Meet Keith Johnson

Blink. And your finger's on the pulse.

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

Solving a uniquely frontline issue

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

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

What's so powerful about surveys through Blink?

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

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

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

Introducing Surveys on Blink

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

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

What kind of surveys can you run?

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

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

How Blink triples your survey response rate

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

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

What's next?

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

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

Putting the human voice back into executive communications can transform employee engagement and company culture.

Executive communications often feel impersonal. In a bid to portray knowledge and professionalism, leadership messages can become dry and uninspiring.

This creates a disconnect between leaders and employees. It becomes harder to get your message across and to motivate your workforce. 

But leadership communications don’t have to be this way. You can adopt a more human and less corporate voice — a voice that shows a little personality and expresses care for employees — without losing your authority.

Here, we look at how you can humanize your corporate communications — and why this approach to internal communications supports workplace trust, employee engagement, and a more positive company culture.

We’ll be looking at:

• Why human-centered executive communications matter
• 3 key principles to humanize your internal communication strategy
• Channels that make executive communications more relatable
• Leadership communication: Pitfalls to avoid

Why human-centered executive communications matter

Human-centered executive communications can make a big difference to your organization. Here’s why they matter.

Building trust and transparency

We’re more likely to trust someone — and feel a connection with them — when we understand who they are as a person. The things that make them tick. Their personality, passions, and quirks.

This applies to the employee-executive relationship as much as any other. Employees trust leaders who speak in a human, relatable way. When they see an open communication style modeled by the C-suite, they’re also more likely to replicate it themselves in peer-to-peer communication.

This helps you develop a company culture where transparency is the norm. Everyone feels able to raise concerns and share ideas — which is good for collaboration, innovation, and productivity.

Boosting employee engagement

Relatable leadership communications can be inspiring for employees.

Take the example of Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella. He shared the story of his son, who had cerebral palsy — and how this drove him to develop technology that was more inclusive for people with disabilities.

Nadella wasn’t just motivated by profit or growth. He was emotionally invested in his work. And by sharing his story — and painting a picture of the real-world difference Microsoft products can make — he highlighted the purpose of his employees’ work, too.

Human stories like this one boost employee engagement. They also create a sense of togetherness, which supports a positive employee experience.

Enhancing organizational resilience

Trust, high levels of employee engagement, and a culture of open communication are key features of organizational resilience. And when it comes to change management or crisis communication, a human tone is never more important. 

Executives who speak with an empathetic and authentic voice show employees that their anxieties are understood and will be addressed. They explain to employees what is expected of them and inspire them to rally around the organization.

Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International, showed leaders how it’s done when he addressed Marriott employees via video message as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world.

He showed emotion, shared a personal update, and spoke transparently about the difficult decisions — like layoffs — that the company was having to take. The result was a relatable and somewhat reassuring message for employees during a time of extreme uncertainty.

3 key principles to humanize your internal communication strategy

So now we know what relatable executive communications can do for your organization. But what does a human voice actually sound like? While every leader should bring their own personality to their internal messages, the following three principles lie at the heart of any human-centered communication.

Empathy and understanding

Great leaders are empathetic. They demonstrate their empathy by:

• Acknowledging employee emotions, even when those emotions are negative
• Using inclusive language, like “we,” “us,” and “together”
• Actively listening to employees — and asking clarifying questions — to get to know them better

They also prioritize transparent and effective communication, so employees get the information they need when they need it.

Don’t do this: “The current reorganization is necessary for the company’s growth. The executive team will share more details soon.”

Do this: “I know many of you are worried about your roles. We’ll be holding several Q&A sessions this week to answer your questions about the reorganization.”

Clarity without jargon

Jargon and complex language can be confusing for employees and can lead to misunderstandings. In contrast, clear and simple language creates a sense of trust and approachability. It also helps employees to make better decisions.

To make your messages clear and easy to understand:

• Start by thinking about the key point you want to get across. Put this point at the start of your message. Also, pre-empt and answer the most pressing employee questions.
• Break complicated topics down into smaller parts. Then, explain each part step by step, using a relatable analogy if possible.
• Avoid complicated language. Use everyday terms, avoiding corporate buzzwords, industry terminology, and acronyms. Don’t use a long word when a short one will do.
• Adopt a conversational tone. If you wouldn’t say it when speaking to an employee face-to-face, don’t put it in a written message. It can help to read your messages out loud to find and replace overly formal words.

Don’t do this: “We need to leverage synergies to optimize workflows.”

Do this: “We need to work together to make our processes more efficient.”

Sharing and storytelling

Sharing your own personal experiences and anecdotes makes your messages more relatable and engaging. Likewise, you can use stories about real-life employees and customers to catch attention and convey a message more effectively.  

Weave stories into your employee communications and you also make your messages more memorable. That’s because stories engage both rational and emotional parts of the brain, which supports recall.

