How to Engage Gen Z With Employee Communications

A record 50.5 million people living in America quit their jobs in 2022 — and a further 40% of US employees considered leaving their jobs. Organizations need to step things up a notch if they want to start engaging both their desk-based and frontline staff.

The good news is there are many employee engagement strategies, tactics, and ideas you can implement to turn around the situation. The 12 strategies we discuss in this guide will help you create an engaging workplace experience and drive employee engagement for both desk-based and frontline employees.

Frontline Employee Engagement in 2024

Blink created this guide after working with hundreds of frontline organizations. Now, these insights can help other leaders prepare for a year that promises both challenge and opportunity.

Download to learn more: The top eight frontline engagement trends to watch out for and the six key strategies for success

A quick recap: what is employee engagement?

Employee engagement is the ongoing process of ensuring your workforce feels:

• Emotionally connected to their job, coworkers, and organization as a whole
• Satisfied with their job role and function
• Aligned with your company’s values
• Able to give 100% during work hours

Industry statistics cite employee engagement as a key factor in employee satisfaction, retention, and even company profitability. Employee engagement should be a number one priority for businesses globally — and yet, as of 2023, only 23% of employees globally are engaged.

You can use a number of methods to measure employee engagement levels in your business. Think surveys, metrics, and other engagement KPIs that will help determine how motivated, satisfied, and fulfilled your employees are in their work.

Remember, employee engagement is often the byproduct of a great employee experience. If you provide a fulfilling, enjoyable, and inspiring workplace experience, you enable and encourage engagement.

With this in mind, you need to tailor and adapt your employee engagement strategies to meet the needs of different types of employees, including frontline workers. This will make their overall experience positive and rewarding.

The foundations of effective employee engagement strategies

Engaged employees can be your greatest business asset. They are more focused and committed than disengaged workers, encourage their coworkers, and positively impact your bottom line.

But improving employee engagement is not about what you do. It’s about what you are as an organization, the culture you cultivate, and the values that you live by.

So before we jump into the employee engagement strategies, it’s important to look at the key values of employee engagement that form the foundation for those strategies. Those core values are:

Respect

Respect is an essential consideration for all your high-level decisions about managing employees. For your workers to be engaged at work, they should be able to trust that they are being treated with fairness and respect.  

So how do you convey this in your processes and policies? You pay competitive wages, allow enough breaks, listen to their ideas, and formally recognize excellent performance and value-abiding behaviors.

Transparency

If your employees aren’t aware of anything about your organization that’s beyond their scope of work or immediate team, you can’t blame them for feeling like an outsider. Sooner or later, they’ll feel isolated and disengaged.

Being in the loop doesn’t just help them do their jobs in a better way, but also makes them feel like they belong. So it’s essential to communicate openly and regularly with all your employees.

The more transparent your communication, the higher level of trust you’ll build with your workers. And the more comfortable they’ll feel sharing their thoughts and concerns, which brings us to the next pillar of employee engagement.

Two-way communication

Most organizations follow a top-down approach to employee communication in which frontline employees hardly ever have a say. But these workers often have the best insights because they work directly with customers day in and day out.

So one of the best values to nurture and cultivate for high employee engagement is two-way communication. Give your workers ample opportunities to raise their voice and share what they think. Then act on this feedback to take your employee engagement to the next level.

12 actionable employee engagement strategies

Here are 12 employee engagement strategies & tactics you can implement today:

1. Foster co-worker relationships

When employees have friendly relationships with immediate team members and other people in the organization, they are more likely to enjoy the day-to-day.

Workplace relationships don’t just help with networking, they also provide the guidance and motivation a worker needs to succeed in their role. And creating opportunities to build and nurture these connections is one of the best employee engagement strategies.

Co-workers don’t always cross paths throughout the working day — especially in frontline organizations. It might be up to you to encourage better intra-department connections through organized events. You could create a program to encourage workers to collaborate, socialize, or train each other on the parts of the job that they know best.

Workers from different departments can connect, share notes, and exchange best practices. This way, they can also try out a recently learned skill or explore different options they might want to pursue in the future.

In fact, there are many cases in which employees consider leaving their organization to pursue a different career path. This program will help you facilitate the lateral moving of an employee to a different department, so they aren’t forced to look elsewhere. This way you hit two goals with one stone: high employee engagement and better employee retention.

2. Have a thorough onboarding process

Onboarding is essential for setting the right tone and expectations when a new employee joins your team.

As the statistics in the video above highlight, around 20% of new hires leave in the first seven weeks of employment, but organizations with a strong onboarding process have improved retention rates by 82%.

A strong onboarding experience is achieved by:

1. Making sure your onboarding process covers not only organizational policies, but also the company’s core values, mission, and vision
2. Giving your new employees mobile access to relevant materials and resources to learn from, and encouraging all employees to provide their feedback
3. Acknowledging the importance of connection during onboarding. Introduce new hires to their team members, leadership, and coworkers. For a dispersed workforce, this can be done by ensuring your employees have the right digital tools and channels to connect from wherever they are

A sense of belonging from day one is integral in order to improve employee engagement — particularly for the frontline, where 80% of workers feel they have few connection opportunities at work.

See how Go North West is using Blink to make new team members feel part of the organization right from day one.

3. Rethink physical spaces

Frontline employees power the global workforce. With no central break room or day-to-day opportunities for office chat, dispersed workers can become increasingly disconnected from the rest of the organization.

While team building and other social events may be organized with the best of intentions, they often miss the mark for frontline workers, putting more pressure on employees instead of providing a channel for enthusiastic engagement.

If you’re a frontline leader, you need to rethink your social spaces and channels to meet the engagement expectations of all your employees. This might mean creating dedicated digital channels, Feeds, or groups for frontline workers who would otherwise never have a chance to interact.

Deliberately creating space for accessible social interaction can help build relationships, increase engagement, and create an environment of inclusion and positivity throughout your organization.

4. Clarify career pathways

Results of a recent Frontiers report show that:

1. Career growth has a positive impact on knowledge workers’ organizational engagement
2. Career goal progress and professional ability development promote job engagement
3. Career growth has a positive effect on affective commitment, which in turn influences employee engagement.

If you can make workers feel that they can advance their careers without leaving your company, you’ll see a big boost in employee engagement. Workers at every level of your company should be able to view a clear-cut career path ahead and the map to follow that path.  

So when formulating employee engagement strategies for your company, see how you can help workers get in complete control of their careers. The more assured they are about achieving their future goals, the more engaged you’ll find them to be.

How to accomplish this? Take your workers’ input on where they see themselves in the future. Here’s a career development plan template that might come in useful, as you do.

When you empower employees to take charge of their goal setting in alignment with team objectives, they’ll be more invested in working hard to hit those goals. And they won’t need tight schedules to do the same, leading to an improvement in overall satisfaction.

5. Provide training and learning opportunities

Helping workers learn new skills and investing in their professional development is crucial to their engagement.

In fact, 35% of millennial employees (who also make up around 35% of the US workforce) said they were attracted to employers who offer excellent training and development programs for this reason and saw it as the top benefit they wanted from an employer.

There are many measures you can take to facilitate employee education:

• Conduct online workshops that support employees’ learning goals
• Make educational content easily accessible through a central repository
• Provide reimbursements for courses workers enroll in

When you invest in employees’ learning and development, you are sending a message that your company is committed to them for the long term. And this demonstration of commitment makes them far more likely to give their 100% on the job.

6. Clear and consistent communication

Dispersed staff need a tool that allows them to interact with each other as if they were in the same room. This is key for breaking down barriers, unifying teams, and working productively, no matter where your team is located.

Secure 1-1 and Group Chats, a News Feed for communicating organizational updates, and team or departmental channels are all essential.

At Blink, communication is part of our culture and we are strong believers in its power. This is something that you must emphasize too if you wish to engage your employees. When you build a culture of trust and open communication, you help create an environment of transparency, respect, and collaboration.

You also need to make sure your team members are able to communicate with each other. Every team member should be aware of the communication channels that the organization uses and how to use them.

