves in the company’s story. It also makes internal communication channels places they want to visit.

With Blink, you can make POV content second nature. Our platform makes it easy for employees to share moments on the go, for leaders to engage in real conversations, and for comms teams to keep everything aligned with company values. The result? A steady stream of authentic content that drives connection, trust, and business performance.

In 2025, your internal communication strategy isn’t complete without employee POVs. Give your people the mic — and watch your culture, engagement, and results grow.

‍Blink. And design an internal comms strategy that fosters real connection with real voices.

The most common communication challenges in organizations from big enterprise businesses to small startups are so widespread that dealing with them can start to feel normal.

It’s easy to forget that internal communications issues can have a big impact. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can safely back burner internal comms because communication challenges and barriers are so widespread.

The fact is that poor internal communications can seriously harm your business. It’s a domino effect of frustrating communication, poor morale, lower productivity, higher absenteeism leading to higher employee turnover, and finally, higher costs and smaller profits.

Of course, when you’re in the thick of things, the relationship between poor internal comms and your bottom line might not be very clear. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that communication was thought of as a nice but not necessary soft skill.

We put together this article to lay out some of the ways communication challenges and barriers can sap a company’s resources along with strategies for making your internal comms more effective (also see the best way to improve internal communications).

The deep impact of communications challenges in organizations

The idea that internal communications problems can make a business less profitable can seem overblown.

The statistics, however, show that having a weak internal comms strategy (or having no strategy at all) can have a detrimental impact on everything from employee engagement to your business's bottom line.

Here’s how communications challenges in organizations affect success.

Communication challenges and barriers lead to increased employee turnover

Studies looking into the real cost of employee turnover often show different results.

Some studies show it costs employers 33% of a worker's annual salary to hire a replacement while other research suggests that it costs three times that salary.

What all of the data has in common is that employee turnover definitely costs companies big bucks.

Employee retention and profitability go hand in hand, and the good news is that research shows that 75% of employee turnover is preventable.

Relationships suffer when communication is a problem

Two heads are better than one, but whole teams of heads are necessary for long-term success.

When people can’t communicate with one another effectively because of technical barriers or, worse, can communicate but feel uncomfortable doing so because there’s not a culture of openness at a company, collaboration may slow or even stop.

That means innovation can’t happen and problems languish with no solutions. Your employees just can’t be as productive when relationships with colleagues are strained and everyone feels like they’re working in isolation.

Less productivity means less profit.

Customer service suffers when there are communication challenges

Internal communications and external communications are inexorably linked.

Employees need access to information to answer customer queries, respond to sales inquiries, or help customers get what they need.

When they can’t get that information easily, they’re apt to feel a strong sense of disengagement that can actually lead to everyone—workers and customers alike—feeling frustrated and dissatisfied during encounters.

Dissatisfied employees leave, and as we’ve shown above, that costs money. And dissatisfied customers take their business elsewhere, costing you even more.

Poor communication = stress = higher healthcare costs

This might seem like a stretch, but stress costs the United States $300 billion every year—a figure that includes costs shouldered by businesses that provide insurance to their employees.

While there’s no way to show a hard and fast causal link between frustrations caused by comms issues and increased healthcare costs, it’s worth mulling over the idea that the communications challenges in organizations that stress workers out may also be contributing to expensive physical and mental health issues in those same employees.

Healthcare is expensive, after all, and effective internal comms is cheap in comparison.

Internal communication problems can be a motivation killer

Workers who don’t feel like they have an important role to play, who don’t understand what is expected of them, and who feel like they don’t have a voice literally can’t give their all.

Time that would otherwise go toward productive (and profitable) work is instead spent trying to navigate a confusing company culture or to figure out what that company’s priorities are. There’s no passion among employees because they feel totally disengaged from their tasks and their teams.

The Gallup State of the American Workplace report put it succinctly: “Actively disengaged employees aren’t just unhappy at work—they are resentful that their needs aren’t being met and are acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers potentially undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.”

Communications challenges in organizations lead to mistakes

Workers who have access to the information they need to really contribute to a company make fewer mistakes because they feel comfortable concentrating on the work in front of them.

Employees who are focused on trying to figure out what their priorities should be or simple emotional management are more prone to error.

In a retail environment, the result of this kind of disengagement may be fewer sales. In industries like healthcare, however, mistakes can lead to hugely expensive regulatory issues or even injury and death.

Poor internal communication makes boosting employee satisfaction impossible

You can’t boost your workers’ overall satisfaction if you don’t have a clear idea of what employees like and don’t like about their day to day.

At companies with strong internal communications strategies, managers regularly touch base with employees to get a sense of what’s working and what isn’t. When comms just isn’t a priority, chances are slim to none that workers will open up about what changes could make your business better.

Absenteeism rates are higher when communications is an issue

Employees who can’t jump ship at the moment may show their communications-related dissatisfaction by simply not showing up.

A Gallup study conducted in the UK showed that disengaged workers miss 10 more working days each year compared to peers who feel a strong connection to the company vision and are clear on what’s expected of them.

The biggest challenges facing internal communications teams

The factors that have contributed to the biggest communications challenges in organizations are well documented at this point. Lack of clarity, platform. and targeted messaging.

The main problem that companies have faced has always been how to address those factors effectively and economically. Email and Dropbox alone are outdated.

