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For comms leaders who want to bring their teams together, employee engagement is a critical element in creating a sense of belonging in frontline organizations. There are a number of different employee engagement frameworks available.

Therefore, it’s important to understand their respective strengths and weaknesses to make the right decisions for your teams.

How can you know which one is right for your organization?

The answer lies in understanding the goals that you want to achieve through engagement, and how the different frameworks can help you do so.

At Blink, we believe in the importance of employee engagement, which is why we've carefully evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of key frameworks on the market, to help you find the one that aligns with your organizational goals.

Whether you're an SME looking to create a fast-growing startup culture, or a large enterprise looking to make your employees feel more empowered and innovative, this guide will help you understand what an employee engagement framework is and find the right model for the job.

What Is An Employee Engagement Framework or Model?

An employee engagement framework or model is a strategic structure created to help you understand and measure the factors that drive employee engagement within your organization. 

These models work to identify the specific factors that are most important to creating an engaged employee workforce, and provide a strategic framework for improving these factors as part of your wider employee engagement strategy.

But why does this even matter? Why bother? Well, studies have shown that engaged employees see increased customer satisfaction, boosted job satisfaction and improved turnover (43%) compared to their competitors, amongst a range of other competitive benefits. We know, we've told you before! But that's because it's true.

As for the framework, it provides a core structure to your communications and engagement efforts and helps you to focus on the elements that are most important. So whether you're looking to drive innovation, retention, or productivity within your organization, there's bound to be an engagement framework or model out there that can help you achieve these goals.

Before we dive into how to choose the best employee framework for you, let's take a look at some of the main employee engagement models.

Employee Engagement Framework Examples

When it comes to employee engagement theories, specifically frameworks, the sector is dominated by a few major players. In this section we'll outline the key focus and aims of each employee framework example, hopefully providing you with some insight into which model might be best for improving employee engagement in your organization. 

1. The Zinger Model

The Zinger model of employee engagement consists of 14 employee engagement elements, with key symbols for each element. Together, these elements make up a symbolic framework for measuring employee engagement, with each element representing a specific part of the engagement process. These 14 elements include:

• Achieve results
• Craft strategy
• CARE (Connect, Authentic, Recognition, Engage)
• Enliven work roles
• Excel at performance
• Esteem organization
• Foster community
• Serve customers
• Develop career
• Leverage energies
• Experience wellbeing

The model is designed to help organizations evaluate and monitor the factors that impact employee engagement over time, and track progress towards their organizational goals.

While this theoretical model lacks depth in terms of human resource management theory, it does provide a useful visualization of different engagement factors and mechanisms, making it a great choice for comms leaders looking to map out their employee engagement strategy in a visually appealing way.

2. The Deloitte Model

The Deloitte model of employee engagement was created after two years of discussions and research with clients, revealing five major elements and 20 underlying strategies that work together to make an organization truly “irresistible.” The 5 major elements included in this framework are:

• Meaningful work
• Hands-on management
• Positive work environment
• Growth opportunity
• Trust in leadership

All of these factors work together to form a core system of engagement within an organization (See Figure 1 below) that maintains itself through strong company culture. And while the model is aimed at maximizing employee satisfaction, it also works to improve productivity and profitability.

This framework has been used by hundreds of organizations around the world and boasts a high success rate in improving organization-wide employee engagement and company performance. If you’re looking for an evidence-based approach to employee engagement that can help you achieve results across the board, this might be a good fit for you.

3. The JD-R model

The Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory of employee engagement is a model that explains how the organizational environment impacts employee well-being and performance.

One central idea in the JD-R theory is that although workers may be based in various sectors–think transport, manufacturing, or finance–their job characteristics can be classified into two categories: job demands and job resources.

• Job demands are job aspects that require continuous effort and usually come with physical and mental costs. Some examples could include a heavy or unmanageable workload, conflicting demands from managers and customers, and workplace bullying.
• Job resources help workers progress in their careers, make their jobs less demanding, and improve their day-to-day life both professionally and personally. Some examples of resources could include anything from an easily accessed Central Hub storing core company resources to scheduled breaks during the work day and access to line management training, enrolling on employee engagement training programs and other development initiatives.

Using a variety of methods to study leadership and workers, such as Employee Surveys, interviews and administrative data, the JD-R model has been proven to be a valid method for assessing how employees feel about their job resources and demands, and in turn their engagement levels.

4. The Gallup Employee Engagement model

The Gallup model of employee engagement refers to their Q12 Survey, which consists of 12 employee engagement survey questions. After taking the Q12 survey, leaders and managers will be able to effortlessly work each item's concepts into conversations, meeting agendas, performance evaluations and team goal setting. The 12 questions are:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

The 12 questions are split into four levels (See image below) required for an environment of trust and support in the workplace. By meeting the needs of the three levels of foundational employee engagement drivers, leaders can drive top level personal and professional growth for their employees.

Using these levels as a guide to manage your team, you can improve their performance and continue developing them professionally.

It's important to note that these four levels do not represent consecutive phases. Managers do not complete level one and then level two, etc. Leaders must ensure that employees' needs are met on level one first, however they must then continue to deliver on that level while meeting their needs on the second, third and fourth levels.

