Life at Blink | Isobel Sanders

What makes her awesome? 

Sasha works primarily with children in the NeuroOnc and their families. Sasha has a remarkable ability to bring joy to every family she encounters. Her energy is infectious! She is able to balance this beautiful spirit of fun with the ability to also meet families in times of crisis and tragedy. Whether laying on the floor with a struggling parent or bonding over 90s music, Sasha is a true support to her patients.

All of these things make Sasha invaluable to our patients — but they also make her an absolute joy to work with. Palliative Care can be a heavy field and Sasha brings such a beautiful sense of love and support to her teammates all over the hospital. She holds space for her coworkers when we have hard days and she energizes us to keep going. She is the first to organize a team activity, include others, and share a “love you!” She has a teaching spirit and truly believes in her coworkers. I am so grateful to know and work with Sasha.

What does she want to do next?

Continue spreading the word about Palliative Care and its role in supporting families going through childhood Cancer!

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Nominated by: Brooke Bissell

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

"We know it's important. And we've got it covered. We do a survey every year."

We hear this depressingly often in our daily conversations about employee engagement. 

Most healthcare workers know staff engagement matters. There are plenty of studies that show how important it is.

That's because the Annual Engagement Survey is the primary tool wielded by most healthcare organizations.

It asks employees to rank answers to statements like "I would recommend my trust as a place to work" on a five-point scale.

When everyone has labored through the questionnaire, frontline managers receive team results. Then, someone tallies the average score. First for hospitals, then for the organization as a whole. Most healthcare organizations repeat this exercise every year.

And unfortunately, when it comes to measuring employee engagement in healthcare, the Annual Employee Engagement Survey is ineffective. The best-case scenario: it isn't enough on its own. Worst case scenario? It actually makes employees less engaged.

Why an employee engagement survey isn't enough.

The format is too rigid Employees rank based on inflexible, pre-determined, multiple-choice answers. There's no room for the more varied input or nuance needed to get a clear picture.

The questions don't yield actionable answers. Standard engagement metrics on predictors outside most leaders' control: e.g., How motivated do you feel?

The metrics are fluffy. The most commonly-used questionnaire uses "percent favorable" metrics. These inflate scores and creates blind spots by making an appearance of high engagement without the outcomes to back it up.

The answers aren't necessarily honest. No matter how many times managers tell employees surveys are anonymous, there will still be a nagging sense that if they are frank, someone will link the questionnaire to their name – and it may have repercussions. It's a human thing.

Once a year is not enough. Bank account. Weight. If something matters to you, you'll check it regularly. You wouldn't rely on a once-a-year snapshot to get a clear picture of what's going on. An annual survey is a snapshot in time, and many random factors can influence results. How a healthcare worker feels on that particular day isn't reflective of how they feel year-round.

An employee engagement survey in itself is not enough. If something matters, you act on it. But most organizations finish the study and then move on.

Year after year: employees toil through the same one-size-fits-all form. No real changes happen. The same questions appear on the survey. And by the middle of the second quarter, any hopes for change fade again.

But what else can you do?

Surveys can be useful as an annual check-up. But healthcare leaders need to supplement them with regular, focused check-ins. Some companies choose to do this with pulse surveys. However, we find this leads to questionnaire fatigue. In a sector as demanding as healthcare – especially in the current climate – there will be even less patience.

The alternative? Monitor the vital data that contribute to engagement in the first place.

The following factors reflect how engaged your workforce is. By adding up averages and totalling scores, you will get a birdseye view of engagement across the organization as a whole and specific departments.

The 10 engagement indicators all healthcare leaders should be tracking

1. Employees on a leave of absence.
2. Workers who have filed compensation claims.
3. The number of employees who have quit in the last 12 months.
4. The number of training hours employees voluntarily attend.
5. Performance appraisal and evaluation ratings.
6. The number of discrimination complaints and legal claims.
7. The average commute time (the shorter, the better). 
8. The average amount of relevant education employees undertake.
9. The number of employees on zero-hour contracts.
10. The number of employees progressing in their roles.