As leaders, don’t forget your own role in communication, either. Simply providing employees the channels to communicate and actually engaging employees through these channels are two different things.

To ensure a clear and consistent communication strategy, consider:

1. Frequent News Feed updates to keep team members in the loop
2. Regularly scheduled 1-1s and ongoing two-way feedback loops
3. Targeted posts in group chats and forums for sharing ideas and gaining insights
4. Frequent Employee Recognition or shoutouts in the company channels

7. Improve internal branding

When someone asks where they work, your workers can feel absolute pleasure, cold apathy, or even disdain or embarrassment answering that question. It all depends on your company’s reputation inside and outside the premises.  

Money is undoubtedly a strong motivator, but employees also want to feel proud of where they work. The strength of your organization’s brand and what it stands for is directly related to your workers’ level of engagement.

That makes internal branding one of the most crucial employee engagement strategies. It means you need to ensure that your workers understand, support, and feel connected to your mission, vision, and values. The more convinced they are of what your brand stands for, the more likely they are to emulate behaviors that speak to the same values.

The supermarket chain Trader Joe’s is a great example. It has designed a fun and quirky environment for both workers and customers, with the workers conveying its brand values through different aspects of their job. The way they name products, design signage, décorate the store, and interact with customers — everything aligns with the Trader Joe’s brand.

The checkout process is just as warm, friendly, and casual. Workers display enthusiasm and a genuine desire to help with their feedback and expertise on the products.  

This goes on to show that when done correctly, internal branding can create a virtuous cycle. It will attract workers who love your brand, who will further communicate their passion to your customers and partners, thereby enhancing the brand and attracting more top talent.  

8. Encourage diversity and inclusion

D&I initiatives are crucial to the overall employee experience, making them a great place to focus your efforts for improving engagement levels. Research by ADP states:

“Studies have shown that employees who are satisfied with their organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I) are twice as engaged as dissatisfied employees. Changeboard adds that diverse and inclusive organizations work 12% harder, are 19% more likely to stay longer with the organization, and collaborate 57% more effectively with peers.”

What does this look like in action? Bentley University highlights some key actions that can help you better promote diversity in the workplace, including to:

1. Address implicit bias: Make sure everyone in the company, starting with your C-suite and leadership teams, is aware of their unconscious bias and take proactive steps to address it
2. Acknowledge intersectionality: D&I initiatives must not ignore or sidestep the fact that all individuals have nuanced social identities and backgrounds that can confer or deny privilege in accordance with cultural norms
3. Invest in Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Investing in ERGs, or affinity groups that provide social support for employees with shared backgrounds, interests, and/or experiences is one of the most effective ways to ensure diversity initiatives remain top-of-mind
4. Offer mentorship programs: Mentorships encourage both personal and professional growth, and provide a pipeline for leadership development. For groups with fewer role models in senior positions, mentorship can be crucial to cultivating diverse leadership
5. Communicate with transparency: Be open and transparent about the goals of your D&I initiatives. Communicate progress towards achieving measurable objectives, ensure everyone is informed about key developments in the initiative, and most importantly, be open to feedback from all employees on how you can improve it

In addition to these diversity strategies, every segment and every department of your organization must also feel included to foster true D&I and, in turn, boost engagement.

In fact, studies show that belonging is one of the most powerful predictors of D&I efficacy in the workforce. Organizations with high levels of belonging also have higher employee net promoter scores (eNPS), which are correlated with higher engagement levels.

Frontline workers can experience the very opposite. Warehouse workers, for example, are typically secluded from other employees — and that goes double if they work the night shift as well. If a frontline worker continues to feel left out, then their engagement is likely to suffer. It’s crucial that you take the necessary steps to ensure that everyone has a sense of belonging and inclusion, starting with your frontline employees.

9. Survey, listen, and act

Your employees all have improvements they’d make to their roles, whether it’s a better work-life balance, tools that they can actually use in their roles, or more contact with management. You need to collect these insights — and act on them — to keep your employees engaged long-term.

An employee engagement survey can help you gain this valuable feedback from workers. An employee survey gives you insights into employees’ opinions, attitudes, and experiences — and you can use this data to identify areas for action.

You can also use surveys to recognize areas of improvement and understand what makes employees proud of their work.

Make sure you follow through on survey results with actions that address the employee feedback provided. Additionally, keep your workers in the loop with regular updates on progress and changes made as a result of their input. This will help build trust between your team and management, and demonstrate your commitment to employee engagement.

10. Recognize and reward

Rewards and recognition are essential for employee engagement. In fact, one 2022 Harvard Business Review study found that when an employee says their manager is great at recognizing them, then that employee is 40+% more engaged than those with managers who were not.

Recognition is an effective way to keep employees motivated. It also reinforces the behaviors you want more of in your organization.

For example, if you want to encourage team collaboration, reward teams that work together on a project or present a unified front during client meetings. If you need increased productivity, recognize employees who go above and beyond to get the job done.

Remember, rewards don’t have to be expensive or elaborate. Digital recognition tools or Kudos are both an effective and cost-effective way to show appreciation for your team’s hard work.

11. Provide incentives and perks

While closely related to your rewards and recognition schemes, incentives and perks work slightly differently. Typically, incentives are used to elicit a particular action from your employees. For instance, you might offer bonus pay for completing a project before the deadline or reaching certain on-the-job targets.

Unlike as-and-when recognition and rewards that react to a job well done, with ongoing incentives, workers will often know what they will get for completing the challenge ahead of time, and exactly what is required in order to receive that incentive.

Perks are more general benefits that make working in your organization more desirable. Some basic examples could include flexible work hours, subsidized gym memberships, and free snacks or coffee. You really need to get more creative than this, however, if you want to provide perks that your employees really want.

For example, factors such as compensation, growth through promotion, paid training, and high-value traditional benefits have the largest impact on frontline employee preferences when choosing a new role. However, employers do not value the same factors, according to the same research by McKinsey. The study states:

“When it comes to growth-oriented attributes, employers tend to emphasize a higher job title (among the bottom five attributes for frontline employees) over job growth and learning opportunities (both top-five attributes), which may help explain why frontline employees cite a lack of employer-provided development opportunities as a primary barrier to their advancement.”

To align your company perks with the needs of your frontline workers, you should consider providing opportunities for a yearly raise or promotion, advanced learning and employee development opportunities, and ongoing upskilling.

12. Implement employee engagement tech with analytics tools

Analytics are essential for a successful employee engagement strategy. With the right engagement analytics tools, you can gain insights into how employees are engaging with company messages, what topics they’re most interested in, and how to best tailor future activities to their needs.

For example, use feedback or survey tools on mobile devices to collect real-time data from employees. This data can then be analyzed to reveal the most critical areas of focus for your engagement strategy.

You can also use dedicated analytics features to tailor specific messages or activities that best meet the needs of individual employees. This helps you create a more personalized, effective experience for workers and drive more meaningful engagement within your organization.

Using technology to monitor employee engagement is also one of the best ways to ensure that initiatives are tied directly to overall business objectives. Analytics help you understand if there are any engagement gaps that you need to fill.

Are there certain teams that consistently fail to engage with your content, for example? Tracking open rates, comments, will help you identify any disengaged teams or employees, so that you can work to address and improve their experience.

How to create an employee engagement strategy

Set goals

You need goals that are specific and measurable when creating a successful employee engagement strategy. This provides the foundation for your efforts, ensures everyone is on the same page, and helps you assess progress along the way.

Identify your issues

Once you have established your goals, determine what obstacles stand between you and achieving those objectives. Communication issues, lack of motivation, or a disconnected team can all put your progress at risk. Knowing what might stand in your way will help you tailor activities to your organization’s needs and develop solutions that are relevant and effective.

Build your plan

Next, you need to create a plan of action for achieving your engagement goals. You should include activities such as tailored employee surveys, tech and communication refreshes, and analytics implementation in this plan.