Simply put: if you don't meet your employees basic needs on an ongoing basis, the other levels won't follow.

5. The AON Hewitt model

The AON model of employee engagement consists of three main sectors, Say, Stay and Strive. Based on employee responses to "say, stay, and strive," engagement levels can be determined and used as a predictor of business outcomes. 

AON goes on to recommend some key steps when implementing an engagement framework, which include:

• Define your improvement strategy
• Boost the impact and effectiveness of your managers and leaders
• Create an aligned employee value proposition
• Design and implement total reward programs.

By using these steps, leaders can successfully improve employee engagement and drive better business outcomes for their organizations.

How to pick the right employee engagement framework for you

What business targets are you aiming for?

To choose a fit-for-purpose engagement model, you need to understand the goals that you want to achieve through engagement. Some of the most common business targets are: improved innovation, increased employee retention and productivity, and better financial performance.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) built around employee engagement metrics can also make strong targets for your engagement framework. For example, some organizations might aim to increase employee participation in the workplace and their willingness to contribute to company goals – both of which are important metrics for measuring employee engagement and satisfaction.

Some key questions to ask yourself at this point could include:

• What's the main engagement problem you’re currently facing? 
• What are your business targets?
• Does the engagement framework align with KPIs and company goals?

Understand your team setup

The first step in choosing the best employee engagement framework for your organization is to understand the different types of teams that you have. This will help you to better understand the specific engagement needs of your team, and tailor the framework accordingly.

For example, a frontline workforce is going to require specific framework targets, such as increasing employee engagement in nurses or on the factory floor. On the other hand, an office-based team may be looking to increase employee participation in company events or projects.

The truth is, frontline workers are often left with no engagement projects that meet their needs. Unfortunately, this has led to a growing number of frontline workers left feeling unheard and disengaged. 

To do better for your staff, start by really getting to know them and their team setup.

Assess your current technology

When choosing your framework to engage employees, run-of-the-mill employee engagement activities and boring old company practices need to stay in the past.

If you really want to drive employee engagement outcomes in your organization, you need the right tech. Luckily, when it comes to the best digital tools for employee engagement, we know a thing or two.

From employee engagement platforms and digital communication tools to online learning resources, there's a growing number of technology solutions available to help you improve your organizational culture and increase engagement.

In our humble opinion, Blink is the absolute frontrunner when it comes to tech solutions for engaging employees. Blink offers:

• Secure Chats to drive feedback loops, two-way communication and meaningful workplace relationships
• Central Hub for instant access to core company policies, procedures and files
• Blink Feed for company announcements and engaging day-to-day updates
• Frontline Intelligence to help you measure and analyze how your employee engagement strategy is performing
• Employee Surveys to drive a movement of listening within your organization.

With these digital features in one Frontline Engagement App, Blink really is the perfect fit for any business looking to improve employee engagement and, ultimately, business outcomes.

So if you're ready to start taking your employee engagement efforts to the next level, how about trying Blink today? You'll be able to easily meet your communication, collaboration and company culture goals!

Identify engagement framework allies

Employee engagement framework allies are those who are invested in improving your organization's culture and are willing to work alongside you to help achieve this.

For example, if you're looking to boost employee participation in your workplace, it might be worth reaching out to HR teams or management to see if they can dedicate budget towards more frequent team meetings or staff events.

Alternatively, if you're a comms or HR leader, you might need to get CIO or even CEO buy-in in order to implement the right digital tools to kickstart a new framework.

Overall, finding allies for your employee engagement framework can be a powerful way to get more support behind your goals, and achieve better results in the long run. So make sure you reach out to anyone who might be able to help you move forward.

How do you implement an employee engagement model?

It’s important to choose the right model and identify your allies to ultimately achieve your goals. To implement this thinking, it's important to approach implementation in a structured way. This will help you have a clear plan to manage the process from start to finish.

Some key steps include overhauling your digital employee engagement tools, testing and setting measurable goals, creating regular check-in points for measuring progress, and ensuring that everyone involved is aligned with the same vision and implementing employee engagement best practices.

What Blink can do for you...

Now that you have a better understanding of how to implement an employee engagement model in your organization, you can think about implementing a tool like Blink.

At Blink, strong employee engagement is at the heart of what we do. That's why our mobile engagement app offers a range of powerful tools and features to help frontline organizations improve their culture and build better relationships with their staff.

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

With an average activation rate of over 85% across numerous deskless industries, Blink can help you drive more open and honest communication, increase employee participation in your initiatives, gather feedback from across all departments, all of this to help you drive key metrics and KPIs. 

Get started today

The average person will work 35 hours per week. That adds up to 84,365 hours over their lifetime. Yet just over one-third of employees (34%) are engaged, and 16% are actively disengaged in their work and workplace.

If you’re reading this, the chances are you want to make sure your employees don’t feel like they are wasting a large portion of their life at work. We’ll do our best to help you do just that.

In this handy guide, we’ll break down the key steps you need to take when creating an employee engagement strategy.

From understanding why your organization truly needs an employee engagement strategy, to the actionable steps you can take to create your own strategy, we’ll cover everything you need to know right here.