To make storytelling part of your executive communications:

• Focus on real people and their emotions. Use personal anecdotes, customer case studies, or employee stories in your internal communications, referencing people by name.
• Use metaphors and similes. Paint pictures with your words. Metaphors and similes can be particularly useful when you want to bring complicated or abstract concepts to life.
• Follow a story structure. When sharing stories, include a beginning (the context), a middle (the challenge), and an end (the resolution).

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Don’t do this: “Just the other day, an employee told me about how little things make a big difference to our clients. We want to see this ethos across every client interaction.”

Do this: “Just the other day, I was speaking to one of our care workers, Emma. She’d noticed that her client, Mrs Shah, seemed a little downhearted. Through conversation, Emma discovered that Mrs Shah, because of her reduced mobility, missed going into her beautiful garden.

So that day, Emma went beyond her usual duties, bringing some potted plants in from outside so she and Mrs. Shah could find a place for them in the living room. It made her client’s day. And that’s what our organization is all about.”

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Channels that make executive communications more relatable

Think beyond just in-person meetings: You probably have a variety of internal communication channels available to you! Some lend themselves to relatable leadership comms more than others. So — if you want to humanize your executive messages — spend some time on the following channels.

Interactive platforms

When we talk face to face, two-way communication is the norm. Explore ways you can transform your traditional top-down communication efforts into opportunities to inspire employee interaction and create a feedback loop.

Share company-wide news on interactive platforms that encourage employee responses. Enable employees to chat with each other via instant messaging. Post to the company news feed. Or run Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions via your company intranet or employee app.

Showing that you have the courage and openness to address employee questions in this kind of forum builds trust and connection.

Videos and live streams

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There’s a lot to be said for showing the face behind the name. Video and live streaming communication makes it easier for leaders to share their tone, body language, emotions, and intentions.

Bonus: Communicating urgent updates through short-form video content increases the likelihood that your on-the-go workers — especially frontline employees and remote teams — will receive critical messages.

Of course, not everyone is 100% comfortable in front of the camera. So if you could use a little direction before you film your first video, take a look at these tips:

• Know your script but don’t memorize it word for word. When you put things into your own words, your delivery is more natural and authentic.
• Watch your body language. Make eye contact with the camera and avoid crossing your arms. Use hand gestures and facial expressions as if you were in a face-to-face conversation with employees.
• Imagine you’re talking to one person. To bring emotion and connection to your video message, picture one employee. Then, deliver your message to that individual.

Employee-centric channels

Employee-centric communication channels, like the company news feed or modern employee intranets, can provide inspiration for your executive communications.

Here, you can find user-generated content (UGC) that you may like to share. You can also find stories of employees who have demonstrated company values and done great work.

By sharing these stories and recognizing employees by name via easy-to-access digital channels, you create a personal connection with employees. You also create a sense of belonging and appreciation.

Leadership communication: Pitfalls to avoid

Bringing a human voice to your employee communications requires empathy, authenticity, and the ability to listen to your workers. Even with the best of intentions, these things don’t always come naturally. 

So with that in mind, here are a few pitfalls to look out for as you adapt your style of communication.   

Over-sharing

Sharing too much personal information in your executive communications becomes counterproductive. It feels performative, dilutes the impact — and places the focus on you, rather than your audience of employees.

So before you share a personal anecdote, ensure it relates directly to your organizational goals and values. Keep any personal stories short and sweet. And balance things out. For every personal anecdote you tell, share two to three employee or customer stories.

Inconsistent messaging

Employees are quick to spot a leader who says one thing but does another. Your communication is unlikely to achieve the desired results if employees see it as inconsistent and inauthentic.

So back up your words with action. For example, if you show empathy for employee stress, you need to do something to alleviate it. If you share a belief that employees are the backbone of your organization, show you appreciate them with regular recognition and a competitive benefits package.

Ignoring employee input and feedback 

Meaningful conversations are two-way. So to maximize the impact of your human-centric communication style, you need to show that you’re listening to what employees say.

Respond directly to employee surveys, reactions, questions, and concerns — either in person or across your internal communication channels. And keep employee feedback in mind when developing your next executive message.

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Harness the power of human-centric communications for your entire organization.

When you humanize your executive communications, you make your messages more effective, memorable, and engaging. You show employees that there’s a real person behind the job title. This is great for building trust and promoting transparency across your organization.

To make your employee communications more human, consider implementing more storytelling, empathy, and everyday language in your internal communications strategy. And with the right internal communication tools that enable you to connect with employees in a less formal and corporate way, you can foster an organizational culture of transparency and authenticity.

‍Blink. And humanize your internal comms.

Great frontline leaders are the unsung heroes of any organization. 

They’re responsible for leading deskless teams, managing resources, and critical processes that can impact health and safety—all while often working long hours and under tight deadlines. 

But they’re also responsible for something just as important: employee engagement. This is mission-critical for frontline organizations in particular, as poor relationships with managers is the fourth-biggest reason for frontline workers quitting (the other three were either related to pay or COVID). 

To compound the challenge, employee engagement is where frontline organizations face even more difficulties than desk-based companies. When workers are dispersed, rarely engaging with email (let alone surveys) and sometimes even with each other, how would you know if they’re engaged or not?