Analyze and adjust

Finally, track the progress of your employee engagement efforts with analytics tools and review how well they worked. Adjust activities based on the findings, and move forward with more tailored initiatives.

Why your employee engagement strategy might fail

Not listening to feedback

If you don’t listen to what your employees are telling you, then your engagement activities will be misguided and ineffective. You need to respond quickly and effectively to feedback in order to ensure that your initiatives meet their needs.

Not having the right tools

Communication and engagement tools are essential in today’s workplace, and even more so if you want an engaged workforce. Without the right tools, you won’t be able to track progress or employee engagement scores accurately — let alone ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Plus, if your tools aren’t fit for mobile, you will be missing out on the chance to engage with your key employees when they are on the move.

Not having leadership buy-in

Employee engagement strategies rely on strong leadership support. Without it, your initiatives can easily be overlooked or deprioritized as other programs take precedence. Make sure that your leadership is involved and invested in the process to ensure success.

But who are your most engaged allies?

How would greater employee engagement help them meet their targets?

How do you bring the opportunity to life for your wider leadership team?

What are the risks they’ll ask you about, so that you can prepare in advance?

We cover this and more in our essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience.  

Not communicating effectively

Employee engagement strategies only work when teams are communicating effectively. Invest time into making sure that communication channels are clear and regularly updated with relevant content so that everyone can stay in the loop.

Final thoughts

No one wants employee disengagement. It’s costly and damaging to morale. Plus, disengaged workers make errors at a 60% higher rate.

But still, many companies turn a blind eye to the issue. They wait to take concrete action and implement employee engagement strategies until things get out of hand.

The good news is that improving employee engagement is both possible and measurable. You need the right steps, the right engagement tools, and serious execution. So take a good look at your present culture and see which of these strategies will be a good start for you.

Remember, your company is a community. And communities prosper only when every member and segment feels valued, trusted, and respected.

Blink is an internal communications tool that can help take your employee engagement to new heights.

Request a free demo to get started.

This article is part of Blink’s “frontline first” series: content created specifically for leaders of deskless or distributed teams. We know that the job of frontline leadership is entirely different from managing ‘desk-based’ teams, so this is for you and your unique set of challenges.

It's somehow nearly the end of 2022, which means it's high time to start looking ahead to the year ahead.

For leaders in frontline organizations, this can be more than a little daunting. After two years of challenges caused by the pandemic and the Great Resignation, the looming prospect of a recession promises yet more adapting and innovating in order to survive and thrive.

So we'd like to help.

After working with hundreds of frontline organizations, we've created a short guide that breaks down the core principles to building a stable and successful frontline workforce for 2023 and beyond.

You can download a copy for free here or by clicking on the image below - we hope you find it useful and inspirational as you look to the new year.

Good internal communication is the glue that holds organizations together. It keeps everyone informed, aligned, and connected — helping employees understand company priorities and feel part of a shared purpose.

In 2026, internal communication involves more than noticeboards and scattered email threads. Organizations with hybrid or frontline teams need modern internal communication platforms like Blink to connect employees, simplify updates, and enable easy collaboration. 

A successful internal communication strategy includes all communication types: top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer. These channels work together to connect employees and ensure information flows throughout your organization.

For larger or dispersed teams, achieving this can feel like a tall order. But with the right internal communication software, even global workforces can stay connected and engaged.

Luckily, many new tools and platforms can help your company improve communication. 

So, which platforms are worth your investment? 
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Types of internal communication tools and platforms

Before diving into specific providers, it helps to understand the main types of internal communication software shaping the modern workplace in 2026.

The most effective organizations use a combination of these tools — or a single employee experience platform like Blink, which combines many of these functions into a single mobile-first solution.

Instant messaging tools

Internal communication isn’t just top-down. Co-worker collaboration tools keep conversations flowing across teams and locations by enabling quick information sharing, file exchange, and informal social connections.

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Advantages:

• A communication tool that allows employees to chat and share information (along with emojis and GIFs)
• Most instant messaging tools are available on both desktop and mobile
• Messaging tools can be used for communication between co-workers, but also for information-sharing between leadership and employees

Best tools: Blink, Slack, Jive, Workvivo

Emails and newsletters

Digital newsletters have always been great for sharing essential company updates. Modern tools enhance this channel with templates, analytics, and branded content delivery.

Best tools: ContactMonkey, Axero, Poppulo, Staffbase

Audio and video conferencing tools

Rewind a decade and video conferencing probably wouldn’t be one of the top staff communication tools on your list. Today, however, in a world of remote and hybrid teams, video conferencing tools are a workplace essential. They allow employees to talk face-to-face, even when they’re not based in the same office.Now a workplace essential, these tools make remote and hybrid meetings seamless — from one-to-one calls to company-wide events.

Best tools: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams

Employee recognition center

Recognition platforms reward effort and build engagement by blending social recognition with tangible rewards to boost morale and employee retention.

Best tools: Blink, Bonusly, Unily

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Employee engagement and surveys

Engage your employees and you experience countless benefits, including improved productivity, customer loyalty, and profitability. But if you really want to improve employee engagement, you need to measure it.

Employee surveys and feedback forms are an essential part of any internal communication toolkit. They support bottom-up communication and give you valuable insight into how employees really feel about working for your firm.

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Best tools: Blink, SurveyMonkey, Bonusly, Qualtrics

Company news feed

A private, social-style feed alerts employees to company updates and important cultural moments.

Best tools: Blink, Workvivo, Staffbase, Happeo

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Project management

Project management platforms keep work visible, accountable, and collaborative.

Best tools: Asana, monday.com

Intranet

Evolving beyond traditional intranets, these tools now enable engagement, two-way communication, and document collaboration.

Best tools: Blink, Simpplr, Happeo, Unily

Employee communication app

Mobile-first employee communication apps centralize updates, messaging, and engagement features — ideal for hybrid and frontline teams.

Best tools: Blink, Workvivo

Employee experience platform

These top-tier employee experience platforms offer a user-friendly way to access messaging, news, surveys, recognition programs, and HR functions.

These platforms go beyond communication — supporting onboarding, engagement, and culture-building.

Best tools: Blink, Workvivo, Staffbase

The takeaway:

Modern internal communication relies on an integrated ecosystem or a unified platform like Blink, which simplifies your tech stack and enhances workforce connection.

Blink serves as a mobile-first communication app, a modern intranet, a recognition tool, and a complete employee experience platform. That agility makes it ideal for companies looking to streamline their technology and boost employee engagement.

20 best internal communication tools

Ready to find the right comms solution for your organization? Take a look at our round-up of the best internal communication tools for 2025.

1. Blink

Blink is a modern internal communication tool and employee experience platform that brings together messaging, news, surveys, recognition, and analytics into a single mobile-first solution. It’s designed for organizations that want to improve communication, engagement, and access to information across both desk-based and frontline teams.

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As a mobile-first internal communication platform, Blink’s unified interface lets teams share updates, message peers, and access essential workplace applications in real time, without a corporate email address — no matter their location.

Unlike single-purpose messaging apps, Blink functions as an all-in-one internal communication software, combining collaboration and employee engagement tools in one place.

Features like pulse surveys, recognition, and content personalization enable two-way communication and make company-wide updates more meaningful.

Blink also includes social-style communication features — such as Stories, Communities, and a personalized news feed — that make information sharing intuitive and engaging. Built-in analytics help leaders understand message reach, engagement trends, and content effectiveness.

Pros

• Unified internal communication toolset: Blink combines chat, news, surveys, recognition, and analytics.
• Mobile-first accessibility: It works on smartphones and desktops, and doesn`t require a company email.
• Personalized communication: Blink’s audience segmentation and employee journeys ensure targeted updates.
• Seamless integrations: Connects with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, HRIS, and scheduling tools.
• Data-driven insights: The analytics dashboards measure communication performance and engagement.

Cons

• The search functionality could benefit from more advanced filtering and refinement options.

