8 frontline employee engagement trends for 2025

Microsoft SharePoint and Viva are powerful platforms — but are they built for internal comms?

When it comes to workplace technology, Microsoft SharePoint and Viva are often seen as the default choice for organized communication and team collaboration. It promises seamless integration, familiarity, and scalability for enterprise organizations — particularly with SharePoint as a best-in-class document management system, Teams for direct chatting, and Viva working to tackle employee engagement.

But in today’s digital workplace, where employees demand intuitive, mobile-first, and consumer-grade internal communication tools, do they truly deliver?

The truth is, Microsoft’s technology portfolio — like Google Workspace and other all-in-one ecosystems — often struggles to meet the diverse needs of modern workforces. While it excels at being a deep and comprehensive solution for desk-based teams, it misses the mark for frontline employees, remote workers, and those seeking a more engaging, user-friendly experience.

Here’s where SharePoint and Viva fall short — and why rethinking your employee engagement strategy is essential.

Challenge #1: The mobile divide between the desk-based and the deskless

Frontline workers make up 80% of the global workforce, yet they often remain underserved by traditional enterprise tools. When it comes to your internal communication platform, it's important to ensure your messages are reaching the right audience at the right time — no matter when or where they work.

• SharePoint: Clunky mobile experience and complex navigation make it difficult for deskless employees to quickly access important information.
• Viva: Engagement remains low among frontline workers because it’s buried within the Microsoft ecosystem, requiring a Teams or 365 login, which many frontline workers don’t use daily.

The impact? Frontline and mobile workers struggle to access the tools they need, causing missed messages and disengagement.

The solution: Create an equitable employee experience

Improve mobile accessibility

SharePoint and Viva are primarily designed with office-based employees in mind. For frontline employees, the extra login requirements, complex navigation, and lack of offline functionality can slow them down and be more frustrating than fruitful.

Not catering to mobile-first needs not only hinders employee engagement, it also creates a divide between desk-based and frontline workers — undermining efforts to build a cohesive and connected workforce.

Enable customized communication

Real-time communications and notifications may work for desk-based employees, but for the mobile workforce that doesn't sit behind a computer, these tools fail to bridge the gap.

Employee communication software that enables customizable notifications and serves up high-priority alerts to relevant titles, locations, and functions can help employees stay in the loop more efficiently.

Create clarity — not complexity

Imagine a retail associate trying to access critical updates through a SharePoint portal from the shop floor, or a delivery driver wanting to check for updates on the go.

While SharePoint and Viva may offer a unified platform, it can be difficult for employees (and especially frontline workers) to find what they’re looking for — requiring multiple clicks, a stable internet connection, and significant time they don’t have.

Challenge #2: Too many tools, too little time

The breadth of SharePoint and Viva is both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness. With Viva for company-wide comms, Teams for instant messaging, SharePoint for content management and file sharing, Outlook for email, and a wide range of additional tools for scheduling, tasks, and other workforce management needs, employees often find themselves navigating a maze of features rather than focusing on their work.

• SharePoint: A great document management system — but not a dynamic communication hub. Important updates get buried under layers of links and folders.
• Viva: Feels like an add-on rather than an integrated experience — employees still rely on Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint separately.

The impact? Employees are left jumping between platforms to find what they need, killing productivity.

The solution: Simplify the tech experience

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Minimize information overload

While complementary tools like SharePoint, Viva, Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive may be well-intentioned, they often overlap and overwhelm, creating confusion and inefficiency rather than streamlining communication.

The average employee switches between apps 10 times per hour, costing organizations billions annually in lost productivity. When each employee communication tool serves a slightly different purpose, workers are forced to juggle multiple platforms that don’t always integrate seamlessly.

Flatten the learning curve

For frontline workers or new hires, the complexity of SharePoint and Viva can be especially daunting. Training employees to effectively use these tools often requires extensive onboarding — time that could be better spent enabling employees to focus on their primary responsibilities.

For many frontline workers, who may not use a computer regularly, this complexity often results in disengagement and underutilization of the tools provided.

Prioritize workflow efficiency

Consider a factory worker needing to log a safety incident. Navigating through SharePoint’s cluttered interface can turn simple task management into a frustrating ordeal — hindering timely reporting and potentially compromising workplace safety.

Similarly, deskless employees may struggle to track down essential documents or communicate updates in real time, resulting in delays and reduced operational efficiency.

Challenge #3: The uninspiring design of outdated tools

In a world dominated by consumer apps like Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, employees have come to expect the same level of ease, speed, and engagement from their internal communications tools.

• SharePoint: Feels like a corporate archive rather than a living, breathing communication space.
• Viva: Lacks social-first, consumer-grade features like Stories, reactions, or interactive engagement tools.

The solution: Bring consumer-grade content to your comms

Employees expect an Instagram-like experience — if the tools feel clunky, they simply won’t engage.

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Provide a user-friendly UI

The design of SharePoint and Viva, while practical, lacks the intuitive, visually engaging experience employees are used to from consumer apps. Navigating through dense menus and static interfaces can frustrate users — particularly younger, mobile-first workers who expect the same seamless, fast, and attractive interfaces they experience in their personal lives.

Boost adoption rates

Employees avoid using digital workplace apps if they find them cumbersome or outdated. This is especially concerning for internal comms teams relying on these tools to share updates, drive engagement, and build a sense of community.

Not only can this disconnect employees from the tools themselves, it can disengage them from the company culture as a whole.

Give employees features they can engage with

SharePoint and Viva are not inherently designed to foster the same social, collaborative atmosphere that we have come to expect from consumer apps. Features like Stories, live streaming, and polls — hallmarks of modern communication — are either absent or clunky to use.

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Challenge #4: Synchronous communication can’t be the norm

SharePoint and Viva shine when it comes to real-time collaboration, but its heavy emphasis on live chats and video calls often leaves asynchronous communication as an afterthought. For shift workers, employees in different time zones, or remote employees who may work on alternative schedules, this creates significant barriers to effective engagement.

• SharePoint: Lacks real-time notifications or role-based updates — employees are expected to “go find” information.
• Viva: Prioritizes live engagement but doesn’t support modern async communication like Stories, video updates, or discussion boards.

The solution: Embrace the needs of your diverse workforce

Shift workers and global teams miss out on key updates and collaboration tools, creating an information gap.

Reduce reliance on live tools

The platform prioritizes synchronous communication, which works well for desk-based employees but alienates those who can’t always join live meetings or respond instantly. Real-time updates are incredibly handy, but for some employees, it's more important that they can access the company content they're looking for on their own time.

Provide modern asynchronous options

What's missing from SharePoint and Viva are features like Stories, real-time messaging chats and discussion boards, or video updates — common in consumer-grade platforms. This limits the ways employees can catch up or contribute on their own schedules.

Keep employees in the loop

Imagine a nurse wrapping up a long overnight shift, only to find they’ve missed a critical live announcement on Viva that directly impacts their day-to-day work. No single method of communication will reach all employees across the entire organization. Without an asynchronous alternative, the information gap widens, leaving key workers uninformed.

Challenge #5: Disconnectivity can damage culture

Focusing on top-down communication channels often neglects the value of peer-to-peer engagement. Building a sense of community and fostering organic interactions are critical for employee satisfaction.

• SharePoint: Functions more as a repository than a tool that fosters connection, making it hard to celebrate milestones and share successes.
• Viva: Built for top-down communication, but struggles to support peer-to-peer recognition and organic community-building.

