According to data, there’s a good chance that one of them will quit this year.
In 2021, 25% of employees quit their jobs.
Think about it: you track customer happiness to avoid churn. So, if you want to hang on to your workforce, you need cold, hard data.
That's where employee satisfaction metrics come in. By keeping an eye on these, you can spot a small problem before it becomes a big one.
And best of all, there isn't a sea of data points to muddle over. Here are the only 4 employee satisfaction metrics you need to know.
What is an employee satisfaction score?
It’s hard to quantify sentiments — but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
You can take a combination of data points related to your employee’s satisfaction and get a clear picture of how happy your workers are.
With an employee satisfaction score, organizations can make adjustments to ensure their workers are engaged, and therefore 17% more productive than their peers.
Happy employees stay longer and are more likely to recommend their job to their friends.
How to measure employee satisfaction
You can measure sentiment by finding out the following employee satisfaction metrics.
1. Employee net promoter score
Find your employee net promoter score (eNPS) by asking a simple question from your employees:
On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend working at this organization to others?
This metric gives you a clear picture of how your employees feel.
To turn the results into actionable insights, divide your respondents into three categories:
Promoters: Answered nine or ten.
Passives: Answered seven or eight.
Detractors: Answered six or below.
Gather insights about what you’re doing well from your promoters and what you could improve on from your detractors.
Learn more about your passives to understand how to convert them to promoters.
2. Absenteeism rate
The absenteeism rate measures how often employees don’t come to work due to unexpected sickness or other causes.
Divide the number of absent days from the total number of working days in a given period — excluding holidays, vacations, and weekends.
The average absence rate in the U.S. in 2020 was 3%. Use this number to get a benchmark for your organization.
A high absenteeism rate across your organization could be a sign that your employees are feeling burnout. They may be overworked and stressed, making them more likely to get sick — or simply call in for a personal day.
Try to optimize your employees’ workloads, improve your work culture, or provide tools to make their jobs easier.
3. Employee satisfaction index
Sometimes the best way to understand how satisfied your employees are is to ask them. That’s what the questions in an employee satisfaction index aim to do.
There is no mandatory set of questions, but the most common questions include:
How satisfied are you with your current organization?
How well does your current workplace meet your expectations?
How closely does your current role match your ideal job?
Answers should be given on a numerical scale. ‘
You can make questions more specific to get a sense of your workers’ satisfaction with various aspects of their jobs — salary, coworkers, and duties.
Consider adding your satisfaction questions to a larger survey.
4. Turnover
Turnover is a measure of how many employees leave your company in a given period. It is a strong tell for how satisfied your employees are since happier employees are more likely to stay at an organization.
Calculate turnover by taking the total number of separations in a given period and dividing it by the average positions. Then multiply the result by 100 to find a percentage.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average turnover in 2020 was 57.3%. This includes both voluntary and involuntary turnover.
Guru breaks down the average turnover by industry.
If your turnover is higher than your industry average, it’s likely your employees are unsatisfied.
Final thoughts: the 4 employee satisfaction metrics you need to know
To keep your employees engaged, happy, and productive, it’s important to actively track their overall satisfaction in their roles.
You can do this by surveying your employees and gathering their feedback. With the data guiding your way, it’s easier to zero in on what you can do to improve your organization.
Frequently asked questions
What are the metrics for employee satisfaction?
The 4 key metrics to focus on for employee satisfaction are, employee net promoter score, absenteeism rate, employee satisfaction index, & employee turnover
How is employee satisfaction KPI measured?
The 4 metrics we mentioned above can all be used to measure employee satisfaction setting KPIs for each. For example, you can benchmark your turnover rate vs the industry average and set a KPI on being lower than this.
According to data, there’s a good chance that one of them will quit this year.
In 2021, 25% of employees quit their jobs.
Think about it: you track customer happiness to avoid churn. So, if you want to hang on to your workforce, you need cold, hard data.
That's where employee satisfaction metrics come in. By keeping an eye on these, you can spot a small problem before it becomes a big one.
And best of all, there isn't a sea of data points to muddle over. Here are the only 4 employee satisfaction metrics you need to know.
What is an employee satisfaction score?
It’s hard to quantify sentiments — but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
You can take a combination of data points related to your employee’s satisfaction and get a clear picture of how happy your workers are.
With an employee satisfaction score, organizations can make adjustments to ensure their workers are engaged, and therefore 17% more productive than their peers.
Happy employees stay longer and are more likely to recommend their job to their friends.
How to measure employee satisfaction
You can measure sentiment by finding out the following employee satisfaction metrics.
1. Employee net promoter score
Find your employee net promoter score (eNPS) by asking a simple question from your employees:
On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend working at this organization to others?
This metric gives you a clear picture of how your employees feel.
To turn the results into actionable insights, divide your respondents into three categories:
Promoters: Answered nine or ten.
Passives: Answered seven or eight.
Detractors: Answered six or below.
Gather insights about what you’re doing well from your promoters and what you could improve on from your detractors.
Learn more about your passives to understand how to convert them to promoters.
2. Absenteeism rate
The absenteeism rate measures how often employees don’t come to work due to unexpected sickness or other causes.
Divide the number of absent days from the total number of working days in a given period — excluding holidays, vacations, and weekends.
The average absence rate in the U.S. in 2020 was 3%. Use this number to get a benchmark for your organization.
A high absenteeism rate across your organization could be a sign that your employees are feeling burnout. They may be overworked and stressed, making them more likely to get sick — or simply call in for a personal day.
Try to optimize your employees’ workloads, improve your work culture, or provide tools to make their jobs easier.
3. Employee satisfaction index
Sometimes the best way to understand how satisfied your employees are is to ask them. That’s what the questions in an employee satisfaction index aim to do.
