Gen Z just became the majority of your frontline workforce. Are you ready?

"A good leader will always …"

How you complete that sentence could speak volumes about your leadership skills.

Good leadership in the workplace is crucial for the long-term success of your business and superb employee experience.

In fact, there's a 1674% chance of an employee having a strong perception about your leadership when you connect them to their purpose, accomplishments, or each other.

Great leaders inspire and motivate their team members. But it's easier said than done. 

Being a good leader can be challenging. It takes a lot of practice and focus. But like any other skill, you can learn to be an effective leader.

If you don't know how to be a good leader, you're in luck. We'll explore 10 qualities of a good leader to give you tips to become a strong leader at work.

What makes a good leader in the workplace?

A good leader engages in open communication, motivates their team members, leads by example, listens to feedback, and is open to new ideas in an ever-changing workplace. 

Anyone can sit in a corner office and boss people around, but there's more to effective leadership than that.

Learning the traits of a good leader will help you significantly impact your company's success.

With that in mind, here are 10 attributes of a good leader and how to use them effectively to your advantage.

1. Good leaders engage in open communication.

Employees want to be heard — whether it's an issue that needs resolving or ideas they believe would improve the business or better serve clients.

When you don’t communicate well with your team, they may feel discouraged, resulting in poor morale and lower production. Project.co shared that 35% of businesses have lost an employee due to poor communication. 

The best leaders customize their communication styles to suit each situation and team members' preferences — which means they take the time to learn which communication mode each team member prefers. 

Do your employees prefer email or phone conversations? Or maybe face-to-face? 

You can also use a straightforward mobile app like Blink to turn your employees into a close-knit group by enabling communications between them.

Effective communication decreases misunderstandings and employee errors, builds trust among team members, and improves morale. Pumble backs that up, stating that effective communication can increase a team's productivity by 25%.

As long as it's done respectfully, you should maintain a work environment that promotes honest communication.

You can also encourage open communication by:

• Promoting a judgment-free environment since your employees are likely to give their opinions more often when they don’t fear discrimination.
• Giving undivided attention to your team members when they’re speaking.
• Asking your employees for suggestions to increase their engagement. You'll aim to implement employee engagement strategies that work.
• Asking (not demanding) your employees to do stuff for you.

2. Great leaders encourage professional and personal development.

One of the most critical leadership qualities you can have is nurturing your staff by giving them personal development opportunities.

That can include anything from leadership training or teaching them a new skill to encouraging them to pursue a passion that inspires them in and out of the workplace.

In 2021, Lorman shared that 70% of employees are likely to leave their current job to work for an organization that invests in employee growth and development. 

Employees value learning opportunities, so it's no surprise that companies with successful training programs typically see a significant increase in employee retention. 

Picture a company culture where every team member receives training according to their interests. In such a case, every employee will feel you care about their goals, dreams, and overall well-being. 

When that happens, your employees will go above and beyond to help you achieve your goals and vision.

Here are four strategies you can use to encourage professional and personal development in the workplace:

• Encourage mentoring and coaching between managers and employees.
• Identify and develop soft skills such as time management, active listening, and delegation.
• Implement cross-departmental training programs to increase the efficiency of your entire company.
• Use a learning management system (LMS) to streamline employee training.

3. Successful leaders lead their employees by example.

One of the characteristics of a good leader is their ability to ‘walk the talk.’

Here’s an instance of a true leader leading by example:

Jane is a manager at a local bank with a team of seven employees (you can pretend that’s Jane and her team in the above picture). She shows up to work a few minutes early to plan her schedule. 

When her team starts to arrive, she greets them warmly and inquires about their families.

She then calls her team members into a morning meeting. And instead of leading with her plan, she gives each person a chance to voice their ideas. She appreciates their input and asks them to create proposals to bring their ideas to life.

When it’s time to start working, Jane attends to clients like the rest of the team.

As a result, Jane gets high levels of employee engagement since she demonstrates that she’s invested in her team's initiatives and business.

Leading by example means guiding your employees through actions instead of words. The saying ‘do as I say, not as I do’ has no place in today’s world.

Nowadays, employees want to see your actions match what you say. That means showing them what’s required instead of just telling them.

Here are four ways to lead by example:

• Be a role model to your employees by walking the talk.
• Give clear instructions to your staff. 
• Avail yourself to answer questions your employees might have.
• Make employees feel part of the team by letting them know why you're giving them specific instructions.
• Use respectful words like ‘please’ when giving instructions to your team members.

4. Strong leaders give constructive feedback to employees about their performance.

Employee feedback is an incredibly effective tool. Offered well, it can grow your employees, strengthen bonds between staff and managers, and improve trust levels. 

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”
— Bill Gates 

Direct, honest feedback is the best way to steer your team in the right direction.

Don’t wait for monthly or quarterly assessments to give your employees feedback. Give them right after an event has occurred. It will have the most significant impact on their performance.

Here are four tips to help you give employees effective feedback that gets the results you need:

• Give individual feedback privately.
• Avoid sandwiching corrective feedback between two positive feedbacks. It will create confusion, undermine the feedback, and decrease trust levels.
• Focus on your employees' behaviors (what they do) rather than their personality traits (what they’re like).

5. Secure leaders ask for feedback from employees about their leadership style.

The saying goes: there’s always room for improvement. That’s especially true when you're a good leader. 

Who can point out these growth opportunities better than your employees? 

After all, they work with you every day, so they know your strengths and weaknesses. 

“Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions.”
— Ken Blanchard

However, getting honest feedback isn’t always easy.

Employees may feel awkward revealing their true thoughts. They may not want to offend anyone's feelings or face future consequences for harsh criticism. That may cause them to give you fluffy feedback or avoid the request.

Use these tips to ask your employees for feedback and increase the likelihood that they give honest, actionable feedback:

• Ask your employees specific questions instead of vague questions such as, “What do you think?”
• Tell your staff not to hold back on their feedback and make them feel they’re doing you a favor by being honest.
• Give them time to think about your questions and develop helpful answers.
• Ask employees about what you can do better in the future rather than what you did wrong in the past.

6. Transformational leaders are open to change and new ideas.

Change is hard — even if the change is for the better. Successful leaders are aware of this and don't pretend otherwise. 

They also understand that embracing change with the right mindset is critical to creating an environment where change is integral to their company's DNA. 

A great leader never wants to be the smartest person in the room. They surround themselves with a team of experts with more ideas and experience without feeling threatened. 

And when these experts are led well, they can be a powerful force in driving strategy, making changes, and enhancing the company's bottom line. They’ll perform at a high level with little oversight and push you to grow continually.

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
— Steve Jobs

Whether you're leading a team of two or five thousand, below are four ways to embrace new ideas and get your employees on the ‘change-wagon’ faster:

• Surround yourself with a committed team of experts.
• Understand why you need the change and clearly express the desired outcome.
• Include your employees in decision-making from the get-go to strengthen their commitment to change.
• Make sure your beliefs and behaviors support the change. Be resilient, persistent, and willing to step outside your comfort zone.

7. Effective leaders set clear employee goals and delegate work.

A good leader makes sure their employees are doing what they’ve assigned them to do to achieve the company's mission and goals. 

The instructions you give should be measurable and quantifiable. Use existing data to develop a baseline for employees to do their best work. 

Moreover, 2021 research by Bi Worldwide showed that 31% of employees said their manager set attainable goals for them, but they weren’t challenging. So be sure to have goal-setting discussions with your employees to set goals that will challenge them to grow. 

An effective leader also knows what tasks to delegate. They know they can’t accomplish everything alone, so they assign tasks to team members they’re confident will complete them. 

As a result, they empower and boost their employees’ morale. And in the process, they free up their time to focus on what will yield the highest returns and grow the business.

Here are three tips to help you delegate tasks to your team members:

• Look for opportunities to delegate tasks based on your teams' strengths and weaknesses.
• Walk your employees through the project you're delegating and clarify when you need it done.
• Give continuous feedback and be specific on what they did well and what they need to improve on.
• Aligned with implementing employee experience strategies and positive employee lifecycle

8. Great leaders are passionate about their work.

A good leader has the right motivation and passion. They’re not driven by money or prestige but genuinely want to inspire others to do their best.