This is why employee engagement KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are so important for frontline leaders, and need to be carefully thought-out for feasibility within the constraints of frontline life. 

In this guide, we'll explore what employee engagement KPIs are, why they’re important, and which ones you should be tracking as a frontline leader.

We'll also show you some easy-to-implement strategies to help boost productivity and morale among your team members - so let’s get started… 

What Is an Employee Engagement KPI?

First, the basics. Employee engagement KPIs are metrics that measure how often and effectively employees are engaging with their organization. 

They provide insight into how teams and departments are working together, how motivated and productive team members are, and what factors contribute to better employee engagement.

Do you need Employee Engagement KPIs?

If you’re leading a frontline team, the short answer is yes.

Workday Peakon Employee Voice data shows that an employee’s engagement metrics will typically reveal warning signs nine months before they actually leave an organization.

Measuring employee engagement allows you to pinpoint when and where problems originate, and gain specific insights into your team’s current strengths and weaknesses, so you can implement employee engagement strategies to increase retention, drive productivity and motivate employees to stay with you for longer.

In other words, tracking this data regularly and consistently lets you spot patterns - and those patterns unlock the ability to be proactive, rather than reactive, on employee issues. 

7 Of The Most Important Frontline Employee Engagement KPIs

1. Absenteeism 

Absenteeism is an important KPI for frontline leaders because it reflects how often team members are taking time off, which can be costly. In fact, in just one large organization almost 11,000 hours are spent by line managers dealing with absence annually, which costs the company £98,458. 

Within this amount, conducting disciplinaries costs £41,149 alone. HR administration time concerned with absence represents £44,882, and £93,193 is spent on Occupational Health Services. The remaining £1,815 is spent on line manager training.

Absence rates are vital when assessing engagement, as high rates could be indicative of a lack of motivation, engagement or even employee wellbeing, while low absence rates can mean that employees feel more connected to their work and colleagues.

For example, 70% of frontline workers have either suffered from burnout or felt at risk of burning out. So if, as a frontline manager, you notice that your dispersed team members are frequently taking sick days, it could be a good sign that they are feeling overworked or disengaged. You can then take the necessary steps such as introducing Intuitive Scheduling policies to help improve morale, boost engagement and reduce absenteeism.

2. Turnover rate

In short: an engaged workforce has higher employee retention rates and lower employee turnover rates.

Measuring annual employee turnover rates across departments can help you identify any patterns that could indicate a lack of engagement. For example, if one particular department has a higher turnover rate than the rest, it could be a sign that those employees are feeling undervalued or disengaged in their role.

In this case, leaders can take action to address the issue by introducing team-building and employee engagement activities, investing in more professional development opportunities, and creating better employee support systems, such as easy-to-access employee apps.

3. Employee net promoter score (eNPS)

Evaluating employee sentiment is a great way to measure engagement: employee net promoter score (eNPS) can help as a metric that measures how likely employees are to recommend their company as a place to work.

By using eNPS, leaders can receive direct feedback from both current and previous employees and use this to take the necessary steps to improve engagement. 

By collecting eNPS data across departments and tracking how it changes over time (doing this at regular, consistent intervals is critical), frontline managers can get a better sense of the overall sentiment in their workforce, as well as any areas of improvement. 

4. Employee survey results

Frontline leaders can use regular Employee Surveys to identify what creates satisfied employees, and how to increase job satisfaction among their team members. 

Those managers who are particularly ambitious can even use these surveys to collect data on employee engagement levels and calculate an ‘Employee Satisfaction Index’ across different departments in the organization. Having this metric at your fingertips can help you identify any areas of improvement, as well as keep tabs on the overall level of engagement in your organization.

This is another area where things are much tougher for frontline organizations in comparison to desk-based teams. Employee survey response rates for frontline workers are notoriously low, because accessing a desktop computer during the work day is rare (and paper surveys are often lost). It’s therefore critical to adapt the experience to frontline life through ensuring a mobile-first survey experience. 

5. Successful hires

On the frontline, the first few months of employment are critical - ‘year one attrition’ being a common and costly problem in hourly roles. 

By measuring the number of successful hires versus unsuccessful ones, frontline leaders can track the success of their onboarding process and identify areas for improvement.

Frontline managers should also pay close attention to employee feedback during exit interviews, which can provide insight into why employees are leaving the organization. This information can be used to make tweaks in the recruitment process to ensure that future hires are more successful.

6. Internal promotion rate

By tracking internal promotion rates, leaders can identify how many employees have been successful in their current roles and have moved up within the organization.

This metric gives insight into areas of success among your team members and demonstrates that employees are being recognized for their hard work and achievements. It also highlights any areas of improvement, such as lack of opportunity for career development or limited resources available to employees.  Providing management training, upskilling staff or putting managers on even employee engagement training programs can support in this area.

Promotion (or lack thereof) plays a key role in frontline employee turnover, so tracking this data can be extremely useful for retention efforts.

7. Active users

Frontline managers can use active users of employee engagement tools as a quantitative measure of engagement. By tracking these numbers, you can determine how many employees feel motivated to engage with their manager, HQ - and each other.