There is no mandatory set of questions, but the most common questions include:
How satisfied are you with your current organization?
How well does your current workplace meet your expectations?
How closely does your current role match your ideal job?
Answers should be given on a numerical scale. ‘
You can make questions more specific to get a sense of your workers’ satisfaction with various aspects of their jobs — salary, coworkers, and duties.
Consider adding your satisfaction questions to a larger survey.
4. Turnover
Turnover is a measure of how many employees leave your company in a given period. It is a strong tell for how satisfied your employees are since happier employees are more likely to stay at an organization.
Calculate turnover by taking the total number of separations in a given period and dividing it by the average positions. Then multiply the result by 100 to find a percentage.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average turnover in 2020 was 57.3%. This includes both voluntary and involuntary turnover.
Guru breaks down the average turnover by industry.
If your turnover is higher than your industry average, it’s likely your employees are unsatisfied.
Final thoughts: the 4 employee satisfaction metrics you need to know
To keep your employees engaged, happy, and productive, it’s important to actively track their overall satisfaction in their roles.
You can do this by surveying your employees and gathering their feedback. With the data guiding your way, it’s easier to zero in on what you can do to improve your organization.
Frequently asked questions
What are the metrics for employee satisfaction?
The 4 key metrics to focus on for employee satisfaction are, employee net promoter score, absenteeism rate, employee satisfaction index, & employee turnover
How is employee satisfaction KPI measured?
The 4 metrics we mentioned above can all be used to measure employee satisfaction setting KPIs for each. For example, you can benchmark your turnover rate vs the industry average and set a KPI on being lower than this.
What we'll cover
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Change is the only constant? It’s a phrase we hear a lot these days. But it’s definitely true of business. And it’s also true of internal communications.
As new generations enter the workforce, as technology advances, and as employee expectations shift, internal communication trends are liable to change.
Keeping up with those trends is essential if you want to maintain an engaged and productive workforce. Because internal communications is how you keep employees in the loop, connect them to company culture, and inspire them to go all in for your organization.
So, as we approach the halfway point of 2025, we thought it a good time to recap the internal comms trends we’ve seen developing over recent months.
The latest internal communication trends
The five internal comms trends we’ll be looking at include:
Ask questions
Focus on employee-generated content (everyone is an internal communicator)
Prioritize mobile-first communication
More visual, conversational, and authentic content
Focus on employee wellbeing and mental health
Let’s take a look at these in more detail.
1. Ask questions
Employees want more than company updates — they want a voice within their organization. And while companies have traditionally focused on delivering top-down messages, there’s now increasing focus on two-way communication and interaction.
Whether it’s regular pulse surveys, leader Q&As, listening tours, or a good old-fashioned suggestion box, more and more organizations are seeing the value of regularly checking in with their workforce.
They’re giving employees the opportunity to be heard. Asking them questions and seeking their feedback on everything from the employee experience, workplace changes, ideas for innovation, and even the quality of internal comms itself.
It’s certainly a rising priority, with some organizations, including financial tech company Intuit, even employing a dedicated Head of Employee Listening.
So how do you make a success of employee voice initiatives? Here are a few ideas:
Start by asking the right survey questions. Align questions with your KPIs. Base questions around areas that you’re prepared to take action on. Word your questions neutrally and don’t overwhelm employees with too many survey questions.
Create a culture of psychological safety. You’re unlikely to get valuable feedback if employees don’t feel comfortable sharing their honest opinions. So train your managers in active listening and empathy. Champion open communication across your whole organization. And consider giving employees the option to give feedback anonymously.
Close the feedback loop. Only 58% of organizations take action to improve after receiving employee feedback. This leads to a loss of faith in the feedback process. So close that loop. Thank employees for their input, tell them about your findings, and clarify what you plan to do next.
Seek feedback regularly. The yearly employee engagement survey doesn’t cut it in a rapidly changing workplace. You’re more likely to miss vital insights relating to the employee experience and retention. Quarterly surveys, supplemented with short pulse surveys and increased leadership visibility can give you a consistent and cohesive view of what is happening with your workforce.
2. Focus on employee-generated content (everyone is an internal communicator)
Next on our list of internal communication trends? It’s EGC — or employee generated content.
Traditionally, creating internal communications content has fallen to marketing and communications teams. And while there's certainly still a place for that, internal communications professionals are increasingly taking on the role of curator. They’re enlisting the help of employees in the content creation process.
EGC is any content created by employees. It’s a way to share real, human stories from across your organization. And it can fit into any content category — videos, pictures, stories, blogs, a comment on a news feed post.
EGC is useful for a number of reasons:
It brings employees into the company conversation
It helps you publish authentic, relatable content
It creates a sense of community, trust, and belonging
Ultimately, EGC helps to improve company culture, employee satisfaction, and retention, while reducing content production costs.
There’s an added benefit. You can use EGC on your internal communication channelsand externally too. Share employee success stories on your website and social media channels and you build your employer brand, which makes talent acquisition that bit easier.
So how do you make EGC part of your internal comms ecosystem?
Recognition and incentives for contributors encourage more employees to take on the role of content creator. A short EGC playbook tells employees what to include and what to avoid in their content. You can also use internal communication tools with permissions and content moderation features so you can always be sure that EGC aligns with company values.
3. Choosing mobile-first communication
A surefire way to improve comms engagement in 2025? Mobile-first communication tools.
Just 52% of internal communicators are confident they have the right tools for reaching all employees, regardless of their location or work type.
They’re struggling to provide an equitable comms experience for a dispersed workforce, with the hybrid and frontline experience lagging behind that of desk-based staff.