Passionate leaders increase productivity and make sure workers are committed to the company's values, mission, and vision.

“A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.”
— John C. Maxwell

Most successful leaders have a passion (not a job) and know how to rally others around that passion. 

In short, passionate leaders lead with heart.

Here are seven qualities that set passionate leaders apart from the crowd:

• They're open-minded and respect differing opinions.
• They have a positive attitude and superb problem-solving skills.
• They’re great communicators and listen with the intent of genuinely understanding rather than advancing their agenda.
• They're future-focused and capable of engaging others to achieve their goals.
• They look at the big picture and embrace challenges.
• They're risk-takers and put in the hard work to execute ideas. 
• They're self-aware, surround themselves with like-minded people, and sustain collaborative relationships.

Your ability to inspire, motivate, and create a magnetic vision needs commitment and perseverance. But it’s worth the effort, whether your goal is productivity, employee retention, or project management.

9. Successful leaders have a positive attitude even when things go south.

Most people tend to associate good leadership with smooth sailing. 

After all, what can go wrong if you build and nurture a great team and generate excellent ideas? 

…. a lot.

But whether it's a minor misunderstanding or a significant error, how you handle a negative situation reveals a lot about your emotional intelligence and leadership abilities.

“Great leadership usually starts with a willing heart, a positive attitude, and a desire to make a difference.”
— Mac Anderson

When things go south, your words and actions as a leader are critical. Here’s what you can do during those times:

• Take time to evaluate the situation and know what the problem is.
• Face the problem with positivity and look for solutions.
• Be flexible and adaptable and make adjustments along the way.
• Remain persistent and determined to solve the issues.

10. Good leaders are always learning.

All successful leaders have one trait in common — a hunger for learning. They enroll in relevant online courses, read great books, use the best tools, and constantly improve.

Great leaders have an innate sense of curiosity that often drives them to learn more, which helps them perform better for their businesses and provide personal fulfillment.

“Leadership is not an expertise. Leadership is a constant education.”
— Simon Sinek

Learning helps great leaders challenge their assumptions and bring clear understanding to the table. 

In contrast, failure to keep learning means you won't adapt to the ever-changing work environment. And depending on your industry's competition, this can be a significant issue that spells the death of your company.

Here are three ways to keep learning and become a better leader:

• Embrace an open mind to see things from different perspectives.
• Read relevant books, industry publications, and blogs.
• Take advantage of consultants, personal networks, industry events, and other organizations and learn from them.

How to be a good leader at work: your checklist

1. Openly communicate: Make sure your team always know what's going on and what is expected of them.
2. Develop your team: Push each team member in their personal development. Make sure you each team member has a clear and robust personal development plan.
3. Lead by example: Easier said than done, but be the example your team can learn from. Show them the type of employee you want them to be.
4. Give constructive feedback: Don't be afraid to give constructive feedback. 1-1's are normally the place for this.
5. Ask for feedback: You won't always get things right, and not everyone will agree with you. Ask for feedback from your team on your management style and how you can improve.
6. Be open to change and new ideas: If a team member has an idea or a new way of doing things, be open to it. Don't stick to the way things are just because "that's how it's always been".
7. Set goals & delegate: You can't do everything on your own, give your team responsibility and delegate tasks appropriately. This can help with point 2 as well.
8. Show your passion: If you love your job, show it. This passion can be infectious and help motivate your team.
9. Keep positive: Things won't always go to plan, but you can weather the storm. Keep positive and let your team know you have their back with whatever road bumps you hit.
10. Don't stop learning: Your development also doesn't stop. If you want to lead by example you need to make sure you are up to date with the latest techniques and strategies for your role.

Wrapping up: What makes a good leader in the workplace?

Most people aren’t born with the ability to get things done and inspire others every day. And that’s okay — you don’t have to be born with that ability to succeed.

Although it takes time to be a good leader, you can learn strong leadership skills. But like any other skill, it takes a lot of practice and focus. 

Just keep in mind it also requires you to grow and engage your team. Blink’s Employee Engagement App can help you keep employees engaged and connected. Try it out today. 

Use internal communications to create a sense of belonging and community at your organization

When you’re surrounded by people who just get you, it feels good, right? We all love to experience that sense of belonging. And it’s no different in the workplace.

Employees who feel they belong within an organization are 5.3 times more likely to do their best work. They’re also happier and less likely to look for a job elsewhere.

So what makes the difference? Why do some company cultures feel inclusive while others leave employees feeling like they’re on the outside looking in?

The truth is a truly inclusive workplace isn’t just about policies and the right training. It’s about how employees experience the workplace environment day in, day out. And a lot of that comes down to employee communication.

Done right, an effective employee communication strategy ensures every employee — regardless of their age, language, identity, or role — feels heard, valued, and part of something bigger. Done wrong, it can unintentionally exclude people, which is bad for them and bad for business.

The challenge facing internal communicators? A one-size-fits-all approach no longer works. To create the type of employee experience everyone feels part of, your internal communication strategy has to enable flexible, personal, and transparent communication with employees.

Here’s how.

How to include everyone in the company conversation with inclusive employee comms

#1. Bridge the generational gap with multi-channel comms

Different generations have different internal communication preferences. 

Older employees may feel more at home with email. Gen Z and Millennials, on the other hand, expect mobile-first, social-style updates.

Gen X came of age in an era of top-down communications. Leadership spoke and employees listened.

But the digital natives in your midst grew up with interaction baked into their digital experiences. They want the option to like, share, and comment on the information they receive — and expect to engage in conversation with the powers that be.

To ensure messages cut through with every generation in your workforce, you need a way to reach all employees in the way they prefer.

The fix

By using a wide range of digital tools — from email and instant messaging, to internal newsletters and social news feeds — you can reach every generation effectively.

With employee communication apps, you can share traditional text-based communications, while also getting creative with graphics, photos, videos, and company news feed content. You can offer both asynchronous email communication and instant messaging tools.

Importantly, you need to ensure employees have access to two-way communication channels. It should be easy to share, track, and take action on employee feedback.

Diversifying internal communication channels, while still retaining one source of truth, ensures every generation feels included in company comms.

How Blink can help: Blink is a social media-style employee app that mirrors the key features and user experience of consumer tech, like Instagram and TikTok. As a centralized platform, it also supports traditional email updates — so your older employees don’t have to be down with the kids to receive crucial company updates.

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#2. Support a multilingual workforce with built-in translation

If you’re part of a global company — or have a large population of frontline workers — you may have employees who don’t work in their first language.

Language barriers exclude employees from critical information and conversations. They make it hard — if not impossible — to foster a fully engaged workforce. Workers have to work hard to understand essential internal communications. So they’re likely to gloss over them and miss vital information.

The fix

Pick internal communication tools with real-time translation features. Give employees control over their settings so they can see company content in their preferred language.

They can even respond in their preferred language, enjoying two-way communication with peers and managers, who can then auto-translate content back into their preferred language.

With modern employee communication platforms, you can break down language barriers and build connections between every member of your workforce.

How Blink can help: Blink’s automatic translation feature lets employees read and engage with content in their preferred language, increasing accessibility.

#3. Recognize and respect pronouns in employee tech

Inclusive language may be a given when you speak to employees face to face. But — to build a truly inclusive employee experience — you need digital tools that use inclusive language too.

Many workplace systems still lack pronoun options or force binary gender selections. The result? Some employees don’t feel they fit within the system or organization. And they can’t help but feel alienated from company culture.

The fix

Pick workplace tech that reflects company values. Ensure employee directories, employee profiles, and internal communication tools allow employees to display and use their preferred pronouns. And if your systems ask for data on employee gender or titles, make sure fields reflect the identities of your entire workforce.

How Blink can help: With Blink's employee communication software, you have access to user-friendly customization tools. So employees can use their preferred pronouns and your company can reinforce a workplace culture of inclusion and respect.

#4. Personalize communication for different locations and teams

Employees in different locations have different policies and cultural norms. Employees in different teams have different priorities and daily operations. But these differences aren’t always reflected in company comms.

When you deliver the same messages, in the same standard channels, to employees across a large and diverse organization, you try to speak to everyone. But this can mean you end up speaking to no one.

