Meet MJ Moore, a team member at Blink. Discover their story and what drives their work.
Jess DeVore
Published:
September 6, 2023
Last updated:
February 23, 2024
What we'll cover
Hi! I’m MJ Moore. I’m originally from the US, but I’ve been living in London for 7 years (and recently became a British citizen!) 🇬🇧
I spent almost 9 years in HR technology consulting working at large firms, like Aon & Accenture, before making the jump to Blink. I graduated from Vanderbilt University, so I have a special place in my heart for Nashville 🇺🇸
I’m the Manager of the Implementation team, and my job is to help make our customer implementation journey the best out there. I work with my team to deliver outstanding service to our clients & provide them best practice along their journey to incorporate Blink in to their organisation. 🚀
Blink is a place where it’s easy to make an impact quickly. It’s an open and transparent organisation that lends itself to innovation. If you want to do something at Blink, you can! There’s a great team behind you at all times for support and guidance along the way. 💙
{{callout}}
Hi! I’m MJ Moore. I’m originally from the US, but I’ve been living in London for 7 years (and recently became a British citizen!) 🇬🇧
I spent almost 9 years in HR technology consulting working at large firms, like Aon & Accenture, before making the jump to Blink. I graduated from Vanderbilt University, so I have a special place in my heart for Nashville 🇺🇸
I’m the Manager of the Implementation team, and my job is to help make our customer implementation journey the best out there. I work with my team to deliver outstanding service to our clients & provide them best practice along their journey to incorporate Blink in to their organisation. 🚀
Blink is a place where it’s easy to make an impact quickly. It’s an open and transparent organisation that lends itself to innovation. If you want to do something at Blink, you can! There’s a great team behind you at all times for support and guidance along the way. 💙
{{callout}}
What we'll cover
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Digital signage for frontline workers: what actually works
Walk into any warehouse or factory break room and you'll find a screen on the wall, cycling through safety alerts, shift schedules, or a slide deck frozen since 2019. Screens solve one real problem: they reach workers who aren't at desks and can't check a phone on the floor. But they create another. There's no way to know who actually saw the message, and that gap is measurable.
This guide covers how digital signage works in frontline environments, where it genuinely earns its place in the channel mix, and where mobile-first communication fills the gaps it can't.
What is digital signage for frontline workers?
Digital signage for frontline workers refers to screen-based displays deployed in physical work environments to communicate operational information to employees who don't use desk computers or company email. Common locations include break rooms, production floors, warehouse loading bays, locker rooms, and staff entrances.
Typical content includes shift schedules, safety briefings, KPI dashboards, policy updates, training reminders, and HR announcements. Screens are centrally managed through a content management system (CMS), so communications teams or IT administrators can push updates across every screen in every location from a single dashboard.
The core appeal is reach without requiring a personal device. In environments where smartphones are prohibited, clean rooms, food production, heavy machinery operations, a wall-mounted screen is often the only scalable way to put information in front of workers during their shift.
Where digital signage genuinely earns its place
Not every deployment of digital signage is washing its face. But in specific operational contexts, the case is strong.
Factory floors and production environments are the clearest fit. When workers are operating equipment that demands full attention, and when personal device use is either prohibited or impractical, screens mounted at eye level near workstations or break areas are one of the few viable ways to deliver operational messaging. Safety alerts, shift targets, downtime notifications, and quality metrics all belong here.
Warehouse and distribution environments have a similar profile. Loading bay screens showing today's dispatch priorities, attendance boards, or compliance reminders reduce the relay of information through supervisors, which means fewer distortions and faster response to changing conditions.
Break rooms deserve separate consideration. A screen in a shared rest space reaches workers at the precise moment they have headspace to absorb information. Pre-shift briefings, HR policy updates, benefit enrollment reminders, and company news all perform better in a break room context than they would on a production floor, where attention is split.
Healthcare and public-facing environments use digital signage primarily for wayfinding and patient-facing communication, but staff-facing screens in nurse stations and staff rooms serve a genuine internal communications function, particularly for shift handover information and policy updates that supervisors can't always relay in person.
The real limitations, and why IT directors need to plan around them
None of this means digital signage solves the frontline communication problem on its own. There are four structural limitations that any IT or Operations leader evaluating a digital signage investment needs to account for.
No read receipts, no compliance trail. Digital signage is broadcast communication. You can verify a screen was on. You cannot verify that a specific employee saw a specific message. For regulated industries, healthcare, food production, financial services, where you need to prove that a policy update or safety briefing was acknowledged by named individuals, a screen on a wall doesn't give you that. You need a channel that generates a paper trail.
No two-way communication. Screens push information. They don't enable responses, questions, or acknowledgment. When a policy changes and a worker has a question, that question either goes unanswered until they find a manager, or it goes up through a chain that introduces delays and inconsistencies. In high-regulation environments, unanswered questions about safety procedures have real consequences.