Just having a clear vision doesn’t necessarily mean it is easy to share and then reinforce that vision. A company intranet portal that provides a platform for internal comms may not actually facilitate good communication. And getting the right information into the hands of the right people has always been tough.

Luckily, solving the big communications challenges in organizations has become easier with tech tools like an internal communications tool. Intranets have evolved over time from simple information repositories to a kind of mobile base of operations where business happens from anywhere.

Blink, for instance, can help you communicate administrative and benefits information, but is also a platform for collaboration, a place to store and search for data, a way to solicit feedback (including anonymous feedback), and a social hub for employees to share with one another.

It lets internal comms teams curate messaging so employees stay on the same page without getting overwhelmed by emails, meetings, memos, and Slack chatter.

Up-to-date internal comms tools like Blink’s employee app are even more important for businesses with a lot of frontline workers—especially now that nontraditional employees like remote workers and long-term contract workers make up such a large percentage of the workforce.

By automating paper-based processes, microapps like this help increase productivity overall.

How effective internal communications will change your business for the better

Curious about what effective internal communication can really do for your bottom line? Here are some statistics that might surprise you:

• Companies that communicate effectively are 50% more likely to report below average turnover levels.
• A 5-point improvement in employee attitude results in a 1.3% increase in customer satisfaction and an increase in company revenue.
• Higher engagement can mean a 40% reduction in absenteeism.
• Employees who feel fully informed and more engaged may be 21% more productive.
• Companies with effective communication strategies see 47% higher total returns to shareholders.
• Poor communication is cited as the main cause of failure for IT projects.
• 69% of employees say they’d work harder if their contributions were recognized and praised.

Knowing what you know now, we also want to offer you a quick list of steps you can take right away to gauge how your internal comms is currently working and to enhance your internal comms strategy.

1. Assess your current strategy — Assuming you have one, that is. If not, you’ll want to make one. But if you do, take the time to consider your internal communications objectives, who has ownership of comms, if the tools you are using are effective, and whether your current strategies are really getting the job done.
2. Poll your employees — Do they feel like they have a voice in your company? If they have an idea, can they easily share it? When they have questions, can they find answers quickly and easily? Does dealing with administrative tasks take up way too much time? Do they like your communications tech? Let workers answer anonymously and adjust your comms strategy accordingly.
3. Put everything in one place — Make this the year you finally commit to storing your company data in one place so tracking down a file is never again a half-day affair. When you use Blink to store the information your employees need—from HR docs to project guidelines—they can easily find it all.
4. Stop sending so many emails — Lengthy, reply-all type email threads are frustrating and, frankly, easy to ignore. Worse, they interrupt the flow of work and often contain irrelevant information leaving workers feeling resentful instead of informed.
5. Send information to the right people — Use a comms platform like Blink that lets you send information to specific employees and teams instead of the entire company. You can even label posts priority and check to make sure that your messages were received and read by recipients.

The bottom line is that employees at every level of your company will be happier, more productive, and more passionate about their work if they feel informed.

The internal communications strategy you put into place now will not only make it easier for your employees to do their jobs, but will also make your company more profitable in the long run.

Blink makes it easier to overcome the most common organizational communication tool challenges in organizations. Are you ready to tackle the challenges facing internal communications at your company?

The 10 best Blink alternatives for frontline teams (2026)

We've reviewed the top alternatives to Blink so you can make an informed decision. Spoiler: for most frontline teams, there isn't a better fit. But here's the honest comparison.

Quick comparison: Blink alternatives at a glance

The table below gives you an at-a-glance read on which tool fits which team. Detailed reviews follow for each one.

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Pricing data as of May 2026. Ratings from G2 and Capterra. Always confirm current pricing directly with each vendor.

The 10 best Blink alternatives, reviewed

1. Connecteam

Connecteam is the strongest Blink alternative for small businesses that need operational tools alongside communication. It's an all-in-one workforce management app built for mobile, deskless, and shift-based teams, bundling scheduling, time tracking, task management, forms, checklists, and team messaging into a single app. According to Connecteam's published customer data (2025), around 85% of its customer base is SMB.

Strengths: Free forever plan (up to 10 users) makes it uniquely accessible. Scheduling and time tracking are native and well-built. Strong operations toolset for field-based industries like cleaning, security, and construction.

Limitations: The feed and content experience feels functional rather than engaging. Limited storytelling or rich content tools. Less suited to organizations trying to build genuine employee culture at scale. AI features are earlier-stage than Blink or Workvivo.

Pricing: Free for up to 10 users. Basic plan from $29/month for the first 30 users, then $0.50/user beyond that. Expert tier at $99/month adds API access and multi-branch management.

G2 rating: 4.3/5

Free trial: Yes, free plan available with no time limit for teams up to 10 people.

Choose Connecteam instead of Blink if: You're a small business (under 200 people) that needs scheduling, time tracking, and basic communication in one app, and your budget is tight.

2. Staffbase

Staffbase is an enterprise employee communications platform best suited to large organizations with mixed desk and frontline workforces running deep Microsoft integrations. It's headquartered in Germany, with strong adoption across Europe and North America, and combines a branded employee app, intranet, email newsletter tool, and digital signage into one platform. According to G2 (2026), Staffbase holds a 4.6/5 rating from 246 reviews.

Strengths: Powerful content publishing, targeting, and personalization. Excellent Microsoft integrations. Strong compliance features, mandatory reads, and analytics. Well-suited to regulated industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services.