Internal communications tend to be impersonal and corporate. And — with a one-size-fits-all approach — it’s difficult for comms teams to inspire the employee engagement and positive employee experience you’re striving for.

The fix

Don’t blast everyone with the same messages. Segment your audience by location and team. Then, personalize and regionalize your content. Create tailored communications, hyper-relevant to each section of your workforce.

Send information about your new shift swap tool to retail staff. Share details of the next office coffee morning with your team at HQ. Reference local holidays and events — and make sure every employee sees themselves in the story you’re telling.

The same overarching company values and vision can run through everything you do. But by making your internal messages specific to particular groups of employees, you make it easier for them to relate to company culture. Which means a more inclusive employee experience.

How Blink can help: Blink’s smart targeting feature allows you to segment employees based on their location, role, and team. This makes it easy for you to craft and send relevant and inclusive messages.

#5. Cater to every work environment — frontline, remote, desk-based, and hybrid

Without careful thought for inclusion, employees working in different environments get a very different employee experience.

Office-based employees often have access to the best tech and the most appealing benefits. They get more contact with business leaders and more opportunities for co-worker connection.

If you have employees working beyond the office — at home or on the frontlines of your organization — it’s easy for these workers to feel excluded from the best that your company culture has to offer.

Without mobile-first, employee communication tools, they’re left adrift. They don’t have reliable access to company updates, they don’t build connections with co-workers, and they get little opportunity to join the company conversation.

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The fix

To connect and include employees working in different locations, you need to take company culture digital. You need an employee experience platform that works across all devices.

(Not sure what your different employee groups — from remote workers to the mobile workforce — are looking for? Ask them via employee surveys or other employee feedback tools!)

Frontline employees deserve special consideration. This segment of your workforce doesn’t always have a company email address or a workplace computer.

But with mobile-first software, you create a digital hub for your organization and bring a stellar employee experience to every employee smartphone.

Employees can count on the same consumer-grade experience and extensive features no matter their location or the device they use. And the entire workforce gets easy and inclusive access to workplace communications and collaboration tools.

How Blink can help: Blink is a communications platform designed for mobile-first employee engagement. It provides the same great user experience for frontline, hybrid, desk-based, and remote employees, ensuring everyone stays connected — wherever they spend their work days.

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A more inclusive employee experience starts today

True inclusion goes beyond sound bites and sensitivity training. It’s a value embedded within company culture and the employee experience — and shared with the help of effective employee communication.

With tailored, multi-channel communication, you deliver content in a way that all employees can relate to. Comms tools that offer auto-translation break down language barriers. Inclusive, mobile-first tech supports every employee in every location to feel part of company culture.

A few tweaks to your employee communication strategy can make all the difference to employees. You help them to feel valued, respected, and that they truly belong within your organization.

12 ideas to increase employee engagement

We can boil employee engagement down to two key employee attributes.

Attitude – how an employee feels about the company, their co-workers, their managers, and their role. And behavior – the effort that an employee is willing to invest in their work.

These two attributes have a huge impact on your business.

When an employee has a positive attitude and is willing (on most days) to give their all, they’re more energized and productive. They’re keen to learn and find solutions for workplace problems.

Engaged employees are also more loyal to your organization. Teams with high engagement have turnover rates 18% to 43% lower than those with low engagement. They have lower rates of absenteeism, too.

It’s easy to see how employee engagement can help to build a more effective and efficient organization. You reduce costs linked to recruitment, sick leave, and low productivity. And you get the very best from your workforce.

Understanding the importance of employee engagement is the first step. However, finding ways to improve employee engagement within your organization, is another - And that’s what we’ll be focusing on here.

We’re going to explore a range of employee engagement ideas that you can put into practice at your business to increase engagement. But first, let’s take a look at how employee engagement applies to frontline organizations.

Employee engagement in frontline organizations

Employee engagement is so often focused on those working remote or behind a desk, rather than your frontline employees. Common activities or ideas to increase employee engagement actually actively exclude frontline workers, as well. Think in-office lunches, social happy hours, or team building activities during the standard workday. 

But the truth is frontline employees want to feel engaged in the same way a desk-based team does. They benefit from a sense of belonging and connection. And your business benefits too.

Engaged employees working on the frontline provide a better service for customers or patients. Like their office-based co-workers, they take less time off sick and are less likely to look for another job.

All frontline organizations should be looking to improve employee engagement - and it’s easier than you might think. Below are our top ways to improve employee engagement across your entire organization - applicable to not only desk-based teams, but frontline organizations as well. 

12 ideas to improve employee engagement quickly

Employee engagement goes way beyond team building activities and the standard annual employee review. The most engaged organizations weave employee engagement activities into the fabric of their workplace.

Our tips to improve employee engagement:

1. Embrace technology
2. Promote two-way communication
3. Recognize and reward
4. Offer growth opportunities
5. Foster work-life balance
6. Gather feedback from employees
7. Set clear expectations
8. Give regular feedback
9. Promote team collaboration
10. Celebrate milestones
11. Lead by example
12. Measure and act on feedback

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1. Embrace technology

Today’s tech is intrinsically engaging, to the extent that people spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on mobile apps. That’s a third of their waking hours.

People leaders can take advantage of this fact by embracing mobile tools to increase employee engagement. Of course, embracing a clunky old intranet is going to do more harm than good. It won’t offer the user experience that employees now expect from their tech. But with cutting-edge software and apps, leaders make the cornerstones of engagement – communication, collaboration, and recognition – more appealing and accessible to employees.

For frontline organizations, this can revolutionize the way you work.

Employees no longer need a desktop or company email to access internal comms. With an employee engagement app like Blink, they can simply use the smartphone in their pocket, meaning everyone stays connected.

Teams can access chat functions, recognition features, and company tools and resources – all from the same interface.

Leaders can make the most of employee engagement surveys and analytics features. They can use data to understand employee engagement like never before, finding more effective ways to improve it.

When you put the very best tech tools at the heart of your employee engagement strategy, you connect your frontline to co-workers and management. You also make measuring and improving engagement a whole lot easier.   

2. Promote two-way communication

Good communication is the key to employee engagement. It’s a way to share information and company values and to include every member of your organization in company culture. But 80% of professionals rate their organization’s communication as poor or average.

If your company comms aren’t hitting the mark, it may be because communication only moves top-down. Your leadership team speaks and everyone else listens.

You’re much more likely to motivate employees when you create channels for two-way communication. (Like they did at Domino’s). When you give them a voice, encourage them to speak up, and listen to what they have to say, employees are much more engaged.

In fact, employees who say their voice is heard at work are 4.6x more likely to give their all.

Creating two-way communication is harder in large, hybrid, and frontline organizations. How do you connect co-workers, managers, and leadership when they don’t physically cross paths? And what do you do when frontline employees don’t have a company email account?

Again, it comes down to having the right tech tools. You need communication channels that are easy to access – from the office, at home, on the shop floor, and on the road. So everyone stays connected and updated wherever they’re working.

3. Recognize and reward

When employees feel that hard work goes unnoticed, there’s less incentive for them to bring their A-game. So if you’re looking to improve your employee engagement strategy, recognition and rewards are another key focus area.

Some organizations go all out with a points and rewards system. Employees earn points for good work and can then spend points to get gift cards, company merchandise, or even make a charitable donation.

But there are lots of other ways to show your appreciation for employees. An employee of the month program or a simple thank you goes a long way. And – as we’ll see in a moment – rewarding high performers with training and career progression opportunities may prove more meaningful than small monetary prizes.   

However you approach recognition and reward, the key is finding a strategy that works for all employees. 

Perhaps a frontline employee stays late to get a job done. Or receives positive feedback from a customer. These employees should enjoy the same level of manager and peer-to-peer recognition as their office-based co-workers.

With Blink’s recognition tool, it’s easy to create a culture of appreciation. Anyone can send personalized messages of appreciation, sharing posts with individuals, teams, or the whole organization. 

4. Offer growth opportunities

Employees who have a clear career path are more likely to stay working with your company. They’re also more engaged and productive in their work.

But too often, the focus is on the professional development of management and office-based employees. According to McKinsey research, many employers underestimate the value that frontline workers place on learning and career advancement opportunities.