No reach outside the building. Workers who are on their commute, at home reviewing a shift change, or working a split shift across two sites can't see a break room screen. For any communication that needs to land before the shift starts, schedule changes, emergency alerts, pre-shift safety reminders, digital signage arrives too late or not at all.
No data on individual engagement. You can measure screen uptime, content loop completion, and scheduled broadcasts. You cannot tell your CHRO which employees haven't acknowledged the new safety protocol, or show your compliance team a timestamped record of individual engagement. When you need that data, and in most regulated environments, you will, digital signage can't provide it.
Why frontline workers need more than a screen
The communication gap isn't about technology, it's about verification. Research consistently shows that organizations with high frontline turnover cite poor communication as a top driver. Screens don't close that gap on their own because they don't create the conditions for two-way trust.
The pattern shows up in adoption data. When organisations add a mobile-first communication layer alongside physical signage, engagement metrics change substantially. According to Blink's customer data (2024), at easyJet 88% of over 20,000 employees became active users of a single platform. At JD Sports, 87% adoption was reached in 10 days. At Dollar Tree, 96% adoption across a workforce that was never going to be reached through break room screens alone. At Stagecoach, adding a direct mobile channel contributed to a 26% reduction in driver turnover.
That's not an argument against digital signage. It's an argument that signage works best as part of a layered channel strategy, where screens handle broadcast operational messaging in physical spaces, and a mobile-first platform like Blink handles everything that requires reach, verification, and response. Blink's frontline communication solutions are built specifically for the workforce that screens can't fully reach.
Getting your channel strategy right
For IT and Operations leaders evaluating digital signage as part of a broader frontline communication infrastructure, the decision framework matters more than the technology choice.
Step 1: Audit your content types. Not all communications belong on a screen. Separate broadcast operational content (shift schedules, safety KPIs, downtime alerts) from compliance-sensitive content (policy acknowledgments, training completions, HR updates) and personal content (payslips, individual schedule changes, direct manager communication). The first category suits digital signage. The second and third require a channel with verification.
Step 2: Map your compliance requirements. If you're in a regulated industry, establish exactly which communications require individual acknowledgment and a timestamped audit trail. This determines which parts of your channel mix need a verification layer, and where digital signage alone creates regulatory exposure.
Step 3: Establish your integration requirements. A digital signage CMS that pulls shift data from your workforce management system (Workday, Kronos, SAP) reduces manual content updates and keeps screens accurate. Your IT security model, SSO, GDPR compliance, role-based access control, and audit trails for who published what, needs to be defined before procurement, not after.
Step 4: Define the mobile complement. For workers who do carry smartphones, even in environments where phones are restricted during shifts, a mobile-first platform extends your communication reach beyond the building, enables two-way messaging, and provides the individual engagement data that screens can't. This is the layer that turns your signage investment from a broadcast tool into a complete communication infrastructure.
Step 5: Measure what matters. Screen uptime and content loop metrics tell you the technology is working. They don't tell you communication is working. Layer in mobile engagement rates, acknowledgment completion rates for compliance content, and frontline feedback response rates. These are the metrics that connect communication investment to operational and retention outcomes.
How Blink complements digital signage for frontline teams
If you're evaluating the mobile layer of your frontline communication stack, Blink is built specifically for the 80% of workers who don't sit at desks. It handles everything digital signage can't: individual reach, compliance acknowledgment trails, two-way communication, and a personal communication feed that workers actually check.
Pizza Pilgrims reached 96% adoption. JD Sports hit 87% in 10 days. easyJet has 88% active users across 20,000+ employees. The platform integrates with Workday, ServiceNow, and SharePoint, supports SSO and GDPR compliance, and provides the role-based access control and audit trails that IT Directors need before they can sign off on a new communication layer.
If you’re in internal communications, you’ve heard that sentence more times than you’ve heard “quick question” (which, as we know, is never actually quick).
The shift is real. Five years ago, a lot of comms tech lived in the “nice to have” bucket. In 2026, it’s a boardroom conversation — and boardrooms don’t buy “nice.” They buy outcomes: efficiency, reduced risk, better retention, higher adoption of expensive tech investments, and measurable operational wins.
In our recent webinar, Proving internal comms ROI in 2026: Lessons from the other side, Ricky Sickelmore shared what he learned after 24 years in transport (including launching Blink at Stagecoach and introducing it at Arriva) — and what consistently held up when leadership came knocking for ROI.
Here are the six takeaways internal comms teams can apply immediately.
1. Ditch vanity metrics for outcomes
Email opens. Page views. Likes.
They’re not useless… they’re just not convincing.
Ricky’s rule: stop leading with activity metrics and start leading with business value. Executives don’t want to hear that “people saw the message.” They want to know: did anything change, and did it matter?
So translate comms problems into operational and financial realities:
Safety reporting increases (e.g., digital near-miss reporting vs. “find the form somewhere and hope someone bothers”)
Turnover movement (not because comms magically fixes attrition — but because comms can remove friction, improve onboarding, and drive consistency)
A useful gut-check: If your metric can’t be repeated in a budget meeting without you adding a 3-minute explanation, it’s not your headline metric.