Another revealing stat. Only 45% of comms pros say their comms tools provide a good user experience for employees.
They’re competing with the engaging, customer-grade experiences employees enjoy on popular messaging apps away from work. Clunky, desktop-only communication tech pales in comparison.
There’s another challenge looming. The number of digital natives within your workforce is growing. By 2030, Gen Z is predicted to make up 30% of the US workforce.
This is a generation that leans toward mobile-first, real-time messaging tools. In fact, Gen Z workers actively dislike emails, with 40% of them saying that email restricts their ability to show their personalities at work.
To provide an internal comms experience that aligns with the needs and expectations of an increasingly dispersed and tech-savvy workforce, many comms teams are enlisting the help of mobile-first employee communication and experience tools, in the form of an employee app.
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An app makes internal comms available to every employee smartphone. It makes it easier for your teams to connect, collaborate, access workplace resources, and stay up-to-date with the latest company news, no matter where they work. And it supports a more engaging comms experience.
4. More visual, conversational, and authentic content
What do TikTok and internal communications have in common? Much more than they did a couple of years ago.
The “TikTokification” of internal comms is in full swing, with communicators taking inspiration from social media’s engaging, multimedia, mobile-first content.
We’re talking short-form videos, an interactive news feed, co-worker communities, and snackable, personalized messages. Employees have the opportunity to respond to content too, sharing, reacting, and commenting in a way that keeps the conversation flowing.
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There’s research to support this shift — and to prove that a social-media-style approach doesn’t just suit the younger members of your workforce. For example, we know that 83% of people, a huge majority, prefer watching videos over reading or listening to instructional content.
Interactive, multimedia messages are more engaging. Which means workers are more likely to tune into your employee communication channels and act upon your content. This approach can also revolutionize frontline comms, helping you reach workers who don’t always have the time to read a long email or policy document.
Just last year, “wellbeing and mental health” was the 9th most communicated-about topic on internal communication channels. This year, it’s risen to 5th.
This, unfortunately, is a fair reflection of how the workforce is feeling. 53% of workers in the UK say that the demands of their jobs cause them excessive stress. In the US, 76% of workers report at least one symptom of a mental health condition — burnout, depression, or anxiety.
Despite this epidemic, just 55% of workers say that their organization genuinely prioritizes wellbeing. This is despite 81% saying that they look for mental health support when choosing where to work.
The takeaway? We need to do better.
Caring, empathetic communication helps keep your employees healthy, happy, and motivated. And you get the best results when your words reflect concrete action on employee mental health across your organization.
At Hilton Hotels, an employer renowned for its mental health and wellbeing support, they’ve made it easier, cheaper, and faster for employees to access their employee assistance program (EAP) and rolled out an education curriculum on topics like resilience, stress management, and grief.
At Safeguard Global, they discovered that workers were stressed and struggling with high winter heating bills. So the company stepped in and helped out with a monthly stipend, relieving their workforce of a major worry.
Clear communication about the mental health and wellbeing support you have on offer is vital. And internal comms can help in other ways, too. Because a positive workplace culture (which comms can help build) has a positive impact on employee wellbeing.
When your company culture incorporates appreciation, a sense of purpose, and opportunities for growth, the odds of employees experiencing mental health challenges decrease by up to 87%.
Ensure that everyone — including hard-to-reach hybrid, WFH, and frontline employees — experiences the same access to company culture and wellbeing support, and you experience these benefits across the board.
Put these internal communication trends into practice for a happier, healthier workforce
In 2025, we’ve moved way beyond the desktop-based intranets and top-down, text-based comms of old.
Today, employees want a voice. They want authentic, mobile-first, social-media-style communications that they can engage with on the go. And they want employers to tackle the topics that matter most, with mental health and wellbeing top of the agenda.
Organizations that embrace these internal comms trends stand to improve company culture and the employee experience. They can count on better engagement with company messages and better staff retention.
The C-suite has an important part to play. Internal communicators who have collaborative relationships with leaders are more likely to meet or exceed their success indicators.
Work together with your comms team and you can implement the communication tools, strategies, and cultural change you need to take your communications to the next level.
We get it — work communication has never been louder. Too many channels. Too many tools. Too little signal.
That’s why this Fall, Blink’s release focuses on nuance: Smarter alerts, sharper analytics, and cleaner connections that give your teams more signal, less noise.
From notifications that know when to pause to chat that feels more human, these updates help you cut through the clutter without adding complexity.
Because the best employee experiences don’t shout louder — they just make more sense.
#1. Notifications that know when (and how) to talk
Upgrade unlocked. Blink’s new Notifications framework reimagines how messages reach — and respect — your workforce.
This feature puts power and precision back in everyone’s hands. Whether you’re sending critical safety alerts or scheduling downtime for a global team, Blink now balances reach, relevance, and respect — at scale.
People want more control of their communications — and this upgrade delivers it. With a smarter engine that blends personalization, targeting, and flexibility, organizations can now cut through the noise, boost engagement, and rebuild trust between leaders and teams.
It’s not just a new notification system. It’s a new communication philosophy — one that turns alerts into alignment, and messages into moments that matter.
What’s new:
User autonomy: Employees can now set preferences (All / Important / Mute) and schedule quiet hours by day
Precision reach: Admins can define who sends notifications and safeguard critical groups from muting
Instant context: Notifications now include group names and content previews so people instantly know what matters
Governance by design: Org-level defaults and group-level overrides make communication clean, consistent, and compliant
Featured flags & quiet days: Highlight key announcements, or give everyone a digital breather, directly from group settings
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#2. Chat that feels more human
Communication shouldn’t feel like a chore. With this release, Blink Chat gets a subtle yet powerful glow-up.