Why you need an employee engagement strategy

Creating an employee engagement strategy can seem daunting, but it’s important for any business. Having a strategic approach to your employees’ happiness and engagement will help you retain top talent, keep them motivated and productive, and ultimately grow your business.

Effective employee engagement strategies will outline exactly how you are going to improve employee engagement within your organization, allowing all team members to stay on the same page when it comes to their roles and responsibilities.

In short: by creating an employee engagement strategy, you can strategically work to improve your employee engagement. And with improved levels of engagement, come a number of organizational benefits, including: 

• Higher Productivity: Employee engagement is closely linked with productivity. Engaged employees are more motivated to do their best work and achieve their goals. In fact, research has shown that engaged employees are up to 202% more productive than disengaged employees.
• Reduced Staff Turnover: Low employee retention is costly and disruptive for any business, and one of the most decisive factors for employee retention is employee engagement. Engaged employees are less likely to leave their job, which reduces the need for costly and disruptive staff turnover.
• Improved Morale: A happy workforce is a productive workforce. When employees feel engaged and valued, they are more likely to be happy at work and less likely to experience stress or burnout. As such, a staff engagement strategy can motivate employees and improve morale, job satisfaction and overall company culture.
• Greater Loyalty: An engaged employee is more likely to be loyal to their company, in fact 90% of workers said they are more likely to stay at a company that takes and acts on feedback: AKA one that engages them. They are less likely to look for jobs elsewhere and are more likely to recommend their company to others. Therefore, the right employee engagement strategies can drive your staff retention rates and encourage employees to stay with your company for longer.

Employee engagement strategies & business types

What your employee engagement strategy needs to consist of will change depending on your business type. For example, a software company will need to focus on ways to motivate and engage product designers and developers in order to compete for top talent in a competitive Silicon Valley environment. A healthcare organization, on the other hand, will need to come up with innovative ways to engage their nursing and medical staff to combat physician burnout and the growing nursing shortage.

What's important is that you provide your workforce with strategies that are designed for them specifically. Ultimately, your strategy will depend on the type of employees you have, the unique challenges facing those teams in your market, their day-to-day tasks, and how your organization operates as a whole.

Employee engagement for the frontline

Creating an employee engagement strategy can be especially important for frontline organizations. With 80% of the global workforce working on the frontline, it’s important to have strategies in place that will help keep these workers engaged, productive and motivated.

Additionally, employees in frontline positions often have more direct contact with customers and are more likely to represent the company to the public. As such, it is important for these employees to be engaged and motivated, so they can provide positive customer service experiences.

Frontline staff engagement strategies might involve providing employees with accessible digital tools for employee engagement, offering transparent and frequent communication, or emphasizing the importance of customer feedback.

Remember: whatever strategies you use, it’s important to tailor them specifically to your industry, business type and workforce.

How to create your employee engagement strategy

In order to have engaged employees, you need a plan in place, outcomes in mind, a clear outline of responsibilities and a culture that takes participation seriously. You also need a toolset available that is able to execute your plan, close distances, track results and simplify operations. 

To make this a little easier to understand, we've broken the process down into 7 simple steps.

1. Define - Your purpose, values & mission

Defining your own purpose, company core values, and mission statement is a crucial step in creating your employee engagement strategy. In fact, when teams know your goals and expectations of them, they are 2.8 times more likely to be engaged in their roles, according to research from Quantum Workplace.

By clearly articulating what you stand for as an organization, you can align your staff with these values and give them a reason to be invested in the success of your business in the long-term.

To ensure that all employees are on the same page here, you should provide an easy-to-access Hub containing all company policy and procedure documents, along with a thorough onboarding process for new hires.

2. Listen - Conversations and research

Direct, two-way conversations and further research into your employees’ needs and wants will help you to create a more personalized engagement strategy, making this a core step in the strategic process. One way to do this is through pulse surveys.

Pulse Surveys are short, regular surveys that ask employees about their engagement levels and how they feel about their work. This can help you to identify any areas where your employees may be struggling, and can help to ensure that your employee engagement strategy is constantly evolving.

Whether it’s through surveys, focus groups, one-on-one interviews or anonymous staff feedback tools, gathering data and hearing directly from your employees can give you valuable insights into what they need from an engagement strategy, and help you identify your organisation's key engagement drivers, in order for staff to stay engaged at work.

3. Review - Analyze and plan

Once you have gathered data from your employees, it’s time to analyze this information and determine what action needs to be taken. You may find that certain areas of your workplace are in need of improvement, or perhaps a company-wide change is necessary to boost employee engagement.

Whatever the results of your employee research, it’s crucial to identify specific targets and actions that will make your plan a success. What’s working, what's not? Are there specific issues that need to be addressed? What are your engagement goals as a business leader?

Key goals for your employee engagement strategy could include:

• Lower staff absenteeism
• Better employee retention rates and lower turnover
• Improved productivity
• Enhanced employee motivation and happiness 
• Increased customer satisfaction 
• More positive organizational culture.

By reviewing and analyzing the data you have gathered, you can gain a clear understanding of how to better engage employees in order to achieve these goals. This will help you to build a more effective employee engagement strategy that your employees want to respond positively to.