Executives aren’t interested in open rates. They’re interested in the financial reality.
- Ricky Sickelmore, Blink
2. Start with hard costs and operational efficiency
If you want CFO attention, lead with the stuff they can smell from three floors away: tangible savings.
Ricky shared a simple example that’s painfully common in frontline-heavy orgs: printing and distributing documents at scale. One organization saved over £200,000 by moving payslips from print-and-post to digital distribution.
But don’t just stop at “printing costs.” The strongest ROI cases widen the lens:
Printers and maintenance
Paper, postage, distribution
Staff time to print, collate, deliver, reprint
Support tickets created when things go wrong
And when you talk about “time savings,” make them real. Not “we saved time.” Instead:
“We reclaimed 10 hours per week of manager time previously spent manually filling shifts.”
“We reduced password reset requests because employees access systems through one authenticated front door.”
Pro tip from Ricky: Do a basic “time and motion” study. Follow one process end-to-end and document every human touchpoint. That one form might bounce across 8–10 people, with delays that never show up on a neat process map.
3. Build a cross-functional case, not a “comms case”
One of the biggest mistakes internal comms teams make is trying to win budget alone — with a comms-only story.
Ricky put it bluntly: ROI gets easier when internal comms stops being “the comms team’s project” and becomes an operations, safety, engineering, and HR win.
That means stakeholder interviews early — not once the deck is already written.
Ask department heads:
What’s your biggest friction point right now?
What manual work is wasting your team’s time?
Where do you have compliance risk?
What’s the cost of not fixing this?
Example Ricky gave: if a safety leader can’t reliably get 20 drivers in a room for a briefing, that’s not a comms problem — it’s an operational risk. A digital “mandatory read” gives you trackable compliance without the logistics circus.
Make it tangible: Form a small steering committee with reps from the functions that will benefit most. When you go for sign-off, you’re not walking in alone — you’re walking in with allies.
You’re not in it alone — get the right stakeholders in the room early.
Ricky Sickelmore
4. Prove time-to-value through onboarding
Want a metric that operations leaders actually care about? Onboarding efficiency.
Ricky called this one “underestimated” — and he’s right. Onboarding is where friction shows up immediately, and where improvements are easy to translate into time, money, and productivity.
If employees can receive policies, procedures, training content, and day-one essentials before they even start, you can often get people productive an entire day sooner.
That’s not “engagement.” That’s time to value.
And onboarding improvements have a bonus effect: they reduce downstream errors, reduce manager time spent repeating the same information, and improve early retention (again — comms isn’t the sole driver, but it’s a meaningful part of the system).
5. Position your platform as the digital front door
One of Ricky’s biggest reflections: early on, it’s easy to think you’re buying “a comms tool.”
But the strongest ROI cases position the platform as the gateway to your digital estate — the place employees actually start their day.
This matters because most organizations are already paying for expensive systems (HRIS, scheduling, payroll, benefits, learning, etc.). The problem isn’t always the tool — it’s access and adoption.
If your internal comms platform:
Uses SSO
Reduces password resets
Gives employees one place to find and access tools
Increases self-service
…then your comms investment is also protecting and amplifying other investments.
Ricky shared a real pattern: Once access is simplified through a single front door, usage of other systems can jump dramatically — and suddenly your internal comms platform isn’t “another tool.” It’s the tool that makes the rest usable.
6. Establish a baseline — and sell the cost of inaction
You can’t prove improvement if you don’t know where you started. And you can’t create urgency if you can’t show what “doing nothing” costs.
Ricky’s advice: Baseline early — and don’t just baseline comms metrics.
Baseline business realities that leadership recognizes:
Turnover / attrition
Survey participation rates
Safety reporting volumes
Time spent on manual processes
Printing, distribution, and support costs
Operational delays caused by information gaps
Then translate that into the cost of inaction: the money currently leaking from the business because processes are manual, access is fragmented, and frontline teams can’t reliably get what they need.
When you can credibly say, “Here’s what it costs us to do nothing,” the investment stops feeling optional.
Common mistakes to avoid when proving internal comms ROI
A few “don’t step on this rake” moments that came up in the conversation:
Don’t lead with outputs. “We sent 12 newsletters” isn’t ROI.
Don’t build the case in isolation. Cross-functional pain points = stronger case.
Don’t ignore hard money. The “soft” story matters, but hard savings gets you in the door.
Don’t skip the frontline reality check. Spend time with frontline teams. Watch the work. Learn the friction.
Don’t assume leaders know what to ask for. Often the first job is clarifying the real question behind “prove ROI.”
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Be the change maker
Internal comms ROI in 2026 isn’t about becoming a finance team overnight. It’s about learning to translate.
Translate comms into outcomes.
Translate friction into cost.
Translate “this would be helpful” into “this will reduce risk, save time, and speed up productivity.”