Of the 2,100 frontline employees McKinsey surveyed, 70% said they had applied for a promotion or a job with more responsibility. But only 25% of those who applied were successful. And 65% said they were unsure how to achieve advancement.

As well as highlighting the lack of growth for frontline employees, McKinsey made several recommendations:

• Share professional development, mentorship, and promotion opportunities with every team member
• Give managers the training they need to help employees establish career growth goals – and support them to achieve them. 
• Where a promotion isn’t possible, consider a lateral move or the assignment of new challenges within an employee’s current role to satisfy their hunger for growth

Ultimately, when employees are given the support they need to thrive in their careers, it’s a win-win. An organization retains employees and improves performance. Employees get to enjoy the challenge and satisfaction of expanding their talents.

5. Foster work-life balance

Achieving work-life balance as a frontline worker isn’t always easy. Shifts tend to be long and unpredictable. And when employees are supporting customers or patients, it can be hard to even take scheduled breaks.

This has long been accepted as “the way things are”. But with a third of workers saying that work-life balance is a top priority when looking for jobs, frontline organizations looking to increase employee engagement have a real opportunity – to outshine other employers and better support their staff.

You could offer predictable shifts and – where that isn’t possible – communicate shifts in advance. Consider flexible working and fair overtime policies. Encourage employees to get enough downtime by addressing an always-on culture.

Another key consideration? We know that 70% of frontline employees have suffered from burnout or felt at risk of burnout. This is something that the Starbucks team has taken on board.

Starbucks employees get access to a mental health care platform and free therapy sessions. They also get 10 days of backup care for the children or adults they care for, helping them balance the competing responsibilities of work and caregiving with less stress.

By helping employees to plan and enjoy their time away from work, organizations can count on improved productivity and engagement each time workers arrive for a shift.

6. Gather feedback from employees

Frontline employees are your eyes and ears on the ground. They can provide valuable perspective on what is and isn’t working operationally and how you can improve the customer experience.

But if your organization – like many frontline firms – is suffering from a frontline connection gap, you struggle to access that insight. More often than not, frontline employees don’t have the access they need to provide this valuable feedback.

This means you miss out on all kinds of frontline employee feedback – including their thoughts on employee engagement. You find it much harder to identify and address engagement issues before they affect morale and retention.

The first step to fixing this issue is developing feedback channels for all employees. Tech tools can help. An app like Blink allows you to send a feedback request to a frontline worker’s smartphone, meaning they’re much more likely to see it and respond. 

Remember that different employees prefer different feedback methods so open up a variety of options.

Make pulse surveys, annual employee engagement surveys, and manager one-on-ones part of your feedback request schedule. And give employees the option to leave feedback anonymously so they feel comfortable being completely honest.

With up-to-date employee feedback, you can make your employee engagement strategy more relevant and effective. You get to the heart of how employees feel – and discover the areas where change is most needed.

7. Set clear expectations

Uncertainty and employee engagement don’t mix. Role ambiguity creates stress and it’s one of the leading causes of employee burnout.

Employees need to understand exactly what’s expected of them. They need to know what work to do, how to do it, and who to do it with. Even when a frontline role involves a lot of autonomy, employees need guidance on their remit to feel confident and motivated.

Managers are responsible for setting clear expectations. And it all comes down to good communication.

Frontline managers should clearly define the role and its responsibilities for new hires. They need to set key performance indicators (KPIs) so employees know what success looks like. And they need to give clear instructions when assigning new tasks.

Employees also need to know how their role fits into the bigger picture. How do their tasks relate to overarching company values and goals?

By giving employees clarity you improve employee engagement. But you also promote accountability and show employees that their work is valuable.

8. Give regular feedback

Picture an employee – let’s call him Jim – who hasn’t had any manager feedback in a while.

Jim keeps running into the same customer service problem. But he doesn’t feel comfortable approaching his manager about it. And he’s not due a one-to-one for months.

So Jim keeps at it, doubting that he’s doing a good enough job but unsure what to do about it. Without regular manager input Jim feels less confident in his abilities. His job satisfaction inevitably takes a hit.

Now let’s picture a different scene.

Jim’s manager – let’s call her Jane – understands how important feedback is to employee engagement. She sets up regular, informal one-to-ones, where both she and Jim can raise any issues.

Jim gets to hear that he’s doing a great job. And gets useful, actionable advice on what he could do better. He gets recognition where it’s due and a regular reminder of role expectations.

Feedback needs to move in both directions. And it’s as relevant to your longest-serving staff as it is to new hires. Feedback boosts the confidence of employees and increases their job satisfaction, which means better employee engagement.

Employees also stand to benefit most when feedback is constructive. This means managers focus on facts, not opinions. They talk about the actions of an employee, not their personality traits.

They also approach feedback as a two-way conversation, where employees get a chance to share their thoughts within an open and supportive environment.

9. Promote team collaboration

Two heads are always better than one. And employees who work well together are happier, more productive, and less stressed. Team collaboration can help to prevent loneliness, too.  

Glassdoor research shows that 60% of employees with less than five years of work experience feel lonely all or most of the time. But 89% of all workers say that a sense of belonging within their company is essential for workplace happiness.

Bringing teams together, including frontline employees who tend to work alone, is therefore crucial to employee engagement. And it starts with company culture.

You need a psychologically safe environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing their thoughts and ideas. Like a calendar of team building activities. Special consideration for new hires and team members who work in isolation. And praise for team successes as well as individual wins.

The right communication and collaboration tools are another important part of the puzzle. Project management software helps people to collaborate when they’re not working in the same location. And chat tools allow workers to share problems, ideas, and solutions with ease.

Elara Caring is one of the largest care providers in the US, with around 32,000 carers working on their frontline. The company found it hard to connect its carers and was experiencing a collaboration problem.

By making Blink their communication hub, they improved team collaboration dramatically. Now 95% of employees say they feel more connected to the organization and their co-workers.

10. Celebrate milestones

Mavis Mills, an ASDA supermarket employee, recently celebrated her 80^th birthday. And the whole team celebrated with her. They decorated her checkout with banners and balloons and gave her gifts, flowers, and a cake.

Celebrations like these bring teams together. They boost employee engagement for the person being celebrated and inspire other employees, too.

You can celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, passing probation, or the successful conclusion of a company project. Anything that fits with your company values and culture.

Of course, it’s easier to plan a celebration for on-site teams. You can organize a gathering in the office or – as ASDA did – around the checkout where Mavis was working.

But that doesn’t mean hybrid and dispersed frontline teams have to forgo celebrations. You can still improve employee engagement by celebrating milestones via internal communication tools.

For example, with the Blink Feed, you can share meaningful milestones with a team or the whole organization – and encourage employees to join in the celebration. You can celebrate little and often to show appreciation for employees on a regular, informal basis.

11. Lead by example

The leaders of today do things differently. Good leaders understand that transparency, fairness, and emotional intelligence help to improve employee engagement.

Unlike workplace leaders of the past, they know that when everyone, at all levels of a company, sticks to the same rules and values people feel more invested in a company’s success.

As a leader, this means practicing what you preach.

You should demonstrate the same commitment to two-way communication, collaboration, and recognition that you want to see in employees. You should model work-life balance so workers find it easier to follow suit.

By living and breathing company values and culture, you inspire trust and respect in your workforce. And when you join them in using the same communication and employee engagement tools, you make it much more likely that people will follow your lead. 

12. Measure and act on feedback

Gathering feedback is an essential part of any employee engagement strategy. But simply getting employees to leave feedback isn’t enough. You have to measure and act upon employee feedback, too.

Research shows that people who say their employer takes meaningful action based on their feedback are 37% less likely to look for another job. And they’re also much more likely to take part in future surveys.

So mine employee feedback for data. Then create employee engagement KPIs so you can measure progress. You can base targets around metrics like:

• Absenteeism rate
• Employee retention rate
• Employee net promoter score (eNPS)

It then all comes down to good internal communication. Share your feedback findings and engagement progress with employees. It shows that you take their views seriously and are committed to making improvements.

Employee engagement: the next step

In thriving organizations, the drive to improve employee engagement is more than just an HR team initiative. It’s something that the whole organization embraces as part of its ethos.