Limitations: Frontline mobile experience isn't as refined as Blink's. Adoption with non-desk workers tends to be lower. Implementation is complex and typically requires dedicated comms resource to run effectively. Enterprise-only pricing puts it out of reach for smaller teams.

Pricing: Business plan from approximately $20,000/year for 250 to 2,000 employees. Enterprise pricing is custom.

G2 rating: 4.6/5 (246 reviews)

Free trial: No. Demo available on request.

Choose Staffbase instead of Blink if: You're a large enterprise with a primarily desk-based or mixed workforce and require deep Microsoft integrations, multi-channel comms (email, intranet, app, and signage), and robust governance.

3. Workvivo (by Zoom)

Workvivo is the strongest alternative to Blink for organizations where culture and recognition are the primary use case, particularly if you're already using Zoom. It's an employee experience platform acquired by Zoom in 2023, blending social intranet features, news feeds, podcasts, recognition, and communities, with more traditional internal comms tools. According to G2 (2026), Workvivo holds the #1 rated position in the Employee Communications Grid at 4.8/5 from 2,344 reviews. It's also Meta's officially recommended migration destination for organizations moving off Workplace from Meta (discontinued August 2025).

Strengths: Outstanding social feed and culture-building features. Native integration with Zoom meetings. Strong culture and recognition toolset.

Limitations: Frontline-specific features (offline access, no-email onboarding, shift worker UX) aren't as mature as Blink's. Enterprise pricing puts it out of reach for smaller teams. It's more of a desk-worker experience platform than a true frontline tool.

Pricing: Business plan from $20,000/year for 250 to 2,000 employees. Enterprise pricing is custom.

G2 rating: 4.8/5 (2,344 reviews), highest in the category

Free trial: No. Demo available on request.

Choose Workvivo instead of Blink if: Your primary goal is culture, recognition, and social connection for a largely office-based or hybrid workforce, and you're already using Zoom as your video platform.

4. Microsoft Teams (frontline worker licences)

Microsoft Teams Frontline is the right call if your organization is deeply committed to Microsoft 365 and administrative simplicity is the top priority. Two dedicated frontline worker licence tiers are available: F1 ($2.25/user/month, rising to $3 from July 2026) and F3 ($8/user/month, rising to $10 from July 2026). These give frontline workers access to Teams messaging, shift scheduling via Shifts, task management via Planner, and basic HR features. For organizations already running Microsoft 365 enterprise licences, adding F1 seats is often the path of least resistance.

Strengths: Extremely low per-user cost. Tight integration with the broader Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Most IT teams already know how to manage it. Works well as a secondary channel for document access and structured task management.

Limitations: Teams wasn't designed for frontline workers, and it shows. The app experience is complex, notification fatigue is common, and adoption among hourly workers is notoriously poor. The feed isn't mobile-optimized. There's no equivalent to Blink's frictionless, no-email onboarding. Teams-based onboarding assumes existing Microsoft accounts and IT provisioning, which creates adoption bottlenecks at scale.

Pricing: F1: $2.25/user/month (rising to $3 from July 2026). F3: $8/user/month (rising to $10 from July 2026).

G2 rating: 4.3/5

Free trial: No standalone trial. Available as part of Microsoft 365 trials.

Choose Microsoft Teams Frontline instead of Blink if: Your organization is heavily committed to Microsoft 365, IT controls are the top priority, and frontline worker adoption is less critical than administrative simplicity.

5. Simpplr

Simpplr is a modern AI-powered intranet platform best suited to desk-based and hybrid workforces where knowledge management and content discovery are the primary challenges. It offers a clean, Google-like search experience, AI-driven content recommendations, and strong knowledge management tools. According to G2 (2026), Simpplr holds a 4.7/5 rating from 361 reviews and has rising visibility in AI search results for internal comms and intranet queries.

Strengths: Outstanding intranet and knowledge management UX. Excellent AI search and content discovery. Strong analytics and content governance.

Limitations: It's not designed for frontline or deskless workers. Mobile experience is secondary to desktop. No operational tools (no scheduling, time tracking). Less suited to industries like retail, healthcare, or logistics where workers don't have company email or laptops.

Pricing: Custom enterprise pricing. Contact for quote.

G2 rating: 4.7/5 (361 reviews)

Free trial: No. Demo available on request.

Choose Simpplr instead of Blink if: Your workforce is predominantly office-based or hybrid, your main challenge is knowledge management and content discovery, and mobile-first frontline communication isn't a priority.

6. Poppulo

Poppulo is the right choice for enterprise comms teams that need rigorous measurement and multi-channel broadcast including digital signage. It's an enterprise employee communications platform focused on omnichannel broadcast communications, serving over 4,500 global organizations including 40+ Fortune 100 companies (Poppulo, 2025). It enables communications teams to reach employees across email, mobile apps, intranet, digital signage screens, and Microsoft Teams from a single platform.

Strengths: Best-in-market analytics and measurement for internal comms. True omnichannel delivery including digital signage. Strong governance and content targeting.

Limitations: It's primarily a broadcast tool rather than a two-way engagement platform. Less suited to frontline workers who need a daily-use communication and productivity app. Complex implementation. Premium enterprise pricing makes it inaccessible for smaller organizations.

Pricing: Custom enterprise pricing. Contact for quote.

G2 rating: 4.3/5

Free trial: No. Demo available on request.