4. Commit - Actions speak louder than words

Strategy is important, but actions always speak louder than words. Employee engagement strategies that work, only work if you plan to back them up with core actions, processes and real change.

Below, we have outlined some key ways to commit to your employee engagement strategy. By truly committing to all of these actions, you can bring your employee engagement strategy to life and start seeing real results.

Tools & technology

Digital tools are essential for any organization looking to boost engagement. By providing your employees with the right tools, you can make it easier for them to connect with each other and with your company. This can help to improve communication and collaboration within your team, leading to higher job satisfaction, and a more engaged workforce.

There are a variety of different digital tools that you can use to engage your employees, including great employee engagement apps, online chat software and team collaboration tools.

It’s also important to consider using technology with frontline-specific features in deskless organizations. With 52% of frontline workers claiming they would leave their job over tech tools, better digital commitments are clearly needed here. By providing your employees with tools fit-for-purpose on the frontline, you can ensure that your employees feel supported and engaged no matter where they are in the organization.

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

Recruitment 

Assuming that you have already begun the process of gathering data and analyzing it, you should now begin to take actions across the board in order to improve employee engagement. One way to do this is through better recruitment practices.

People who match your ideals and company culture, who will add value, and who are onboarding engagement are more likely to be engaged employees. Therefore, it is important to take care in the recruitment process, and to ensure that you are hiring people who will be a good fit for your company. You can use interviews, personality tests and job simulations to get to know a candidate better, and to see how they would fit into your team.

It is also important to provide a thorough onboarding process for new hires in order to establish a culture of engagement from day one. This can help them to feel welcome and comfortable in their new role, and can help them to learn about your company policies and procedures.

Communication

Regular communication is key to keeping employees engaged. Employees need to feel like they are part of the bigger picture, and that their voice is heard. By establishing a regular communication schedule – whether it be through Secure Chats, email, newsletters, team meetings or other methods – you can ensure that your employees are kept in the loop.

It’s also important to have a clear internal communications strategy in place. This should outline who is responsible for communicating with whom, and what methods will be used. This will help to ensure that everyone is on the same page, and that important messages don’t get missed.

It’s important to tailor communications to the needs of your employees. For example, if most of your employees are frontline workers who don’t have access to a computer, you may need to adjust your communications methods so that they can be accessed on mobile devices – think mobile employee engagement apps. You may also need to consider using different methods for different departments or locations within your company.

Surveys

Although surveys are important when drafting your strategy, it’s also important to gather feedback from your employees on a more regular basis if you want to walk the walk of employee engagement. By conducting regular Employee Surveys, you can get a sense of how your employees are feeling at any given time – and if things need to change.

An employee engagement survey can help you to gather valuable data and feedback from your employees, which you can use to improve your strategy. You may want to consider including questions about work-life balance, employee engagement initiatives, training and development, and other areas.

Frequent surveys are a great way to get ongoing feedback from your employees and to see how they feel about various aspects of their job or the company as a whole. You can also use surveys to measure the success of your employee engagement strategies, obtaining valuable insight into what is working and what needs to be changed or improved.

Managers

“Leadership has an important role to play when it comes to employee engagement, and this is especially important given nearly half (45%) of workers say leadership is “minimally” or “not at all” committed to improving company culture. In fact, 78% of employees confirmed that any change to culture needs to be driven by the CEO.” — Jeff Cates, CEO of Achievers.

For business leaders, mid-level management is often the first step towards employee engagement. By ensuring managers are supported from the top level, given the budget, training, tools and support they need, you can set them up for success as well as help to create a culture of engagement across your entire organization.

Effective managers have many important roles when it comes to employee engagement. They are responsible for setting expectations, holding people accountable, and providing feedback. They are also responsible for coaching and mentoring their team members, as well as helping to resolve any issues or conflicts that may arise.

5. Measure - Analyze and report

To measure the impact and see if their employee engagement activities and strategy is working, businesses should use employee engagement analytics via the right tools, at the right time.

It’s important to use analytics at different points throughout your engagement strategy, as this will help you to gain valuable insight and data that can be used to adjust what is working and improve the areas that need improvement. For example, you may want to analyze employee satisfaction levels before implementing a new training program, or track engagement levels over time to see if your initiatives are working.

There are many different types of analytics tools that you can use to analyze and report this data, for example Blink's Frontline Intelligence tool. Our powerful analytics offer insight into the people and relationships that make your organization tick. 

By analyzing data from people, places, and things on a regular basis, you can gain real-time intelligence into your employee engagement strategy that you can use to better support and understand your workforce.

6. Reward - recognition & progression

When used effectively, recognition can be an extremely powerful tool for improving employee engagement. Employees need to feel appreciated for their efforts, and recognition is one of the best ways to show your most engaged employees that you appreciate them.

However, simply giving employees a pat on the back isn’t enough – recognition needs to be meaningful, memorable and measurable. By taking the time to recognize employees in a meaningful way, you can show them that you truly value their contributions, and make them want to engage and contribute more.