Communication, feedback, and recognition become part of everyone’s every day. And the organization benefits from better staff retention, productivity, and satisfaction.

Your organization may not be at this point yet. But wherever you are in your employee engagement journey, the 12 ideas listed above will help you move forward. Weave these activities into your employee engagement strategy and you’ll encourage the employee attitudes and behaviors you want to see.

When it comes to frontline organizations, the right tech tools are a priority because they make employee engagement so much easier. They provide the vital line of connection between every member of your workforce, from new hires to stalwart staff, and frontline workers to your office-based team.

Blink’s mobile-first super-app helps every frontline employee to feel valued and heard. And with a news feed, secure chat, recognition features, surveys, analytics, and more, you have everything you need to transform internal communication and employee engagement for the better.

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A frontline super-app, like Blink, can transform employee engagement and the employee experience. And it can be a real game-changer for HR and people teams.

In our recent webinar, Marcy Paterson (VP of Solutions Consulting) and Simon White (Chief People Officer) discussed how Blink can help solve People team’s goals and shared best practice tips for using the app.

They covered a lot of ground, including:

• Closing the connection gap between employees and management
• Ways to adjust the noise level and moderate app content
• Ensuring HR messages get heard
• Using an employee app to measure employee engagement

HR team priorities: internal comms and employee engagement

Chief People Officer, Simon White, started by giving his take on current HR priorities. It’s all about internal communication and employee engagement, he says.

Employees have higher expectations year on year. Employees want to know what’s happening within their organization. And they want to feel connected to something bigger than themselves. 

To enable that feeling of connection, companies need to embrace transparency.

An increasingly dispersed workforce also means meeting employees where they are. In terms of their location, shift patterns, and the tech they can access.  

In the modern workplace, HR leaders don’t just need to decide what to say. They also need to consider how they get people to hear and absorb internal communications. And how they make that content equally accessible to every employee in the organization, regardless of their role or schedule.

With these priorities in mind, let’s find out how a People's team can get the most from Blink, a super-app designed for the frontline. 

How HR teams can get the most from a frontline app

Closing the connection gap

There’s often a connection gap between frontline workers and office-based teams.

Frontline workers don’t always have access to devices or even a company email address. The resources and information that is often readily available to office-based teams, can easily get lost when getting to the frontline. The information they receive is sometimes piecemeal or non-existent.

This can lead to engagement problems. Employees may not see how they contribute to the bigger picture, so they’re unlikely to go above and beyond in their role.

That’s where Blink comes in - an app available via a personal smartphone device, not requiring a work email to access. It supports employee communication and employee recognition. The sharing of company updates and company culture.

Crucially, an app gives employees a voice - and gives visibility to that voice. Employees can tag their CEO in a question and everyone sees the CEO’s public response.

That’s meaningful two-way conversation and connection. And this is something that helps move the dial on employee engagement. Closing this frontline connection gap is one of the best ways HR teams can use a frontline app.

You help people to see – hey, you may be one person in a 10-person company, you may be one person in a 10,000-person company. But actually, you really contribute something. And that’s really important. – Simon White, Chief People Officer

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Want to take a look at how it works? Preview our employee app today.

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Adjusting the noise level

Some HR leaders are concerned about the unnecessary noise an employee app might create. But with Blink, you decide who can post what, and where.

Employees may be limited to posting within particular groups. A team leader can then decide to boost the most relevant content to a wider audience.

But both Marcy and Simon were keen to point out the importance of informal content to the employee experience. They recommend allowing informal posts alongside formal, top-down content. The reason? It encourages employees to spend more time on the app, and drives a sense of community across your employees.

Posts wishing someone a happy birthday or about finding your work bestie may seem irrelevant to business success - but they’re often some of the most engaging and meaningful for employees.

They encourage workers to spend time in the app environment. So it’s easier to make the larger top-down messages heard, too.

Streamlining self-service

You could give your employees 50 different apps and say this is all the software we use. But you’re not actually driving a good experience for them. You’re not providing something that makes their lives easier. – Simon White, Chief People Officer

Blink is far more than just a communication tool - it integrates with other tools you use, allowing for employees to access other tools easily and without friction. 

Via the Blink interface, employees can navigate to pay stubs, time off, or learning and development. A quick click on an icon and employees are taken straight to the relevant place within the relevant software.

This benefits everyone. Fewer support tickets are submitted from employees who can’t remember what the pay stub app is called or what their various passwords are, and employees get a streamlined, intuitive experience. 

And on top of that, the dollars and time your teams have spent on other important tools for your employees will be easily accessed, driving the adoption you need on those technologies. Employee technology is only as valuable as the employees actually using it, and often employees don’t even know what is available to them and how to get there. Blink gives them one place to access everything they need in their day - driving ROI across your existing tools, too.

The work you’ve done to select a vendor, to pay for a vendor, to get approval - the ability to then drive adoption and drive the change management through a product like this is imperative.  – Simon White, Chief People Officer

Getting HR messages heard

Important HR messages don’t have to become dead documents in a deeply buried shared file. With an employee app, you put HR messages right in front of the right people.

Here are a couple more benefits of this approach:

• Employees can read HR messages at a time and place to suit them
• You can pin messages or request confirmation to ensure that essential information is read
• You can add useful links to a post so employees can access additional information easily
• Automatic translations allow all employees to read messages in their preferred language

A user-friendly search function also allows employees to revisit HR messages, posts, and resources whenever they need to.

For HR teams, this makes messaging more effective - it also saves a lot of time. Your HR staff do less chasing and make fewer phone calls. They can be confident that their message is getting through via the app.

Embracing transparency

Some organizations worry about opening up a newsfeed to employees. They’re unsure about allowing employees to comment, like, and post. But this is often less of an issue that organizations expect.

From his own experience of using Blink, Simon says that the benefits far outweigh the risks. And actually, an app can help bring small issues into the light, allowing leaders to address them before they become big ones.

Marcy also highlights the crawl, walk, run approach that Blink customers can take. Thanks to Blink customizations, you can dip your toe in water. You can find out how a transparent culture fits your organization. Then scale up or down accordingly.

This fear that people have of “oh, you know, an employee communication platform – people will use it to unionize”[…] People aren’t unionizing because you’ve given them a platform. They’re probably unionizing because you haven’t given them a voice. – Simon White, Chief People Officer

Encouraging adoption

Employees already spend time in their personal lives swiping, scrolling, and liking posts on different social media apps. Blink has a very similar interface to those types of apps we all use. This makes it easy for employees to pick the app up and use it – even if they don’t feel confident with tech in general. It’s a familiar, adaptive tool that doesn’t have the same learning curve that some advanced tech tools do.

But some employees inevitably take more persuading than others. When encouraging employees to adopt an employee app, Simon and Marcy recommend leading with the benefits to employee experience.

By explaining to employees what they stand to gain from using the app, you get better uptake. Here are a few ideas:

• It’s a way for them to stay in touch with co-workers
• It’s an easy way for them to see L&D opportunities
• The app is the only place to find overtime shifts
• They can access everything via one app without needing multiple passwords

Once you have a decent level of adoption, you can rely on organic growth. Employees promote the app and its features to one another, driving an even higher proportion of the workforce to choose to download and use it.  

Measuring engagement

Moving onto a platform with surveys and analytics is a really effective way for HR and people teams to measure engagement. And find ways to increase employee engagement too.

Blink engagement is a useful metric. If a team or an individual isn’t answering posts and asking questions, this may be a sign that they’re feeling disengaged. You can also access real-time data on how many people are using Blink – and your other software tools.

Engagement surveys are another great feature. Employees don’t have to log on to the communal computer at lunchtime, or log on to another platform. They can respond to survey questions quickly and easily within the Blink app they already use.

This makes it easy for HR leaders to gather statistically significant data. And to share anonymized survey results with employees. 

You can then sit this data alongside other HR metrics – relating to retention, attrition, and promotion – to uncover trends and areas for improvement.

Going beyond HR and people teams

Marcy and Simon discuss a lot about how HR and people teams can get the most out of Blink. But they emphasized the fact that, to truly transform internal communication and employee engagement, you need a company-wide effort.