By having access to these Employee Analytics, frontline managers can also gain insight into which types of engagement content are most effective, and make adjustments in order to ensure that all teams are on track.

How To Use Employee Engagement KPIs

Benchmarking

Benchmarking employee engagement KPIs is essential for any frontline manager looking to make improvements in the workplace. By benchmarking your team against other similar teams, you can identify areas for improvement and set goals for future development.

For example, by looking at the internal promotion rate of your team versus another similar team within your organization, you can see how successful each team has been in terms of developing employees and creating opportunities for career progression. This type of benchmarking helps frontline managers identify areas of strength as well as weakness and make informed decisions about how to improve employee engagement in the long-run.

Track metrics over time

To gain the most value from employee engagement KPIs, it’s important to track them over time. This will help frontline leaders identify trends in their team and put plans into place to tackle them.

For example, tracking active users over time can give insight into which communication types are the most popular among employees, enabling frontline managers to make informed decisions about what inspires the most engagement.

By tracking employee engagement KPIs on a regular basis, frontline managers can not only identify areas of improvement but put plans into place to ensure that employees stay engaged and motivated in the long-term, too.

Focus

Employee engagement KPIs can help frontline managers identify areas of focus - particularly key when there might be numerous challenges to tackle at once. By looking at internal promotion rate, active users and other data points, frontline managers can get an accurate picture of which areas they need to focus on in order to provide employees with the best opportunity for progression and retention.

Hiring process

Employee engagement KPIs can also be used to inform the hiring process. By looking closely at active users, internal promotion rate and other metrics, frontline managers can get an accurate picture of which traits or skills have been most successful within their team in the past.

This information can then be used to assess new candidates during the hiring process, and to attract the right type of talent to the team. This ensures that employees are being hired with the same values in mind, further supporting employee engagement and collaboration within teams.

By making informed changes to your recruitment processes and using employee engagement KPIs to guide decisions, frontline managers can ensure that their teams are made up of the most productive and engaged individuals possible.

Final Thoughts

With this guide, you now have a better understanding of how employee engagement KPIs can be used to measure the success of your team and identify areas for improvement.

By tracking these metrics over time and using them to inform decisions related to recruitment, development and more, frontline managers can ensure that their teams remain motivated, productive and engaged in the long-term.

How can Blink help?

Blink’s Frontline App helps frontline managers track and measure employee engagement KPIs in real-time, enabling them to make informed decisions about recruitment, development, communication and more. Our interactive Frontline Intelligence dashboard allows you to quickly assess active users and other engagement metrics all at once.

And for your frontline workforce, our app provides everything in one easy-to-use platform. From Secure Chats and Employee Recognition to a Hub for critical documents and the Blink Feed for company or team updates, Blink ensures that your frontline teams have everything they need to stay engaged and collaborative in the long-term.

Get started today and see how easy it is to start tracking and improving employee engagement with Blink!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV1_4ZdjPQ4&ab_channel=Blink

If you’re considering switching from Flip, you’re not alone. Flip is a well-known employee app for frontline teams — but it’s not the only solution out there. Whether you’re seeking more robust features, better support, or more flexible pricing, the right Flip alternative can help you connect, engage, and empower your entire workforce.

Below, we break down 10 of the best alternatives to Flip, starting with Blink — an award-winning employee experience platform — and covering other leading options to match a range of budgets and needs.

What to look for in a Flip alternative

Before you choose a Flip alternative, it’s important to think about what your teams really need — and how the right solution can support your daily operations. While Flip is known for its frontline focus and simple messaging, many companies need more than just a basic employee app.

Here are a few key things to look for when comparing Flip alternatives:

• Entire workforce coverage: Does the platform connect your entire workforce, including desk-based, frontline, and remote employees, in one place? Some tools focus only on frontline messaging, while others unify everyone under the same app.
• ‍All-in-one functionality: Beyond chat, look for built-in features like news feeds, surveys, forms, scheduling, file sharing, and integrations with your HR, payroll, or intranet systems. This cuts down on multiple logins and boosts adoption.‍
• Ease of use & adoption: A communication app is only useful if people actually use it. Make sure your chosen alternative is simple to roll out, easy to learn, and accessible on mobile for maximum engagement.‍
• Compliance & security: Especially for industries with strict data rules, your solution should keep sensitive info safe and ensure that work communication stays separate from personal apps.‍
• Analytics & insights: Advanced tools show who’s engaging with content, which helps internal comms teams measure what works — and fix what doesn’t.‍
• Flexible pricing & support: Look for transparent pricing that fits your team size and includes customer support that scales as your needs grow.

By keeping these essentials in mind, you’ll find a Flip alternative that does more than just replace messages — it empowers your people, saves time for managers, and makes your workforce feel truly connected.