The solution: Don’t forget about the human connection

Without the right interactive tools in place, it’s easy for employees to feel disconnected from their teams and the larger company culture.

Invest in social-grade features

Unlike a consumer-grade internal communication platform, SharePoint and Viva offer little to encourage informal communication or peer recognition, which are essential for engagement.

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Foster a sense of belonging

In an environment where 40% of people say that they feel isolated at work, business applications that prioritize employee engagement and peer-to-peer connection can be a crucial investment in the employee experience.

Without tools that bring the power of social connection to team collaboration, employees feel isolated, which can negatively affect employee retention and morale rates.

Celebrate milestones without reservation

A manufacturing team wanting to celebrate a colleague’s milestone might struggle to find a platform that facilitates spontaneous recognition — a gap that undermines morale and creates missed opportunities for team bonding and employee motivation.

Challenge #6: The risk of a one-size-fits-all approach

With SharePoint and Viva, getting employees the update they need, when they need it, is like finding a needle in a haystack. The one-size-fits-all approach is convenient, but it makes it difficult to cater to everyone in your workforce.

• SharePoint: Lacks intuitive dashboards or role-based filters, forcing employees to sift through irrelevant content.
• Viva: No real ability to tailor content by role, location, or function—everyone gets the same updates, whether relevant or not.

The solution: Hyper-personalize your strategy

All communication, and especially frontline communication, require personalization and role-specific features. Otherwise, employees waste time navigating a cluttered experience rather than getting the updates they actually need.

Account for different roles, teams, and locations

SharePoint’s rigid company intranet structure and Viva uniform features don’t allow for role-specific customization or hyper-personalized push notifications. This leaves workers on their own to navigate potentially irrelevant or overwhelming content on the employee intranet and other communication channels.

Keep comms clear and efficient

Employees waste time wading through irrelevant company content instead of accessing what matters most to them, which can reduce productivity and increase frustration.

Find opportunities for role-specific tools

A hotel housekeeping staff member might benefit from a simplified employee app that tailors company updates and key features to their daily operations, such as shift updates or specific task lists — something Viva doesn’t easily provide, leaving a gap in streamlined workflow support.

Challenge #7: Heavy reliance on IT for customization and maintenance

While Microsoft SharePoint and Viva offer extensive features, they require significant IT support for setup, customization, and ongoing maintenance. This dependency can slow down internal communications and create bottlenecks for non-technical teams.

• SharePoint: Requires IT expertise to configure, update, and maintain. Customizing layouts, permissions, and workflows often demands dedicated IT resources, making even small adjustments time-consuming.
• Viva: As part of the Microsoft ecosystem, it inherits complex integration challenges. IT teams must manage access controls, troubleshoot syncing issues, and ensure compatibility with existing tools.

The solution: Empower teams with easy-to-use tools that are built for internal comms teams

Reduce IT dependency

Organizations need internal communication software that allows non-technical users to create, update, and manage content effortlessly—without constantly relying on IT support.

Enable no-code customization

Modern internal communication tools should offer simple, intuitive dashboards with drag-and-drop customization, ensuring teams can tailor their platforms to fit their needs without complex back-end development.

Improve operational efficiency

By reducing IT’s workload and giving communication teams direct control over their platforms, businesses can accelerate internal messaging, improve engagement, and ensure employees always have access to up-to-date information.

Your workforce is evolving — so should your tools

While Microsoft SharePoint and Viva have their strengths, it’s not an end-all, be-all solution — particularly when it comes to internal communications for modern, diverse workforces.

For organizations with traditional, desk-based employees, SharePoint and Viva can be highly effective. In particular, highly regulated industries like government, healthcare, and finance often rely on Microsoft’s compliance-focused infrastructure to meet strict standards for data security and document retention.

But the very features that make these tools appealing can also be limitations. Legacy systems that rely on synchronous communication fail to address the needs of hybrid, mobile, and frontline teams. Employees in dynamic, fast-paced environments like retail, logistics, and hospitality need hyper-personalized tools that deliver real-time engagement.

To transform your internal communication strategy and create a workplace where everyone feels informed and connected, organizations must look for internal communication solutions that are built to meet the needs of modern employees — today, tomorrow, and beyond.

Don’t let today’s tools limit tomorrow’s success

The modern workforce deserves a single platform that's as dynamic and diverse as the employees it serves. While SharePoint and Viva may offer familiarity and integrations, it fails to deliver the consumer-grade, mobile-first employee experience that today’s diverse workforce expect.

A modern internal communication tool — designed with mobile-first, consumer-grade principles — bridges the gaps left by Microsoft. They prioritize:

• Intuitive, user-friendly interfaces.
• Offline functionality and mobile optimization.
• Role-specific customization and asynchronous communication.

As organizations evolve, so should our internal communications software. Adopting an internal communication platform that supports every part of your workforce can help foster a more connected and empowered workplace culture. By prioritizing employee engagement, you’re not just supporting your team — you’re also strengthening your organization as a whole.

Blink. And break the Microsoft status quo.

Some comms strategies stream seamlessly, while others are stuck buffering with no end in sight

Let’s face it: We live in a world where content rules. We’re constantly streaming, scrolling, watching, and sharing. And just like our favorite shows and platforms, every internal communication strategy has its own vibe — some sleek and polished, others functional but messy, and some… a little too obsessed with rainbows and brand tone.

You wouldn’t launch a new show without a trailer — so why send an update without context, curation, or a hook?

Think about it — your comms platform has viewers (aka employees), admins (your comms team), and its own programming lineup (all those emails, updates, videos, surveys, and shoutouts).

So, here’s the big question:

If your internal comms strategy were a streaming platform… which one would it be?

This is part personality quiz, part gentle diagnosis, and all good fun. And who knows — it might just help you spot a few things to fix, finetune, or completely rethink.

Netflix: The overcommunicator

Tagline: Volume overload. No one knows what to watch.

You’re the king of content volume. Like Netflix, you’re publishing constantly — newsletters, CEO updates, campaign launches, benefits reminders. There’s always something new when employees log in, but just like binge-watchers lost in an endless homepage scroll, your audience is overwhelmed. It’s communication without curation — and everyone’s tuning out.

Pros: Rich, varied content. People know where to find it.

Cons: Information fatigue. Nothing feels urgent, so everything gets ignored.

It’s time to curate like an editor. Use weekly digests, “Top 5 things to know,” or audience targeting to surface the right content to the right people — and give your employees some breathing room.

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HBO Max: The prestige broadcaster

Tagline: Prestige content — but only for the few.

Your internal comms are prestige TV. Like HBO Max, your content is polished, strategic, and often award-worthy — think slick leadership videos and brand-perfect announcements. But it’s top-down and infrequent, designed more for executives than everyday teams. The result? High production value, low connection on the ground.

Pros: Executive trust, strong brand storytelling.

Cons: Limited accessibility. The “everyday” content is missing.

As your next step, pair your prestige comms with grassroots content. Empower local teams to share stories. Make space for informal, in-the-moment updates alongside strategic comms.

Amazon Prime Video: Functional but frustrating

Tagline: Function over feel.

Your intranet is basically Amazon Prime Video. Everything’s technically there — tools, policies, updates — but good luck navigating it. The interface is cluttered, search is a mess, and the content isn’t exactly curated. Like users lost in Prime’s endless menus, your employees might log in, sigh, and log right back out.