Keeping an eye on your workforce's 'health' in this way isn't complicated. Technology will do it for you. Specialized engagement platforms like Blink make engagement patterns in your organization visible and highlight where you need to invest more time and energy.

The format is flexible. You can adjust the set of factors depending on the way your organization operates.

The results are actionable. Because the metrics are so focused, it's clear what the issues are and whether it's in your control to improve them.

Data doesn't lie. These results are black and white, unsusceptible to individual moods or concerns about anonymity.

It's ongoing. You can monitor these results weekly, monthly, annually, and even daily.

And finally...

There's no need to pester busy healthcare workers. You can save the questioning for when it really matters.

Keeping an eye on the ‘health’ of your workforce by tracking these things on a regular basis (eg monthly) isn’t complicated. Technology like Blink will do it for you, making engagement patterns in your organization visible, and highlighting where you need to invest more time and energy. 

So you’re tracking engagement indicators – then what?

Here’s another thing that I need to keep emphasizing in my conversations about staff engagement: engagement not something that ‘happens’ (or not) – it’s something you need to make happen. If an employee leaves within 12 months, that’s not just bad luck; it means something was missing, either in the onboarding process or in other ongoing processes in your organization. And it almost certainly means the employee was not engaged.

We know a fair amount about what underpins employee engagement. Five actionable points, in particular, play a key role. From the perspective of the employee, these are:

1. being clear about your role; 
2. receiving adequate support;
3. having the right equipment; 
4. being able to play to your strengths; and
5. working alongside committed colleagues. 

Not surprising, then,  that 70% of the variance in employee engagement in healthcare can be attributed to managers. 

Managers are key to employee engagement.

And here are four key strategies that managers can implement to improve staff engagement:

Foster a culture of continuous development

Staff will be more engaged in a culture that gives them opportunities for development and growth. This means encouraging employees to participate in their personal and professional development activities and giving them access to learning opportunities that align with their long-term goals. 

It also means creating an atmosphere in which employees feel comfortable asking for guidance about prioritizing tasks to learning a new skill. 

And it means supporting team members in sharing best practices, recognizing one another's accomplishments, and fostering a sense of shared accountability.

Make check-ins less formal and more regular 

By seizing small opportunities for meaningful conversation, healthcare managers can build work environments where developmental conversations happen naturally and often. 

Rather than reserving such discussions for one-on-one office meetings, managers can use morning huddles or impromptu hallway discussions to briefly "round" with employees -- asking about barriers, clarifying expectations, and answering questions. Even brief conversations can promote ongoing dialogue and communicate to employees that their manager cares about them.

Appoint clinical coordinators

For managers with vast control spans, facilitating regular conversations with individuals may be logistically impossible. In such cases, appointing and equipping nurses as clinical coordinators can nurture essential individualized development. 

These coordinators will continue their frontline nursing duties but will also be responsible for facilitating ongoing developmental discussions with an assigned group of nurses, including regular (e.g. quarterly) goal-setting, accountability and strengths coaching. 

Clinical coordinators often become a rich source of ever-present support. They turn into trusted counselors who hear opinions, remove obstacles and provide immediate feedback.

And because they maintain frontline responsibilities, they will have credibility among their teammates, as they will understand the demands of the job.

Prioritize employee health and wellbeing

This issue is urgent. The pandemic has made clear that much rests on employee health and wellbeing, and that these should be primary goals. The healthcare industry's current triple aim is to improve patient experience, reduce costs and improve population health. 

A fourth one should be added to that, and it should probably come first: protect and support staff health and wellbeing.

A new Occupational Medicine study led by King’s College London found that over the past year, nearly half of NHS intensive care staff reported mental health symptoms consistent with severe anxiety or depression. An alarming 40% had symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), including flashbacks and nightmares.

This affects individuals and their lives; but it also impacts on teams and organizations.

Summing up

Frontline staff, when given enough support, confidence and encouragement, are capable of incredible things – improving care, reducing costs and designing solutions to big challenges. 

In what has arguably been the hardest year of their career, healthcare professionals have run entire wards, created PPE solutions and developed care packages for Covid-19 patients. All these are manifestations of high levels of engagement.