Top alternatives to Flip in 2025

#1. Blink

Blink is an all-in-one employee experience platform trusted by brands like Shake Shack and easyJet to connect frontline, desk-based, and hybrid teams in one place. Unlike Flip, which focuses primarily on frontline communications, Blink is built for your entire workforce — so everyone stays connected and engaged through the same mobile-first app. Beyond secure messaging, Blink combines a social newsfeed, surveys, forms, scheduling, file sharing, and deep integrations — everything your employees need in their daily flow of work.

This all-in-one approach drives higher adoption rates, faster compliance, and measurable productivity gains for both employees and managers. If you’re looking for a modern alternative to Flip that unites every team member — not just the frontline — Blink is a top choice.

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G2 Rating: 4.7 / 5‍

Pricing: available upon request

#2. Beekeeper

Beekeeper focuses on mobile-first communication for frontline employees in industries like hospitality, retail, and manufacturing. It combines secure messaging, automated workflows, and real-time announcements to help employers bridge communication gaps across shifts and locations. Many companies like Beekeeper’s built-in automation and integration options, which make it easier to onboard new staff and sync schedules with payroll tools.

Unlike Flip, Beekeeper also offers checklists and form templates to help digitize daily tasks. Some users note that advanced customizations can require technical support during setup, but once running, it’s praised for simplicity and reliability.

G2 Rating: 4.7/5

‍Pricing: $3–$5/user/month

#3. Staffbase

Staffbase is a leading internal communications platform used by large global enterprises to deliver news, campaigns, and resources through branded mobile apps and portals. It’s especially powerful for organizations with thousands of employees spread across multiple regions and languages. Compared to Flip, Staffbase’s strong CMS and analytics tools help internal comms teams plan, publish, and measure content more strategically.

Staffbase integrates well with Microsoft 365 and other corporate systems to keep information accessible wherever employees work. While setup can take time for more complex structures, its custom branding and security controls make it a favorite for highly regulated industries.

G2 Rating: 4.7/5

‍Pricing: $4–$8/user/month

#4. Speakap

Speakap is designed for companies that need a private, secure social network for their frontline teams. Its familiar feed and chat features make it easy for employees to share updates, files, or shout-outs without relying on consumer messaging apps. Speakap also supports custom branding and role-based permissions, which is ideal for multi-site or franchise operations.

While it doesn’t include built-in task or scheduling tools like some Flip alternatives, Speakap integrates with popular workforce management systems to fill those gaps. Companies in retail and hospitality appreciate its GDPR compliance and clear separation from personal channels like WhatsApp.

G2 Rating: 4.4/5

‍Pricing: $3–$5/user/month

#5. Connecteam

Connecteam is a mobile-first workforce management app that goes beyond chat and announcements to handle daily operations in one place. For companies that want to centralize communication, scheduling, time tracking, and task management, Connecteam can reduce the need for multiple point solutions. Its drag-and-drop scheduling and GPS time clock are especially popular with small and mid-sized businesses.

One standout feature is Connecteam’s flexible pricing — small teams can start for free, and paid plans remain affordable as you grow. Some larger companies do note that advanced reporting and integrations require higher-tier plans, but overall it’s a strong, user-friendly Flip alternative.

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

‍Pricing: From $29/month (for 30 users)

#6. Workjam

Workjam is a digital frontline workplace designed for industries like retail, hospitality, and healthcare. It combines communications with task management, shift swapping, training, and surveys in one mobile app. For companies that struggle with disconnected scheduling tools and separate comms channels, Workjam can be a real upgrade from Flip’s basic messaging.

Its micro-learning features and compliance tracking help companies keep frontline teams up to date on new processes or safety protocols. Workjam is best suited for larger organizations with complex workforce management needs and can require more implementation support upfront.

G2 Rating: 4.2/5

‍Pricing: $4–$6/user/month

#7. MangoApps

MangoApps combines an employee intranet, collaboration hub, and comms tool in one customizable platform. Unlike Flip, which is primarily a mobile messaging app, MangoApps offers knowledge libraries, team workspaces, and project management — making it a fit for hybrid organizations that need to connect deskless and desk-based workers alike.

It’s highly configurable, which appeals to companies with unique workflows, but smaller teams may find the setup more complex than plug-and-play solutions. Many users highlight its deep search functionality and document management as standout features for centralizing company knowledge.

G2 Rating: 4.2/5

‍Pricing: $5–$8/user/month

#8. LumApps

LumApps is a modern intranet and employee experience platform that helps companies share internal news, knowledge, and resources in a personalized way. While it’s broader than Flip’s chat-first approach, LumApps is a good fit for enterprises that need to unify internal comms across multiple departments and locations.

Its integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 make it easy to keep information consistent and accessible. Many companies like LumApps for its personalization capabilities, which let employees see only the content relevant to their role or location.

G2 Rating: 4.4/5

‍Pricing: $8–$12/user/month

#9. Firstup

Firstup specializes in delivering targeted, personalized communications to large, distributed workforces. Its smart automation and AI tools help internal comms teams reach the right people with the right message at the best time — something Flip doesn’t offer at the same depth.

Enterprises like its measurement tools, which show exactly how content performs across channels. Firstup is a good fit for companies with mature comms strategies and bigger budgets, and its robust governance controls appeal to regulated industries.