There are many different ways to recognize employees, and it’s important to find what works best for your organization. Some popular methods of recognition include offering Kudos or Employee Recognition, awards ceremonies, Feed shout-outs, gift cards or vouchers, and thank-you notes.

It's also crucial that you back up recognition with opportunities for growth and career development. This may include promotions, opportunities to learn new skills, a stronger compensation and benefits package, or simply more responsibility. By providing employees with opportunities for growth and progression within the organization, you are helping them feel valued and motivated to continue performing well.

7. Repeat - Regular check-ins and adjustments

To truly maximize the impact of your employee engagement strategy, it’s important to take a regular and systematic approach. This means that you should regularly check in on key metrics, analyze the data you gather, and make any necessary adjustments based on what you find.

Stay on top of your engagement. Track key metrics such as employee satisfaction and engagement levels, and conduct regular check-ins to analyze the data you gather. This will help you make any necessary adjustments to your strategy in a timely and effective manner, ensuring that your employees are engaged and motivated at all times.

Final Thoughts

At Blink, we provide the all-in-one solution to employee engagement. Designed for the frontline, our easy-to-access, intuitive employee engagement app delivers real-time data and communications, actionable insights and intelligent recommendations.

Inspiring engagement in your employees has never been easier. With our powerful analytics tools and customizable recognition programs, you can gain valuable insight into your workforce and take the steps needed to boost engagement levels across the board.

Whether you’re looking for a way to track employee performance, improve communication and feedback, or simply create a more positive work environment, Blink has everything you need.

Get started today

What makes him awesome?

Scrolling through Blink, I see so many stories about people going the extra mile and that is fantastic — we do that every day in Heathrow as part of our own expectations of ourselves. We work together to make sure that whatever needs to get done, gets done.

Jamie is the backbone of Heathrow and without him it would not be the same. Jamie was the first employee to go into a COVID household — and he isn’t even a tech! He just gets involved in all aspects of the operation. Jamie lives Medequip values and that’s why I had to nominate him.

What does he want to do next?

To continue being a valued member of the Medequip team. He’s a selfless person!

Nominated By: Davina McGovern, Depot Admin

Every week is EMS Week at Blink — because we care, too

EMS Week may be over, but at Blink, our appreciation for emergency medical professionals doesn’t end with the calendar. For us, recognizing the lifesaving work of EMTs, paramedics, and staff isn’t a once-a-year gesture — it’s a year-round commitment grounded in care.

This year’s EMS Week theme, “We care for everyone,” says it best. EMS teams are there for all of us — and it’s our job to be there for them.

Behind every siren is a team that deserves support

The reality of working in emergency medical services is demanding on every level. Long hours, unpredictable situations, and high-stakes decisions are just part of the job. And for EMS professionals, that job never really stops — holidays, weekends, middle-of-the-night calls.

It’s a role that requires not just skill and courage, but constant coordination, communication, and clarity. And that’s where Blink comes in.

Caring for others starts with caring for your team. That’s why Blink is designed to meet the needs of EMS professionals — not just as employees, but as people.

At Blink, we’re proud to serve thousands of paramedics, EMTs, and staff across some of the country’s largest EMS organizations.

Assisting EMS behind the scenes

We’re proud to work with EMS organizations across the country — from city ambulance services to rural responder units — to help their teams stay connected, informed, and empowered, no matter where the job takes them.

Whether they’re responding to an emergency or prepping for the next shift, EMS workers need tools that work as hard as they do.

With Blink, EMS organizations can:

• Send real-time updates about protocols, routes, or equipment changes
• Deliver training resources straight to mobile devices
• Coordinate shifts and crews with better visibility and fewer delays
• Recognize outstanding work with peer-to-peer shoutouts and leadership messages
• Give employees a voice with surveys, feedback tools, and two-way communication
• Foster connection between teams that rarely see each other face-to-face

Poor communication is the #1 most common stressor for EMS workers (BMC Emergency Medicine)

Built for the field — not just the office

EMS professionals don’t spend their days behind a desk. So why rely on systems that expect them to?

Blink is a mobile-first employee experience platform, built for people whose work happens on the move. We make it easier for EMS leaders to reach every team member — from the newest trainee to the most experienced paramedic — and equip them with the information they need, when they need it.

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Our commitment: Always on

EMS professionals care for everyone with every call they answer. At Blink, we believe the same care should be extended to them — through tools that reduce friction, strengthen connection, and show that their work and well-being truly matter.

We believe EMS teams deserve more than recognition during one week of the year. They deserve better tools, better communication, and better connection — every week.

To all the EMS professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes and on the frontlines: thank you. We see you, we support you, and we’re committed to building technology that helps you do what you do best — saving lives.

Blink. And keep your EMS teams stay connected — every hour, every shift, every week.

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There are lots of ways you can up your internal communications game. You can attend courses and conferences. You can work with a mentor or an internal communications expert.

But don’t overlook the free resources you have at your fingertips. The blogs of professionals, companies, and consultancies working in the field of internal communications (IC) often contain a lot of wisdom.

They feature the latest IC trends along with tried and tested employee communication strategies. You can discover what other companies are doing with their comms. You can also find new ways to engage employees, influence leaders, and keep up-to-date with communication technology. 