Pros: One source of truth.

Cons: Low discoverability. Employees check out before they find what they need.

The name of the game? Simplify. Highlight most-used tools, audit stale pages, and clean up the homepage. Make your digital workplace feel more like a front door, not a storage closet.

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Peacock or Paramount+: The niche network

Tagline: Great content. Tiny audience.

Your comms have cult-classic energy. Like Peacock or Paramount+, you’ve got a few loyal fans and some hidden gems — but overall, your platform just isn’t top-of-mind. Maybe it’s an underused email list or a team SharePoint that rarely gets checked. Great content, but a limited reach means employees are missing the message.

Pros: Focused, relevant updates.

Cons: Low visibility. People say, “Wait — that was announced?”

Time to go multi-channel! Promote your channels like you would a new show launch. Use mobile notifications, digital signage, and team huddles to raise awareness. Great content deserves more viewers.

Disney+: Family-friendly and heavily branded

Tagline: All smiles, no spice.

You’ve mastered the brand voice. Like Disney+, everything in your comms world is polished, upbeat, and totally on-message. It’s a clean, curated experience with beautiful visuals and strong storytelling — perfect for onboarding and mission moments. But after a while, employees might start wondering: Where’s the real talk?

Pros: Strong visual identity and consistent voice.

Cons: Lack of vulnerability. Feels too “corporate.”

To take your strategy to the next level, try mixing in unfiltered stories from employees. Showcase real feedback, day-in-the-life clips, or candid shoutouts. People trust people — not just polish.

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Hulu or NOW: Slightly messy — but people still use it

Tagline: Organized chaos.

You’re Hulu in the US or NOW in the UK — a little bit of everything, with a side of chaos. Your comms live across multiple tools, old and new: Slack threads, SharePoint pages, WhatsApp chats. It’s inconsistent and messy, but it works — because your people have figured out where to look. (Even if they wish it were easier.)

Pros: Content variety, team-specific relevance, enough routine to maintain engagement.

Cons: Fragmented user experience. No single source of truth.

It’s time to unify and streamline. Build a comms hub that feels intentional — not accidental. Keep the local flavor, but tie it all together with a central mobile-first platform.

Apple TV+: All style, not enough substance (yet!)

Tagline: Gorgeous ghost town.

Your comms platform is Apple TV+ — sleek, modern, beautifully branded. It looks amazing and sets a high bar for design. But once you get past the homepage? There’s not much happening. Content is minimal, engagement is low, and employees forget to check in. Pretty isn’t enough — it needs purpose.

Pros: Strong design, great adoption potential.

Cons: Low repeat engagement. Employees say “it looks nice” — but don’t use it.

Try to focus on day-to-day value. Share timely updates, celebrate wins, and surface useful info like shift changes or HR tools. Pair aesthetic with utility.

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YouTube: The employee-led engine

Tagline: Employee-generated magic (with a dash of mayhem).

You’re YouTube — and you’ve handed the mic to your people. Your internal comms are powered by shift videos, peer shoutouts, team stories, and crew takeovers. It’s authentic, bottom-up, and wildly engaging. Sure, it gets a bit chaotic without guardrails — but that realness? That’s what employees keep coming back for.

Pros: High engagement, peer-to-peer connection.

Cons: Needs light moderation and content alignment.

Our recommendation? Set the stage for success. Spotlight standout creators, guide content themes, and introduce a few soft guardrails to keep things safe and focused.

What’s your ideal mix?

The truth is, no internal communication strategy is just one platform. We’re all working with a blend — a little Netflix here, a little HBO there, maybe even a dash of YouTube energy for good measure.

But thinking about your comms this way? It helps. It surfaces what’s working — and what might need a reboot. So ask yourself:

• Is your content too polished when it should be more conversational?
• Do you only reach a select few — but leave the rest of your workforce buffering?
• Are you focusing on sharing it all when what your people really want is clarity?

Build your “comms bundle” — the perfect mix of trust, relevance, usability, and creativity. And just like your ideal Friday night lineup, it should be easy to find, engaging to watch, and worth coming back to.

‍Blink. And flip the script on internal communication in your organization.

Most communication tools were built for someone sitting at a desk with a company laptop and a company email. That's not deskless work.

Deskless workers (drivers, nurses, retail associates, warehouse operatives, care workers, construction crews) need something different. Mobile-first, fast, intuitive enough to onboard without a training manual, and built to work even when connectivity isn't perfect. This guide ranks the 9 best team communication tools for deskless teams in 2026, with honest notes on what each does well, where it falls short, and who it's right for.

The short answer

The top three for most deskless teams in 2026:

1. Blink. — mobile-first employee app built specifically for frontline and deskless workers. 90%+ adoption across customers. Best for organizations where the frontline is the priority, not an afterthought.
2. Connecteam — strong all-in-one for SMB workforce management. Good if scheduling and task management matter as much as communication.
3. Staffbase — enterprise-grade with multilingual reach and digital signage. Right for large global frontline workforces in manufacturing and logistics.

Microsoft Teams, Beekeeper (now part of LumApps), Pebb, Yourco, HubEngage, and Simpplr round out the list with specific strengths. The right pick depends on workforce size, connectivity, and whether you need communication-first or workforce-management-first.

Quick comparison

What is a deskless team communication tool?

A deskless team communication tool is a mobile-first software platform designed to connect, inform, and engage workers who don't sit at a desk. That includes frontline employees in retail, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, hospitality, transport, and construction.

Unlike a traditional intranet or office chat tool, deskless tools are built for:

• Smartphone use without a corporate email address or company-issued device
• Low-bandwidth and offline environments
• High-turnover workforces that need fast, frictionless onboarding
• Shift-based, distributed, and physically mobile teams

For a wider view of what these systems should do, see our guide to deskless worker communication and our breakdown of internal communication tools.

Why standard tools fail deskless teams

SharePoint wasn't built for the frontline. Neither was Slack. Neither was email.

A 2023 Microsoft Work Trend Index found that 60% of frontline workers feel they aren't heard by leadership (Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2023). Multiple frontline studies consistently show that the majority of deskless workers don't have a regular work computer or company email. The communication gap isn't a culture problem. It's a tooling problem.

The good news: in 2026 there are real options purpose-built for the job.

The 9 best team communication tools for deskless teams

1. Blink.

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Best for: Organizations where frontline workers are core, not peripheral. Strong fit in retail, healthcare, transport, logistics, and hospitality.

Blink. is a mobile-first employee experience platform built specifically for deskless and frontline workforces. It brings internal communications, a searchable knowledge hub, chat, digital forms, recognition, and analytics into a single app on a worker's personal phone, with no corporate email required.

Key features:

• Real-time chat with voice notes, read receipts, and rich media
• Personalized news feed by role, location, and team
• Unified Hub for policies, SOPs, training, and forms (searchable)
• Recognition, surveys, and short-form video
• Integrations with Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and major scheduling and HR systems (Blink. integrations)
• Offline access for low-connectivity environments
• AI assistant on Pro tier for content drafting and translation

Pricing: $3.75/user/month on Core annual, $5.00/user/month on Pro, Enterprise custom. Free trial across all tiers. (Blink. pricing)

Adoption: Blink. customers consistently hit 90%+ workforce adoption. JD Sports reached 87% in 10 days. easyJet runs Blink. across 20,000+ employees. McDonald's, the NHS, Domino's, Stagecoach, and Chick-fil-A are on the platform (Blink. customer stories).