Let’s create digital experiences your people will actually enjoy
It takes seven clicks to find your schedule. The training video won’t load on mobile. Your last question to HR? Still sitting in an unread inbox. Welcome to your Monday.
Now flip that:
You open one app. Your schedule’s there. So is your manager’s announcement. You give quick feedback on your shift — and get a response before lunch.
That’s the difference good digital design makes.
In 2025, the user experience employees have with workplace tech is the employee experience.
We use communication tools to message teammates, take training, request time off, and recognize each other. When those tools work well, they reduce friction and boost morale. When they don’t, it shows — in employee engagement, retention, and productivity.
Employee experience (EX) design means applying a thoughtful, human-first design approach to every moment that shapes someone’s experience at work — physical, digital, and cultural.
That includes onboarding and learning, the work environment, feedback loops, employee recognition, collaboration tools and technologies, and even how values show up day to day.
Think of it like UX — but for your people.
At each moment in the employee journey, ask:
Who’s the end user here? A new hire? A frontline shift worker? An overwhelmed manager?
Where does this moment fit in the bigger picture? Is it part of onboarding, communication, or recognition?
What are they feeling — and what do they need right now? Confidence? Clarity? Connection?
How can we make this interaction seamless and satisfying? Whether it’s tech, a conversation, or a checklist.
And how will we know it’s working? What data or feedback loops will tell us?
The goal isn’t just to “optimize” moments — it’s to make them feel intuitive, personal, and friction-free.
By carefully crafting experiences, both big and small, you help your people feel valued and give employee satisfaction a boost.
And because tech tools are a huge part of today’s workplace experience, digital employee experience (DEX) design forms a big part of the picture.
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What good EX feels like: 5 signs you’re doing it right
When we’re talking about tech tools, good EX looks something like this.
Effortless
People find what they need fast. There’s no need to dig through resources or ping the IT team for help. Systems are designed to be intuitive and free from points of friction.
Example:A restaurant worker views their upcoming shift schedule via a dashboard on the employee app. They don’t have to message their line managers or co-workers to get the latest info.
Personal
Content and tools are personalized to each employee. Employees enjoy experiences that are tailored to their roles, locations, and interests.
Example:Your HR department lead sees a dashboard built for their role, with shortcuts to key tools, relevant company news, and the latest workforce insights.
Connected
Everyone feels part of the same conversation and nobody feels left out. All employees have equitable access to company tech tools.
Example:A warehouse employee doesn’t need to use a communal computer in the break room. Thanks to a mobile-first platform, they can access resources and catch up on company news using their smartphone.
Dependable
Resources are always relevant and up-to-date. Messages are consistent. Tech tools have all the functionality employees need.
Example:Employees use a streamlined selection of tech tools — so messages and experiences are consistent across every touchpoint.
Empowering
Employees can take action, voice opinions through easy feedback channels, or get support in just a couple of clicks.
Example:A retail worker submits feedback via their smartphone, then views updates on workplace improvements over on the company news feed.
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Barriers to good EX — where it breaks down
So now we know what good EX looks like, time to find out why many organizations struggle to turn their EX ambitions into a reality as part of their digital transformation. Here’s a roundup of the usual suspects.
A fragmented tech stack
“Which tool do we use for that, again?”
A cluttered and disconnected tech stack is overwhelming for employees. They spend their time switching between tabs. They struggle to remember which app performs which task. And that’s before we even get started on all those login details.
If your tech tools aren’t working together, smoothly and efficiently, you’re creating a scattered (and suboptimal) experience for employees.
Over-reliance on email or manager cascade
Email isn’t the best communication channel for every employee. Frontline workers, for example, are unlikely to check their inbox during the work day.
Putting managers in charge of relaying key messages is no better. It’s a sure fire route to an overstretched management team — and inconsistent messaging.
These methods of workplace communication don’t fit the world of fast-paced, modern work we now operate in. And they do nothing for EX.
Top-down comms that don’t invite feedback or interaction
If employees can’t respond, react, chat, or ask questions, you’re not communicating — you’re broadcasting. And this kills employee engagement.
The company intranet is still the backbone of digital employee experience in many organizations. But legacy intranets are often clunky and outdated — and a real drain on EX.
Unless your intranet platform meets the needs of a tech-savvy and highly connected workforce, it’s falling short. You need a modern social intranet that provides an engaging, consumer-grade experience for employees.
Frontline employees excluded at key moments
Are your frontline workers always the last to know company news? And the least likely to use workplace tech?
You can’t make big improvements to EX unless you take the whole organization with you. That includes those hard-to-reach employees working on the frontline of your business.
For that, you need mobile-first tools that provide the same features and functionality across both mobile and desktop versions.
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Designing digital experiences your workforce will love
Digital employee experience in need of a reboot? Then here are a couple of guiding principles to bear in mind.
Build with empathy
Of course, the best tech tools support operational efficiency and productivity. But to achieve good EX, you need to move beyond business goals to really empathize with your end users.