Choose Poppulo instead of Blink if: You're an enterprise internal comms team that needs rigorous measurement, multi-channel broadcast (including digital signage), and strong content governance across a large, complex organization.

7. Speakap

Speakap is a credible frontline alternative to Blink for mid-size European organizations that want a simpler product and a more responsive vendor relationship. It's an employee communication app built specifically for frontline and non-desk workers, with strong penetration in European retail, hospitality, and logistics. According to G2 (2026), Speakap holds a 4.5/5 rating.

Strengths: Genuinely built for frontline workers. Clean, consumer-style mobile app. Good for organizations that primarily need communication and recognition without complex operational tooling.

Limitations: Smaller platform with a more limited feature set than Blink or Staffbase. Less sophisticated analytics and reporting. No native scheduling or time tracking. Enterprise scale and deep HRIS integrations are more limited than larger competitors.

Pricing: Custom pricing based on user count and plan selection. Annual contracts. Contact for quote.

G2 rating: 4.5/5

Free trial: No. Demo available on request.

Choose Speakap instead of Blink if: You're a mid-size European company (typically 500 to 5,000 employees) that needs a simple, mobile-first frontline communication app with a more personalized vendor relationship.

8. LumApps

LumApps is the natural choice for large enterprises running Google Workspace that need a structured intranet and knowledge hub for office and hybrid workers. It combines intranet, employee communications, knowledge management, and a customizable employee hub in one platform. According to LumApps (2025), it supports over 7 million users across 2,200+ customers and is a recognized leader in both the Gartner Magic Quadrant and Forrester Wave for intranet platforms.

Strengths: Deep, native Google Workspace integration (Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Meet). Flexible and highly customizable employee hub. Strong content targeting and personalization. Recognized analyst leader.

Limitations: Not built for frontline or deskless workers. Mobile experience is secondary to the desktop intranet. Cost is enterprise-level and can be prohibitive for mid-market organizations. Implementation complexity is high.

Pricing: Estimated from $8/user/month. Enterprise pricing is custom and requires a quote.

G2 rating: 4.4/5

Free trial: No. Demo available on request.

Choose LumApps instead of Blink if: You're a large enterprise running Google Workspace where the primary need is a structured intranet and knowledge hub for office and hybrid workers, not frontline worker communication.

9. Interact

Interact is best suited to comms-team-led enterprises in sectors like healthcare, professional services, and higher education that need modular governance tools. It's an intranet platform designed primarily for internal communications professionals in large and complex enterprises, offering a mobile intranet, email newsletter tool, pulse surveys, and idea management as modular components. According to G2 (2026), Interact holds a 4.5/5 rating from 53 reviews.

Strengths: Strong internal comms toolkit for comms teams. Modular pricing lets organizations buy only the components they need. Good compliance and governance features. Solid customer support and professional services.

Limitations: Primarily a comms team's tool rather than a worker-facing daily-use app. Frontline experience is limited compared to Blink. User interface is less modern than newer entrants. No operational features (no scheduling, time tracking, or task management).

Pricing: Custom pricing based on modules and user count. Estimated from approximately $8/user/month annually. Contact for quote.

G2 rating: 4.5/5 (53 reviews)

Free trial: No. Demo available on request.

Choose Interact instead of Blink if: You're a comms-team-led enterprise that needs a modular intranet with strong governance, audit trails, and mandatory read functionality, and your workforce is primarily desk-based.

10. Workplace from Meta (discontinued, migrate now)

Workplace from Meta is no longer an active product. If you're still on Workplace, you need to migrate urgently. Meta announced the shutdown in May 2024; the platform entered read-only mode on September 1, 2025, with full data deletion scheduled for June 1, 2026.

Meta itself recommends Workvivo (owned by Zoom) as the preferred migration path and has a formal partnership in place. Blink is also a strong alternative, particularly for organizations with large frontline workforces.

If you're migrating from Workplace from Meta, the platforms best matched to what you were using Workplace for are: 

• Workvivo — best match for Workplace's social and community features
• Blink — best match if your workforce is predominantly frontline or deskless
• Staffbase — best match for large enterprises needing a multi-channel comms platform

‍

Any page still listing Workplace from Meta as an active alternative is out of date. Don't include it in your shortlist.

How Blink stacks up against the alternatives

The honest answer is that Blink leads on the thing that matters most for frontline organizations: adoption. A communication app that workers don't open is just expensive IT infrastructure.

According to Blink customer data (2025), Blink averages 7 app opens per day per user, the metric every competitor struggles to match with non-desk audiences. easyJet saw 88% adoption across 20,000+ employees. JD Sports hit 87%. Dollar Tree reached 96% across its store network. McDonald's runs Blink for 700,000 employees globally. These aren't vanity metrics from hand-picked case studies. They reflect a product built from the ground up for people who don't sit at a desk, don't have a company email address, and won't tolerate a clunky enterprise app.

Where alternatives have a genuine edge:

• Connecteam — better value for small businesses (under 200 people) that need scheduling and time tracking alongside communications. The free tier is genuinely useful.
• Staffbase — better for large, desk-heavy enterprises running Microsoft 365 deeply, where multi-channel broadcast comms and compliance governance are the priority.
• Workvivo — better for organizations where the primary goal is culture and recognition for a hybrid or office-first workforce, especially if you're already using Zoom.
• Simpplr — better for knowledge management and intranet use cases in office-first organizations.
• Poppulo — better for enterprise comms teams that need digital signage and detailed broadcast analytics.