New visual tweaks — from chat bubbles to color updates — make conversations clearer, warmer, and easier to follow. It’s small design detail meets big usability payoff, especially for mobile teams on the move.
What’s new:
Refreshed bubble and color design for cleaner conversation flow
Sleeker layout optimizedfor readability and accessibility
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#3. Surveys that spark smarter action
Data is only as good as what you do with it. This update gives your Surveys a sharper edge — faster setup, better targeting, and smoother participation across teams.
What’s new:
Improved creation flow and formatting in the Admin Portal
Trackable surveys that allow you to narrow in on responses from the profile fields you care about most
Cleaner user experience for participants on every platform — especially on mobile
Detailed analytic exports on engagement and completion rates to boost decision-making
Question descriptions that enable you to share more question-specific detail with participants
#4. Informational Workday nudges
Workday is great for processes — but people often need reminders to actually complete them. Enter Informational Workday Nudges.
This new feature helps surface important Workday updates — like upcoming reviews or expiring training — directly inside Blink, where employees already spend their time.
Your HR system just got a human touch.
What’s new:
Automated, context-aware nudges triggered by Workday events
Fully integrated with Blink’s mobile-first experience
Informational-only for now — with Actionable Nudges on the horizon
#5. Smart Search with ServiceNow: One query, all answers
Tired of hunting across tools? Blink’s new ServiceNow federated search brings everything into one place.
Employees can now find ServiceNow tickets, knowledge base articles, and internal content without ever leaving Blink. It’s one search bar to rule them all — and a big win for IT and employee self-service alike.
What’s new:
Unified search results from Blink and ServiceNow
Instant access to help articles and ticket info
Reduced system hopping for employees and IT teams
#6. Live stream analytics: Because reach matters
You’ve mastered live streaming — now it’s time to measure it.
With new live stream analytics, you can finally see who tuned in, how long they stayed, and what content resonated most. Use these insights to refine your next event and make every broadcast count.
The result? A full picture of engagement, not just attendance.
What’s new:
Viewer metrics: Total attendees, average watch time, drop-off points
Ensuring workplace policy compliance is crucial but traditionally time-consuming — especially for frontline workforces.
Our new agreement center lets administrators control and distribute policy agreements and record employee acceptance with ease and precision, right from Blink’s desktop interface.
What’s new:
Recurring employee prompts with custom CTAs and a selection of set cadences
Single-click functionality so employees can accept on mobile or desktop just once
Policy or workplace document links right in the prompt
#8. Coming soon
Because innovation never clocks out. Here’s what’s next on the horizon:
Unfortunately, this stat makes perfect sense. Workplace tech has traditionally been built with office-based workers in mind. So it tends to fall short for the frontline.
Some companies still use a traditional intranet. And others use a patchwork of different HR and IT apps. These tools may work well for desk-based employees. But they cause three common problems for frontline workers:
Limited access to tech. Frontline employees don’t have regular access to a computer and don’t always have a company email address. This means they rely on noticeboards, personal apps, and/or shared company computers to access the information and tools they need.
Access to poor quality tech. Frontline employees have access to a system that does some things, but not others. They can access tech tools via a mobile device but features are limited and the user experience is lacking
Access to too much tech. When employees use lots of different apps via lots of different interfaces, it creates as many problems as it solves. This piecemeal approach can cause friction and tech tool disengagement
Frontline organizations need streamlined tech that works for every employee. As Ian Gordon, former President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring, said 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.”
Currently, deskless workers waste time and productivity on tasks that could be streamlined. For example, finding their training documents, communicating with managers, or simply tracking down last month’s pay stub.
Thankfully, there’s a solution. A modern intranet takes into account the realities of today’s distributed workforce. It’s a mobile-first tool that provides the same seamless digital experience for both frontline and desk-based employees.
Here, we explore how the right type of technology can benefit your frontline employees andyour organization. We also reveal the three features you should be looking for when choosing frontline tech.
Benefits of a modern intranet for frontline employees
When your frontline has access to the right tech, everyone stands to gain. Let’s take a look at the benefits – for your organization and employees – of a mobile-first employee app.
Higher levels of productivity
When frontline employees don’t have the right tech, they waste a lot of time on tasks that could be streamlined.
They have to call their manager on the phone when they want to change shifts.
They have to use the shared computer on their lunch break to respond to a company survey.
They have to leaf through a paper handbook to find an answer to their question.
A modern intranet helps frontline employees complete tasks quickly and easily. This means productivity for your organization improves.
Streamlined workflows
A modern intranet helps streamline the workflow of every employee in your organization, not just those on the frontline.
That’s because frontline employees can use self-serve functions. They can view their pay stubs, launch an assigned L&D module, and request time off. Employees can book shifts and report faults or accidents. They can also chat with their managers via messaging features.
This helps to streamline the work of your frontline workers. But it also helps HR teams and frontline managers. They get fewer queries and fewer phone calls because frontline employees can achieve so much more using the right tech tool - removing the barrier to access and allowing your HR teams and managers to focus on the work they are meant to be doing.
Tech tool efficiency
The best modern intranets integrate with the software you already use for your business. It's not about adding another tool to your tech stack to be siloed, but increasing access to all of the other tools you already rely on. So employees can access all tech tools from the same, familiar interface.
When workplace tools are intuitive and easy to access, employees spend a lot less time looking for the resources they need. They also spend less time trying to remember different login details. A single click, a single password, and they’re in.
Learning and development
A modern intranet or employee app makes it easy for employees to access vital resources. Like workplace policies, guides, and training materials.
This means new hires get up-to-speed quickly. They can access all onboarding materials via their smartphone. Existing employees also find it easy to weave L&D into their usual workflow.