Pricing

Pricing is available on request

Use Cases

• Strengthening culture and alignment through data-informed communication strategies
• Connecting hybrid and frontline teams with one internal communication platform
• Centralizing all company messages, tools, and resources in a single hub

Improving engagement through interactive multimedia content

2. Asana

Asana is a well-known project management tool and, if you use it, you’re in good company. Around 85% of Fortune 100 companies say they use Asana.

With this workplace communication platform, you can create, prioritize, and allocate tasks. You can view tasks in timeline, board, and list formats — and track your progress toward milestones.

The visual format makes it easy to see which tasks your team needs to complete first. And the process of identifying and remedying project bottlenecks becomes much easier too.

Pros

• A free version that supports 10 members and comes with unlimited storage, tasks, and messages
• A clean, intuitive interface and a comprehensive selection of project and task management tools
• Comes with a mobile app so employees can keep of track of projects on the go
• Good integration with third-party tools

Cons

• A high volume of email notifications can be frustrating for users
• One of the more expensive project management solutions available
• The mobile experience pales in comparison to the desktop experience
• Collaboration tools aren’t as extensive and effective as those of other project management tools on the market

Pricing

Monthly pricing for Asana starts at a basic free plan. A business plan costs $24.99 per user per month when billed annually.

Use cases

• Giving remote teams the tools they need to manage projects effectively
• Cross-team collaboration
• Status updates and reporting — leaders can view dashboards and reports to stay informed of project progress.

3. Jive

Jive is a community-building communication tool that you can use for top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer connection. Team members can share photos, videos, documents, status updates, and blog posts. They can also decide whether their post gets seen by one team member, a specific group, or the whole organization.

Another great feature of Jive is its People Directory. Here, employees can search for co-workers they want to connect with, based on their skills, endorsements, and favorite activities.

Pros

• Jive is an all-purpose business communication tool
• Supports personalized news updates
• Provides a single inbox so employees can manage all company communications and conversations in one place

Cons

• Jive has a complicated interface and a cluttered layout that can be difficult for users to understand and navigate
• Limited integrations with the other workplace tools you use
• Some users say the Jive mobile app is slow and clunky with lackluster features

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Creating a centralized hub for updates and document sharing
• Personalizing company updates to make them more relevant and engaging
• Giving employees the tools they need to interact with leadership, managers, and coworkers

4. Zoom

Zoom is often listed as one of the most reliable video conferencing platforms. It offers excellent audio and visual quality, even when internet connection is patchy, and it’s really easy to use.

You can record meetings, direct meeting participants to breakout rooms, and make use of a meeting annotation function. Zoom offers a range of other useful features too, including an online whiteboard and virtual working spaces (known as Zoom Huddles). 

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Can run small one-to-one meetings, large conferences, and anything in between
• Advanced features include breakout rooms and webinar hosting

Cons

• Zoom can be expensive for larger teams, with add-ons needed for meetings of more than 500 participants

Pricing

A Pro plan, for up to 99 users, costs $15.99 per user per month. A Business Plan, for up to 250 users and with a greater range of features, costs $21.99 per user per month.

Use cases

• Running live meetings and webinars
• Supporting video and audio communication for hybrid and remote teams

5. Bonusly

Bonusly gives you all the tools you need to run a successful recognition program. Via an intuitive platform, employees can tag peers and congratulate them on their accomplishments. Congratulated employees earn points, which they can then use to claim their preferred reward — a gift card, cash, or a charitable donation. 

Reporting tools give leaders insight into team dynamics and patterns of recognition. It helps you to discover top performers and identify people who haven’t had any recognition in a while.

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Pros

• A user-friendly interface and next to no learning curve
• The option to tailor recognition programs to fit your culture and values
• Out-of-the-box integrations with other workplace tools including Workday, Asana, and Slack

Cons

• Limited analytics — so it can be hard for companies to understand employee engagement and recognition patterns

Pricing

Monthly pricing options for Bonusly starts at $2 per user.

Use cases

• Strengthening company culture and employee morale with regular recognition, even when employees are working remotely
• Creating a culture of peer-to-peer recognition — employees can award points and praise to their co-workers

6. Axero

Axero is an internal comms platform designed to unify teams, increase productivity, and improve workplace culture. It features mass email tools, an activity stream, a blogging platform, and instant messaging.

Using Axero, you can create a central hub for files, communications, and company updates. Collaboration features also come in handy, with space for team discussions and the option to co-edit documents.

Pros

• Axero’s customer service is responsive and helpful
• Good customization and integration options
• A comprehensive employee directory that makes it easy for staff to find and connect with co-workers

Cons

• A steep learning curve — users say that Axero can be overwhelming for beginners
• Some users say that Axero functionality lags behind that of other intranet competitors
• Limited features on the mobile version 

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Creating a single hub for news, updates, and resources
• Supporting collaboration across your company, with file sharing and team discussions
• Building a personalized employee experience, with custom dashboards tailored to the roles and departments of employees

7. ContactMonkey

ContactMonkey is one of the best newsletter platforms available. Unlike some of its competitors, ContactMonkey integrates with both Outlook and Gmail so you can send emails from and receive replies to your usual inbox.

The platform provides an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop email builder. Multiple team members can collaborate on the same email. And analytics tools help you judge which newsletter content is best engaging your workforce, so you can create more of the same.

Pros

• Employee survey tools so you can email your surveys to the workforce with ease
• Integration with Outlook and Gmail
• SMS integration that allows you to reach employees with urgent updates
• Real-time tracking and analytics — so you get insight into email open rates and click-throughs

Cons

• You can only use ContactMonkey for internal emails, not external marketing emails
• Only supports communication over email, which may not be particularly engaging or appropriate for all organizations
• Unlikely to fulfill all your internal communication needs

Pricing

Prices start from $600 per month for 500 employees. Prices for more extensive plans are available on request.

Use cases

• Engaging email and newsletter communication for employees
• Launching employee surveys to help you acquire useful feedback

8. Slack

Slack is an instant messaging tool that supports asynchronous communication. Slack works well for desk-based employees who have access to other platforms, like Google Drive. Slack doesn’t work as well for on-the-go, field-based employees, who don’t have such easy access to separate cloud storage.

People within your organization can launch chat threads, including as many or as few team members as they like. They can create threads for different projects, departments, and topics. Teams also get access to little extras, like file sharing, message search, and a task reminder function.

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Integration with a wide range of other workplace software
• Customizable notifications

Cons

• Doesn’t work well for teams who are on the go — Slack is most suited to desk-based teams
• Can be hard to find what you’re looking for across multiple chats and channels

Pricing

Slack offers a limited free plan. Paid plans start from $8.75 per user per month.

Use cases

• Ensuring real-time communication between dispersed team members
• Providing a variety of internal communication channels — including direct messages, group chats, and channels

Read more: Top Slack alternatives

9. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey has made it to our employee survey top spot for its ease of use. This employee communications platform has lots of survey templates to choose from and, if speed is your priority, lots of features that help you get employee feedback fast.

You can choose from hundreds of expert-written questions or write your own. And with the help of custom templates, you can find or create surveys for any situation, whether you want to conduct 360 reviews, find out your Net Promoter score, or seek feedback on your employee engagement efforts.

Pros

• Ease of use — SurveyMonkey has a clean, uncluttered interface that employees will enjoy using
• Using the Genius Assistant and the “build it for me” feature, you can create surveys quickly
• Excellent analytics that help you make sense of employee responses

Cons

• Limited free features
• Limited customization options, so you may struggle to create complex or specialized surveys

Pricing

Prices start from $30 per user per month.

Use cases

• Boosting employee satisfaction and engagement with the help of employee feedback
• Making it easy for your teams to launch and respond to employee surveys 

10. Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint is a file-sharing software that integrates seamlessly with the other Microsoft tools you may already use. You can create branded document libraries called sites, customizing them for document collaboration or top-down comms.

Teams get to share news, documents, and data. They can also edit documents collaboratively — setting notifications so they know when a co-worker makes changes.