Why it's different: Most platforms bolt frontline features onto office software. Blink. was built the other way around: starting from the frontline experience and building outward.

For a deeper comparison against the two most-searched alternatives, see Blink. vs Microsoft Teams and Beekeeper vs Blink..

2. Connecteam

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Best for: Small to mid-sized businesses in retail, hospitality, field services, and construction where scheduling and task management matter as much as communication.

Connecteam is an all-in-one employee management app that combines scheduling, time tracking, task management, forms, HR, and internal communication in one platform.

Key features:

• Team chat and direct messaging
• Shift scheduling with automated notifications
• Job dispatch and GPS tracking
• Digital checklists and forms
• Company news feed and announcements

Pricing: Free for up to 10 users. Paid plans start around $29/month for the Small Business plan (covers up to 30 users), with per-user pricing above that (Connecteam pricing).

Heads up: Connecteam is strong on workforce management but lighter on internal communications depth compared to platforms built around communication first. For a head-to-head, see Connecteam alternatives.

3. Staffbase

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Best for: Large enterprises managing global frontline workforces in manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics.

Staffbase is an enterprise employee communications platform with strong frontline capabilities. Known for branded employee apps, multilingual reach, and integrations with the broader Microsoft and Workday stacks.

Key features:

• Fully branded employee app
• Multi-channel reach (app, email, digital signage, SMS)
• Automated translation across 100+ languages
• Offline content access
• Emergency alerts and voice messaging

Pricing: Custom enterprise pricing.

For alternatives that compete on price or specific verticals, see Staffbase alternatives.

4. Microsoft Teams (Frontline Worker tier)

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Best for: Organizations already deeply on Microsoft 365 where IT prefers to extend the existing stack rather than add another platform.

Microsoft Teams has evolved to serve frontline workers through its dedicated Frontline Worker license tier, adding Shifts (schedule management), Walkie Talkie (push-to-talk), and task management built for field work (Microsoft Teams for Frontline Workers).

Key features:

• Shifts for schedule management
• Walkie Talkie push-to-talk
• Task assignment and tracking
• Native Microsoft 365 integration
• Enterprise compliance and security controls

Pricing: F1 at $2.25/user/month (read-only Office, limited mailbox), F3 at $8.00/user/month (full features). Both rising July 2026 (Microsoft 365 frontline pricing).

Heads up: Teams was designed for desk-based knowledge workers, and frontline adoption tends to lag behind office adoption. F1's read-only Office and limited mailbox often force upgrades to F3, changing the cost picture. The most common play is to run Teams for HQ and a purpose-built tool for the frontline. For the full breakdown, see our Blink. vs Microsoft Teams comparison and Microsoft Teams alternatives.

5. Pebb

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Best for: Budget-conscious SMBs with frontline teams who want a free starting point.

Pebb is a mobile-first communication platform with one of the most accessible free tiers in the category. Familiar social interface designed to reduce onboarding friction.

Key features:

• Company news feed with polls and recognition
• Unlimited message history
• Offline access
• Group chat and direct messaging
• Peer recognition tools

Pricing: Free for up to 1,000 users. Premium plans from $4/user/month (Pebb pricing).

6. Yourco

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Best for: Organizations with workers who lack smartphones or reliable mobile data. Common in logistics, construction, and agriculture.

Yourco takes an SMS-first approach. Rather than requiring a smartphone app, it delivers messages via text, reaching workers on any phone with no download.

Key features:

• SMS-native communications (no app required)
• High open rates typical of SMS channels
• Works on basic phones
• Automated message scheduling and reminders

Pricing: Custom.

7. HubEngage

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Best for: Organizations that need to reach workers across multiple channels simultaneously (mobile app, SMS, email, WhatsApp, digital signage).

HubEngage combines communication, engagement, and analytics in one platform with multi-channel reach.

Key features:

• Multi-channel messaging (app, email, SMS, WhatsApp, digital signage)
• Recognition, rewards, and gamification
• Pulse surveys and analytics
• Content targeting by team, location, and role

Pricing: Custom.

8. Beekeeper (now part of LumApps)

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Best for: Existing Beekeeper customers, and operators in hospitality and manufacturing who want shift management and inline translation in the same app as communications. New buyers should weigh integration risk carefully.

Beekeeper was acquired by LumApps in July 2025 in a deal valuing the combined company at more than $1 billion, backed by Bridgepoint (LumApps press release). The combined "AI Employee Hub" is on a 12 to 24 month integration roadmap. LumApps has confirmed no short-term sunset plans for either platform.

Key features:

• Team messaging and broadcast announcements
• Native shift management
• Digital workflows and checklists
• HR system integrations
• Inline translation across 150+ languages

Pricing: Custom. Third-party trackers cite a range of roughly $5 to $15 per user per month (Capterra).

Heads up: Buyers signing new contracts in 2026 should understand they're buying into a multi-year platform integration. For an objective comparison and the right questions to ask, see Beekeeper vs Blink. and Beekeeper alternatives.

9. Simpplr

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Best for: Mid-to-large organizations that want a modern intranet with frontline reach and strong AI-assisted content delivery.

Simpplr is an AI-powered employee intranet that's increasingly targeting frontline and hybrid workforces.

Key features:

• AI-powered content recommendations
• Social intranet with news feed and recognition
• Analytics and engagement tracking
• Mobile app with frontline access

Pricing: Custom.

For competitive context, see Simpplr alternatives.

How to choose a team communication tool for deskless teams

Not every tool on this list is right for every team. Start here.

Four questions to shortlist

1. Do your workers have smartphones? If not, go SMS-first (Yourco). If yes, go app-first.‍
2. What's your workforce size? Blink. works across both SMB and enterprise. Under 100 workers, also consider Connecteam or Pebb if low cost is the lead constraint. Over 1,000 workers, the realistic shortlist is Blink., Staffbase, or Simpplr.‍
3. Are you already on Microsoft 365? Test Teams Frontline before adding another platform if your IT team is heavily Microsoft-aligned. Then evaluate whether it actually drives adoption on the frontline.‍
4. Is your priority communication, or workforce management? Communication-first: Blink., Staffbase. Workforce-management-first: Connecteam, Beekeeper.

Non-negotiables for any deskless team

• Works on personal smartphones without a corporate device
• Doesn't require a company email to sign in
• Intuitive enough to onboard in minutes, not days
• Works in low-connectivity environments
• Adoption above 80% should be the bar, not the aspiration

For more on the levers behind frontline adoption rates above 90%, see frontline digital inclusion.

How to roll one out without the chaos

Getting the right tool is half the job. The rollout determines whether your frontline actually uses it.

Four steps that work

1. Run focus groups first. Ask frontline workers what's broken today before selecting a tool. Their answers will surprise you.
2. Create a platform playbook. Define how the tool is used (channels, posting permissions, tone, governance) before launch.
3. Build a launch campaign, not a training deck. App ambassadors, incentives, and clear value messaging outperform mandatory PowerPoints.
4. Integrate before you launch. Connect the tool to scheduling, HR, and payroll systems upfront. Don't retrofit later.

Real results from deskless teams using Blink.

JD Sports and McDonald's use Blink. for mobile-first shop-floor communication, replacing physical shift huddles.