That starts with an EX audit. Learn how employees are feeling at each digital and in-person interaction and find out how you can make their journey as smooth and stress-free as possible.
To get reliable data, speak to employees — run focus groups, conduct interviews, and embark on listening tours. Seek employee feedback on touchpoints throughout the working day and the employee life cycle.
Design together
When it comes to employee experience management, a cross-functional team works best. To create a joined up employee experience — and an integrated selection of tech tools — you need stakeholders working together.
The C-suite, HR, internal communications, IT, operations, frontline, and office-based employees should all get a say in what the digital employee experience will look like.
Map user journeys
Frontline employees vs. office-based staff. Hourly vs. salaried workers. New hires vs. long-time leaders.
Each employee persona has different needs — and your tools should reflect that. Aim to provide personalized experiences for employees in different roles, departments, and locations.
With an employee experience tool like Blink, you can create personalized user journeys, segmenting your workforce so they get a tailored experience across the whole platform. This can lead to a massive uptick in employee engagement — as well as employee retention.
Prioritize mobile-first design
Don’t shrink a desktop tool to fit a smartphone screen. Instead, opt for software that’s been designed with the mobile experience front of mind.
An employee app like Blink makes it easy for you to reach your workforce — who, let’s be honest, already live on their phones. It’s also an excellent way to reach frontline employees.
By taking your tech tools mobile, you create an equitable experience for all employees, no matter where or how they access your software.
Make feedback loops part of the design, not an afterthought
The best experiences evolve with employees. So treat EX as an ongoing exercise in empathy.
Use data and employee feedback to iterate and improve systems. Continually reassess how employees use your tech tools — and how you can make experiences even better.
To make this process as easy as possible, embed feedback loops into your tech tools. Ask for employee feedback, right within your software. And ensure leaders have access to the data and analytics they need to make meaningful EX improvements.
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Upgrade EX to get more from your digital tools — and your workforce
The right tech tools don’t just support EX — they help shape it.
They determine whether employees spend their days in a state of friction-free flow. Or whether frustration and stress color the workplace experience.
A modern intranet. An employee app. An internal comms platform. A dedicated employee experience tool. Whichever platforms you’re using, look at them from the employee perspective.
Tailor tools to their needs. Personalize experiences for each employee. Prioritize interaction, feedback, and mobile-first design to elevate and streamline EX.
In doing so, you’ll delight employees, earning their trust and driving engagement, so you get the very best from your workforce.
Today, Blink announced its partnership with McDonald’s. As the leading mobile-first employee experience platform, Blink will aim to connect McDonald’s employees within their restaurants and organizations across the globe.
Through Blink’s social media-inspired employee app, McDonald’s, or its independent franchisees, will be able to provide its respective restaurant crew members with news about their restaurant or organization, improve team collaboration, and offer a platform for real-time celebrations right at their fingertips. Not only will this create a more interactive and inclusive workplace, it will also give employees the tools and information they need, when they need them, to be productive and successful.
This partnership will help to build a strong, close-knit culture within restaurants and organizations to keep restaurant crew members engaged and empowered.
“Our mission is to help every company deliver digital experiences that elevate their business and unlock the full potential of their people. Our partnership with McDonald’s marks a monumental step toward bringing that mission to life,” said Sean Nolan, CEO and co-founder at Blink. “We’re proud to power the digital employee experience at McDonald’s and make it easier than ever for crew members to communicate, collaborate, and connect with each other — all from their mobile app.”
Together, McDonald’s and Blink will redefine the restaurant team experience.
About Blink
Blink is the mobile-first employee experience platform that connects your people, systems, and culture in one super-app. It bridges the digital divide between deskless and desk-based workers, supercharging employee communication and engagement at industry-leading companies like Nokia, Holcim, JD Sports, RATP Dev, and Stagecoach. Blink is the top-rated Employee Communications Application on Gartner Peer Insights and a Leader in the G2 Grid for Best Employee Engagement Software. Learn more at joinblink.com.
About McDonald’s
McDonald’s is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with over 40,000 locations in over 100 countries. Approximately 95% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business owners. These franchisees set their own employment policies for the people working in their restaurants, are the exclusive employer of their employees, and are solely responsible for all employment-related matters in their restaurants. For more information, visit www.mcdonalds.com.
9 ways to boost employee engagement in manufacturing organizations
The manufacturing industry has an engagement problem. Just 25% of manufacturing employees are engaged at work, making it one of the least engaged occupations in the US.
Employee engagement is the extent to which workers feel satisfied with their jobs and are aligned with organizational values. It also influences how able and willing they are to give 100% to their work.
So the stat above is worrying. But it also presents an untapped opportunity for forward-thinking firms.
When you improve employee engagement, you create a stronger connection between employee and organization. This leads to better retention, productivity, and business results.
Take a look at our ideas for manufacturing employee engagement to swim against the tide, attract additional employees and motivate the ones you already have.