Pros

• Easy integration with other Microsoft products
• Allows you to segment employees by division, giving each division its own calendar and visual timeline
• Customization options so you can build forms, workflows, and custom applications for your teams

Cons

• Not particularly user-friendly, especially on mobile
• Cost of implementation is high and adoption rates tend to be low

Pricing

A basic SharePoint plan costs $5 per user per month.

Use cases

• Project collaboration — teams can co-edit documents and manage workflows
• An easy way for desk-based teams to access company documents and resources
• Using internal announcements and newsletters to communicate with all employees

11. Monday.com

Monday.com is a project management tool that supports comms and employee engagement. You can use this internal communications software to create and assign tasks, track project progress, and create performance-tracking templates for employees.

Team members receive notifications when action is required. And an easy-to-use visual interface makes it easy to see where each project is up to at a glance.

Pros

• A comprehensive set of project management tools
• Customizable project templates to get you started
• A weekly overview so you can see tasks and project milestones you need to tackle over the next few days

Cons

• The backend of this business communication software is complicated and involves a steep learning curve
• Limited comms tools so Monday.com isn’t useful as a standalone business communication platform

Pricing

Prices start from $8 per user per month.

Use cases

• Improving project management and work collaboration
• Task and workflow automation to streamline repetitive processes

12. Workvivo

Workvivo is an intranet software company owned by Zoom. You can use this internal communication tool to improve comms, employee engagement, and recognition, too. You can also make use of multiple communication channels and employee feedback tools.

Standout features include live broadcasting tools, so you can launch live streams and podcasts. You can also create microsites, where teams and special interest groups can create their own, tailored communities.

Pros

• Strong translation abilities for multilingual organizations
• An engaging, social-media-style interface that will feel familiar to employees
• Rich communication tools including a news feed and instant messaging (available through integrations with tools like Slack, MS Teams, and Zoom meetings)

Cons

• Chat functionality on the mobile app falls behind the desktop experience
• Advanced features — including chat, Workvivo TV, and advanced analytics — are add-ons that come at an additional cost
• Admins say they want better customization options and improved third-party integrations

Pricing

Workvivo’s Business Plan starts at $20,000.

Use cases

• Creating engaging, social-media-style communications
• Ensuring internal communications move in all directions — top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer
• Opening up internal communications to deskless employees

Read more: Top Workvivo alternatives

13. Staffbase

Staffbase is an internal communication platform designed to connect and engage employees. It brings company news, messaging, and resources into one place, making it easier for you to reach your workforce — whether they’re remote, hybrid, deskless, or office-based.

With Staffbase, you can communicate over the company intranet and send emails and SMS, all from one centralized dashboard. You can also create tailored content paths so employees receive the right information at the right time.

Pros

• A great user experience across desktop and mobile versions
• Brings a range of communication and workplace functions into one location, supporting top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer conversations
• Built-in reporting so you can see how employees are using the platform and interacting with your content
• You can customize the platform so it matches the look and feel of your branding

Cons

• Some add-ons and integrations come at an additional cost
• There are few out-of-the-box features on the employee app
• Search functionality and integrations aren’t as good as they could be

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Launching employee surveys with in-built tools
• Creating a single source of truth within your organization thanks to communication channels that all workers can access
• Making comms more personal, with the option to segment your audience and deliver relevant content to different employee groups

14. Poppulo

Poppulo is an email and mobile communications software. It also provides digital signage functionality and digital tools for desk and meeting room management.

You can target messages based on location, role, or interests to cut through the noise. You can also access tools for planning and promoting internal events, like town halls and team meetings.

Pros

• Omni-channel communications, across email, SMS, intranet, and digital signage
• Drag and drop email design tools plus advanced personalization
• Strong analytics — Poppulo gives comms teams clear visibility into message performance

Cons

• Poppulo is more complex than some of the other tools on this list, so there can be quite a learning curve
• While it brings multiple communication channels together, Poppulo isn’t comprehensive enough to work as a standalone company communication system

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Enterprise email communication and analytics
• Improving the quality of email messaging with employee segmentation tools
• Managing office workspace among hybrid teams

15. Qualtrics

Qualtrics is an employee survey and feedback tool. You can use it to capture employee data via surveys and passive listening — and discover how your business is doing across metrics like intent to stay, engagement, inclusion, and wellbeing.

Surveys are easy to customize, with advanced question types and logic, while analytics and reporting tools help you turn insights into actionable strategies. 

Pros

• Flexible survey design options
• Powerful analytics and reporting capabilities
• AI tools that guide you to take action based on your employee feedback findings

Cons

• Using advanced features effectively may require training
• Qualtrics can be overly expensive for smaller businesses

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Improving employee satisfaction and engagement with the help of regular surveys
• Creating a culture of 360 feedback to improve the effectiveness of management and leadership

16. Happeo

Happeo is a Google-based intranet that provides a centralized location for all internal communications. It provides a hub for company news, documents, and collaboration tools.

Key features include a social intranet, an employee directory, and an intuitive search function. You can also use AI tools to find and fix gaps in your knowledge base. 

Pros

• Easy integration with Google Workspace tools
• Excellent search functions so it’s easy to find the people, posts, and integrated third-party apps you’re looking for
• The option to create hubs and communities based on departments, roles, and shared interests

Cons

• Limited integrations beyond the Google suite
• A web-first platform, best suited to desk-based teams

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Creating a centralized hub for updates and document sharing
• Building company culture and employee engagement
• Connecting hybrid, remote, and office-based teas

Read more: Top Happeo alternatives

17. Unily

Unily is an employee experience and internal communications tool. It provides features that support its “four cornerstones” of digital employee experience: Alignment, Engagement, Enablement, and Simplicity.

Key features include email, employee feedback, and recognition tools. You can design, sequence, and automate employee journeys so staff receive relevant information at the right time. You can also use gamification features to improve intranet engagement.

Pros

• An excellent desktop version, with an engaging and intuitive user experience
• Fine-grained controls for admins
• A good range of notifications

Cons

• Mixed opinions on Unily’s customer service and ability to support its partners
• Translating Unily’s comprehensive desktop features to mobile is a challenge for admins

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Creating channels for company-wide communications
• Boosting employee engagement with dynamic content and gamification
• Making recognition a key part of company culture

Read more: Top Unily alternatives

18. Simpplr

A comprehensive intranet platform, Simpplr supports internal communication and employee engagement. It provides a user-friendly, social-media-style interface and provides AI-driven content recommendations.

Standout features include employee listening tools, surveys, and a recognition program. There are also lots of communication channels you can use across email, SMS, a mobile app, and desktop software.

Pros

• An intuitive, uncluttered interface
• Strong analytics that make it easy to track engagement metrics and content performance
• Great search functions

Cons

• Difficult login process, with multiple links provided
• Some users say the struggle to integrate Simpplr with their preferred third-party apps
• Advanced features can be expensive

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Use cases

• Making employee feedback and listening a key part of company culture
• Creating a centralized hub for communications, resources, and community
• Bringing large organizations and distributed teams together

Read more: Top Simpplr alternatives

19. Google Meet

Google Meet is a video conferencing and virtual meeting tool. It’s integrated into Google Workspace, so it connects easily to Gmail, Calendar, and any other Google tools your team happens to use.

It’s incredibly easy to use via an internet browser so users don’t even have to download the software. This makes it one of the most accessible virtual meeting tools currently available.

Pros

• Easy to set up and use
• The ability to hold meetings with up to 1,000 participants
• Chat, emoji, and screen share functions available during meetings

Cons

• You need additional tools to fulfil all internal communication needs
• Fewer advanced features compared to Zoom and Microsoft Teams

Pricing

Prices start from $6 per user per month.

Use cases

• Virtual team meetings, webinars, and company-wide announcements
• One-on-one video meetings
• Virtual training and employee onboarding 

20. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams combines instant messaging, video conferencing, and file-sharing tools. As you’d expect, it offers the best possible integration with other Microsoft Office tech. You can use a selection of tools to create an all-round internal communication solution.

You can use Teams to run video meetings and team chats when your employees are working remotely or across different locations.