So how do you unearth this insight? Trawling through the internet to find the best content is tough. So we’ve done the hard work for you. Here, we’ve put together a list of the best internal communications blogs around right now.

Happy reading!

Best internal communications blogs to follow

1. The institute of internal communication

The Institute of Internal Communication has been a go-to for internal communication professionals for over 75 years. The Institute runs training, conferences, and awards. It also issues qualifications.

Its blog is an excellent resource. It covers topics such as visual communication, AI in the workplace, and the importance of developing trust in the workplace.

Some blog posts are only available to IoIC members. But there’s plenty on there to get you started. There’s also a podcast called The Future of Internal Communication, which is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Must-reads from this blog:

• Engaging and supporting leaders is a vital component in IC
• Getting the measure of your strategy: using data to drive IC’s direction
• ‘I learned the hard way that less is more’

2. Gallagher Communications

Gallagher is an internal communications agency that has worked on 100+ internal communication audits and strategic projects for large and small companies all over the world.

The company believes that real workplace communication isn’t about ticking a checklist. Instead, it’s about engaging workers through strong leadership and incentives. So Gallagher blogs on topics that include leadership, pension communications, rewards and benefits, and workplace culture.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• Three ways communications can elevate recruitment strategies
• Prioritizing your wellbeing as an internal communicator
• Toxic positivity: when good vibes go bad

3. Alive with Ideas

Alive with Ideas is a creative internal communications agency. They provide brands with strategy and engaging internal content.

The Alive with Ideas blog provides lots of creative comms inspiration. It covers topics like storytelling, the benefits of illustration, and tips for unleashing your creativity. There are lots of fun pop culture references and beautiful visuals, too.

If you’re looking for ways to liven up your employee communications and improve employee engagement, this is definitely the place to go.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• Ted Lasso’s Positivity Playbook
• Diving into communication differences
• SNACKABLE SNIPPET: Transforming disagreements into opportunities

4. McCann Synergy

McCann Synergy is an employee communications company focused on improving employee engagement across the entire employee lifecycle. It helps organizations develop a strong employer brand and a positive employee experience. It also offers support with employee engagement and workplace communications.

The McCann Synergy blog is filled with reports, whitepapers, and best practices on useful topics related to engagement and communication. These include crisis communications, employee experience, and behavioral science.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• How to put reward and recognition center-stage
• Breaking the cycle of distrust in the workplace
• 10 best internal communications and employee engagement case studies

5. Redefining Communications

Redefining Communications is another internal communications consultancy. The team runs workshops and offers project support. They support global companies with comms, engagement, and organizational change.  

Over on the Redefining Communications blog, you’ll find a ton of IC news and insight. The blog provides lots of great advice on the topic of employee communications, with some posts focused on improving comms in frontline organizations.

Dig a little deeper into their content and you’ll find some great podcasts, along with IC reports that you can download for a fee.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• Is the staff magazine making a comeback?
• Line manager cascades for deskless workers: how to get them right
• The power of influence and persuasion in internal communications

6. All Things IC

Rachel Miller is the ex-journalist and comms professional behind All Things IC. She’s been working in the IC industry for over two decades — and her company offers training and 1-2-1 support for internal communicators.

Over on the All Things IC blog, you’ll find lots of up-to-the-minute resources. There are summaries of newly released workplace communication research reports — and blogs on topics including AI and neurodiversity.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• Understanding and engaging Gen Z employees
• Building a culture of inclusivity: effective internal communication for diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Communication-related words people hate

7. Blue Beyond

Blue Beyond is a consulting firm with expertise in the human side of business. Its impressive client list features many Fortune 500 brands.

With the Blue Beyond blog, the company shares internal communication trends and insights based on real IC experience. It also provides useful resources for both small and large companies. Recurring themes include change management, talent management, and workplace culture.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• How to have courageous conversations in the workplace
• Quiet quitting is a cry for help; here’s what you can do about it
• 7 best practices for reaching non-wired employees

8. Brilliant Ink

Brilliant Ink designs employee experiences that lead to positive business outcomes and high employee engagement.

Its blog spans a vast selection of topics — all related to employee engagement. So articles on employee communications are a regular feature. You will find insights on internal communication data, intranet platforms, and company values.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• 10 employee engagement & internal communications trends
• 5 comms tips to boost employee retention
• 5 essential steps to prepare your organization for AI

9. Comms Rebel

Comms Rebel is a communications consultancy founded by comms professional and confidence coach, Advita Patel. The Comms Rebel blog covers a wide range of topics surrounding workplace communication, with a particular focus on leadership, bias, and inclusion.

As you’d expect from the company name, Comms Rebel approaches workplace communications from a unique angle, highlighting overlooked issues and underrepresented employee groups. 

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• The 5 secrets of inclusive language
• Empowering women in the workplace through internal communications
• Four things to consider before adopting AI in internal comms

10. Local Wisdom

Local Wisdom is a digital communications company with expertise spanning UX design, content development, and communication strategy.

Its blog offers lots of incredible content related to employee communications. It also looks at the technology, design, and development IC involves.  