The importance of employee engagement in manufacturing
It is without question that employee engagement is important to every organization in every industry.
Engagement has a direct impact on talent acquisition and retention. Staff are less likely to take time off sick and productivity sees a 14% uptick. Happier, more satisfied staff produce better, more cost-effective results for your company.
But in manufacturing, employee engagement can help you to overcome a range of industry-specific challenges. There’s a link between manufacturing employee engagement and all of the following:
Quality management – engaged employees care more about company goals – they’re more likely to spot and report quality issues
Safety and risk management – engaged employees pay more attention to the critical comms sent out, which can often include safety and risk management documents. Engaged employees also hold themselves accountable for their impact on the team and work environment, which will lead them to paying more attention to health and safety.
Customer experience – there’s a link between employee experience (EX) and customer experience CX) – engaged employees manufacture better products and provide a better service
Business results – when quality, safety, and CX improve, you improve overall business results – costs go down, sales go up
Key factors influencing employee engagement in manufacturing
If you want to improve the manufacturing employee experience at your organization, you need a strategy. This plan sets out how every part of your company – not just your HR team – is going to work together to improve engagement.
Your strategy should also consider the key factors that affect employee engagement in the manufacturing workplace.
Communication
Internal communication within a manufacturing organization can be tricky.
To start, the majority of manufacturing frontline employees don’t have business emails. This creates an initial barrier to cross —of how to even communicate with these workers.
Then you have teams in the office and on the factory floor, plus a variety of login, language, and time constraints. To give updates on safety protocols and equipment issues, and to share company culture, you need communication channels that deliver the right information to every employee.
The physical work environment
Your workplace should be a safe and comfortable environment for employees. Equipment and protocols have to support the physical wellbeing of workers. And staff need easy-access communication channels so they can report hazards and safety concerns.
Training and development
Training and development are key in a fast-changing sector like manufacturing. So employees can deliver products to the expected standard. And so you can retain more of your workers by giving them new challenges and a clear career path.
Manufacturing employees are often responsible for repetitive tasks. And it can be hard for them to see how their work fits into the bigger picture. Workplace leaders bring meaning to employee work by recognizing their efforts and sharing company goals and values.
9 ways to improve employee engagement in manufacturing
Looking to improve employee engagement at your manufacturing firm? The following ideas will help you enhance the employee experience and reap business rewards.
1. Invest in technology
AI, automation, robotics – manufacturing tech is coming on leaps and bounds. But technology doesn’t just improve manufacturing processes. You can use it to boost employee engagement, too.
An employee app like Blink supports easy communication across your organization. As a mobile-first solution, available via smartphone, you can put mandatory reads, new safety protocols, and essential company updates at the fingertips of every employee.
You also bring together the tech tools your teams already use. With next-level integration capabilities, Blink puts information and resources in one easy-access location. You provide a friction-free, user-friendly interface that your employees enjoy using.
Technology streamlines work – and keeps employees in the loop. Just be sure to choose tools suited to both frontline and desk-based workers, and accessible for those with a company email or without. In doing so, you create an equitable working environment and raise the engagement bar for everyone.
You can put the rumor mill out of action and adopt a more open communication style by letting information move freely between all members of your organization:
Leaders keep employees in the loop, sharing key updates and supporting workers to understand the bigger picture.
Managers have an open-door policy and regularly connect with their employees, offering feedback, updates, and – crucially – listening to what they have to say, too.
Workers are encouraged to contribute – they collaborate with each other and feel comfortable raising issues and ideas with decision-makers
So how do you make this kind of communication a reality within your manufacturing organization?
Firstly, you need the right communication channels. These should be suited to your way of working and link every member of the workforce. In a large, modern workplace, a noticeboard crammed with paper memos simply won’t cut it.
Secondly, leaders need to leave egos at the door. Open communication means sometimes hearing things you don’t want to hear. Remember that negative feedback is often more valuable than good as it highlights areas for improvement. And encourage managers to lead by example.
Lastly, bear in mind that open communication can be taught. So train employees in information sharing, active listening, empathy, and teamwork. Teach them which communication channels are the most appropriate – and how often they should be using them.
3. Translation capabilities
Most manufacturing organizations have a diverse, multinational workforce. And many frontline employees don’t speak English as a first language. So if you’re not already translating company comms, this is a really easy way to boost employee engagement across the board.
Resources, information, and internal communication should be available in the languages your workforce speaks. That way everyone receives the same message and enjoys equal access to information. This also eliminates the bottleneck that managers create, having to be the translator themselves and spending their hours on managing the communication channels that their employees don’t have access to.
For example,The Blink app supports over 100 languages. Contributors can translate posts and resources at the click of a button, making all of your content accessible to everyone on your team, regardless of the language they prefer to use.
With effective, accurate translation, you get everyone on the same page – and include everyone in your company culture.
4. Recognition programs
Recognition makes employees feel valued. When you appreciate and reward employees who go above and beyond, you motivate them and inspire other employees to follow suit.