But real staff engagement needs real investment. Not just a financial investment (although that too) but investment in genuinely facilitative leadership – the kind that is prepared to "walk the talk" and make engagement a truly two-way exercise.

That’s why health and care managers play such an important role in fostering staff engagement. But they shouldn’t have to find their way through this from scratch, investing time they don’t have. Giving them the technology/tools to more effectively drive engagement is essential. 

Blink is an internal communications tool that’s does everything your intranet does, but better. Try it out today! Request a free demo to get started.

We’re so proud to welcome Samaritans — the charity supporting anyone in distress, any time of day or night — to the Blink family. 23,000 volunteers and 300 staff across the UK and Ireland now have a single place to connect, communicate, and celebrate their collective impact.

And if their first-day buzz is anything to go by, this is going to be big. 💚

A digital front door built for a volunteer-powered organization

99% of Samaritans’ people are volunteers. That makes this launch a little different from our usual rollouts — less “sprint,” more “purposeful marathon.” Their approach has been thoughtful and rooted in accessibility and inclusion.

To meet their unique needs, the Blink and Samaritans project team spent the last few months building the platform with volunteers, for volunteers — including:

• Accessibility upgrades shaped by blind and visually impaired volunteers
• Default display of Sams names (the names used within some branches) for those volunteers who use them
• Meaningful tweaks driven by 260+ Blink Champions across the organization

The result: A modern social platform that feels intuitive, familiar, and built for how Samaritans actually works.

Blink truly feels like a platform designed to enhance connection while still making it accessible for all.
‍_{Annah, Listening Volunteer & Blink Champion}

Bringing everyone together 

While Samaritans has access to a variety of channels to support communication between volunteers and staff, different tools are used in different areas. Now, for the first time, every branch, hub, volunteer, and staff member has easy access to one shared digital channel.

On Blink, Samaritans can:

• Share organization-wide news and updates in real time
• Create dedicated spaces for fundraising, outreach, training, IT support, and more
• Run private branch groups that auto-sync membership via a  central database
• Empower two-way conversations across teams and roles
• Keep personal phone numbers private while still enabling chat, voice, and video calls

Blink provides a new opportunity for us to improve the way we communicate and collaborate together here at Samaritans. It also supports communication within dedicated interest groups, where volunteers and staff can come together and share information or ask questions.
‍_{Charlotte, Engagement and Change Manager}

A collaborative rollout with impact at the center

When we hosted the Samaritans internal comms team at our London office to mark the launch, their feedback was unanimous: Blink is the can-do partner they had been looking for.

They praised our collaborative partnership behind the scenes and willingness to take on tough challenges — from accessibility requirements to unique volunteer needs. 

But the real magic starts now. As thousands of volunteers begin exploring Blink, contributing ideas, and shaping what communication looks like next, this rollout becomes something bigger: a stronger, more connected Samaritans community.

Welcome to Blink, Samaritans. Your impact is extraordinary — and we’re honored to help bring your people closer than ever.

13 ways to quickly improve internal communications

Internal communications joins the dots. It connects every member of an organization and helps keep everyone up to speed. But it’s not without its challenges.

Comms leaders have to quiet the noise while amplifying key messages. They need to share updates consistently. And find tech tools that make communication engaging for employees. 

In frontline organizations, there are additional communication challenges to tackle.

Frontline teams often work disparately. Employees can’t rely on in-person meetings for the latest updates. Nor do they have access to a desktop computer or even a company email address.

Finding reliable ways to reach these employees – that go beyond a messy noticeboard – is vital for business success.

With these challenges in mind, we’re going to look at the ways comms leaders can quickly and effectively improve internal communications. Let’s dive right in.

Why is it important to improve your internal comms?

Poor internal communication harms your business and its bottom line. When leaders, teams, and individuals fail to communicate well, every area of operations is affected.

Poor communication also has an effect on employees. Staff want to feel part of the organization they work for, and the first step to achieving that is keeping them in the loop.  