Blink supports cross-functional usage. And when different teams – HR, operations, comms, leadership – all harness its potential, you get the best results.

Blink is an employee app focused on connecting everyone in your organization - regardless of their role, location, or seniority. When leadership can show the way and engage, employees will naturally follow and adopt the app. They will have all of the resources they need to do their job efficiently - no longer wasting time finding important announcements, passwords for other tools, or even trying to find their payslips.

Ultimately, improving your two-way communication will enhance employee engagement, and you’ll create a more loyal, productive, and satisfied workforce.

Want to take a closer look at Blink – and find out how these features would work for your HR and people team? Schedule a personalized demo today.  

As companies rethink how they connect with employees in a hybrid, mobile, and fast-moving world, many are looking beyond traditional intranet platforms like LumApps. While LumApps is a solid option for knowledge management and Microsoft/Google integrations, it can fall short when it comes to usability, real-time communication, and mobile performance.

Whether you’re rolling out internal comms globally, trying to unify systems into one employee app, or simply seeking a more flexible and modern intranet experience, there are better options out there.

What to look for in a LumApps alternative

When evaluating alternatives to LumApps, here are five key factors to consider:

#1. Mobile usability

Your employee experience platform should be just as powerful on mobile as it is on desktop — especially with today’s hybrid, frontline, and remote workforces.

#2. Ease of use

A modern intranet or communications tool must be intuitive for both admins and end users. Platforms with steep learning curves or clunky interfaces will see low adoption.

#3. Real-time communication

Timely communication is essential — whether it's leadership announcements, crisis updates, or team alerts. Look for platforms that offer native chat, push notifications, or news feeds.

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#4. Integration ecosystem

You shouldn’t have to cobble together multiple tools. The right platform integrates with your HRIS, LMS, scheduling, payroll, file storage, and more.

#5. Analytics & insights

Data matters. Choose a solution with actionable dashboards that help you measure what’s working, what’s being read, and where to improve.

The top 12 LumApps alternatives

Now that you know what to look for — and why LumApps might not be the best long-term fit — here are the best alternatives, starting with the standout:

#1. Blink – The #1 LumApps alternative for unified employee experience

Blink is an employee experience platform designed to bring communications, resources, and tools into a single, easy-to-access app. With a strong focus on usability, real-time engagement, and seamless integrations, Blink empowers companies to connect with their entire workforce—whether they’re on mobile, desktop, or a shared device.

Why Blink is the best LumApps alternative:

• All-in-one communications hub: Combines chat, news, content, HR tools, recognition, and surveys into one streamlined platform.
• Mobile + desktop parity: Offers full functionality on any device, with no reliance on corporate email.
• Powerful analytics: Gives real-time insights into usage, engagement, and sentiment to help you optimize comms strategies.
• Integrations-first approach: Blink integrates with HRIS, LMS, payroll, scheduling, and document systems to centralize everything your workforce needs.
• Top-rated platform: 4.8★ average on Gartner Peer Insights and a leader in G2 for internal communications and employee apps.

Pros:

• Unified digital workplace accessible from anywhere
• Highly intuitive UI with rapid user adoption
• Dedicated support and success teams for onboarding and beyond
• Transparent pricing and strong ROI

Cons:

• May require customization for highly complex intranet needs
• Some advanced analytics features are part of higher-tier plans

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#2. Simpplr

Simpplr is an intranet platform designed to streamline internal communication, content distribution, and knowledge sharing. It includes personalization features, integrations with HR tools, and prebuilt templates to simplify setup. The platform is geared toward companies looking for a structured, branded experience.

‍Pros: Great personalization, modern interface
Cons: Limited customization, costly at scale
Pricing: Custom
Gartner: 4.7★

#3. Staffbase

Staffbase supports internal communications across multiple channels, including email, mobile apps, and digital signage. It offers features for content scheduling, targeting, and employee surveys. Often used by global enterprises, the platform emphasizes scalability and branding consistency.‍

Pros: Email, mobile, signage comms; powerful targeting
Cons: Less flexible for content management or smaller teams
Pricing: Custom
Gartner: 4.1★

#4. Interact Software

Interact Software delivers an intranet platform with features for content publishing, employee engagement, and search. It includes integrations with Microsoft products and offers tools like blogging, forums, and document sharing. The platform is designed for medium to large organizations.‍

Pros: Social features, easy setup
Cons: Limited analytics and design flexibility
Pricing: Custom
Gartner: 4.6★

#5. Haiilo

Haiilo combines intranet functionality with features for social advocacy and personalized content delivery. The platform includes analytics, customizable pages, and AI-based search to help surface relevant information. It is commonly adopted by organizations prioritizing internal engagement and branding.‍

Pros: Strong search, personalization, advocacy tools
Cons: Steep learning curve for admins
Pricing: Custom
Gartner: 4.1★

#6. Unily

Unily provides a cloud-based intranet designed for enterprise use, with features for knowledge management, internal communications, and collaboration. It integrates with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other enterprise tools. The platform is known for its flexible content management and multilingual support.‍

Pros: Rich design options, integrations
Cons: Expensive and complex setup
Pricing: Custom
Gartner: 4.4★

#7. MangoApps

MangoApps offers a unified platform that combines intranet, collaboration, learning management, and document storage. It supports both desktop and mobile access and is used by a variety of industries. The platform is modular, allowing organizations to deploy only the tools they need.‍

Pros: Feature-rich; good for training-heavy orgs
Cons: Dated interface; inconsistent UX
Pricing: Custom
Gartner: 4.4★

#8. Workvivo by Zoom

Workvivo is a social intranet platform that combines internal communications with engagement tools like activity feeds, shout-outs, and surveys. It offers a familiar social media-style experience and integrates with Zoom and Microsoft 365. The platform is primarily used by mid-size to large organizations.‍

Pros: Engaging UX, employee advocacy tools
Cons: Lacks unified mobile-desktop parity and deep analytics
Pricing: Custom pricing
Gartner: 4.7★

#9. Firstup

Firstup is a communications platform focused on personalization, automation, and real-time analytics. It supports targeted messaging and integrates with a range of enterprise systems. Firstup is commonly used by large organizations with distributed workforces.‍

Pros: Powerful targeting, personalization, and analytics
Cons: High cost; not ideal for smaller teams
Pricing: Custom
Gartner: 4.8★

#10. Connecteam

Connecteam is a mobile-first platform designed for managing non-desk workforces. It includes scheduling, task management, chat, and time tracking tools. The platform is often used in industries like retail, logistics, and hospitality.‍

Pros: Ideal for dispersed teams; affordable tiers
Cons: Lacks deep intranet functionality
Pricing: Free tier available; paid starts around $29/month
Gartner: 4.7★

#11. ThoughtFarmer

ThoughtFarmer focuses on knowledge sharing and collaboration within hybrid and remote teams. It provides customizable intranet pages, wiki functionality, and employee directories. The platform is suited for organizations seeking structured documentation and internal search tools.‍

Pros: Excellent for documentation and wikis
Cons: Setup can be time-intensive
Pricing: Custom
G2: 4.8★

#12. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a collaboration suite that includes intranet features alongside tools for CRM, task management, and chat. It offers free and paid tiers, making it accessible to a wide range of teams. The platform is modular but can be complex to navigate.‍

Pros: Wide feature set for budget-conscious teams
Cons: Overwhelming interface; some tools feel outdated
Pricing: Free plan available; paid starts ~$24/user/month
G2: 4.2★

Final thoughts: Blink vs. LumApps

While LumApps remains a strong player — especially for companies tightly integrated with Google Workspace or Microsoft — Blink stands out for teams that value ease of use, real-time communication, data-driven insights, and a single place for everything work-related. It offers a more unified experience across devices, better analytics for employee engagement, and faster time to value.

If you’re looking for an employee experience platform that’s as intuitive as it is powerful, Blink is your best bet.

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Why teams choose Blink over LumApps

LumApps is a strong enterprise intranet, particularly for Google Workspace-centric organizations, but it's built with desk-based collaboration as the default. Blink is mobile-first, requires no corporate email, and is used daily by teams at McDonald's, Domino's, and Chick-fil-A. See how Blink compares.