G2 Rating: 4.2/5

‍Pricing: $10+/user/month

#10. Haiilo

Haiilo blends social intranet features with mobile-first employee communications and advocacy tools. It’s built to help companies share news, encourage interaction, and measure engagement all in one sleek interface. Many employers appreciate Haiilo’s flexibility to tailor features to different departments or use cases.

Its modern look and customizable modules make it a strong Flip alternative for companies that want a social, community-focused feel. Larger organizations may need more IT resources to implement Haiilo’s full stack, but it rewards teams with deeper engagement insights and branding options.

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

‍Pricing: $5–$7/user/month

Final Thoughts on Choosing a Flip Alternative

The best Flip alternative depends on your specific goals — whether that’s simplifying daily communications, adding workforce management, or scaling global comms. Blink remains a top choice for companies that want an intuitive, mobile-first super-app to unify news, chat, surveys, forms, and scheduling — all with industry-leading ease of use.

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Why teams choose Blink over Flip

Flip and Blink compete in the same space — frontline-first employee communication — which makes it worth comparing directly on adoption, features, and pricing rather than taking either vendor's word for it. Blink is used daily by teams at McDonald's, Domino's, and Chick-fil-A, all without requiring a single corporate email address. See how Blink compares.

Restaurant employee turnover gets treated as background noise in an industry where it's always been high. But the numbers behind it are worth sitting with. Limited-service, or quick-service, restaurants saw hourly turnover of 110 percent in the third quarter of 2025, according to Black Box Intelligence's restaurant workforce research, an improvement from 133 percent in 2019, but still meaning a typical crew turns over more than once every twelve months. Full-service hourly turnover sat at 92 percent over the same period.

That churn isn't free. It's worth understanding exactly what it costs, and what actually moves the number down.

What restaurant employee turnover actually costs

Black Box Intelligence puts the cost of replacing a single hourly restaurant employee at $2,706 as of 2025, up from $2,300 the year before. Management turnover costs far more: $11,940 for a non-GM manager and $17,651 for a general manager. Training accounts for roughly 35 percent of hourly replacement costs and more than half of management replacement costs, meaning a large share of what turnover costs isn't recruitment, it's the time spent getting a replacement up to speed.

The knock-on effects go further than the direct cost. Black Box's data also shows that restaurants in the top quartile for retention, meaning the lowest turnover, see a measurable traffic advantage over their peers, including a 2.6 percent lift in comparable front-of-house traffic for full-service restaurants. Lower turnover doesn't just save on replacement costs. It shows up in the numbers customers generate too, the same causal chain EX=CX: the equation every restaurant operator needs to know lays out between crew experience and guest experience.

Why turnover is structurally higher in quick-service restaurants

Quick-service turnover runs meaningfully higher than full-service, and the reasons are mostly structural. Entry-level QSR roles often pay close to minimum wage, offer fewer hours than employees want, and come with less of a clear path upward than a full-service restaurant where tipped positions and kitchen career tracks are more established. None of that means high turnover is unavoidable. It means the interventions that move the needle look different from a general workforce retention playbook.

What reduces restaurant staff turnover in practice

7shifts' 2025 Restaurant Employee Engagement report, based on a survey of 1,500 active restaurant employees, points to specific, addressable drivers. Nearly half of employees who left a restaurant job cited difficult management as the reason. Over half say more recognition from management would increase their engagement. And 24 percent cite a lack of growth opportunity as a reason for leaving, even though 75 percent say career development matters to them.

None of that points to pay as the sole lever, though pay matters too. It points to management quality, recognition, and visible opportunity as the three factors doing the most damage when they're missing, and the most good when they're addressed directly. For the fuller playbook, see our 7 restaurant employee retention strategies.

How to reduce restaurant staff turnover with the tools you already need

Most of what reduces restaurant staff turnover isn't a new expense, it's better execution of things restaurants are already trying to do: recognizing good work, training managers to communicate well, giving new hires real support past their first week, and giving staff a way to be heard. What's usually missing is a system that makes those things consistent across every shift and every location, rather than dependent on one manager remembering to do them.

A restaurant employee app that combines recognition, communication, and onboarding into a single place employees already check gives operators a practical way to execute on turnover reduction at scale. Blink supports restaurant brands including McDonald's, Domino's, and Shake Shack with exactly this kind of platform, and frontline organizations using it typically see adoption above 90 percent within the first week, precisely because it doesn't ask staff to change how they already work.

Blink. And make staying the easier choice.

Sources: Black Box Intelligence Restaurant Workforce Data (2025) and 7shifts Restaurant Employee Engagement Report (2025).

Thanks to our awesome customers leaving stellar reviews on our G2 profile, we are excited to announce we have gained 5 new G2 Trust Badges for being high performers in various categories, including “Enterprise Employee Communications.”

‍What is G2 and why does it matter?

G2 is the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace. More than 90 million people annually — including employees at all Fortune 500 companies — use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews. 