For any organization where the majority of employees are frontline, shift-based, or deskless, Blink remains the strongest option in the market. See how Blink is built for this on our product page, pricing page, and solutions for frontline industries.

How to choose the right Blink alternative

1. Workforce profile (frontline vs. desk vs. mixed)

This is the single most important filter. If your workforce is predominantly frontline or deskless, you need a platform built for that experience: mobile-first, no-email login, offline capable, and simple enough to be opened by someone who's just finished a shift. Blink, Connecteam, and Speakap are built with this user in mind. Staffbase, LumApps, and Simpplr are not.

2. Scale (SMB vs. enterprise)

Most enterprise platforms (Staffbase, Workvivo, Poppulo, LumApps) have a practical minimum spend of $20,000/year and implementation timelines measured in months. If you're a smaller organization, Connecteam's free tier or Blink's SMB tiers will get you further faster. For organizations with 1,000+ employees, enterprise-grade security, SSO, and HRIS integrations become non-negotiable.

3. Tech literacy of workers

If your workers are comfortable downloading and using consumer apps like Instagram or WhatsApp, they can handle Blink, Workvivo, or Speakap with minimal friction. If you're deploying to a workforce with very low tech literacy, frictionless onboarding matters enormously. Blink's QR code and phone-number login (no email required) is specifically designed for this use case. Teams-based onboarding assumes existing Microsoft accounts and IT provisioning, which creates adoption bottlenecks at scale.

4. Integration requirements (HRIS, scheduling, Microsoft/Google)

Most platforms integrate with major HRIS systems (Workday, SAP, ADP, BambooHR) for single sign-on and user directory sync. The differentiators are in the depth: does the integration support automated onboarding and offboarding? Does it sync shift data from scheduling tools? If you're deep in Microsoft 365, Staffbase and LumApps have the strongest integrations. For Google Workspace, LumApps is the natural choice. For scheduling tools like Deputy, Rotageek, or Fourth, Blink and Connecteam have purpose-built integrations.

5. Compliance requirements (audit trails, mandatory reads)

Regulated industries, healthcare, financial services, utilities, often need to prove that employees have read and acknowledged specific communications. Features like mandatory reads, read receipts, and content audit trails vary significantly across platforms. Staffbase, Interact, and Blink all offer these features. If compliance is a board-level requirement, verify the specific implementation before committing to any platform.

Still not sure? Most teams that reach this page end up back at Blink

That's not a sales line. It's what the data shows. Teams that do the research, compare the options honestly, and then test Blink with their actual frontline workers almost always see adoption numbers they've never achieved before. 87% at JD Sports. 88% at easyJet. 96% at Dollar Tree.

The comparison is worth making properly. Book a personalized demo and we'll walk you through how Blink compares to whichever platform you're currently evaluating.

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Blink, the leading employee super-app, today announced a strategic partnership with LineZero, a leading provider of workplace community and culture solutions, and the largest Meta Workplace partner globally. This collaboration leverages the existing relationship between both companies, offering Meta Workplace customers a seamless transition and upgrade to Blink’s employee experience platform following Meta’s announcement to close its Workplace operations.

Meta’s decision to close operations of Meta Workplace by Q3 2025 has left many companies challenged in finding a modern solution that enables a smooth transition of their workforce and data while offering a more innovative approach to deepen employee engagement and strengthen ties between employees and their companies.

“Our goal is to support the thousands of Meta Workplace customers seeking new solutions to drive employee engagement through a great internal comms tool,” said Sloan Kendall, head of global partnerships, Blink. “Partnering with LineZero provides customers with an easy migration of workforce data and technology applications into Blink’s platform. With LineZero’s expertise and Blink’s proven track record, we are excited to empower companies to migrate smoothly from Workplace and upgrade to Blink to enhance their employee engagement experience.”

Blink is a mobile-first, all-in-one communication and collaboration platform designed specifically for frontline workers. It allows companies to connect their entire workforce, regardless of location or device, through a single unified platform. With Blink, employees can stay updated with company news, chat with colleagues, access essential tools, send personalized kudos, complete surveys, and much more. Blink boasts industry-leading adoption rates, reaching up to 95% of employees and decreasing employee turnover by 26% in some cases.

“Blink’s platform is an ideal Workplace replacement for customers looking to modernize the way they engage their people,” said Greg Sugar, president, LineZero. “While organizations valued the similarity between Workplace and Facebook, we often heard there was a need to engage workforces with a tool that better represents how they interact with technology today. Blink approaches the frontline with an employee experience that meets them where they are. We are so excited to help organizations smoothly transition from Workplace to Blink’s platform. This partnership reflects our shared commitment to creating better employee experiences and shaping the future of work.”

The partnership highlights both companies’ commitment to enhancing employee engagement and creating a positive work environment. The collaboration ensures that Meta Workplace customers can migrate easily to Blink’s platform that enhances their engagement strategies and aligns with their long-term goals.

For more details on working with LineZero and Blink for a migration or implementation, visit LineZero’s blog.

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AI and automation are transforming office work — but what about the frontline?

In today’s rapidly evolving work environment, the need to prioritize employee experience for all workers is more pressing than ever.

Yet despite all the attention paid to desk-based employees, there remains a significant gap in how organizations support their frontline workers. Frontline workers, who make up a significant portion of many organizations, are often left out of conversations surrounding employee experience, culture, and retention strategies. 