So when an employee hits a professional or personal milestone, when someone highlights a safety issue before it becomes a hazard, or when a team consistently meets their targets, give them the public recognition they deserve. And encourage co-workers to praise one another, too.
You can give recognition in company meetings, on the blog, or in the newsletter. Or ensure you reach every member of staff with recognition updates by using a digital solution like Blink.
With Blink’s recognition feature, you can post instant, personalized messages to highlight staff achievements. You add a recognition post to the company news feed and start building recognition into your company culture in just a few clicks.
Praise goes a long way. But you may also like to consider perks and prizes. Gift vouchers, an extra paid day’s leave, or a catered team lunch can all incentivize your teams. For manufacturing firm, JFE Shoji Power, sweepstake competition prizes helped them to fill overtime shifts.
But before you put a reward program into place, survey your staff. Find out what they really want in terms of recognition and reward. That way your recognition program stands to make the most impact.
5. Opportunities for advancement
It’s not just your office-based team who are keen to advance in their careers. 70% of frontline employees have applied for advancement opportunities. But this group doesn’t always get the resources or support they need to move up the career ladder.
When you’re looking to improve employee engagement in a manufacturing organization, allowing all employees to learn and advance within their roles is crucial. It gives employees something to work towards and feel excited about. And it makes them much more invested in doing a good job.
There are lots of things you can do to support career growth.
Map out clear career goals with employees, offering training and mentor support to help them achieve them
Give workers more responsibility during the standard work day, encouraging them to take ownership and make decisions where appropriate
Cross-train and rotate jobs to bring variety to an employee’s workplace experience
Ensure everyone is aware of training and career opportunities within your organization, highlighting typical career pathways and the perks of promotion
6. Regular, two-way feedback
As we mentioned earlier, open communication is an important part of employee engagement. You can facilitate this type of interaction by providing regular opportunities for two-way feedback.
Regular 1-to-1s between employees and managers help to maintain open lines of communication. These meetings are an opportunity to align goals, resolve conflicts, and identify areas for development.
Crucially, employees get the chance to raise queries and issues, too. They can provide insight into the manufacturing employee experience and any challenges they’re currently facing.
Just remember, this type of interaction needs to take place regularly, not just once or twice a year. To build trusting, open relationships, you need to build this type of communication into every single week.
That means managers spending time on the factory floor, seeing for themselves what excites, challenges, and frustrates workers. It means creating impromptu feedback opportunities. And it means using digital solutions to make feedback and communication easy, even when managers and workers aren’t based in the same location.
7. Create a safe environment
The manufacturing industry in the US has some of the highest rates of occupational injury and illness. But you don’t get high rates of manufacturing employee engagement unless staff feel safe at work.
When employees feel safe:
They can focus on their work
They feel a greater sense of morale
They feel valued and supported
They trust in workplace leadership
Prioritize workplace safety and you also create a virtuous circle. Safe environments lead to better employee engagement. And engaged employees help to improve workplace safety going forward. There are 70% fewer safety incidents in the most engaged workplace environments than there are in the least.
Leaders and managers should regularly reassess the safety performance of equipment and protective wear. Careful plant design can help to mitigate safety risks, while clear risk assessment and safety protocols help workers identify and rectify issues before they lead to a safety incident.
But workplace safety isn’t just about having the right equipment and protocols. It’s about fostering a company culture with safety at its core.
To do this, you need psychological safety in addition to physical safety. This is where people feel safe voicing their opinions because they’re not worried about being judged, blamed, or punished.
Give employees a sense of psychological safety – and the right communication tools – and they’ll be more likely to report safety issues. Digital tools, rather than pen and paper methods, help safety information to travel both ways, reaching decision-makers and factory floor workers quickly.
8. Invest in training and onboarding
Manufacturing processes are prone to change. Employees need to keep their knowledge of tech and equipment, as well as their skills, up-to-date. This helps to create a safe environment for everyone working on the manufacturing team. And it boosts employee engagement, too.
71% of manufacturing employees say that training and development is important to them in their work life
35% say they aren’t getting the quality of training and development they expect
28% said they would leave their employer soon because of poor training and skills development
Onboarding is not to be overlooked either. When new hires start working for a company, there’s lots to learn. Safety protocols. How to use equipment. Company values. Who they can turn to for feedback and support.
Some organizations, lacking manpower, don’t put enough time and effort into onboarding. But this is where you lay the foundations of employee experience. And it can make or break an employee’s engagement with your firm.
You can maximize onboarding benefits without spreading their staff too thin, with the help of a digital onboarding process.
Employees access guides, rules, and resources via the company portal. They can refer back to resources as and when they need them. It’s also easy for your teams to update resources with the most up-to-date information.
Managers and co-workers can then supplement this online learning with face-to-face input ensuring a positive experience for new employees.
9. Implement employee surveys
You can never really be sure how your staff are feeling unless you ask. So before you implement an employee engagement strategy for your manufacturing organization, it makes sense to conduct surveys.