With access to resources that help them work smarter, not harder, employees become more effective and productive in their roles.
Improved internal communication
Good internal communication is the backbone of any organization.
Without it, trust in leadership suffers. And with it, engagement and loyalty increases. Employees in organizations with effective communication feel more connected to their jobs.
But we know that frontline teams usually don’t enjoy the same level of communication and connection as their desk-based co-workers.
Frontline employees tend to spend very little time at HQ and often spend their days working alone. So they risk missing out on:
Vital company updates
Co-worker collaboration
Recognition from managers
Opportunities to make their voice heard
The right tech helps to bridge the gap. It improves employee communication by connecting frontline workers to their co-workers, head office, and company culture.
Real-time communication
Information is often outdated by the time it reaches frontline employees. It’s hard to spot memos on a crowded noticeboard, and it’s easy to miss an important update in a long thread of messages.
The best modern intranets solve this problem by supporting real-time communication.
Employees can use newsfeed, group chat, and 1-2-1 chat functions to get up-to-the-minute information.
Managers can send smartphone notifications to highlight vital updates. They can post a video of today’s company standup. They can also create and pin mandatory messages to the company newsfeed, ensuring that essential information cuts through.
With access to relevant, timely information like this, employees make better decisions and solve problems more quickly.
Two-way communication
Top-down communication is useful for establishing company culture and sharing updates. But for truly effective internal communication, information needs to move in all directions.
Modern intranets support peer-to-peer connection. Co-workers can interact via the newsfeed or chat functions. They can recognize a peer’s hard work. Or wish their work bestie a happy birthday.
The intranet also supports bottom-up communication. With a newsfeed, direct messaging, and company-wide surveys, you give frontline employees a voice.
This makes a positive difference to the employee experience. Employees who say their voice is heard at work are 4.6x more likely to give their all.
Collaboration
Imagine a frontline care worker has come across a great article about elderly care. How does that person share their new insight with other frontline workers in other locations?
Perhaps they’ll mention the article to the co-workers they physically cross paths with. Or send a link to the small group of people in their work WhatsApp chat.
But you really amplify the reach and impact when that care worker can post the article to the company employee app.
The right tech tools allow frontline teams to share the knowledge they gain when they’re out in the field. They can share best practices and collaborate with other employees, even though they’re not based in the same office environment.
Empowerment and engagement
When employees feel empowered and engaged at work, they’re happier and more productive. They provide better customer service and produce better results. They’re also less likely to look for a job elsewhere.
Employee engagement relies on strong employee communication, development opportunities, recognition – and the right tech.
The wrong tech can be a big drain on employee engagement. When workers use slow, inefficient, and ineffective digital tools, it adds friction and frustration to their work day. So implementing a modern intranet can help with all the following.
Empowering employees
With a company super-app at their fingertips, frontline employees are empowered to make informed decisions and take a proactive approach to their work.
Thanks to user-friendly employee communication channels, they can report safety or equipment issues. They can share their knowledge. And they can access company resources exactly when they need them.
A modern intranet also empowers employees to progress in their careers. 70% of frontline workers are interested in career progression opportunities. But they don’t always get the resources or support they need.
Via an employee app, you can give frontline workers easy access to L&D information, new job opportunities, and any available employee development activities.
Engaging employees
The right frontline tech helps you to improve employee engagement. It allows employees to engage with co-workers and company culture. And it mirrors the experience provided by employees’ favorite social media apps.
A newsfeed. Likes, comments, and shares. Pulse surveys. Digital 1-2-1s. A searchable company library. A modern intranet with a user-friendly interface creates an experience that employees are excited to use and keep using.
The best frontline tech also offers personalization, another thing that helps to level up engagement. Employees can switch up their dashboards to put their preferred features first. Or prioritize their newsfeed to focus on posts that are most relevant to them.
Retention and attraction
Frontline teams experience high levels of churn. A McKinsey study found that 45% of frontline workers planned to leave their jobs within the following 3 to 6 months.
Workplace technology is an important part of the puzzle. 78% of deskless workers say they consider the technology at a company when deciding whether to take a job there.
When you equip frontline workers with the right tech, you show your employees that you value them and care about their experience.
You also provide communication channels that support a better employee experience. You allow employees to give feedback and build stronger relationships with co-workers. This makes it easier to hold onto existing staff – and to attract new talent too.
Choosing the right tech for frontline employees
Some tech solutions – like the traditional intranet – don’t fit the realities of frontline work. So what should you be looking for when choosing tech for frontline employees?
The best frontline tech:
is a one-stop-shop
offers an intuitive user experience
has a mobile-first design
Let’s look at these features in a little more detail.
It’s a one-stop-shop
Currently, many organizations are at risk of app overload. 37% of frontline workers use five or more apps every day. But 39% say that apps aren’t actually helping them in their work.
A patchwork of workplace tools means workers have to learn different interfaces and remember lots of passwords. Tech complicates their workflow instead of simplifying it.
The best modern intranet brings together all the software you use. It acts as a digital front door for your organization.
Behind this door, employees find everything they need to do their jobs. Tools for communication, operations, training, shifts, collaboration, and HR. It’s all available via one interface and a single login.
Tech that acts as a one-stop-shop reduces friction in frontline employee workflow. It also drives adoption for your existing tools, improving the ROI on the software you’re already paying for.
Supercharge your frontline with an employee super-app
It provides an intuitive user experience
Investing in the best frontline tech is pointless if you can’t persuade employees to use it. So you need tech solutions that can prove high usage and adoption rates.
Bear in mind that 56% of deskless workers are using personal tech tools instead of workplace tools. As well as posing security risks, this illustrates a really important point when choosing frontline tech.