Ultimately, when you improve internal communication, you:

• Boost workplace trust. Over 40% of workers say that poor communication is reducing the trust they have in leadership and their teams. This is making them more stressed and less loyal to their organization.
  
  
• Engage employees. Informed employees are 2.8 times more likely to be engaged. Employee engagement is linked to higher productivity, profitability, and employee retention rates.
  
  
• Get better at what you do. When you improve internal communication, you improve decision-making, teamwork, and collaboration. Everyone pulls in the same direction, which spells bigger and better business results.

The benefit of good internal communication in frontline organizations is even more pronounced.

Safety concerns. Equipment failures. Product or service updates. A shift you need to cover. Inclement weather. These critical communications need to travel between frontline staff and managers quickly and reliably. It’s how you limit downtime and ensure the very best customer service.

But if your communication culture, communication skills, or communication tools are lacking, you’ll find it hard to connect the various teams that make up your organization.

13 ideas to quickly improve internal communication

With so much to be gained from good internal communications, time is of the essence. Every day you continue doing things the old way, you’re missing out.

So here are some internal communication ideas that you can put in place quickly, for maximum impact. Weave these ideas into your internal communication strategy and start making improvements right away.

1. Start with the leadership team

Leaders set the tone of an organization. So if your leadership team isn’t sold on your bid to improve internal communication, your employees won’t be either.

It’s up to leaders to drive comms throughout the company. It’s also on them to engage with comms. That way, employees see that your internal communication channels are a valued resource for people at all levels – and they’re much more likely to engage with them, too.

To prove to your workforce that it isn’t one rule for them – and another for their managers – get the leadership team on board right at the start. Involve leaders in the launch of your internal communications plan and encourage them to be positive promoters of it.

2. Ask questions & launch surveys

To avoid time-consuming missteps, get employee insight early on in the process. Employee input informs your strategy and improves your chances of getting things right the first time.

You can get input by asking informal questions and launching surveys. Find out what employees want from internal communications – and what aspects of current comms they struggle with.

With Blink’s super-app, you can launch surveys that reach your whole workforce. A user-friendly interface makes it easy for employees to respond. And a clear dashboard helps you to draw conclusions from their answers.

Surveys help you make informed internal communication decisions. But there’s another benefit, too. By involving employees in this part of the process, you set an important precedent.

You show employees that you value their input – and that their voices are heard. This raises trust in the process. It also helps employees see what they stand to gain by engaging with internal communications going forward. 

3. Streamline your communication channels

Well-established companies often have history with lots of different internal communication tools. In frontline organizations, there tends to be a mix of tech solutions and old-school communication channels – like posters and notice boards.

If you’ve inherited a complicated system of communication channels, it’s worth stepping back and assessing their impact on company communication.  

Is a noticeboard crammed with memos an efficient and reliable way to communicate with your teams? Are multiple communication channels helping you to clarify the message – or are they muddying it?

Less is usually more. So streamlining your comms channels is a great way to improve internal communication. Employees are much more likely to engage with a single source of reliable info.  

That’s exactly what happened at Domino’s. The pizza delivery company was using word of mouth, posters, and WhatsApp groups to communicate with its frontline. But by switching to Blink, Domino’s put all internal communication in one place and now everyone gets the same need-to-know updates.

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4. Personalize your comms

Think of all the marketing emails that land in your inbox every day. The ones that personalize their message stand out. They’re much more likely to resonate. The rest is like white noise. It becomes very easy to ignore stuff that doesn’t feel relevant to you. 

The same goes for company comms. When you make your message more relevant to your audience, they sit up and take notice. When employees are inundated with comms that have nothing to do with their role, they tend to start ignoring the noise - and before you know it even the most relevant and critical messages are missed. 

You can quickly make a change by segmenting your audience. Divide your organization by department, team, location, and stage in the employee life cycle.

Then, craft personalized comms. And only send mass communications when they really are relevant to the whole organization. Intentional, personalized communication is much harder to ignore.

5. Run company-wide stand ups

A standup meeting is a short but regular opportunity for teams to share progress and identify blockers. It’s a way to get everyone on the same page and clarify what they should be doing.