Pros

• Strong integration with other Microsoft products
• Secure communication and file sharing

Cons

• Interface isn’t particularly engaging and there are few social-media-style features
• Teams is designed for desktop use so mobile users don’t get the same user experience

Pricing

Prices start from $4 per user per month.

Use cases

• Creating digital channels for internal communication and project management
• Launching video and audio calls and sharing company-wide updates
• Bringing remote and hybrid teams together, even when they’re working in different locations

Read more: Top Teams alternatives

Choosing an internal communication tool for your frontline organization (2026)

The right choice depends on your organization’s structure, workforce, and goals — particularly if you operate with hybrid or frontline teams.

For frontline organizations, the most significant communication challenge is dispersion. To resolve this, every employee should receive critical updates and feel part of the same company culture, even if they rarely visit headquarters.

To build a sense of belonging, choose a mobile-first internal communication platform that’s user-friendly and equally accessible for all.

To identify the best fit, ask yourself these four questions when evaluating internal communication software:

#1. Is your organization office-based, or do you have deskless workers to consider?

Some internal communication tools suit desk-based teams, such as intranets designed for desktop access. However, these are often unsuitable for reaching frontline workers who rely on smartphones.

To prevent information gaps, look for mobile-first internal communication solutions that offer the same functionality across devices. A dedicated mobile app ensures equal access and engagement across every team member — no matter where they work.

#2. Do your employees have regular opportunities to connect during the workday?

Connection drives performance, and employees who feel they belong are much more engaged and productive.

The problem for frontline teams is that they often lack organic “water cooler” moments. Using internal communication tools that enable social-style interaction — such as chat, feeds, and communities — fosters real-time collaboration between field and office teams.

#3. How much time can your employees spend on internal comms each day?

As frontline employees are busy serving customers, maintaining operations, or working off-site, they need a simple and reliable communication platform. 

When evaluating tools, prioritize their ease of use, onboarding speeds, and precise message delivery.

Also check adoption rates and engagement levels as they’re powerful indicators of how smoothly a tool integrates into your daily workflow.

#4. How many internal communication goals do you want to cover?

Some platforms specialize in single functions, such as surveys, document sharing, or project management. Others, like all-in-one employee communication platforms, combine these capabilities.

To streamline your tech stack while enhancing connection and engagement, choose an internal communication tool that supports multiple channels — chat, news, surveys, recognition, and analytics — within one system.

The importance of internal communications in an organization

Every organization — frontline or otherwise — needs an effective internal communication strategy that unites employees behind the company culture and values, improves collaboration, and enhances retention.

Strong internal communication also supports:

• Company connection: When employees feel aligned with organizational goals, engagement and satisfaction rise
• Change management: Transparent communication ensures buy-in during transitions
• Problem-solving: Clear, direct messaging limits misinformation and strengthens trust
• Productivity: Employees perform best when information is easy to find and act upon

Many internal communication tools support these goals — from instant messaging and surveys to intranets and recognition platforms. For frontline teams, the right solution must be mobile-first and easy to access on the go.

The right internal communication software can transform a disconnected team into a cohesive, informed community. 

Blink shows how this works by helping companies like Go North West connect all their employees through a single digital hub.

Blink. And transform company communication with an all-in-one internal communication platform built for every worker.

Employee experience (EX) is still top of the agenda in 2025.

84% of businesses see EX as a competitive differentiator — a way to attract top talent and keep them working for your organization long into the future.

But that doesn’t mean all these organizations are getting it right. Crafting an employee experience that engages workers — and has them singing your company’s praises on workplace comparison sites — is no mean feat.

It requires a consistent approach that carries through all departments and across every employee touchpoint. And it requires a deep understanding of worker needs and expectations.

To achieve all this, a solid employee experience strategy is invaluable. This plan will guide your EX initiatives, the workplace tech you use, the company culture you strive to create, and the metrics you use to assess employee experience success.

Here, we take a look at all the ways an employee experience plan benefits your business and outline the steps you need to take to create one.

What is employee experience?

Employee experience is how employees think and feel about their workplace. 

It encompasses every touchpoint and interaction throughout the employee lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, workplace relationships, development opportunities, and the technology you expect workers to use.

Employee experience managers are responsible for shaping EX, creating the kind of company culture and workplace environment that employees enjoy spending time in.

Why every org needs an employee experience strategy

Happy employees are good for business. High levels of employee satisfaction lead to improved talent acquisition, productivity, employee engagement, and staff retention.

The benefits of EX are clear. But many businesses are failing to deliver the kind of employee experience that inspires worker motivation and loyalty.

55% of all workers feel dissatisfied with their overall employee experience and this figure rises to 61% for Gen Z employees.

Why are these figures so high? You may have noticed that the modern workforce has pretty high expectations. Employees expect way more from their place of work than they did a few generations ago.

There are a couple of factors at play. First, we’re accustomed to personalized digital experiences at home — algorithms that know what we want before we do. And we expect the same quality and usability from the tech we use at work. 

Second, the baseline for what makes a good workplace has risen. Mental health support, flexibility, and a sense of belonging aren’t perks anymore — they’re must-haves. 

And finally, people are thinking bigger. A job isn’t just a paycheck. Employees are seeking growth, transparency, fairness, and purpose — and are willing to switch jobs to find a workplace that provides them.

Meeting these expectations is tough for any company. And — without a clear employee experience strategy — it gets even tougher.

With a solid employee experience strategy, however, you connect the dots between what your people need and what your business wants to achieve. You create the kind of workplace where people bring their A-game — where employees are engaged, productive, and with you for the long haul.

12 steps for building your employee experience strategy

Stellar employee experience management relies on a clearly defined strategy. Here’s how to get there.

1. Establish your why

Before jumping into tactics, pause and consider what you’re trying to achieve with your employee experience strategy. You need to understand the business case for improving EX. This will help guide your EX efforts — and get stakeholder buy-in.

Here are a couple of questions you can ask yourself to get the ball rolling:

• What pain points do our employees currently experience?
• How does this link to business outcomes, like retention, productivity, customer service, and engagement?
• What kind of company culture do we want to build — and how does this align with our values?

2. Map the employee journey

From day one to exit, every touchpoint matters. Working out each point in the employee lifecycle can help you uncover areas for EX improvement.

You should look at:

• Recruitment
• Pre-boarding and onboarding
• Career development and growth opportunities
• Engagement
• Retention
• Offboarding

Then, across these employee journey stages, figure out what the employee experience looks like. 

Consider employee priorities like recognition and feedback, work-life balance, and any bottlenecks in their daily workflows.

Examine the cultural environment. Things like leadership style, the quality of co-worker connections, and the effectiveness of your internal communication channels.

Also, audit the physical environment, assessing how safe and comfortable employees are when they’re at work. Ergonomic desks and chairs are a given for your office-based staff. But consider the needs of frontline employees and those who work at home, too.

With a clear understanding of the employee journey and the factors that impact EX, you can (at step 4) craft staff survey questions that cover all elements of the employee experience. But first, there’s another key area of EX to get a handle on.

3. Assess your tech-sperience

Tech tools are now a fundamental part of every work day. So the digital employee experience forms an increasingly integral part of EX.

Remember that employees get streamlined, personalized experiences on the software they use at home. So — whether you like it or not — your workplace tech is going to be compared to the very best consumer-grade tools. 

Clunky or outdated tech tools create frustration. They harm productivity and employee motivation.

Even the most cutting-edge tools can cause problems if they aren’t implemented with the proper focus on EX. Use too many different tech tools and employees can easily feel overwhelmed. They constantly have to recall login details and toggle between tabs.

So when crafting your employee experience strategy, assess your tech stack — and its impact on employees. Find out where technology is supporting a positive employee experience and where it’s creating friction.

Also, consider tech needs on a team-by-team basis, paying special attention to frontline employees. Without easy access to a desktop computer or a company email address, frontline workers often find workplace tools difficult or impossible to use, which harms the frontline experience.

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4. Ask employees what they want

Every workplace is different. And while you’ll find plenty of articles listing the workplace attributes that employees value most, these can only ever act as a rough guide.