Your chosen solution has to compete with the user experience (UX) provided by the most popular social media platforms. So you need tools that offer an intuitive, friction-free UX.
These intuitive tools don’t have a steep learning curve. Instead – because they’re so similar to the apps your employees already use out of work – employees can pick them up and start using them with next to no training.
Because they’re so easy to use, these apps provide clear employee benefits from the get-go. This helps to drive organic app adoption and ensures a higher proportion of your workforce downloads and uses your intranet.
It’s a mobile-first solution
Frontline workers don’t sit at a desk. They don’t always have a company email address, let alone a company computer. Therefore, any workplace tech you choose must be available via a mobile device.
The best solutions have a mobile-first design. They’re not tools designed for desktop with an app added as an afterthought. Instead, they offer the same great features and user experience on a smartphone as they do on other devices.
This allows frontline team members to stay up-to-date with company news, book time off, or look at their shift schedule while they do their daily work. They can access workplace tools from any location, at any time.
Blink: an employee app for frontline workers
The Blink employee app is a modern intranet for a modern frontline workforce. Our app acts as the digital front door for your organization.
It provides access to the tools and systems your entire workforce needs day to day. And it integrates seamlessly with the software you already use. So employees can access all workplace software using one secure single sign-on (SSO).
As a mobile-first solution, Blink provides the same great user experience on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. Frontline workers have exactly the same access as their desk-based peers to company culture, co-worker connection, and workplace resources.
If you’re looking to improve the frontline employee experience, connect your workforce, and increase productivity, frontline tech is a great place to start.
In many organizations, the work WhatsApp group is thego-to place for company news.
The app provides a vital link between coworkers and managers. And it’s easy to see why. WhatsApp has a user-friendly interface, streamlined functionality, and a range of useful communication tools. It’s also sitting in the pocket of over 3 billion monthly active users.
The stats say it all. 1 in 3 UK workers relies on apps like WhatsApp and Telegram for workplace communication. And a huge 69% of frontline workers rely on personal text messaging apps to get their work done.
So what’s the problem? Why shouldn’t employees use WhatsApp — or other consumer messaging apps like it?
The truth is, while these apps may be the height of convenience, they come with major risks for your organization. Risks that include data leaks, regulatory fines, legal liability, and cyber-attacks. And that’s before we even look at the dangers they pose to company culture.
In short, WhatsApp doesn’t work for work.
Here, we dive into the issues associated with consumer messaging apps and explore a safer alternative for team messaging.
The WhatsApp trap
Imagine you’re a frontline delivery driver. You spend limited time at the depot. You receive company news in a piecemeal fashion — from the depot bulletin board, from coworkers in the break room, and over phone calls with your manager.
Your company has an employee intranet. But the mobile experience is clunky and hard to access without a corporate email address. You feel out of the loop, disconnected from your coworkers and from company culture.
So what do you do?
Option one. Do nothing. In which case, your workforce engagement is likely to take a dip and you may be tempted to hit the job boards.
Option two. Turn to the messaging tools you already use day to day. Use WhatsApp to ask about changes to today's employee scheduling, share route tips with fellow drivers, and request paid time off.
When your company experiences an internal communication tech gap, employees seek out other solutions. The most logical is always the consumer apps they use away from work.
Setup is frictionless — you can set up a group with coworkers in seconds. The app is instantly familiar. And (for employees at least) these apps do the job perfectly.
But, look under the hood, and this unofficial tech poses all sorts of problems for your organization.
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Why “shadow messaging” isn’t something you should overlook
Unofficial tech tools, unapproved by your IT team, are known as “shadow IT.” And while WhatsApp may provide a path of least resistance for employees, shadow messaging has no place within a security-conscious organization.
Beneath the convenience and (let’s be honest) that exceptional user experience, there’s no company oversight, no easy way to offboard users, and no data control. Here’s why shadow messaging tools like WhatsApp pose such a risk to your business.
Security and compliance risks
WhatsApp gives the perception of technical security. End-to-end encryption sounds pretty good, right? But that’s not the whole story.
Message backups stored in the cloud may not be encrypted. Phones can be lost or stolen. Ex-employees can continue to access conversations. And mistakes happen: Someone could send sensitive information to the wrong group, or add someone who doesn’t have the right security clearance.
If your company is subject to GDPR, HIPAA, or other data privacy regulations, consumer apps are a ticking time bomb. Sensitive customer data or internal information shared via WhatsApp can lead to data breaches and hefty compliance fines.
Reputational risks
Shadow messaging doesn’t just create compliance issues — it can threaten your company’s reputation, too.
Private chats are private…until they aren’t. A screenshot from a WhatsApp group can quickly circulate beyond the intended audience. Informal remarks may be misinterpreted when broadcast beyond a small team. Even small errors — like sharing internal updates before they’re ready for public consumption — can undermine credibility with stakeholders.
Consumer messaging apps make it nearly impossible to monitor and manage these risks. Administrative features like disappearing messages and the ability to make edits mean there’s no consistent audit trail. Organizations can’t easily verify what was said, who saw it, or when it was deleted.
These gaps raise critical questions. How long should employees retain work-related messages? What happens if group messages are deleted before they can be reviewed? How do you investigate disputes when evidence is scattered across personal devices?
Without centralized control, organizations are left exposed and at increased risk of PR headaches.
The cost to company culture
There’s a quieter risk at play here, too — the one posed to company culture. When you use WhatsApp or another consumer app for internal communication, instead of your own dedicated team chat app, there’s a cost in terms of the following:
Oversight. No messaging analytics. No content hub. No unified inbox. No team-level access. Limited integration with other workplace tools. WhatsApp operates in a silo. So creating a connected culture is tough. What’s more, comms teams can’t track employee engagement or measure sentiment, so your organization struggles to make meaningful changes to the employee experience.