A company-wide standup is the easiest way to communicate your current priorities and action plan to everyone. But you can also run stand ups within teams, departments, or locations.

Of course, if you’re a frontline organization, getting everyone together for this type of meeting isn’t always practical. Employees work different shifts and in different locations, or maybe even work on the road.

But don’t dismiss the idea of company stand ups outright. Create stand ups for different shift swaps, or locations, or smaller groups of people. And for the times you can’t be together in real life, tech can help.

Employees can join a meeting via video conference. Or you can record your company-wide stand ups and post them as video content to your primary internal communication channel.

6. Implement an employee app

In today’s technological world, you can find incredible tools designed to improve internal communication, fast.

An employee app is a great example. It works well because you meet employees where they already spend their time – on their smartphones. And because it incorporates features that employees are familiar with, like instant messaging, group chats, and a newsfeed.

Take Stagecoach, a UK-based bus company. When Stagecoach implemented an employee app, 84% of their workforce started using it within just one week. Because they chose a communication tool that employees could use intuitively, they got better and faster uptake.

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An employee app also streamlines your employee communications because employees can access everything via a single, user-friendly interface. And it provides channels for both top-down and bottom-up comms. Anyone can read and share information.

Blink’s employee app ticks all these boxes. Designed for frontline organizations, it helps bridge the gap between your frontline and desk-based teams. 

7. Reward & recognize your employees

Another way to quickly improve internal communication is by rewarding and recognizing employees. Shout out those employees who hit their goals or reach a personal milestone. Highlight the times when a member of staff goes above and beyond.

A culture of recognition helps to build engagement. It also boosts morale and encourages other employees to do their best work.

Using internal communication channels in this positive way encourages employees to communicate more frequently, too. When an employee feels acknowledged, they’re more likely to acknowledge others, share successes, and communicate constructively with peers.

You can put the wheels in motion by encouraging managers to send regular messages of acknowledgment. But to amplify the effect, go further. 

Build recognition into your internal comms strategy by using Blink’s recognition feature. Via the app, you can send messages of public praise with the power to inspire everyone.

8. Conduct regular 121 meetings 

If your managers only run 121 meetings with employees once or twice a year, this is an area ripe for improvement.

A lot can happen over the space of a year or six months. Internal communication might be missed or misinterpreted. Regular 121s are an opportunity to realign goals and understanding.

Regular 121s help you to:

• Build a personal connection with employees
• Address concerns in real-time
• Improve employee engagement

It also makes the act of discussion and feedback more familiar. Employees get used to sitting down and sharing their work experiences with managers. So managers are much more likely to get candid (and therefore useful) insight from their staff.  

Advise your managers on how often they should conduct 121s. Monthly, bi-weekly, or even weekly sessions create an open feedback loop.

Also, remember that a public communication forum can never replace 121s. While employees are often happy to share some ideas publicly, they also need the opportunity to share their thoughts privately and confidentially.

9. Encourage content creation

Leave content creation to management and you run into two key problems:

1. Your internal communication is unengaging because there’s lots of top-down communication but not enough bottom-up or peer-to-peer communication.

2. Managers find it hard to balance content creation alongside their usual workload. This means more managerial stress and/or less quality content.

There’s a quick and easy solution. Give everyone a turn at content creation. Use guidelines and templates if you think they’re needed. Then, let employees start threads, post blogs, upload videos, and recognize their peers.

In doing so, you strengthen your company network. Employees build new relationships. They find people with whom they have things in common. They chat about non-work-related topics.

This type of water cooler chat may seem irrelevant to your business objectives. But trust us when we say it’s hugely important to the quality of communication that takes place within your organization.

This is particularly true in frontline firms where workers don’t always get the opportunity for informal chats with co-workers.

When employees build trusting relationships with co-workers, they don’t just find it easier to chat about their latest vacation or the boxset they’re currently binging. They find it easier to communicate and collaborate on workplace topics, too.

10. Take a data-driven approach to internal communications

How do you measure the success of an internal communications initiative? You need reliable, accessible data you can track over time.