In 2020, digital transformation in the manufacturing industry was valued at $263.9 billion USD. This figure is anticipated to reach $767.8 billion USD by 2026. As business leaders in manufacturing, you probably already know all about how DX on your production line can improve your machinery, drive your production rates and refine your overall output.

But what about your day-to-day, run-the-biz systems? How can digital transformation in manufacturing also benefit your wider company operations and employee performance? How can you utilize DX in manufacturing to craft a more meaningful and engaging employee experience, and what other bonuses may you discover along the way?

At Blink, we know a thing or two about transforming the employee experience through the right digital tools and technologies. So with this guide, we are providing you with a comprehensive introduction to the key benefits of digital transformation in manufacturing and why it's essential for your organization right now, with a core focus on the digital employee experience and how you can transform it in your business.

What is digital transformation (DX) in manufacturing?

Digital transformation (DX) in manufacturing is the process of implementing new digital technologies to improve and refine processes in a manufacturing organization. This typically involves a range of procedures, from improving communication and collaboration to adopting new manufacturing methods, or automating tasks.

A digital transformation strategy works to improve the overall efficiency, productivity and profitability of a manufacturing organization by integrating new digital technologies – such as employee engagement tools, Industry 4.0, big data analytics, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) – into company processes.

And while we all know that production machinery and tech makes up a huge part of your company processes, it’s important to see the wider picture, too. DX can actually have a significant impact on the behind the scenes operations of your business, including how you communicate and engage with employees, distribute knowledge and connect teams, recruit new talent, and even support the wider community.

By undergoing DX in all areas of your business and integrating stronger digital employee experience strategies for your workforce, you can in fact unlock a range of surprising benefits for your organization.

Main goals of manufacturing digital transformation

"It's not possible to pick just a short list of technologies and declare them to be the next big thing. Any innovation project is always a combination of different technologies and thoroughly designed processes aiming to achieve business goals."

Max Ivannikov

But what are some of the main goals that manufacturers are focusing on for their digital transformation initiatives? As this industry whitepaper discusses, the main goals of manufacturing digital transformation can be segregated into four broader areas:

• Cost reduction: Leveraging digital technologies to reduce costs in areas such as supply chain management, employee performance, production planning and inventory control.
• Competitive advantage: Utilizing digital technologies to gain a competitive edge in the market, such as through improved customer/employee experience, product customization and data-driven decision making.
• Agility: Increasing flexibility and adaptability in the face of changing market demands, such as through improved supply chain visibility, predictive maintenance and agile business processes.
• New business models: This could include refreshing manufacturing processes, investing in digital technology to improve processes company-wide, and otherwise finding new revenue streams through digital transformation initiatives.

Common roadblocks to DX in manufacturing

Some common challenges organizations see when undertaking DX in manufacturing include:

• Competitive market: In a highly competitive market, your current digital capabilities and processes may not be enough to stay ahead. And with the swift upturn in DX investments in the market, it can be difficult to keep up with competitors who are already rapidly integrating new digital technologies. While you might feel on the back foot, it's important to remember that digital transformation is a long-term investment, and there are always opportunities for growth and sustainable improvement.
• Distributed workforce: It can be difficult to know where to begin with digital transformation, especially for manufacturers who have a distributed workforce and may not have a clear understanding of the specific needs and pain points of their frontline employees. This can make implementing new processes, rolling out communications and combating employee attrition particularly challenging. We'll dive deeper into how to enable DX by empowering your frontline workers later in this post.
• Costs and fees: Adopting new digital technologies and processes can be a costly investment, and there may also be additional fees for training and implementing these changes company-wide. It's important to conduct thorough ROI analysis and carefully weigh the potential long-term benefits against the initial costs.
• Resistance to change: Change can be difficult, especially for employees who have been working in a certain way for many years. This is why it's important to have clear communication and a strong employee engagement system in place to help employees transition and adapt to the new digital technologies and processes.

  Enabling DX by empowering the frontline

As we mentioned, a distributed workforce and lack of visibility into the specific pain points and needs on the frontline can make DX a challenge for manufacturing organizations. But by focusing on empowering your frontline workers, you can not only improve their experience and enable better communication, but also gather valuable insights to inform your digital transformation efforts.

One way to do this is through a mobile-first approach, providing frontline employees with devices and applications that allow them to easily access the information and communication they need, wherever they are on the factory floor. This not only improves productivity, but also allows for better data collection and analysis to inform DX initiatives.

Another key aspect is giving your frontline employees a voice in the digital transformation process, through tactics like regular check-ins and surveys, as well as dedicated onboarding and training programs. By actively seeking their input and understanding their specific needs, they will feel more engaged and empowered in the DX journey.

Frontline specific tech like Blink's employee app allows for better communication, feedback and overall engagement with your frontline workers. This helps to address common DX challenges such as unclear frontline needs and resistance to change, while also improving productivity and efficiency on the manufacturing floor.

With real-time employee engagement analytics, manufacturers can also track the impact, employee satisfaction and ROI of their digital transformation initiatives, supporting cost reduction efforts and decision making.

 One great example to illustrate this is our work with JFE. When Canadian manufacturing company JFE approached us, their frontline workforce was disconnected due to outdated technology and communications, and they were facing large shortages in the labor market.

We overhauled their current technology and communications processes with a real-time communication solution by offering channels to funnel information, the ability to communicate with their operating teams through chats and a central hub to give employees access to company information in one place. 

As a result, JFE was able to improve their recruitment processes, employee engagement, satisfaction and, crucially, its workers’ safety. With our help, they took the company from 300 to over 450 employees, and were able to promote initiatives in both recruiting and retaining staff to make them a more attractive employer to staff and new recruits.

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Interested in seeing how Blink's employee app can support your manufacturing digital transformation efforts? Schedule a free demo today.

6 unforeseen benefits of DX in manufacturing

So, you already know the production benefits of implementing DX in your business, but what about the benefits of DX solutions for the back of house? Here are 6 key benefits of DX in manufacturing that you just might have overlooked in the past.

1. Reduce staff turnover & recruit the right talent

More than 90% of manufacturing leaders believe that DX is important for their success, IDC states. They go on to predict that global DX spend among companies in discrete or process manufacturing industries will total more than $816 billion in 2025.

Hiring and retaining the right people in a competitive market can be a challenge for manufacturers, but DX can help. And with the IDC statistics above, it's more important than ever for manufacturers to keep up with digital transformation efforts in order to stay competitive in the recruitment market and attract top talent.

Adopting new technologies can make a company more attractive to potential employees and improve employee satisfaction and retention. It allows you to modernize, stay competitive and attract the right employees even when competitors are vying for the same pool of skilled workers with high DX spend.

In addition, frontline-specific tech can boost your employer value proposition as a manufacturer. You listen to how the frontline thinks and feels, allowing you to build trust with the entire workforce and reduce churn.

2. Improve worker health & safety

According to the Workplace Safety Index 2020, workplace injuries are a key driver of loss for U.S. businesses, costing more than $1 billion per week and $59 billion annually.

As we mentioned before, the rise of Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing industry has seen various manufacturers investing in new digital technologies to automate, modernize and enhance the entire process.

And with losses like these reported in the WSI, the key aspect of this modernization in the manufacturing industry is safety. By improving traditional manufacturing processes, boosting direct communication and implementing predictive maintenance, manufacturers can improve worker health and safety at the workplace.

With a frontline app like Blink, manufacturers can also gather direct employee feedback on safety concerns and act on them quickly, as well as offer training materials, policies, procedures and updates to ensure a safe work environment. 

Additionally, with research showing that engaged workers are more aware of their surroundings and best practices around safety and are more likely to take steps to protect their co-workers, by investing in and driving employee engagement throughout your company, you can improve worker health and safety as a whole.

By promoting a culture where employees feel comfortable to speak up about concerns or risks, actively participate in risk management and adhere to policies and procedures, manufacturers can see a decrease in injury rates and overall improvement in the health and safety of their workforce.

3. Increase your bottom line

The latest data suggests that digital transformation investment for manufacturing companies increases business value. Gartner reports that 36% of manufacturing enterprises realize above-average business value from IT spending in digitalization at a reasonable cost when compared with peers.