To make a success of your employee experience strategy, you need to understand your workforce and what motivates them. Then, treat them as co-creators of your EX strategy.

That starts by gathering employee feedback. Send out surveys and polls. Launch a listening tour. Find out what employees think of EX at your organization and what would improve it. Work to discover pain points, needs, and expectations.

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This shouldn’t be a one-off event. You should aim to build employee listening and employee voice into company culture. Create two-way communication channels and foster open communication across all levels of your organization. Acknowledge feedback and tell employees what action you plan to take.

By doing so, you encourage engagement with the feedback process and prompt honest responses from employees. You also keep your finger on the pulse, which — faced with ever-evolving employee experience trends — helps you stay ahead of EX issues.

5. Dive into the data

You’ve got feedback. Now what? It’s time to analyze the data you’ve gathered from employees, looking for EX patterns, pain points, and opportunities.

Celebrate the areas where you’re doing a good job. And hone in on areas where EX could be improved.

Use the analytics tools you have access to and combine qualitative feedback with quantitative data on retention, absenteeism, and employee engagement to get a big picture perspective. 

6. Get to know EX across the organization

Segment your data and you can also find out what employee experience looks like for different sectors of your workforce.

Perhaps your office-based team is satisfied with the quality of internal communications they receive. But your frontline team has to make do with a patchwork of paper memos and word-of-mouth messages. 

It could be that Millennials are loving the option to work from their comfortable home offices. But Gen Z employees, still living in shared housing, are struggling to find a quiet and productive place to work.

Maybe one department experiences higher than average levels of turnover and lower than average instances of employee recognition. 

Only by digging deep into the data can you understand how EX at your organization looks for every member of your workforce — and start to see the patterns that will inform your plan of action. 

7. Set goals

You’re at the point where you’ve done all your EX research. Time to put down on paper what you hope to achieve with your employee experience strategy. 

Create targets that are measurable, time-bound, and based on the EX issues you uncovered during the research phase. 

Some examples include:

• Increase career development opportunities for employees
• Establish better two-way communication channels between employees and managers
• Boost news feed comments and reactions by X%
• Increase survey response rates

8. Build your plan

Keeping your goals in mind, lay out the actions that will help you achieve them.

For example, if you want to improve career development opportunities, you could launch a new mentoring program.

Or if you wanted to increase your survey response rate, you could look at ways to close the feedback loop, ensuring that employees feel their feedback is listened to and acted on.

You may like to overhaul employee pay and benefits, well-being support, or workplace recognition. You may want to focus on improving the frontline employee experience with better comms and flexible working opportunities.

9. Find the right EX tech

This is a great time to consider the employee experience tech tools that will support your employee experience strategy. The best employee experience platforms can improve EX with the help of:

• Internal communication tools — channels that support top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer conversations and an engaging company news feed
• Recognition tools — that help you create a culture of appreciation

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• Integrated software — integrations with the other workplace software you use to create a streamlined digital experience
• Automated employee journey tools — features that make it easy for you to deliver the right content to employees at exactly the right time in their employee journey
• HR self-service tools — tools that allow employees to swap shifts, request leave, or view their pay stubs right from their user-friendly dashboard
• Surveys and analytics — employee survey and analytics tools that help your team keep up-to-date with employee satisfaction and EX
• Personalized employee experiences — tools that go beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to provide tailored comms, dashboards, and journeys relevant to each individual employee

10. Communicate and roll out

To make a success of your employee experience strategy, you need all hands on deck. Employees should get a consistent experience across the whole lifecycle and that relies on lots of different departments working together.  

Get everyone on the same page — including employees — by communicating your EX vision clearly and transparently. Lay out your objectives and the positive outcome you expect. Tell them what will change and why.

If you’re rolling out new employee experience software, think carefully about how you’ll get your workforce to embrace it. Start by picking user-friendly, mobile-first tools that every employee can use. Then, use a marketing campaign, incentives, gamification, and platform ambassadors to encourage employees to log in.  

11. Measure and evaluate

Is your employee experience strategy having the desired effect? As well as looking at the specific EX goals you set earlier in the process, measure your success in terms of overarching business goals too.

These include employee satisfaction metrics like:

• Employee net promoter score
• Absenteeism rate
• Turnover rate

You can also look at KPIs relating to talent acquisition, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity.

Measure employee experience and you stay ahead of any EX problems that might arise. You see where your EX strategy is bearing fruit — and where you still need to make improvements.

12. Iterate and improve

Improving employee experience isn’t a one-and-done situation. Creating and honing the perfect employee experience strategy is an ongoing task.

Use insights gained from employee surveys and analytics to keep pace with evolving employee expectations. Review your goals. Find new ways to enhance employee experience and keep staff loyal to your organization.

By treating EX as a continuous process, you’re more likely to create a strong culture, happy employees, and the business results you’re looking for.

Using your employee experience strategy to build a better workplace

A strong employee experience strategy can transform your workplace. It impacts company culture and internal communications. It boosts productivity and staff loyalty. And it can put a spring in the step of employees as they turn up to work each day.

And with 52% of employees saying they’re watching for or actively seeking a new job, employee experience strategy isn’t something you can afford to neglect. 

The occasional free lunch or mental health day won’t cut it at a time when employees demand more than ever from their places of work — and are prepared to vote with their feet if their expectations aren’t met. 

To ensure EX success, you need to consider the experience of every employee. The priorities of your retail staff, for example, are probably very different from those of your office-based team. Then, you need to create personalized experiences that make employees feel seen and valued.

An employee experience platform like Blink can make a huge difference to your employee experience strategy and its success.

With tools that automate elements of the employee journey, improve communication, streamline workflows, and include every employee in the workplace community, it becomes much easier to deliver the kind of employee experience your workforce expects.

Blink. And make employee experience your competitive advantage.

Blink. And your finger's on the pulse.

Say hello to Surveys from Blink: the quick and easy way to gain actionable feedback from your frontline workforce, helping you deliver your best employee experience.

Solving a uniquely frontline issue

The frontline connection gap — a failure to enable frontline workers to communicate with the same ease, scale, and speed as desk-based workers — is real, and so too are the risks it carries. But closing it is easier than you might think.

With Blink's new in-app survey tool, you can create a connected workplace culture by getting real-time data from your employees themselves.

What's so powerful about surveys through Blink?

Employee survey tools like Peakon and CultureAmp made it easy for leaders of desk-based teams to access employee engagement insights. But for frontline organizations, it's a very different story:

• Paper problems: many frontline workers are still asked to complete paper surveys, which are easy to ignore and even easier to lose  
• Desktop friction: completing online surveys using a shared desktop terminal or tablet demands time from a frontline worker's busy shift — and there are only so devices to share around
• One too many tools: even when frontline workers are given mobile access to survey tools, many still struggle with the complexity of bad user experience and a new set of log-in details to remember 

All of this leads to incredibly low response rates, which make for datasets that aren't insightful or actionable. That's what Blink has set out to solve.

Introducing Surveys on Blink

Surveys are now available to use on Blink's frontline app, transforming your ability to capture crucial information from your frontline teams. It's incredibly simple to use:

1. Select your target audience
2. Choose a best-in-class survey format
3. Launch to your frontline in minutes (one-question surveys can be live in 30 seconds!)
4. See your findings within Blink's Frontline Intelligence reports

What kind of surveys can you run?

• Employee engagement surveys - engaged employees are more productive and loyal. Find out how engaged your teams are today and how you can improve their experience
• Pulse survey - ask one burning question frequently to track changes and identify patterns
• 0-10 eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score) - get a 'North Star' metric for your employee engagement
• Onboarding surveys - the first few months of a new starter's journey are critical, and these types of surveys reveal whether the process is running as it should.

Every single answer in a Blink survey is anonymous — and that anonymity is made clear to your frontline workers. This ensures they have the confidence to be candid and, in turn, means that you get a true read on current performance with clear opportunities for improvement.