This is another reason why having the right communication tech is vital. Pick communication tools with analytics built in and it’s easy to view and act upon insights.

You can see which type of content your employees do and don’t interact with. You can see which posts get the most comments and likes. This helps you to hone your internal communication going forward.

Similarly, analytics functions help you to see the bigger impact that your communication strategy is having. Perhaps it’s helping you to reduce staff turnover or increase staff satisfaction.

When you have access to the data, it’s easy to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of internal communication improvements. You’ll also find it easier to make informed, targeted changes that make your initiative even more successful.

11. Be consistent

Good internal communication is all about consistency. You can’t promise employees a weekly update or a monthly webinar and then fail to deliver.

They’ll stop seeing your communication as reliable and trustworthy – and they’ll stop checking in for new content. This is the point at which the wheels fall off your strategy and you have a much harder job pushing that new initiative uphill. 

To show employees that your new internal communication strategy is here to stay, make sure it’s sustainable.

At the outset, you may like to err on the side of caution, only committing to a content schedule you know is manageable for the people delivering it. You can always add more items to your content calendar once it’s up and running.

Also, as we mentioned earlier, enlisting the support of employees in content creation helps to create an internal communications ecosystem that doesn’t rely on a handful of time-stretched managers. With all hands on deck, it’s much easier to create and post content consistently.

12. Be transparent

Internal communication is most successful when communication is transparent. That means:

• Including everyone in communications
• Creating an open connection between leadership and employees
• Clearly communicating business changes and decision-making processes
• Acknowledging both successes and mistakes

Transparent communication is important because it helps to build trust between all members of your organization. It prevents secondary channels of communication – in the form of rumors and speculation – from emerging. And it helps to boost employee engagement. 

If you don’t already have a culture of open communication, getting there is likely to take time. You need to develop communication skills throughout your organization and set new norms of behavior.

However, one of the things you can do to improve internal communication quickly is to involve employees in your internal communication strategy. Be open about the changes you’re trying to implement – and why.

When employees feel like part of the process, they’re much more likely to feel invested in its outcome.  

13. Report back on changes you are making

So you’re planning to make big changes to the way you communicate internally. Don’t forget to involve employees from the beginning and throughout the process.

After launching employee surveys and conducting 121s, communicate your findings. Let workers know what you’ve learned, what changes you plan to make, and what you hope to gain.

This shows that you’re committed to transparent communication, not just paying lip service. And that you’re putting employees at the center of decision-making.

Take this tack and employee engagement, morale, trust, and the success of your internal communication strategy all stand to benefit.

Final thoughts

Improving internal communications takes time and strategy. It’s a long-term commitment. But there are quick wins to be had.

Gather insights. Involve all members of your organization. Find the right tools. Start fostering a culture of open, honest communication, right now, today.

By doing so, you’ll create change in the here and now. And lay the groundwork for future internal comms improvements, too.

It’s well worth the investment, particularly for frontline organizations. With strong internal communication, you build teams who are more connected, informed, and engaged - which leads to widespread benefits for your employees, customers, and business.

Want to make internal communication a priority for 2024? Then put internal comms in the palm of every employee with Blink’s employee app.

Our mobile-first app supports two-way communication, critical messages, employee recognition, and workforce surveys. It also integrates with the business tools you already use. So employees can access all resources from one user-friendly interface.

Accessed via mobile or desktop and with speedy, sky-high adoption rates, Blink provides a quick and easy way to improve your internal communications in 2024.

Jessica is a customer assistant in a retail store. She started the job six months ago, enjoys supporting customers, and has been consistently meeting her monthly targets.

But Jessica doesn’t get acknowledgment from her manager or other staff members. Not just that. The store recently hired another person in the exact same role as Jessica and — according to the grapevine — at a higher salary than her.

Jessica’s co-worker, Marco, has been working at the store for a couple of years. He knows the job like the back of his hand and is feeling bored and underutilized. But, as far as he knows, the organization doesn’t have progression or training pathways suited to him. So he’s started looking for a job elsewhere. 