Children's of Alabama uses Blink. to share campaigns including flu shot drives and benefits enrollment, and to keep staff connected across departments.

Go North West (UK bus operator) reached 95% of employees with essential communications and a 26% reduction in employee turnover after switching to Blink. (Blink. customer stories).

Transform deskless team communication with Blink.

Blink. was built from the frontline up. A single app that connects every worker, whether they're on the shop floor, behind the wheel, or at the bedside, to their team, their schedule, and their company.

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Many factors go into a business making it in today’s world, but one of the biggest make-or-break factors is the environment. Strong downtown districts tend to benefit from a range of factors, the main ones being population growth, local engagement, and economic activity. From retail to hospitality, mid-sized cities are a good sweet spot due to affordability and space.

For businesses, understanding where people spend time and engage with their communities is becoming increasingly important. That's why Blink helps brands better understand and connect with local audiences. By identifying the cities where residents are actively exploring, businesses can make more informed decisions about where to invest and grow.

A successful Main Street isn't just about the number of businesses operating there. It's also about whether people want to work, shop, eat, and spend time in the area. To determine the U.S. cities with the most booming downtown areas, we focused on retail and food/hospitality business density, small business births, and workforce growth, alongside search volume, population growth, and walkability score.

Not sure where your business falls? Find out what qualifies as a small business in high-growth U.S. cities.

The best U.S. cities for small business growth

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1. Orlando, Florida

Orlando takes the top spot with a score of 46.8, thanks to its blend of rapid growth, thriving tourism, and a steady stream of new businesses. The city added 7,464 residents in just one year and generated one of the highest small-business search volumes in the rankings, at 8,140. Retail and hospitality continue to flourish, with thousands of new businesses opening across both sectors. Orlando's appeal extends well beyond its theme parks, too, with 25,800 searches for things to do in the city. For entrepreneurs, that means access to a large, active audience of locals and visitors looking to shop, dine, and explore.

2. McKinney, Texas

McKinney may have one of the smaller populations in the top 10, but it's growing faster than almost anyone else. The city added 11,664 residents between 2023 and 2024—the largest population increase in the rankings—and continues to see strong growth in both retail and hospitality. That momentum is helping transform McKinney into one of the most exciting business destinations in North Texas. With more than 3,000 searches for both local businesses and things to do, it's clear that people are increasingly paying attention to what the city has to offer.

For entrepreneurs eyeing cities like McKinney, getting the foundations right matters from day one—starting with choosing the right business structure for a high-growth market. 

3. Frisco, Texas

Once overshadowed by neighboring Dallas, Frisco has quickly carved out a name for itself as one of Texas's fastest-growing business hubs. The city earned a score of 41.7 after adding more than 8,200 new businesses in a single year and posting strong employment growth across retail and hospitality. Interest in the city is growing alongside its business community, with searches for things to do in Frisco reaching 3,700. As more residents and visitors discover the city's shopping, dining, and entertainment options, Frisco continues to strengthen its appeal for entrepreneurs.

4. Tampa, Florida

Tampa combines the advantages of a large city with the energy of a growing small business scene. Home to more than 427,000 residents, the city welcomed nearly 4,800 new people in the past year while generating more than 7,000 searches for small businesses. Tampa's downtown also attracts plenty of attention, with nearly 16,000 searches for things to do. Supported by a healthy mix of population growth, tourism, and local engagement, Tampa remains one of Florida's strongest cities for retail and hospitality businesses.

5. Garland, Texas

Garland rounds out the top five with a score of 38.5, driven by strong business expansion and steady population growth. The city added more than 4,100 residents over the past year and achieved an impressive average employment growth rate of 10.3% across retail and hospitality. At the same time, thousands of searches for local businesses and downtown activities show that people are actively exploring what Garland has to offer. These trends suggest the city is becoming an increasingly attractive place for both business owners and customers.

6. Arlington, Texas

Arlington is best known for its sports, entertainment, and major attractions, but it is also proving to be a strong environment for small businesses. The city is home to more than 408,000 residents and recorded average employment growth of 10.3% across the retail and hospitality sectors. Interest in local attractions remains high, with more than 4,000 searches for things to do downtown and more than 3,300 searches related to small businesses. Combined with steady population growth, Arlington offers businesses a large audience and plenty of opportunities to stand out.

7. Boise, Idaho

Boise shows that a smaller city can still deliver big opportunities for entrepreneurs. With a population of just under 239,000, Boise recorded an average employment growth rate of 9.7% across retail and hospitality sectors, while also earning the highest walkability score among the top 10. More than 3,700 searches for small businesses and over 3,000 searches for things to do downtown reflect a community that actively supports its local economy. Combined with steady population growth, Boise continues to attract both new residents and new business ventures.

8. Glendale, Arizona

Glendale has quietly become one of the strongest markets for retail and hospitality businesses in the Southwest. The city added more than 3,100 residents over the past year and recorded some of the strongest workforce growth in the rankings, including a 15.3% increase in hospitality employment. Searches for local businesses and downtown activities also remain healthy, highlighting a city that is attracting attention from both residents and visitors. These factors helped Glendale secure a place among the top 10 booming main streets in America.

9. Scottsdale, Arizona

Scottsdale pairs strong business growth with one of the most engaged audiences in the rankings. The city posted an average employment growth rate of 11.5% across retail and hospitality while generating 6,450 searches for things to do downtown—one of the highest totals in the study. Searches for small businesses also remained strong at 3,680, showing that people are actively seeking out local experiences. This combination of business activity and visitor appeal continues to make Scottsdale a standout destination for entrepreneurs.

10. Plano, Texas

Plano closes out the top 10 with a score of 37.0, demonstrating that a strong business community can thrive even during slower population growth. Despite a slight population decline, the city maintained an average employment growth rate of 10.3% across retail and hospitality and generated nearly 3,800 searches for small businesses. Interest in local attractions also remains high, with almost 4,500 searches for things to do downtown. Those figures suggest Plano's established business ecosystem continues to attract customers, helping the city remain competitive for new and growing businesses.

The top U.S. cities for job growth

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1. Lubbock, Texas

Taking the top spot is Lubbock, TX, with the highest average employment growth rate in the ranking at 13.1%. The city's labor market is being driven by strong expansion across both major industries analyzed. Retail employment grew by 11.3%, while employment in food and accommodation services climbed even higher at 14.9%, making Lubbock one of the few cities to post double-digit workforce growth in both sectors. This balanced growth suggests that job creation is occurring across a broad range of businesses rather than being concentrated in a single industry. With a population of 279,104 and an annual population growth of 4,033 residents, Lubbock's workforce momentum shows few signs of slowing.

For small businesses looking to compete in markets like this, offering the right employee benefits can be the difference between attracting top frontline talent and losing them to larger employers.

2. Huntsville, Alabama

Coming in at #2 is Huntsville, AL, with an average employment growth rate of 12%. The city recorded workforce growth of 10.6% in the retail sector and 13.4% in food and accommodation services, highlighting strong hiring demand across consumer-facing industries. Huntsville's ability to achieve double-digit employment growth in both sectors demonstrates a healthy local economy that is rapidly creating opportunities for workers. Supported by a growing population of 237,413 residents and an annual population growth of 1,305 people, Huntsville continues to establish itself as one of the strongest job markets in the country.