As well as listening to employee concerns during manager 1-to-1s, surveys allow employees to give feedback on specific aspects of their role and on what they feel could be better within the organization.
Follow up with a regular schedule of surveys and you build a complete picture of the employee experience:
Annual surveys give you insight into employee engagement progress
Quick and easy pulse surveys give you an up-to-the-minute snapshot of employee sentiment
Lifecycle surveys help you understand the challenges facing employees at each stage in their journey
To get feedback from as many employees as possible, you need to communicate openly. Tell employees about the insights your surveys have uncovered. And share your plan for acting upon their feedback as well as any results.
By engaging employees in every stage of the feedback process, they’re much more likely to respond next time you send out a survey request.
You’ve read the tips. Now get some real-life inspiration! Aggregate Industries has already put these employee engagement tips into action. Find out how this manufacturing firm improved digital engagement across their frontline with Blink. Watch the webinar now.
In conclusion
In manufacturing, employee engagement can be transformational. When you improve the employee experience, you improve product quality, workplace safety, and customer service. You also find it easier to attract and retain staff in a tough labor market.
In an engaged workplace, information flows between all members of your workforce. Work is more meaningful thanks to clear company values and a sense of the bigger picture. Employees are empowered to do their best work, every day.
Getting to this point may feel like a challenge, particularly if you haven’t given much thought to employee engagement up to this point. But it’s a lot easier to make engagement improvements when you harness the power of technology.
With the help of a mobile-first employee app, you connect every employee, from your HQ office to the factory floor, regardless of their access to a company email or not. You can conduct surveys, give recognition, and provide easy-access training resources. You can translate information into a variety of languages.
Get an employee app on your team and you’ll find it easy to reach and engage every member of staff, whatever their preferred language and whatever their role.
New employee journey maps can take time to develop. But when adding more smiley faces isn’t enough, how do you get an employee journey map to work better for your organization?
The concept of employee experience maps has been gaining traction as a way to boost employee engagement and improve your onboarding process.
The template follows a pretty straightforward path from hiring, through training, and eventually exiting, but it’s the way you use these maps that makes them valuable.
You know your workers will have training at a particular stage, but how helpful is it? Do you see an increase in turnover at any stage? These are the types of questions your employee journey maps should help you answer.
Why use an employee journey map?
An employee journey map can be a helpful tool for improving the employee lifecycle. This concept visualizes the entire employee experience through your organization, from onboarding until their last day.
There are a few different ways to name each stage of the journey, but every employee experience map follows the same basic flow:
Recruitment and hiring
Onboarding
Engaging and training
Development
Progress and performance
Exit or offboarding
These employee journey touchpoints describe the main stages a worker might be at within the company.
You can track the average time it takes to complete each step, assign different training and feedback for different stages, and look for patterns within your journey maps.
An employee journey map can help with engagement as you can better address the needs and concerns a worker will have by knowing where they stand in the organization.
Making the most of this tool will help you actually get some use from it.
How to make a better employee experience journey map
Don’t worry. Not all good employee experience journey maps lead to Manchester. They just have to lead to happier workers.
Whether you already use an employee journey map template or are just starting to look into the idea, there are some steps you can take to make your maps work better.
They are the following:
Create different maps for different roles. The map for a frontline manager will look different from a warehouse worker, with different training and onboarding for each position. Depending on your organization, you may need a few maps or a few dozen.
Analyze your employee journey maps and look for patterns. Do many employees have trouble at the same part of the training? That may become more obvious when you compare maps and visualize the issue at hand.
The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows an average tenure of 4.1 years, and 22% of workers had been with their current employer for a year or less.
Looking up industry-specific numbers can help you further pinpoint areas to focus on when planning out your journey maps.
Time feedback to the stage in the journey your employee is at. Look for onboarding feedback while the process is still fresh in their mind.
Provide appropriate feedback to your employees as well. Let them know how they’ve improved after training, or likewise what they could concentrate a bit more on.
Remember, journey maps are a tool that can help predict how an employee’s experience will look, but it’s not set in stone. There can be unexpected events that change their journey map.
Like a global pandemic that reduced working hours by 17.3% in 2020. Most of us are still trying to get back on track after that one.
Make sure your organization learns from the tool. These aren’t coloring book pages for employees to fill in while HR processes their paperwork. Learn from them.
Did you know only 12% of employees strongly agree their company did a good job at onboarding?
Using an employee journey map, you can analyze your new hires at this stage and see why they might feel that way.
Wrapping up — Making employee journey maps better for your workers
Employee journey mapping is one of those tools with lots of potential. It can help you improve different processes in your organization, increase employee engagement, and create an easy-to-follow workflow for various roles.
Or you can spend an entire quarter making everyone fill these in and then promptly lose them in a subfolder that was last opened three years ago.
Just keep in mind that creating an employee journey map is the first step. You also need to make it easy to access for employees and have them provide feedback.