Exclusivity. Without oversight, some employees inevitably get left out. Maybe a new starter never got added to the group, or some workers avoid using personal messaging apps for work-related chat. When some people are in the loop and others aren’t, information gaps form, resentment builds, and engagement suffers.
Missed messages. Important and urgent updates get lost in the noise.
Burnout. WhatsApp blurs the line between personal and professional. Managers may feel it’s fine to ping employees at any hour. Without clear boundaries, employees may struggle to fully switch off. The result? No downtime and an increased risk of stress and burnout.
Informality. Here at Blink, we talk a lot about the value of authentic, human communication. But authentic and unprofessional are two very different things. When employees chat over a personal messaging tool, there’s a chance they drop their professional filter. The work chat becomes a place to vent frustrations or spread gossip, damaging the cultural values you’re trying to uphold.
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What safe employee messaging looks like
So if WhatsApp is too risky, what does good team messaging look like?
Safe, compliant messaging tools go beyond WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption. They give organizations the control and visibility they need, in one digital source of truth without sacrificing the speed or familiarity that employees crave.
Here’s what to look for.
Centralized mobile access and identity management.Single sign-on (SSO) gives employees secure, frictionless access to group messaging and other workplace software, without juggling multiple passwords.
Automated user management. With the help of SCIM (system for cross-domain identity management), you can automate the user lifecycle, creating accounts for new employees and automatically ending access when someone leaves your company.
Moderation and governance tools. Admins can flag, review, and remove inappropriate content, protecting both employees and the business.
Secure file sharing. Instead of forwarding PDFs and customer data over WhatsApp, files stay encrypted and traceable within your organization’s approved environment.
Customizable notifications, read receipts,and acknowledgements so you know who got the message and can manage compliance and critical comms.
Integrations. The best messaging tools connect seamlessly with workplace software — like Workday, ServiceNow, and Microsoft 365 — offering secure access to all the tools your teams need in real time.
Security features like these are paramount. But your tools need to go even further:
Remember all those reasons employees like using WhatsApp?
Mobile-first and simple. It’s instantly accessible.
A second-to-none user experience that feels as intuitive and familiar as Instagram or TikTok. This is key for adoption.
The best team messaging solutions replicate this kind of consumer-grade user experience. They give employees a streamlined, user-friendly way to chat with managers and coworkers. And they give them all the cutting-edge team communication tools they’re used to.
The bigger picture: Using team messaging to build meaning
When you move beyond WhatsApp, you’re not just switching to a more secure tool. You’re opening up a world of employee communication possibilities. Because team messaging was never just about chat. It’s about connection, trust, and belonging.
With a customizable, company-branded app, you can create a messaging experience that feels distinctly yours — one that supports your business goals and reflects your values.
By offering a mobile-first solution, you show frontline teams that they’re a valued part of company culture. You show everyone that easy, open communication is a foundation of your employee experience. And you create a space where respectful, inclusive, and collaborative communication is the norm.
Every message — from a company update to a simple “thanks for your hard work” — acts to reinforce what you want your organization to stand for.
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Transitioning from WhatsApp to a team messaging tool that’s built for work
Moving your teams away from WhatsApp is easier than you might think — particularly when you choose a secure, mobile-first platform like Blink.
Blink was built to replace risky, fragmented comms. It’s a mobile modern intranet platform, with all the channels you need for an effective internal communication strategy and beyond.
Our consumer-grade team messaging tool comes with notification controls, GIFs, emojis, the option to favorite your most frequently used chats, and the ability to highlight messages you want to return to at a later date.
Most importantly, Blink uniquely combines consumer-grade UI and intuitive, flexible features with enterprise-grade automation and data security, ensuring compliance without compromising on adoption and engagement.
Our app was built for everyone, particularly those who do not sit at a desk. And with a customer experience team on hand to provide support every step of the way, you can hit the ground running from the first day your app goes live.
Culture isn’t built in annual town halls or values documents.
It’s built in the hundreds of micro-moments that employees experience every day.
The tiny, human interactions that tell employees what your company stands for and that forge your employee experience.
While you can write your values in a document that employees read during the onboarding process — and (shh!) probably never again — micro-moments are the daily, lived experience of your culture.
Micro-moments can support what’s written in that document — or they can write a completely different story. The best organizations make sure it’s the former. They understand the power of micro-moments. And they use them to create a joined-up understanding of company culture, where daily interactions reflect the kind of organization you want to be.
Here, we take a look at why micro-moments are so important and how to achieve more cultural impact with smaller but no less meaningful employee interactions.
Defining micro-moments in the workplace
So what do we actually mean by a micro-moment? It might help to start with a few examples:
A shout-out to celebrate an employee's birthday in the news feed.
A manager checking in to ask how you’re feeling this week over instant messaging.
A quick story post from the CEO that gives a little insight into their day.
These micro-moments bridge the gap between corporate messaging and real workplace experience. They take that dusty company culture document and turn it into a living, breathing reality.
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Why micro-moments matter in today’s workplace
These small moments might not seem all that significant on their own. But together — with all the hundreds of other micro-moments employees experience — they form the foundations of your culture. They shape how employees feel, interact, and show up.
Here’s what they do for your workplace:
They keep the conversation flowing. Silence breeds uncertainty. Gaps in communication leave room for rumor, misunderstanding, and disengagement. But micro-moments, in the form of regular internal communication touchpoints, keep employees connected and informed.
The compounding effect. One “good job” message might seem insignificant — but repeated, positive micro-moments create trust and belonging. And each one builds on the last. A few words of encouragement today make it easier for someone else to speak up tomorrow.