This can significantly damage business outcomes: 8 in 10 frontline workers feel disconnected and 7 in 10 workers don’t feel they have the right tools to do their job — resulting in half of frontline workers planning to leave their job in the next 3-6 months.

At the recent Workday Rising 2024 conference, Blink was honored to be included in a pivotal conversation on how HR leaders can close this experience gap. By using technology, organizations can seamlessly enhance frontline initiatives—whether they are focusing on healthcare teams or trying to boost employee engagement in manufacturing.

Marcy Patterson, Vice President of Solutions Consulting at Blink, spoke with Cassie Sam, Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at Workday, at Workday Rising 2024

The short answer: With the right tools and a strategic shift in approach, organizations can keep their frontline employees engaged in their culture — and keep them for good.

5 opportunities for leaders to close the experience gap

Here are five key takeaways for HR and internal communications leaders to factor into their approach to employee experience.

#1. Frontline workers need a tailored employee experience.

Historically, most employee experience initiatives have focused on desk-based workers. However, frontline employees, who are often the face of a company to its customers, deserve the same investment in their work experience.

“It’s up to HR to work cross-functionally with communications, IT, and operations to understand the frontline worker’s experience today and build one that works for the future.” - Marcy Patterson

For HR and internal communications leaders, this means designing tailored experiences that acknowledge the unique challenges frontline workers face, such as limited access to email or intranets, and creating accessible, relevant communications.

#2. Retention starts with a strong onboarding process.

Retention issues are especially pronounced among frontline workers, with turnover rates exceeding 60% in some industries, and 90-day attrition being a common challenge.

To combat this and prioritize employee retention, a streamlined onboarding process is paramount. The goal is to make new hires feel like part of the organization and culture from day one, helping reduce early turnover.

Through modern employee experience platform features that help to support the employee journey, organizations can build a pattern of timely touch points throughout the first year of employment.

By delivering personalized messages and check-ins at key milestones, HR teams can scale onboarding efforts without sacrificing the personal touch — a critical component for frontline workers who may lack regular manager interaction.

#3. Continuous learning and development opportunities matter.

It may be easy to assume that frontline workers prioritize wages above all else — but research and anecdotal feedback tell a different story.

Frontline employees are hungry for growth opportunities, whether through training or career advancement. And if organizations don’t make their people aware of these opportunities, such as internal promotions or open roles, it can be difficult to keep them for the long term.

To address this, HR leaders should focus on giving employees better visibility into opportunities and simplifying the path to advancement. Whether it’s offering clear guidance on necessary certifications or providing easy access to training, companies that invest in the development of their frontline workers will see stronger engagement and retention.

#4. Recognition — especially peer recognition — drives engagement.

One of the biggest drivers of frontline employee engagement is recognition, particularly from peers. While top-down recognition from managers remains important, data insights from Blink show peer-to-peer recognition has a particularly strong impact on engagement.

Organizations can foster this culture of employee recognition by leveraging interactive employee apps or platforms, where employees can easily recognize each other’s achievements. This form of recognition not only boosts morale but also creates a sense of belonging, making employees feel valued by their colleagues.

#5. Targeted, relevant communication is key.

Effective communication with frontline workers requires a thoughtful approach. Many frontline employees don’t have access to traditional communication tools like email, making it harder to share important updates or recognition.

For most organizations, HR and internal comms teams need to be creative and leverage mobile solutions to reach these workers where they are.

“If I’m working in a manufacturing plant in Oklahoma, I don’t want information about a plant in Chicago.” - Marcy Patterson

Equally important is ensuring that communications are relevant and targeted. This highlights the importance of managing communication noise and focusing on delivering the right messages to the right employees at the right time.

Looking ahead: The future of frontline workforce engagement.

The frontline workforce represents both a challenge and an opportunity for HR and internal communications leaders. By applying lessons from marketing — like using analytics to understand employee sentiment and leveraging targeted communications — companies can create a more personalized and engaging experience for their frontline employees.

As we heard at Workday Rising, improving the frontline worker experience isn’t just about improving retention or reducing turnover — it’s about recognizing that these workers are central to the customer experience. By investing in their engagement, development, and recognition, companies can create a workforce that is not only more satisfied but also more capable of driving business success.

For HR leaders looking to improve their frontline engagement strategies, the message is clear: start by understanding the unique needs of your frontline employees, and leverage technology to create meaningful, lasting experiences that drive both employee satisfaction and business outcomes.

Blink. And design an employee experience that’s equally empowering from the frontline to the front office.

Nowadays, most organizations understand the importance of employee engagement. In fact, 75% of CHROs say that improving the employee experience and organizational culture is a top focus for 2024.

There’s plenty of research out there, outlining the benefits employee engagement brings to your business. Increased employee productivity and retention, better customer satisfaction rates, improved business profitability — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

It’s clear. Businesses that prioritize employee engagement tend to be more successful than those that don’t. But one important question remains.

Whose responsibility is employee engagement? Who within an organization is tasked with devising an employee engagement strategy — and putting it into action? 

In this guide, we explain who should take ownership of employee engagement. We also look at the vital role HR teams play in establishing the strategies, tools, and behaviors that support better engagement in the workplace.

Why does employee engagement matter?

Engaged employees are happier. They’re more likely to interact with company communications and contribute to company culture.

Engaged employees are also more productive and more innovative. They come up with bright ideas, feel invested in their work, and are committed to your organization.