Must-reads from this blog:

• Encourage Employee-Created Content on Your Internal Social
• Lights, Camera, Confidence! Video Interview Prep 101
• When employees are “too busy” for internal comms

11. Changing the Terms

Mike Klein is a consultant and strategist who helps organizations and communications leaders create sharper, more effective messages. He believes that people can say more by saying less.

Mike’s blog is packed with useful insight for comms professionals. He challenges conventional thinking and looks at internal communications measurement, technology, and strategies.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• Internal communication: What’s the “tipping point” for small and medium-sized businesses?
• “It’s all about the managers.” Really?
• Herd virality? Why focusing on internal influence beats “100% engagement”

12. Inspiring Change

Inspiring Change is an internal comms agency that supports companies with organizational culture and employee engagement. The company’s founder, Scott McInnes, is on a mission to make internal comms clear, memorable, inspiring, and authentic.

Over on the Inspiring Change blog, you’ll find lots of useful articles. There’s advice for comms professionals wanting to connect employees with company values and culture. There are also tips on navigating organizational change.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• Bridging the gap: connecting employees with the organization’s vision
• The role of senior leaders in creating values-led organizations
• Creating psychological safety at work

13. Ragan Communications

Ragan Communications has been training professionals in internal communications, public relations, and social media for over 50 years. So, as you’d expect, the Ragan blog offers some great resources.

There are real-world internal communication case studies, round-ups of IC news, and interviews with IC professionals. You’ll also find lots of workplace communications advice, on topics ranging from manager comms, discussing social issues, and data analysis.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• 6 steps to humanize, personalize, and maximize your employee comms
• ‘Supercommunicators’ author Charles Duhigg on fostering deeper virtual connection
• Lessons from Nike’s layoffs and employee change comms

14. Leader Communicator 

One for the leadership team. The brain behind this blog, David Grossman, is a leadership and communication expert and the founder of The Grossman Group. David is passionate about leadership communication and publishes articles on a bi-weekly basis.

Recent topics include empathetic leadership, change management, and building trust with employees.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• Great communicators share these 7 essential characteristics
• Internal communications plan: 7-step strategy and template
• Setting employee expectations as a leader: a how-to guide

15. The IC Citizen

The IC Citizen is penned by Martin Flegg, an IC expert with more than 20 years of industry experience. He specializes in internal comms, employee engagement, and change communication.

Martin has a knack for sharing strong opinions on debatable topics. You may not agree with everything he writes, but you’ll certainly get fresh perspectives.

Must-reads from this internal communication blog:

• No good advice
• Igniting change
• What’s that got to do with internal communication?

16. Blink intelligence

Yes, this is us. Blink is a modern intranet software provider.

Our platform is built with frontline workers in mind. Traditionally, deskless employees have been left out of the company conversation. But we’re changing that with a user-friendly, mobile-first employee app.

Our blog reflects our passion for frontline communication. There’s in-depth guidance and actionable strategies you can use to improve workplace communication, employee engagement, and employee retention across your frontline and desk-based teams.

You can also read the latest internal communications news on The Shift, Blink’s bi-monthly newsletter — or get the lowdown on frontline communication tech by watching our live and on demand webinars.

Must-reads from our internal communication blog:

• 6 ways to create an intranet your frontline workforce will love
• Doomscrolling detox: How to uplift your people through internal communications
• 12 metrics and KPIs for effective internal communication

Using internal communication blogs to improve comms at your organization

The way we collaborate and communicate is changing. So staying up-to-date with employee communication insights is a great way to boost the effectiveness of your comms.

Start by making the most of the IC information available online. The internal communication blogs on this list provide fresh ideas, practical strategies, and creative inspiration. They offer guidance on IC tech and communication trends.

So add these articles to your reading list. You’ll find new ways to share messages, engage employees, and improve the employee experience.

Want to delve deeper? For in-depth resources on frontline employee experience and engagement, take a look at Blink’s whitepapers and reports. 

‍

“Prove it.”

If you’re in internal communications, you’ve heard that sentence more times than you’ve heard “quick question” (which, as we know, is never actually quick).

The shift is real. Five years ago, a lot of comms tech lived in the “nice to have” bucket. In 2026, it’s a boardroom conversation — and boardrooms don’t buy “nice.” They buy outcomes: efficiency, reduced risk, better retention, higher adoption of expensive tech investments, and measurable operational wins.

In our recent webinar, Proving internal comms ROI in 2026: Lessons from the other side, Ricky Sickelmore shared what he learned after 24 years in transport (including launching Blink at Stagecoach and introducing it at Arriva) — and what consistently held up when leadership came knocking for ROI.

Here are the six takeaways internal comms teams can apply immediately.

1. Ditch vanity metrics for outcomes

Email opens. Page views. Likes.

They’re not useless… they’re just not convincing.

Ricky’s rule: stop leading with activity metrics and start leading with business value. Executives don’t want to hear that “people saw the message.” They want to know: did anything change, and did it matter?

So translate comms problems into operational and financial realities:

• Safety reporting increases (e.g., digital near-miss reporting vs. “find the form somewhere and hope someone bothers”)
• Compliance improvements (e.g., “mandatory read” confirmation)
• Turnover movement (not because comms magically fixes attrition — but because comms can remove friction, improve onboarding, and drive consistency)

A useful gut-check: If your metric can’t be repeated in a budget meeting without you adding a 3-minute explanation, it’s not your headline metric.