Connection in a dispersed workplace. When your team is dispersed, micro-moments replace the hallway chat or the catch-up over coffee. They act as a digital water cooler, bringing frontline, remote, and office-based teams together, and keeping culture alive across time zones and shifts.
It’s what employees expect. Outside of work, we routinely connect over micro-moments. A video story. A WhatsApp message. A voice note. We’re used to short-form, snackable content. Which is why, in the workplace, a simple 10-second video can do more for morale and engagement than a 10-page strategy doc ever could.
They fit into your workflow. Employees — particularly those on the frontlines of your organization — are busy. So culture-building efforts shouldn’t pull them away from their day. Micro-moments integrate seamlessly into the flow of work, making connection quick and easy for everyone.
They signal care and attention. Finally, micro-moments show employees that leaders and peers are paying attention, noticing effort, and valuing contributions. They help to build a culture of open communication and recognition, where employees feel appreciated and encouraged to take part.
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How to achieve macro-impact with micro-moments
So how do you harness the potential of micro-moments for your organization? Here are a few practical ways to make the smallest of interactions deliver the biggest possible impact.
Empower managers to create daily connection rituals
Managers are the ones who bring your culture to life. But they’re also sandwiched between employees and the C-suite, juggling expectations and tasks from all sides. That’s why creating small, repeatable rituals is key to micro-moment success. Think:
A quick message to ask “How’s your day going?”
A public thank you when someone goes the extra mile
A follow-up on feedback shared in last week’s meeting
These interactions take seconds but their impact is long-lasting. They show empathy and accountability, which helps managers (and by extension the organization) build trust with employees.
Even better? Make these micro-moments visible. Give recognition and conduct check-ins over shared digital channels to amplify their impact. You’ll spread positivity across the organization and reinforce the culture you want to build.
Balance top-down messages with peer-to-peer moments
The best cultures are built through connection and participation. And that means going beyond traditional top-down messaging to involve everyone in the company conversation. So encourage peer-to-peer connection. Let employees react to posts, respond to news feed questions, add their congratulations to co-worker recognition, and even create their own culture-building content.
By appointing employees as co-creators of your culture, you sprinkle micro-moments throughout the workday. And you ease the load for your comms team, too. Everyone helps keep the conversation going.
Another benefit of this approach? Peer-led moments feel lighter, more organic, and more genuine. They have an energy that draws people in, so they help to build a real sense of community within your organization.
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Encourage the C-suite to go beyond corporate comms
When the C-suite speaks, everyone tends to listen. So you can create truly impactful micro-moments by getting leaders involved. Of course, a lengthy email newsletter or a polished corporate video isn’t the kind of thing you’re looking for.
Instead, you want leaders to share short, relatable moments in real time. A selfie from a site visit. A post sharing what inspired them that week. A quick note to highlight customer success and the team behind it.
This content shows accessibility and warmth. It tells employees: I see you and I’m part of this too. It’s especially powerful for frontline teams who rarely see leaders face-to-face.
Leaders may need a little coaching in how to deliver these kinds of moments. And you may need to experiment with the formats they feel most comfortable with. But — with the right support from comms — the C-suite can create micro-moments that really resonate.
Prioritize authenticity over polish
The beauty of micro-moments? They don’t need to be overly rehearsed or perfectly produced. In fact, working to get a piece of internal content “just right” can actually dilute its cultural impact.
Use micro-moments to respond to what’s happening right now — a big client win, a project milestone, or even the trending topic that’s on everyone’s lips. Quick, relevant interactions land far better than polished-but-stale content.
That’s because authentic micro-moments show employees that the company is human and that leaders notice what’s happening on the ground. Workers appreciate the authenticity — and they’re far more likely to believe the message.
And for your employee communications team? Removing the pressure to polish every post means content can go out fast, keeping conversations alive, building momentum, and weaving cultural values into every day.
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Create digital spaces for every kind of comms
You can only make a success of micro-moments when you have the right ecosystem in place. That means giving employees multiple, connected communication channels where they can share, react, and respond in real time.
Think recognition, polls, team chat, video updates, live streams — each touchpoint surfacing a different side of your company culture. When these channels are available across mobile-first tools, micro-moments reach every member of your workforce, including hard-to-reach frontline employees.
The result? A culture with the power to create positive employee experiences and better employee engagement across the board.
Use analytics to spot engagement opportunities
With intranet analytics, you can spot the times, places, and teams where micro-moments stand to make the most impact.
If participation on the employee intranet drops, if certain teams aren’t responding to updates, or if sentiment in comments starts to shift, these are the early warning signs you need to pay attention to.
By tracking engagement and feedback in real time, you can see what works, spot gaps, and fine-tune your micro-moment strategy. The data helps you step in at the right time — and keep doing more of what actually connects with employees.
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Incorporating micro-moments into your organization
The challenge for most organizations isn’t understanding the value of micro-moments.
It’s creating the environment where they happen naturally.
A check-in from a manager. A poll to gauge employee opinion. A quick live stream update. These micro-moments drive trust, belonging, and a sense of purpose. They show employees that yours is a place where open communication and connection are the norm.
So what next? To incorporate micro-moments into your comms strategy, go beyond polished, corporate messaging. And — to make your strategy sustainable — encourage people from across the company to share and amplify micro-moments.
Digital employee experience platforms like Blink makes it easy. You can send a recognition post, launch a poll, share a video story, and even go live with your audience, in just a couple of clicks.
And — because Blink is a mobile-first intranet platform — everyone can take part. From the comms team to the C-suite, your office team to your frontline workers, everyone has the tools they need to access and contribute to workplace culture.
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 only21% 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?
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 Feedupdates, 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 digitaltools 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 aremore 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.
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