3. Glendale, Arizona

Rounding out the top three is Glendale, AZ, with an average employment growth rate of 11.45%. While retail employment increased by a solid 7.6%, the city's food and accommodation sector was the standout performer, recording workforce growth of 15.3%—the highest among the top three cities. This surge in hospitality hiring helped push Glendale's overall employment growth into double digits and reflects increasing demand from both residents and visitors. With a population of 262,745 and an annual population growth of 3,142 residents, Glendale's expanding workforce suggests a city where employers continue to invest and hire at a significant pace.

The fastest-growing U.S. cities

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1. Spring Valley, Nevada

Taking the top spot is Spring Valley, NV, which added an incredible 22,974 residents from 2023-2024, the largest population increase in the ranking. With a total population of 229,494, the city is experiencing rapid expansion, welcoming new residents at a pace that far exceeds that of many larger metropolitan areas. Spring Valley also maintains a substantial business presence with 6,500 retail businesses and 5,780 food and accommodation businesses. The area's continued population boom suggests growing demand for housing, services, and local businesses as more Americans choose to call this Nevada community home.

2. Port St. Lucie, Florida

Coming in at #2 is Port St. Lucie, FL, which welcomed 11,880 new residents in 2023-2024 alone. The city now has a population of 284,448 and remains one of Florida's fastest-growing destinations. Population gains have been accompanied by healthy economic growth, with average employment growth reaching 5.1% across the retail and hospitality industries. The city is home to 1,639 retail businesses and 1,011 food and accommodation businesses, helping support its expanding population. As more people relocate to Port St. Lucie, demand for local services, shopping, dining, and entertainment is likely to continue rising, further strengthening the local economy.

3. McKinney, Texas

Ranking third is McKinney, TX, which added 11,664 residents in 2023-2024, bringing its population to 242,534. The North Texas city continues to attract new residents thanks to its strong economy and growing business community. Employment growth averaged an impressive 10.3% across retail and hospitality sectors, one of the highest rates in the ranking, indicating that job creation is helping fuel population growth. McKinney also benefits from a sizable business base, with 21,680 retail businesses and 18,161 food and accommodation businesses supporting the local economy. With thousands of new residents arriving each year and employers continuing to expand their workforce, McKinney remains one of the fastest-growing cities in America.

The U.S. cities with the most walkable downtowns and main streets

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1. Boise, Idaho

Taking the top spot is Boise, ID, with an exceptional walkability score of 93, making it the most walkable downtown and main street destination in the ranking. For residents and visitors alike, this means many of the city's shops, restaurants, and attractions can be reached on foot, creating a vibrant environment for local businesses. Boise is home to 2,281 retail businesses and 1,732 food and accommodation businesses, while employment growth remains strong across both sectors, averaging 9.7%. People are also very interested to see what the city of trees has to offer, with 3,730 searches for small businesses, 500 for local shops, and 3,080 for things to do downtown. Combined with annual population growth of 1,530 residents, Boise's highly walkable downtown continues to support both economic activity and quality of life.

2. Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City, NJ, takes the second spot thanks to its highly walkable downtown and vibrant urban atmosphere. With a walkability score of 87, residents can easily access shops, restaurants, and local services without relying on a car, helping create a lively environment for small businesses. The city is also home to a substantial retail and hospitality sector, supported by strong interest in local attractions and businesses, with more than 4,000 searches for small businesses over the past year. While employment growth has slowed recently, Jersey City still added 4,609 residents, suggesting its mix of convenience, amenities, and proximity to New York City continues to attract new residents and support local commerce.

3. Newark, New Jersey

Newark, NJ, rounds out the top three thanks to its highly walkable downtown, growing population, and thriving business community. With a walkability score of 76, residents can easily access local shops, restaurants, and everyday services, helping create a bustling environment for businesses of all sizes. The city added 8,078 residents in the past year—one of the largest population increases among the top-ranked cities—while also generating nearly 4,800 searches for small businesses and more than 2,400 searches for things to do downtown. With its extensive retail and hospitality sectors, Newark continues to offer a mix of accessibility, activity, and growth that helps local businesses thrive.

Curious where your city ranks? Check out our interactive table below 

What America’s top main streets have in common

The results show that thriving main streets aren't limited to major metropolitan areas. While fast-growing cities in Texas and Florida performed especially well, the rankings highlight a broader trend: places with growing populations, active downtown districts, and strong retail and hospitality sectors tend to create the best conditions for small businesses. But the businesses that thrive long-term in these cities are the ones that also get the fundamentals right internally — from managing employees effectively to building teams that grow with the city around them.

Whether driven by tourism, new residents, or vibrant local communities, these cities are proving that a successful main street depends on more than just business density; it requires an environment where people want to live, work, shop, and spend time.

Methodology

To determine which U.S. cities have the most booming main streets, we analyzed the 200 most populous mid-sized cities (pop. 500,000 or less) using a weighted index combining four key indicators:

- Retail & Food/Hospitality business density — the total number of retail, food, and hospitality businesses (NAICS 44-45) (NAICS 72) operating in each city's surrounding metro area

- Retail, Food, and Hospitality workforce growth — the percentage change in retail, food, and hospitality sector employment between Q1 2019 and Q1 2025

- Retail, Food, and Hospitality small business births - The number of newly established retail, food, and hospitality small businesses within each city's surrounding metro area

- Search Volumes - The total search volume for each query (“Small businesses [city]”, “Local shops [city]”, “Things to do downtown [city]”) across each city listed 

- Population Growth (1-Year growth '23-'24) - The increase or decrease in population YoY from 2023-2024 (most recent data available) 

- Walkability Score - The total score determining how easy it is to walk around each city listed 

Establishment counts were sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 County Business Patterns. Employment growth figures were drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators, accessed via the LED Extraction Tool. The MSA populations were sourced from the 2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Cities sharing an MSA were assigned the same metro-level data, showcasing that retail and hospitality businesses serve regional economies rather than strictly city limits. Cities were then ranked from highest to lowest by total score to identify the metros where small-business activity and growth are strongest.

* Workforce growth was measured by comparing Q1 2019 to Q1 2025 employment data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI). For four metros — Columbia, MO; Springfield, MO; Springfield, MA; and Worcester, MA — Q1 2024 was used as the endpoint due to the delayed Q1 2025 release; this represents a 5-year span instead of the standard 6-year span. For Anchorage, AK; St. Louis, MO-IL; Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI; and Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI, workforce growth could not be calculated due to incomplete or unreleased state-level QWI data. These cities remain in the ranking based on their establishment density figures (Census 2023 County Business Patterns), with workforce growth treated as -100%. Data accurate as of May 15th, 2026.

Get ready for this week’s Life at Blink spotlight! We’re thrilled to introduce a pivotal member of our Boston team — George Monk! As an Account Executive, George has been with Blink for nearly four years, making a significant impact from both sides of the Atlantic. Starting out in our London office, George was Blink’s first US SDR, pioneering our efforts to connect with U.S. businesses. Dive in to learn more about George, his journey, and what makes Blink such a unique place to work!

What initially attracted you to join Blink?

When I first joined Blink, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The idea of joining a startup initially made me hesitant because I was concerned about potential lack of structure and training programs. But eventually, I told myself, "Why not give it a shot and embrace the challenge?"

Blink was actually my first job right out of university, where I studied chemistry. It’s funny because, during my time at university, I had no idea what my career path would look like. I knew I was interested in joining the private sector, but my vision for the future was still blurry. It wasn’t until I joined Blink that I found a direction that truly resonated with me, and I'm glad I took that leap of faith.