How Blink triples your survey response rate

Our customers have seen their response rates increase by 300% by using Blink to deliver them. Here's why it works:

• We're mobile-first. With Surveys on Blink, you can transition away from paper surveys and shared desktops to having surveys appear seamlessly in the palm of every frontline employee's hand
• It's all-in-one. Decrease the friction caused by having to remember another password by embedding your in one frontline app
• Surveys are co-located with the other tools your frontline needs. Unless you make life easier for the frontline you can’t expect them to engage. With Blink, you're delivering exactly what the frontline needs — from paystubs to scheduling and access to critical documents. This means your surveys are in an app that gets opened an average of seven times a day
• Guaranteed anonymity. By offering anonymity, frontline workers feel safer giving genuine feedback, leading to better quality results

What's next?

If you're interested in getting started with Surveys on Blink, either talk to your Customer Success partner or request a Demo.

In the coming months, we'll be announcing even more data-focused features to help you better understand your frontline, empowering your 2023 strategies with insight. Stay tuned!

Most frontline workers who quit don’t do it on day one.

And they don’t do it at the one-year mark, either. They do it somewhere around Day 90.

When you look at what’s happening — or not happening — between weeks two and twelve, it’s not hard to see why.

Frontline employees are caught in a hinterland. A place after induction and before real engagement kicks in, where the comms, connection, and support they need are nowhere to be found.

So what can you do to reduce employee churn once and for all? How do you persuade this group of employees to stick with you for the long haul?

Here, we take a look at why the 90-day milestone matters so much in frontline retention — and what a better frontline onboarding strategy can do for your organization.  

The data behind the 90-day cliff edge

The figures are stark. A third of the HR pros responding to Enboarder’s 2025 HR Leader survey said that 25% of new employees leave during their first 90 days.

For frontline organizations, the picture is even more acute. 

Turnover rates in frontline industries are consistently among the highest across all employment sectors — and 56% of organizations are currently experiencing frontline worker turnover at a higher rate than the historical average.

This frontline churn comes at a considerable cost. If we look at the example of grocery retail, frontline turnover absorbs as much as 10-20% of profits.

High frontline turnover results in lower service levels, lower productivity, higher training costs, and increased demands on management. It also keeps recruitment at the top of the strategic agenda, crowding out other priorities.

Why is Day 90 such a precarious time?

Day 90 is when new hire energy wears off and the reality of the role sets in. It’s when the gap between what was promised during recruitment and what’s actually experienced becomes impossible to ignore.

It’s also — critically — the point at which most organizations have stopped formally onboarding but haven’t yet started actively retaining. So frontline employee engagement takes a hit that it can be hard to recover from.

What frontline workers are telling us

Wondering why frontline employees quit? When frontline workers leave around the three-month mark, the reasons they give cluster around the same themes.

A two-tier culture

Almost half of frontline workers report that there are two separate cultures at play within their organizations — one for the frontline and one for everyone else.

That perception is compounded by a clear digital gap. Frontline workers receive just 1% of their companies’ total technology budget, leaving them with ineffective paper-based processes or software that doesn’t work on a smartphone.

The divide between desk-based and frontline experience is very real, very visible, and — for many — a deciding factor in whether to stay.

Feeling invisible

Only 43% of deskless workers feel seen and appreciated at work, compared with 61% of desk-based employees. A lack of recognition hits hard in the early months, when new hires are most in need of reassurance.

Frontline workers also struggle to make their voices heard. 38% say they have feedback for leadership or management, but no way of communicating it.

Feeling out of the loop

When new frontline workers don’t have reliable access to company updates, policy changes, or operational information, they feel disconnected from the organization and unable to do their jobs well.

Effective, accessible internal communication is integral to employee engagement and retention — but 48% of employees say the communications they receive are irrelevant to frontline workers.  

Disconnection from the team

Employees with strong workplace relationships are 51% more likely to be engaged. But shift-based work can be isolating.

New starters may work alongside different colleagues every day, have limited face time with their manager, and no easy channel to build relationships beyond their immediate shift.

Without deliberate effort to create connection, the social fabric that makes work worth showing up for simply doesn’t form.

Limited career advancement

According to UKG’s 2025 frontline employee experience study, lack of career advancement has risen into the top five reasons frontline employees give for quitting.

Yet 64% of frontline employees say they would stay with their organizations for six years or more if they had access to better career development and training.

The appetite for growth is there, right from the start, but the pathway often isn’t.

Read more: Your frontline workers are checked out. Here’s how an employee experience platform can help.

The onboarding illusion: What companies are getting wrong

You’ve invested time and money in your frontline onboarding strategy. So why isn’t this moving the needle on new hire turnover?

The answer may lie not in the quality of your employee onboarding program, but in the length. In most frontline organizations, structured onboarding takes place in the first week or two. It’s thorough, well-intentioned. But it ends far too early.

A strong first week doesn’t prevent an exit at the three-month mark. That’s because there’s a significant gap between structured onboarding and what actually happens when a new worker hits the floor solo.

By week three or four, new-hire support has often evaporated. The questions keep coming — but now there’s no clear channel for asking them. Connection to the wider organization fades. The sense of momentum and progress, so strong in week one, starts to plateau.

That’s when employees start to question things. Is this worth it? Does this organization actually care whether I stay? Maybe there’s something better out there…

What the 90-day window actually needs: How to reduce employee churn

The solution to early frontline attrition is a commitment to improving the frontline employee experience during the first three months — and beyond. 

That means creating an onboarding strategy that doesn't end at week two, but continues to inform, connect, and support new workers long after they hit their stride.

Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Consistent communications

New frontline workers need to feel like they’re part of something bigger. That means regular, relevant updates that keep them informed about what’s happening in the organization — delivered to their smartphone, not to a desktop intranet they’ll never log into. 

The goal is to make a new hire feel like an insider, not an afterthought — and to give them the frontline communications that make their work easier.

Peer community

One of the most powerful retention boosters in frontline work is strong relationships and collaboration with co-workers. 

When new workers have a channel to connect with their team — beyond whoever happens to be on the same shift — belonging develops faster. Internal communities, group chats, and shared spaces for non-work conversation all contribute to that vital social infrastructure.

A way to ask questions without feeling stupid

New starters have lots of questions. Many of them don’t ask, because they don’t want to look like they’re struggling or don’t know what they’re doing. 

A searchable knowledge hub — policies, procedures, and FAQs findable in seconds from a smartphone — removes that barrier. So does self-serve access to shift swapping, payslips, and benefits enrolment. 

Employees who can find answers independently feel more capable and confident.

Visibility into what comes next

New hires who can see a trajectory within the organization are significantly more likely to be there beyond 90 days. 

Regular check-ins, clearly communicated development opportunities, and recognition of early progress all signal that the organization is invested in the individual, not just the role they’re filling.

The solution? A well-designed employee experience software platform makes all the above possible. It allows you to deliver structured onboarding content at the right moment in the employee lifecycle — and to fill the day with culture and community-building touchpoints.

Time to rethink your frontline onboarding strategy?

There’s a temptation in high-turnover environments to pull back on investment in the frontline employee experience. Why put significant resources into someone who might leave in three months?

It’s a reasonable question. But fail to consider frontline EX and you end up stuck in a cycle of attrition (and associated costs) that’s impossible to escape.

The frontline organizations reducing employee churn are those making the first 90 days — not just the first few weeks — feel like the beginning of something worth sticking around for.

That means extending the onboarding process beyond the induction checklist, giving new workers the tools to stay connected and informed, and building the peer relationships that make a job feel more than a job.

Technology is the infrastructure that makes this possible in dispersed and deskless frontline environments. But you need to choose tech tools that meet the needs of frontline employees.

A mobile-first frontline platform like Blink keeps deskless workers connected from day one — through structured onboarding journeys, communications that reach every employee, recognition and survey tools, and co-worker communities.

With everything available from one user-friendly dashboard, new hires have everything they need to hit the ground running — and build a long-lasting connection to your organization.

Blink. And keep frontline employees engaged through 90 days and beyond.