That means when companies like Blink improve their rankings and earn G2 Trust Badges, it’s because users are actually taking the time to share their experiences with the products. 

‍Blink’s new G2 trust badges for spring 2024

Blink’s CEO Sean Nolan shared his thoughts on the recognition, saying, “For years, frontline communications, and frontline digital enablement more broadly, has challenged companies regardless of industry or location. To see that Blink is helping our customers stay connected in a meaningful way and helping frontline workers thrive like never before, is the best validation of the product and culture we’ve built here. For our product and support to be recognized as high performers and leaders in multiple G2 reports is a testament to the excellence of the entire Blink organization.” 

Our product is featured in several Grid categories on G2. G2’s Grid Reports have four categories, with the best being Leader, followed by High Performer, Contenders, and Niche. Here’s a quick synopsis of four of those categories Blink is featured in, how the category is scored, and how Blink fared.

Employee Communications

New G2 trust badges: 

• Leader in Employee Communications Platforms Overall
• High Performer in Enterprise Employee Communications

Notable movement: 

• Increased by 29 in the Mid-Market Grid® Report for Employee Communications in Spring 2024
• Increased by 25 in the Relationship Index for Employee Communications in Spring 2024
• Now included in the Enterprise Implementation Index for Employee Communications in Spring 2024

Employee Communications is a critical function for any organization, but it becomes more difficult (and important) to get right as organizations grow their workforce. Keeping employees engaged and informed is no small feat in fast-paced office environments or along the frontlines. Features like Blink’s News Feed help teams deliver internal, top-down communications, while comments, group messages, and surveys help Blink users foster a workplace based on two-way feedback and collaboration. 

To be named a Leader in Employee Communications Platforms Overall, Blink needed a minimum number of reviews as well as a high customer Satisfaction score and a large Market Presence compared to the rest of the category. 

To be named a High Performer in Enterprise Employee Communications, Blink needed a minimum number of reviews, as well as a high customer Satisfaction scores and a low Market Presence compared to the rest of the category. 

According to G2, products included in the Employee Communications category must be able to: 

• Create internal content campaigns
• Personalize distribution of communication
• Segment company into designated groups
• Allow employees to subscribe to topics or content of interest
• Analyze performance of content shared within the application

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Frontline Worker Communications

New G2 trust badges: 

• Leader in Frontline Worker Communications Platforms Overall
• Easiest to Use in Mid-Market Frontline Worker Communications Platforms 

Notable movement: 

• Now included in Enterprise Grid® Report for Enterprise Frontline Worker Communications Platforms

Frontline Worker Communications is a unique challenge for each organization trying to improve frontline productivity and collaboration. Depending on the locations, work environments, geographical dispersion, and the needs of the workforce, staying connected to frontline workers requires a mobile-friendly, easy-to-use solution. Simply giving frontline workers access to the same apps and platforms as their office colleagues won’t work—they need access to be seamless, communication to be effortless, information to be readily available, and all in one tool, ideally. 

With Blink, a robust suite of built-in features delivers a complete frontline communications solution. Organizations love Secure Chat, which helps workers have one-on-one or group discussions with managers and colleagues, and the Content Hub, which gives workers a convenient place for all their important policies and documents. On top of that, the deep integrations with HRIS, payroll, and IT tools paired with single sign-on access to those tools makes it easier than ever to keep frontline workers engaged and informed. 

To be named a Leader in Frontline Worker Communications Platforms Overall, Blink needed a minimum number of reviews as well as a high customer Satisfaction score and a large Market Presence compared to the rest of the category. 

According to G2, products included in the Frontline Worker Communications category must be able to: 

• Provide real-time messaging capabilities, allowing frontline workers to communicate quickly and efficiently with their colleagues and supervisors
• Provide the ability to broadcast announcements and updates, such as policy changes or emergency alerts, to specific individuals, groups, or the entire workforce
• Enable the sharing of documents, manuals, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and other resources
• Provide survey and feedback tools to gather insights from employees
• Have a specific and designated use case for frontline and deskless workers

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Employee Engagement

New G2 trust badges: Leader in Employee Engagement Platform Overall

Notable movement: Increased by 12 in the Enterprise Relationship Index for Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement is a vital metric for organizations whether the workforce is based in an office or is on the frontlines. By striving to keep employees engaged, organizations can help increase productivity, lower turnover rates, and boost profitability. HR teams often take on the role of employee engagement, working diligently to solicit feedback, keep an eye on employee sentiment, and promote a positive workplace through constant worker recognition. 

With Blink, HR teams have greater access to the frontline worker— a group that is notoriously difficult to gauge and suffers from high rates of turnover typically. With built-in Surveys, keeping tabs on the sentiment of mobile workforces is easier than ever. Creating a culture of appreciation and bringing visibility to the achievements of frontline workers is easy with Recognition in Blink, which allows HR teams to send Kudos that mark anything worth celebrating in the Feed in seconds. 

To be named a Leader in Employee Engagement Platforms Overall, Blink needed a minimum number of reviews as well as a high customer Satisfaction score and a large Market Presence compared to the rest of the category. 