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

I'm particularly proud of what we've achieved in the EMS sector, working with paramedics, EMTs, and medical technicians. It’s an area where Blink has really made an impact, especially with the younger workforce, who are typically between 18 and 25 and are very receptive to using our platform. When I first joined, our presence in the EMS industry was minimal — we were just starting to break into the market. But now, we're leading the charge. We've partnered with over 20 agencies, and Blink is becoming a household name in the industry. It’s been incredibly rewarding to watch that growth and know that we've made a real difference in helping these critical workers stay connected and informed.

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

If I had to describe Blink's company culture in three words, I’d say it's high-achieving, fun, and inclusive. We’re all about pushing ourselves to deliver the best results, but we also know how to enjoy the process along the way. There’s a strong sense of camaraderie, and despite how driven everyone is, it’s still an incredibly supportive and inclusive environment. 

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

I'm really excited about Blink's future, especially as we focus on expanding our presence in the US. Bringing more household names and big brands onboard is something that really energizes me. We're making a significant impact, and I can't wait to see how we continue to grow in the American market. It’s thrilling to think about how far we’ve come and how much potential there still is to grow. 

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

A recent initiative that I find really exciting is the opportunity we have to help thousands of customers who’ve been left behind by the closure of Meta's Workplace. Being able to migrate them over to Blink is a huge opportunity not just for those businesses but for us as well. Meta announced they’d be closing in May, so it’s been a major focus for us since then. With the official discontinuation happening in August next year, I imagine we’ll continue helping with these migrations for months to come. It’s incredibly rewarding to know we’re stepping in to provide a solution when these companies need it most.

Why do you work for Blink?

I have the luxury of coming to work every day and genuinely enjoying it. I love the people I work with, and I love the diversity of our customers. Getting to work with companies from so many different industries keeps things exciting and fulfilling.

Demand for home health aides is higher than ever. The job outlook for home health and personal care aides is projected to be 25% between 2021 and 2031 — meaning that, as a workforce, home health and personal care is expected to grow an incredible 20 percentage points more versus other industries.

This poses a significant challenge for home health care providers, not just in recruiting enough carers to answer to demand but in retaining these staff members as well.

The Great Resignation, high employee turnover, and decreasing job satisfaction are all impacting home health organizations in line with the wider healthcare industry. Tackling these issues starts with addressing the factors that cause them in the first place.

In this guide, we'll walk you through the numerous different factors that can influence employee retention, before diving into exactly how to increase employee retention in home health care.

If you're an HR or Operations leader in a home health care organization, keep reading to learn how you can successfully retain your valuable employees — and improve patient care and business outcomes in the process.

What causes attrition in healthcare?

Staff turnover is a natural and necessary process in all healthcare organizations. However, when turnover reaches high levels it can have a detrimental effect on the quality of care as well as being costly. And it's high levels that we're seeing.

The turnover rate for US-based home care aides sits at 35.42%, and a report from Skills for Care in the UK found a turnover rate of 29% for directly employed staff (almost double the cross-industry average).

Further problems arise when employees leave not only the organization but the health workforce itself.

By understanding and addressing employee retention and the factors that drive it, home health and personal care leaders can minimize staff attrition and the associated impact on cost of, and quality of, patient care.

While there are a number of factors at play here, Health Professional Mobility in a Changing Europe divides the organizational factors affecting retention into three main categories: 

1. Employment quality
2. Work quality 
3. Organizational quality

Below, we’ll take a closer look at each of these three dimensions and how they affect retention, before diving into actionable initiatives leading to improving employee retention throughout your home health organization.

What's important to remember is that each of these factors overlaps to create engaging, positive employee experiences and ensure retention. It's not a case of nailing just one of these categories but creating meaningful change in all three.

1. Employment quality

Employment quality is a key factor in retention and includes aspects like pay and benefits, job security, and working conditions. Other elements of employment quality relate to home health workers having direct lines of communication with their employer and being able to swap and fill shifts easily in order to support the work-life balance they seek.

Getting employment quality right is a particular challenge for home health and personal care organizations. For one, home health co-workers are typically more distributed than other healthcare teams. These are employees who leave their homes in the morning to visit patients at their homes and may rarely, or never, even step foot in a shared office or HQ.

And yet, home health organizations cannot deprioritize employee quality conditions — they can't settle for simply paying staff more in order to boost retention, as many have tried to do. As Gartner states:

"Monetary compensation is important for surviving, but deeper relationships, a strong sense of community, and purpose-driven work are essential to thriving."

That leads us to the concepts of work and organizational quality...

2. Work quality

Work quality includes the levels of responsibility, autonomy, and stress experienced in the workplace. 

Without going into any more detail than that, it quickly becomes clear how essential work quality is for healthcare workers. Few roles carry such a degree of responsibility and demand as much from employees. The scope for stressful situations is limitless — and to make matters worse, home health aides often feel isolated from the rest of their co-workers and the organization at large, meaning that when they start to feel stressed they have no one to turn to for support.

Work quality also relates to the technology provided to health professionals to help them succeed in their roles. With 52% of frontline workers claiming they'd leave their job over tech tools, it’s clear to see the impact that the right workplace technology has on work quality and employee retention.

3. Organizational quality

Organizational quality also impacts employee retention: the culture of the organization and the way that employees are managed and rewarded (or not) all play a key role here. Organizational quality can also refer to levels of organizational innovation, such as improvement programs or digitization initiatives.

Blink research shows that health and care workers overwhelmingly feel unheard and undervalued in their organizations. Unsurprisingly, the same research showed 50% are considering leaving, or have recently left, their jobs. 

Simply put, organizations with a positive culture, good management practices, and fair reward systems are more likely to retain their employees. On the other hand, companies with poor organizational quality are far more likely to experience high levels of turnover.

7 ways to increase employee retention in home health care

Turning attrition trends around is a big task. Businesses need to think bigger than compensation and make bigger commitments to the overall employee experience.

All roles in health and personal care must get the status and respect they deserve. But how can you, as business and HR leaders, provide that? 

1. Collect and analyze data

Up-to-date workforce data should be at the center of an effective retention strategy, helping you better target your employment, work, and organizational quality improvements. By collecting and analyzing data and identifying trends in your home health workforce, you can identify the starting point for your activities.

Understanding the profile of your workforce will help you to assess the risk points and ensure that retention issues affecting particular groups are addressed. For example, are retention issues organization-wide or specific to certain staff groups, demographics, departments, or teams?

For a home health provider, this will likely include looking at retention rates between carers employed directly by your organization vs agency staff vs workers brought in through other schemes like CDPAP. Carers indirectly employed by your organization might feel less connected to the company mission and vision — failing to meet their organizational quality needs as a result.

Getting to know the drivers of employee turnover, and who they impact in your specific organization, can help you create targeted initiatives to improve retention. If the data shows heavy attrition after 30 or 60 days, you might focus on creating an effective, engaging onboarding program to help new hires hit the ground running.

Making it happen

One way to improve employee retention is through the use of regular Employee Pulse Surveys. By conducting regular pulse surveys, you can ensure that you have a constant understanding of how your employees feel about their work. 

This will help you address any potential retention issues before they become a major problem or spiral into quiet quitting. Additionally, pulse surveys can help to improve employee engagement and job satisfaction, which can lead to improved retention rates.