Opportunities for driving profit and increasing your bottom line don’t only come from your production line. Keeping the wider picture of DX in mind, you can utilize digital tools to drive business value through improving your run-the-business functions (like finance or human resources)

DX in an organization’s HR function, in particular, have shown increased employee engagement and statistics show that highly engaged organizations benefit from:

• 18% higher sales
• 23% difference in profitability
• 43% difference in turnover.

With employee engagement tools that provide streamlined workflows, real-time frontline communication and intelligence, seamless scheduling and product updates in addition to new production tech like IoT and augmented reality, manufacturers can cut down on extra expenses and improve the overall efficiency of all their operations.

This ultimately drives up profits and revenue and increases business value, with your teams performing at their best by using the latest and greatest technology solutions.

4. Boost Employee Engagement

The digital transformation process can also boost employee engagement. Adopting new, modern technologies can make employees feel more valued and appreciated, improving job satisfaction and retention rates.

Currently, Gallup data notes that industrial manufacturers haven't quite caught up to other industries in terms of adopting digital tools to improve employee engagement, with only 25% of manufacturing employees stating they felt engaged at work.

DX offers new ways for frontline employees to communicate with each other and leadership, improving transparency and overall communication in the workplace – a key component of employee engagement.

With frontline-specific tech designed to engage employees like manufacturers, you can gather key employee feedback and act on it to improve processes and enhance overall employee engagement. 

Further, according to the Chron, employee satisfaction is a reliable predictor of employee retention, meaning you can reduce churn and cut recruitment costs at the same time by improving the engagement your employees have with their digital tools.

Simplified, improved communications and streamlined, intuitive workflows means DX can enhance employee satisfaction levels for frontline workers, in turn, boosting their levels of engagement with their new tech and your employee retention rates.

And with the distinct improvement in profitability, sales and turnover that engaged teams provide as we highlighted above, it’s clear that investing in employee engagement initiatives is worth it from an ROI perspective.

5. Improve employee productivity 

It’s obvious how traditional digital transformation solutions help improve quality on the production line. But did you know that implementing DX to improve your employees’ engagement can also lead to huge productivity boosts? 

In the manufacturing sector, DX is not only about staying competitive or cutting costs – it's also about supporting your current employees; finding innovative ways to drive their motivation and productivity for a better overall business performance.

TechNative tells us that businesses must embrace innovative digital tools to make the employee experience seamless and personalized, creating a stronger emotional connection to the day-to-day experience of work.

Adopting new digital solutions, like frontline intelligence, predictive analytics and real-time communication solutions, allows you to foster connection with your frontline employees and act on their feedback to streamline day-to-day tasks. As such, your employees will feel better supported to be productive and efficient in their roles, and can produce their best work.

These employee technologies also offer product updates that keep everyone aligned with company goals, as well as streamlined workflows and schedules, reducing miscommunications and errors and allowing for maximum productivity.

So, not only does investing in digital transformation for your frontline workforce improve their overall job satisfaction, it also leads to a significant increase in motivation, productivity and output. It’s a win-win!

6. Build a positive brand reputation

In today’s day and age, it’s no secret that a company’s reputation is everything. In fact, the World Economic Forum has stated that a company's reputation can account for a quarter of its market value. Additionally, 87% of executives believe that reputational risks are more pressing than any other strategic risks.

As the digital transformation movement continues to evolve, your reputation as a manufacturing leader hinges on how well you adopt and use technology for success. Investing in new digital solutions for your frontline workforce is not only beneficial for your employees and your bottom line, but also for building a positive brand reputation.

By boosting employee engagement, satisfaction and productivity with technology, you’re not only improving the experience for those within your company, but also for your potential new hires and even your customers. With employees better equipped to provide top-notch service and meet customer demands efficiently, you can create a more positive customer experience and, ultimately, attract new business.

On top of that, adopting digital solutions for your frontline workforce also demonstrates your commitment to innovation and staying ahead of the competition in the manufacturing industry. It shows potential employees, investors, partners and customers that you’re dedicated to improving processes and creating a successful future for your company.

4 DX in manufacturing tips

Create a DX roadmap

According to LTI’s whitepaper: 

"Business leaders must move away from industry stereotypes, understand technologies, and help firms ride this wave with a competitive advantage by developing a successful transformation roadmap."

A DX roadmap, or digital transformation roadmap, is a plan that outlines the specific steps and timeframes for the adoption of new technologies to achieve your DX goals. This roadmap may be long and contain a number of different steps, but this allows you to stagger your digital transformation initiatives over time, prioritizing the areas that align with your current goals and business requirements.

To create your DX roadmap, you first need to understand the current state of your business. Your KPIs from above will come in handy here. Without knowing your starting point, it is impossible to map out a clear path to your goals. Therefore, knowing where you currently are is essential. 

Your DX roadmap should outline key objectives, success metrics, technology investments, roles and responsibilities, and timelines. Begin implementing new technologies, methods, and processes one step at a time, starting with those that will have the biggest impact on your desired goals. And don’t forget to measure and evaluate your progress regularly to ensure you stay on track.

Remember the bigger picture 

Remember, digital transformation is a long-term investment, with long-term value. Digital transformation is changing the way people do business. 

Great digital leaders sift through the latest technologies to identify which ones will have the biggest impact on their business, and then prioritize those implementations. Keep in mind that digital transformation is not just about adopting new technology, but also about changing processes and culture for maximum efficiency and success. 

And even with the relevant new technologies and industry trends to guide your digital transformation, you want to be uniquely positioned from your competitors. So, it's vital that you consider the wider market picture and how your DX transformation fits into it.

Consider your USPs. Can you provide a swift turnaround time based on your unique manufacturing technologies or streamlined business processes? Do you provide a second-to-none customer service journey because your customer-facing employees are always in direct contact with your frontline? You want these to be considered when mapping out your DX journey.

Set, monitor and measure your core transformation goals 

To undergo digital transformation in any industry, you need to know your transformation goals. According to Asana, the best way to understand if your digital transformation strategy worked is by monitoring your business success metrics.

For the manufacturing industry, these success metrics might include employee engagement rates, retention of clients or employees, a reduction in accidents and errors, increased efficiency in production, and sustainable business growth.

Make sure to align these goals with your business key performance indicators (KPIs), as this will ensure that the entire company is on the same page about what constitutes success for the digital transformation. Plus, it's important to regularly track and measure your progress towards these goals, adjusting as needed.

To do this, look for DX solutions that allow you to access Frontline Intelligence, providing you with key metrics, analytics and insights into your employee engagement, satisfaction and even retention rates. With handy tools like this included in your DX roadmap, you are set up for success in achieving your core transformation goals.

Communicate well and often 

As Mckinsey recommends for those undergoing digital transformation in the manufacturing industry:

“Communicate well and often. Establish an effective engagement plan and regular communication with critical senior stakeholders, site leaders, and a cross-functional core team.”

In short, communication is crucial for the success of your digital transformation. Keep all stakeholders, from top executives to frontline employees, in the loop about your DX roadmap and progress towards goals. This will ensure that everyone knows their role in the transformation and can work together towards success.

And don't forget to communicate with your employees! Driving employee engagement and buy-in for the digital transformation is crucial. They will be the ones driving and implementing these changes, so it's important that they understand the benefits and their role in making them happen.

Effective communication can also help with any potential resistance to change from employees. By keeping them informed and involved with easy-to-use, two-way conversations, you can work towards getting them on board with the transformation.

Accelerate your digital transformation today…

It's clear that leaders in the sector must prioritize DX efforts to ensure they're keeping up with competitors and improving overall satisfaction among their workforce. 

From minimizing the time spent switching between apps and logins, to sending real-time communications and vital updates, DX allows manufacturers to improve the employee experience in a modern, digital way, and boost their bottom line in the process.

Engineer a better employee experience for your manufacturing workforce today with our frontline employee engagement app. 

Designed specifically for industries like the manufacturing industry where workforces don’t have 24/7 access to a computer, or even a company email account, our platform is here to transform how you do business. Our app rethinks outdated frontline tech and offers a modern, digital solution for your frontline employee engagement.

Request a free demo today to see how Blink can transform your manufacturing business.

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