According to G2, products included in the Employee Engagement category must be able to: 

• Enable users to conduct employee pulse surveys to gauge employee satisfaction
• Allow users to design and distribute custom pulse surveys
• Organize and maintain data collected from pulse surveys for reporting purposes
• Promote employee recognition through internal communication channels

Employee Intranet

New G2 Ttrust badges: High Performer in Employee Intranet Platform Overall

Notable movement: Increased by 10 in the Mid-Market Implementation Index for Employee Intranet in Spring 2024

Employee Intranets have been around for decades, but as companies strive to keep employees everywhere—including frontline workers—informed and engaged, many require modern, mobile-friendly versions. For a long time, frontline organizations were shut out from the intranet because they worked outside the company network or lacked a company email that provided access to it.

With Blink’s take on the modern intranet, companies can deliver a mobile-first experience that includes access to the content and collaboration tools once only available to their office-based colleagues. Furthermore, companies can personalize the experience based on the individual, the role, or location, to ensure that frontline workers remain focused and enabled with the information they need to succeed. 

To be named a High Performer in Employee Intranet Platform Overall, Blink needed a minimum number of reviews, as well as a high customer Satisfaction scores and a low Market Presence compared to the rest of the category. 

According to G2, products included in the Employee Intranet category must be able to: 

• Provide access to, or the ability to create, an online portal with predefined access
• Allow for collaboration, communication, and file sharing within defined groups
• Be customizable

See what Blink customers had to say 

Don’t just take our word (and G2’s) for it. Here are some of the recent user reviews that contributed to our rankings this spring. 

“The best Employee Engagement App there is!”

Reviewer: Alex P., 

Company Size: Enterprise (>1000 employees)

Review Date: March 20, 2024

Rating: 5 ⭐

“Blink is a really colorful and engaging app that brings all colleagues in every business together. Supported with world-class hyper care by the team (thanks Elly and Maggie), I have been really impressed with the better functionality it provides over alternative platforms such as Yammer. The team are constantly developing the app as well which makes it future proof. There isn't a better engagement app for businesses.”

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“Great platform”

Reviewer: Sarah B.

Company Size: Mid-Market (51-1000 employees)

Review Date: March 12, 2024

Rating: 4.5 ⭐

“Blink has been a fantastic solution to our work 'intranet' needs. As it's like a social media platform, it has familiarity with our staff that makes it simple to use. It's easy to navigate and the hub section is really useful. Its great that it can also be broken down into teams so that the feed doesn't become too overwhelming.”

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“Blink is an industry game changer for home care integration for team members.”

Reviewer: Jaime W.

Company Size: Enterprise (>1000 employees)

Review Date: February 19, 2024

Rating: 5 ⭐

“Blink links a workforce together and provides a one stop shop that team members can access to complete their work day. The platform provides not only an outlet for communication and for team member camaraderie but also as a workplace hub. Blink is ultra responsive to feedback and uses suggestions to add enhancement and features to the platform. We would be lost without Blink!”

Want to read more reviews of Blink or leave your own? Visit our G2 page today to learn more about what real customers think about our product. 

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Blink customers love the direction of the product

One of the standout results from our G2 reviews is the fact that users are excited about the direction we’re taking the product. We’re constantly improving our product and innovating in new ways to improve the experience for frontline workers, managers, HR teams, Comms teams, and IT teams.

Here’s a few Blink features our users love that you may have missed! 

Blink Assist

The power of GenAI is in the palm of your hands and in your Blink Feed. 

Blink Assist allows users to leverage the power of AI to improve or write posts, helping improve communications style and making translating messages to connect with a diverse workforce easier than ever. 

Blink Assist can help with a post you’ve already written by improving the tone or refining the language. If you’re not sure how to say it, you can have Blink Assist write your post for you based on a prompt you provide. Furthermore, Blink Assist can summarize other posts in the feed, giving you an easy way to highlight items or create a daily digest.

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Mandatory Reads

Mandatory Reads give Administrators the ability to create or mark Pages in the Hub that require attention and action from users—no more manually getting colleagues to sign documents to acknowledge that they have read them.

Mandatory Reads give Administrators the ability to distribute updated policies, documents, and training to teams, and receive an acknowledgment that each individual has read the compulsory information.

If individuals have not acknowledged the Mandatory Read, Administrators will be able to find out who hasn't read the information, follow up with reminders, and/or contact individuals directly through the Analytics function.

Learn more about Blink

Is your company struggling to stay connected to frontline workers? Does employee turnover cause you to toss and turn at night? Getting cold feet thinking about employee engagement?

The Blink employee super app is here to solve your biggest frontline workforce challenges. Blink’s mobile-first app was designed for frontline workers to use on the go. No desk, no email, no problem: everything employees need—from a modern intranet and a social media-like Feed for updates to secure chat and single sign-on access to critical HR and IT tools—is all right there within the Blink app. 

Simplify frontline communications and engagement with Blink. Get a demo today and in a few short weeks you could be up and running with Blink to revolutionize the frontline experience at your company. 

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