You can also use tools like Blink’s Frontline Intelligence feature to collect and analyze critical employee engagement data and metrics, helping you to understand exactly where your healthcare workforce is feeling unengaged and unsatisfied.

2. Offer relevant training and development opportunities

Healthcare organizations that offer relevant training and professional development are more likely to retain their most valuable employees. It cannot be underestimated how valued and invested in healthcare workers will feel when their skills are being developed and their careers are progressing.

This answers to all of the three factors explored:

• Employment quality (as it opens the doors to higher pay)
• Work quality (through professional development)
• and organizational quality (as it creates a culture of progress and support)

Making it happen

Training and development programs for home health and personal care workers might include formal training programs, such as classroom-based learning or online courses. It might also include more customized opportunities, such as one-on-one mentoring or job shadowing.

What's essential to identify, however, is how these programs will be delivered. Technology will be crucial to bridge the gap between HQ and home health aides.

3. Lighten the load

An increasing number of health and care workers are struggling to balance the demands of their job with other aspects of their life, such as parenting or caring responsibilities. This often leads to stress and burnout; an early indicator of disengagement, and ultimately attrition. In some instances, burnout in healthcare staff has also been linked to medical errors and patient safety incidents.

To improve retention in healthcare, organizations must commit to creating a working environment where employees feel supported by their home health co-workers and managers — even if they rarely see them face-to-face — and are not overburdened with inflexible workloads.

Making it happen

Organizations can take a number of steps to lighten a home health worker's cognitive load:

• Providing more resources to team members and managers in a mobile and easy-to-access Hub for on-the-go support
• Implementing intuitive scheduling solutions and shift-swapping tools that can be used for real-time coordination and employee flexibility
• Encouraging work-life balance through a culture of peer support, so that co-workers can easily tap into the knowledge and experience of their peers

4. Consistent communication

Another factor that often impacts your employment quality is the consistency of your communication. Consistent two-way communication is essential for lasting relationships — and it can be one of your most powerful tools for encouraging employee retention.

Blink's research found that close to one-fifth of frontline workers don’t receive relevant communications from their organization. Organizations can create a sense of community and trust among their staff to minimize attrition by ensuring that all employees:

• Receive updates relevant to them
• Are part of the right team chats
• Can easily share their ideas and concerns

You can also use regular communication to obtain direct insight into how specific healthcare workers or teams are feeling about their work. This can help you to identify retention issues and create targeted interventions as needed.

Making it happen

Effective communication needs to be tailored to the specific needs of different staff groups. For home health and personal care aides, it will undoubtedly be about regular mobile updates and using Feed and Chat features to create energy and enthusiasm among your distributed workforce.

Read how Blink helped solve a million-dollar communication challenge for the home health organization, Elara Caring. Through deploying a number of transformative digital initiatives through Blink, 95% of Elara Caring's personal care, home health, and hospice care workers now feel more connected to the organization.

5. Focus on employee engagement

Employee engagement can be a powerful tool for improving retention, as it has been linked to higher levels of satisfaction and commitment among workers.

Healthcare organizations can create a work quality that is more attractive to top performers by getting to know the latest employee engagement trends, providing the right digital tools for key workers to engage intuitively, and regularly assessing the effectiveness of their efforts.

Engaging employees ultimately retains them.

Additionally, research by HBR shows that higher employee engagement levels can lead to a number of improved outcomes, not just retention. These include care costs (including legal action taken by a patient against a provider for negligent complications) and treatment effectiveness and patient outcomes (measured by the rate patients are readmitted).

Making it happen

To increase employee engagement, healthcare organizations should focus on creating a culture that values the opinions and input of employees. This might include activities like surveys or direct feedback, regular communications from leadership, and targeted recognition programs.

One transformative way to improve employee engagement in your healthcare organization is to pave the way with Blink, the powerful mobile employee engagement app that frontline workers love. With a suite of features perfect for healthcare, Blink will help you create a culture of engagement and retention in your organization.

6. Real recognition 

Recognition is fundamental to improving employee retention. The employers' organization for the UK's National Health System states:

"Meaningful recognition can help to motivate and retain our NHS people. Setting in place a holistic reward package, which is relevant to staff needs, can be key to ensuring your organization, and the wider NHS, retains its staff."

But recognition is more than a pat on the back. Driving real recognition for employees needs to be an ongoing, holistic process that inspires your healthcare workforce to feel valued, motivated, and connected to the company. 

Making it happen

While some companies may view the idea of regular rewards or incentives as impractical, Blink is a mobile employee recognition solution that makes it easy to provide targeted and consistent recognition to specific individuals or teams.

With features like real-time feedback, team and group chatting, and, of course, Employee Recognition, your healthcare organization can unlock the power of recognition as a retention tool. And with its wider suite of handy features, Blink is the perfect way to engage employees in your healthcare organization and help you retain talent.

7. Listen and action feedback

Over a third (35%) of frontline healthcare workers feel that their feedback will not be acted on by their organization. Unsurprisingly, half of frontline healthcare staff have changed or considered changing their job.

"By taking the time to listen and communicate, we can create a better and more supportive environment within healthcare," says Sean Nolan, CEO at Blink.

Through more effective communication, leaders feel more connected to their frontline, and frontline employees feel valued and listened to. This results in higher retention, increased productivity, and better two-way conversations.

Making healthcare workers feel heard needs to be a priority for any healthcare organization. By listening to their feedback and acting on it, you will be able to create a more supportive workplace culture that retains top talent — leading to reduced costs associated with employee turnover.

Making it happen

To effectively ensure your team is heard and their feedback is acted on, you need the right tech to manage it all smoothly. With the Blink employee app, you can listen to your employees and act on their feedback in real time, meaning they won't feel ignored or undervalued.

By using the powerful features of Blink, you can help create a culture where frontline workers feel heard and respected while focusing on:

• Encouraging two-way feedback through regular surveys and communications from leadership
• Ensuring feedback is acted on and implemented into business processes, updating employees on the progress of their feedback so they know they’re being heard
• Integrating your mobile app with workplace technologies like HR systems, payroll platforms, and more, to streamline the employee experience and implement feedback effectively across your organization

Your home health employee retention checklist

• Collect and analyze data - Gathered by regular Employee Pulse Surveys and Frontline Intelligence data
• Offer relevant training and development opportunities - Formal training programs, customized development pathways
• Lighten the load - Easy-to-access Hub for on-the-go support, intuitive scheduling and shift-swapping solutions
• Consistent communication - Team and 1:1 Secure Chats, regular and relevant mobile updates
• Focus on employee engagement - A powerful Employee Engagement App
• Real recognition - Rewards programs, Employee Recognition, Feed shoutouts
• Listen and action feedback - Regularly collect and act on feedback, update employees on actions taken

Retention next steps

Blink is the industry-leading frontline engagement app that connects management and frontline teams to build stronger organizations. With a proven adoption rate of 92% in care sectors, it’s never been this easy to unify the frontline. At Blink, we believe in empowering frontline organizations by helping you enable, engage and understand your workforce.

Our app provides a host of features that support employee retention in home health, such as employee surveys, polls, secure team and group chats and channels, employee recognition, and healthcare-friendly HR tools.

By using the app effectively, you will be able to create a culture where employees are engaged and respected – ultimately reducing employee turnover costs and driving employee retention up. We are experts in frontline engagement and retention and would love to help you achieve your goals.

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