Executives aren’t interested in open rates. They’re interested in the financial reality.

- Ricky Sickelmore, Blink

2. Start with hard costs and operational efficiency

If you want CFO attention, lead with the stuff they can smell from three floors away: tangible savings.

Ricky shared a simple example that’s painfully common in frontline-heavy orgs: printing and distributing documents at scale. One organization saved over £200,000 by moving payslips from print-and-post to digital distribution.

But don’t just stop at “printing costs.” The strongest ROI cases widen the lens:

• Printers and maintenance
• Paper, postage, distribution
• Staff time to print, collate, deliver, reprint
• Support tickets created when things go wrong

And when you talk about “time savings,” make them real. Not “we saved time.” Instead:

• “We reclaimed 10 hours per week of manager time previously spent manually filling shifts.”
• “We reduced password reset requests because employees access systems through one authenticated front door.”

Pro tip from Ricky: Do a basic “time and motion” study. Follow one process end-to-end and document every human touchpoint. That one form might bounce across 8–10 people, with delays that never show up on a neat process map.

3. Build a cross-functional case, not a “comms case”

One of the biggest mistakes internal comms teams make is trying to win budget alone — with a comms-only story.

Ricky put it bluntly: ROI gets easier when internal comms stops being “the comms team’s project” and becomes an operations, safety, engineering, and HR win.

That means stakeholder interviews early — not once the deck is already written.

Ask department heads:

• What’s your biggest friction point right now?
• What manual work is wasting your team’s time?
• Where do you have compliance risk?
• What’s the cost of not fixing this?

Example Ricky gave: if a safety leader can’t reliably get 20 drivers in a room for a briefing, that’s not a comms problem — it’s an operational risk. A digital “mandatory read” gives you trackable compliance without the logistics circus.

Make it tangible: Form a small steering committee with reps from the functions that will benefit most. When you go for sign-off, you’re not walking in alone — you’re walking in with allies.

You’re not in it alone — get the right stakeholders in the room early.

Ricky Sickelmore

4. Prove time-to-value through onboarding

Want a metric that operations leaders actually care about? Onboarding efficiency.

Ricky called this one “underestimated” — and he’s right. Onboarding is where friction shows up immediately, and where improvements are easy to translate into time, money, and productivity.

If employees can receive policies, procedures, training content, and day-one essentials before they even start, you can often get people productive an entire day sooner.

That’s not “engagement.” That’s time to value.

And onboarding improvements have a bonus effect: they reduce downstream errors, reduce manager time spent repeating the same information, and improve early retention (again — comms isn’t the sole driver, but it’s a meaningful part of the system).

5. Position your platform as the digital front door

One of Ricky’s biggest reflections: early on, it’s easy to think you’re buying “a comms tool.”

But the strongest ROI cases position the platform as the gateway to your digital estate — the place employees actually start their day.

This matters because most organizations are already paying for expensive systems (HRIS, scheduling, payroll, benefits, learning, etc.). The problem isn’t always the tool — it’s access and adoption.

If your internal comms platform:

• Uses SSO
• Reduces password resets
• Gives employees one place to find and access tools
• Increases self-service

…then your comms investment is also protecting and amplifying other investments.

Ricky shared a real pattern: Once access is simplified through a single front door, usage of other systems can jump dramatically — and suddenly your internal comms platform isn’t “another tool.” It’s the tool that makes the rest usable.

6. Establish a baseline — and sell the cost of inaction

You can’t prove improvement if you don’t know where you started. And you can’t create urgency if you can’t show what “doing nothing” costs.

Ricky’s advice: Baseline early — and don’t just baseline comms metrics.

Baseline business realities that leadership recognizes:

• Turnover / attrition
• Survey participation rates
• Safety reporting volumes
• Time spent on manual processes
• Printing, distribution, and support costs
• Operational delays caused by information gaps

Then translate that into the cost of inaction: the money currently leaking from the business because processes are manual, access is fragmented, and frontline teams can’t reliably get what they need.

When you can credibly say, “Here’s what it costs us to do nothing,” the investment stops feeling optional.

Common mistakes to avoid when proving internal comms ROI

A few “don’t step on this rake” moments that came up in the conversation:

• Don’t lead with outputs. “We sent 12 newsletters” isn’t ROI.
• Don’t build the case in isolation. Cross-functional pain points = stronger case.
• Don’t ignore hard money. The “soft” story matters, but hard savings gets you in the door.
• Don’t skip the frontline reality check. Spend time with frontline teams. Watch the work. Learn the friction.
• Don’t assume leaders know what to ask for. Often the first job is clarifying the real question behind “prove ROI.”

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Be the change maker

Internal comms ROI in 2026 isn’t about becoming a finance team overnight. It’s about learning to translate.

Translate comms into outcomes.

Translate friction into cost.

Translate “this would be helpful” into “this will reduce risk, save time, and speed up productivity.”

Or, in Ricky’s words: Be the change maker.