A focus on employee engagement benefits employees. It also has a significant impact on business results. By striving to improve employee engagement, you can:

• Increase productivity and profitability: Engaged workers outperform their less engaged peers. Gallup’s extensive research into employee engagement reveals that engaged organizations are 17% more productive. They also experience a 23% increase in profitability.
  
  
• Boost levels of innovation and creativity: An engaged workforce goes beyond the bare minimum. They’re more likely to collaborate — and more likely to demonstrate creative thinking — which spells greater business innovation.
  
  
• Improve customer experience: Engaged employees care about the customer experience and inspire customer loyalty. Whether they’re serving customers, manufacturing products, or working at HQ, your team is dedicated to customer satisfaction.
  
  

Minimize staff turnover: Higher employee engagement levels are linked to higher employee satisfaction. This boosts employee retention and minimizes turnover. In fact, organizations with high levels of engagement can reduce staff turnover by up to 51%.

Why avoid disengagement?

So, we’ve looked at how employee engagement benefits your business. But why is disengagement such a problem?

Disengaged employees are less productive and invested in your organization. They experience more stress, anger, and health problems than their more engaged co-workers — and are more likely to take time off sick.

These employees are also less loyal. They’re more likely to look for a job elsewhere, increasing your recruitment costs. Those who stick around can cause other problems for your organization.

According to McKinsey, quiet quitters account for between a fifth and two-fifths of an organization’s workforce. These workers fulfill minimum job requirements — but no more. Some also act to demoralize and disrupt other members of your team. 

It’s also worth bearing in mind that frontline employees are generally even less engaged than their desk-based peers. They’re more likely to feel burned out, three times more likely not to recommend their organization as a good place to work, and twice as likely to leave.

Whatever form it takes, disengagement is costly. According to Gallup’s estimate, low engagement costs the global economy $8.9 trillion in GDP. So finding ways to engage the whole workforce — including your remote, office-based, and frontline employees — is crucial.

Who is actually responsible for employee engagement?

IIt’s clear that high levels of employee engagement are good for an organization. But who within your organization makes that happen? Who’s responsible for employee engagement?

The most successful employee engagement strategies involve everyone within an organization. It’s simply not possible for HR to improve employee engagement significantly without company-wide buy-in.

You need all of the following parties on board:

• Leadership. Leadership is responsible for championing employee engagement. Their attitudes and behaviors filter down through an organization. So without C-suite support, employee engagement initiatives are unlikely to be effective.
• Management. Managers also play a crucial role. Because they have direct contact with employees, they’re well-placed to develop and sustain employee engagement, implementing the agreed engagement strategies.
• Employees. Workers also play a role in the success of employee engagement. They can help by supporting their teammates and by taking part in two-way dialogue with managers and leaders, providing constructive feedback. 
• HR. None of the above would be possible without HR. The people team is responsible for empowering the rest of the organization. They put in place the strategies, processes, tools, and coaching needed to build a more engaging and engaged workplace.

The HR team is uniquely positioned to drive employee engagement. As the custodians of talent, it’s HR's responsibility to manage employee recruitment, onboarding, development, and retention. For each of these key points in the employee life cycle, they can devise and implement strategies that ensure employees feel valued and engaged.

They can also support the wider organization so they understand what good engagement looks like — and the best ways to achieve it.

In a nutshell: HR and employee engagement go hand-in-hand. But they need buy-in from leadership and management if they’re to improve employee engagement and reap the associated benefits. 

The role of HR in employee engagement: 6 key responsibilities

As well as coaching leaders, managers, and employees to adopt effective employee engagement behaviors, HR is responsible for engagement in all the following ways.

1. Recruitment and onboarding

HR can support employee engagement from the very first contact a potential employee has with your organization.

By developing your employer brand and by crafting job descriptions that showcase this brand, you showcase company culture and attract candidates to apply. 

Once a new hire starts work, you can continue to engage them with tailored onboarding experiences. Support workers to find resources and forge relationships from day one and they’ll feel part of company culture more quickly.

2. Communication

Internal communications are critical to employee engagement. Relevant, personalized, and timely communications keep employees informed and engaged.

HR teams can use communication tools to regularly remind employees of workplace benefits, perks, and development opportunities. They can also encourage leaders and managers to send their own engagement-boosting comms.

Regular, two-way communication is also key to maintaining a positive relationship with employees. HR should make an effort to communicate with employees often, whether it be through secure chat, 1-2-1 meetings, or the company news feed. This helps employees to feel valued and connected to the company, boosting overall performance.

3. Recognition

Employees feel more engaged when they feel valued by their employer. So praise from a manager or co-workers, bonuses, and rewards programs should be a regular feature of the employee experience.

While it’s up to team leaders to show their appreciation, HR plays an important role in making recognition an integral part of company culture.

Your HR team can establish recognition and reward systems. They can determine which rewards are most appealing to your workforce. They can also implement user-friendly employee recognition tools, which make it quick and easy for managers to recognize the hard work and milestones of their employees.

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4. Retention

Another key responsibility for HR teams is talent retention. With employee surveys and exit interviews, you keep a finger on the pulse of your organization. You learn how employees are feeling and what could be done to improve employee engagement.  

This data can then be used to make changes that will improve employee engagement levels and drive employee retention, minimizing staff turnover and its costly consequences.

Development and progression are also key to retention. HR teams can keep employees engaged by clarifying progression opportunities and career goals. 

They can also ensure easy, online access to training and development programs — so all employees, whether they work on the frontline or in the office, can make progress in their careers.

5. Wellbeing and safety

Employees are more likely to enjoy high levels of engagement when they feel physically and psychologically safe at work.  

HR can support this aspect of employee engagement by ensuring good communication around safety. It should be easy for employees to report safety concerns and hazards. Workers should have access to a content hub that stores essential company policies and safety procedures.

For psychological safety, HR can take the lead, promoting transparent communication and an inclusive company culture across all employee touchpoints.

6. Tools and tech

The right tools and tech make employee engagement much easier. So another responsibility for HR is the implementation of tools — like employee engagement apps — which have the power to engage the workforce and amplify company culture.  

Via an employee app, employees can access an engaging news feed, employee surveys, training and development, and a content hub — everything they need to feel connected to their roles, co-workers, and the wider organization.

It’s important that these tools are available to all employees to ensure engagement initiatives reach every sector of the workforce.

So look for tech tools that are accessible via a mobile device and that don’t require a company email address. That way, frontline employees enjoy the same access as their desk-based peers.

Searching for the ultimate employee engagement tool? Here’s a quick intro to the Blink employee app.

What can HR do to improve employee engagement?

HR teams play a critical role in employee engagement — and there’s lots that HR can do to improve employee engagement within their organization.

It starts with the right foundations - here are five employee best engagement practices.

Understand BAU engagement

HR can support managers in understanding the 'baseline' or BAU (business as usual) engagement levels within an organization.

This means assessing and tracking metrics like turnover, productivity, and performance over time, as well as identifying any trends or patterns that may be affecting overall engagement levels.

With this information, HR can work with managers to identify the most suitable employee engagement activities. These are interventions that will improve engagement levels in both the short and the long term.

Learn how to measure engagement

When you measure employee engagement, you can make data-backed decisions — and don’t have to rely on guesswork. So HR teams should establish and track employee engagement key performance indicators (KPIs).

Some useful metrics include retention rate, absenteeism rate, and employee net promoter score (eNPS). You can also use employee surveys, exit interviews, and your employee intranet analytics to assess engagement levels within your organization.

Here's how we measure engagement at Blink:

• Retention: Disengaged employees are more likely to quit their jobs so employee retention is a good indicator of engagement. You need to understand why and when employees choose to leave your organization.
• Manager performance: Strong managerial support is a key driver of employee engagement, so it's important to assess and improve the performance of your managers. We drill down into the data to identify low-engagement teams and then provide those managers with extra coaching.‍
• Intranet engagement: What do your intranet engagement metrics tell you? By tracking how employees interact with our employee app, our HR team can identify disengagement and dissatisfaction.

Know how to manage for engagement

Managers account for at least 70% of the variance in team engagement and have a huge influence on employee wellbeing.

Ideally, mid-level management supports engagement by providing constructive feedback, giving recognition and rewards, and acknowledging individual strengths and contributions.

HR can support employee engagement by supporting managers. With the right employee engagement tools and guidance, managers are empowered to build happy and engaged teams.

Employee engagement training can also help managers better understand the important role they play in engaging the workforce.

Look for early signs of disengagement

Employees who are becoming disengaged may start to pull back from their work. They might make fewer contributions to the team, their output may decrease, and they might be less likely to speak up in 1-2-1s and meetings.

This disengagement isn’t always obvious to busy managers, particularly when they’re responsible for a dispersed frontline team. So HR can support them by using employee intranet analytics to identify employees who aren’t engaging with the platform.

By looking out for early signs of disengagement, HR and managers can take action to re-engage employees before they impact team morale or decide to leave the organization.

Talk about more than tasks during 1-2-1s

HR should encourage managers to focus more on fostering strong relationships during 1-2-1s.

Of course, they need to discuss work-related tasks and employee performance. But this is also an opportunity to learn about employees’ personal interests, goals, and challenges.

By creating a supportive and open environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns, HR can build the trust and connection that is critical for strong employee engagement.

In summary

Improve employee engagement at your organization and you stand to improve productivity, profitability, and employee retention.

HR teams are responsible for employee engagement throughout the employee life cycle. They play a critical role in devising and implementing employee engagement strategies.

But they can’t go it alone.

For employee engagement initiatives to be a success, you need company-wide buy-in. Leaders, managers, and employees — guided by HR — need to see the value in engagement and demonstrate a commitment to creating an engaging workplace culture together.

In today’s modern workplace, you also need the right tech tools. These tools make it easy for everyone to incorporate engagement activities into their every day.

Blink’s employee app provides all the tools you need to improve engagement within your organization:

• A personalized news feed: A place where you can build a welcoming company culture, encourage everyone to take part in two-way communication, and prioritize the most relevant information for each employee. 
• Recognition tools: Our Kudos tool makes it easy for managers to recognize employee milestones and achievements. It allows co-workers to share in the celebration, too
• Employee surveys and analytics: Gather employee feedback and view app analytics to understand, track, and make data-based improvements to employee engagement
• An integrated content and resource hub: Employees can access all tech tools and resources via a single, user-friendly interface. Just one set of login details and no company email address necessary. 

Whether you're looking for a new way to measure employee satisfaction or simply want to provide a more engaging employee experience, Blink has the tools to support and facilitate your success.

Book a personalized demo today to find out how Blink can support employee engagement at your organization.