Jessica and Marco came into the organization with high levels of morale — and they’ve been putting in the work. But they aren’t getting what they need from their employer. So their morale dips. Customer service and productivity suffer. Employee turnover ticks upward. 

This makes it harder for the organization to achieve its goals. And it’s why every company should be working to build and sustain employee morale.

Here, we look at how to boost employee morale and motivation in 2025.

What is employee morale and why is it important?

Employee morale is how employees feel about their jobs and work environment. It’s linked to employee engagement, job satisfaction, and staff retention.

What does low team morale look like?

In a workplace with low morale, employees do the bare minimum to ensure their paycheck while keeping one eye firmly on the job boards.

And unfortunately for employers, low morale is contagious. If one demoralized employee fails to pull their weight — or badmouths leadership — they hurt the morale of co-workers, making it increasingly difficult for an employer to reset the tone.

What does high team morale look like?

In contrast, in a workplace with high morale, employees are loyal, happy, and engaged in their work. They’re productive and more likely to go above and beyond their prescribed duties. These workers also tend to pitch in during times of crisis.

Employees with high morale are happy with the employee experience at their organization — and they help to set the mood. They create a wave of positivity that inspires improved morale and performance among their peers.

What’s the situation in 2025?

When we look at the current state of employee morale, the news isn’t great.

According to recent Glassdoor research, almost 2 in 3 employees feel stuck in their current roles. They might not be heading for the door just yet, but these “quiet quitters” are feeling dissatisfied and unmotivated — and they’re having a negative impact on the morale of co-workers.

It seems there’s never been a better time to boost staff morale in the workplace. Let’s find out some strategies you can use at your organization.

How to boost employee morale in 2025

Whether morale has been slowly declining or has taken a hit due to workplace changes, here are some employee morale boosters to use in your organization.  

Master change management

In today’s workplace, change can feel like the only constant. But that doesn’t mean employees are used to it. If change isn’t managed and communicated sensitively, it can damage workplace culture and employee morale.

For example, imagine you’ve just announced a hiring freeze. Existing workers may assume that a downsizing initiative is on the way and start worrying that their jobs are at risk. Workforce morale suffers.

You can avoid this dip in morale by clearly communicating with employees. It could be that the hiring freeze is helping to ensure the safety of existing roles. Or that budgets are being diverted to training and development.

When implementing change, consider what employees need to know, demonstrate empathy, and follow change communication best practices to give employees the information and assurances they need.

Challenge your team

When a job is too easy, employees become bored. But a job that is too difficult causes problems, too. Employees can become discouraged.

To build staff morale, you need to strike a balance. Give employees the tools, training, and support they need to fulfill their roles. And challenge them with new tasks that push at their limits, so they develop new skills and grow their confidence.

Recognize hard work

Imagine you put a ton of effort into a project. Or you go out of your way to give a co-worker the support they need. Or you ace a presentation you’d been feeling really nervous about.

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You probably (deservedly) feel really proud of yourself. But what if your actions don’t prompt any praise from leaders, managers, or peers? You may end up feeling deflated and demoralized.

Employees who don’t feel recognized for their hard work, are two times more likely to say they’ll quit within the next year. But those who receive regular, authentic, and meaningful recognition are more likely to bring their A-game.

So, to raise employee morale, bring recognition into the mix. Take a look at these employee appreciation ideas for inspiration.

Invest in training and development

Progression is a key driver of employee engagement. You can raise engagement and morale by helping employees to progress in their roles and careers.

When employees get the training they need — through thorough onboarding, ongoing professional development, mentoring, and coaching — they feel more confident and less stressed. They feel valued by the organization and their performance improves.

Lay out career progression opportunities at your organization and there’s even more incentive for employees to do their best. When they can see a future with your company, they become more committed and less likely to look for a job elsewhere.

Create a sense of community

A positive and connected workplace culture is an effective employee morale booster. 83% of employees want their workplace to provide a sense of community, with more than a third willing to trade a bigger pay packet for stronger friendships and social enrichment at work.

When thinking about workplace connection, it’s worth spending a little extra time thinking about remote and frontline employees. These workers can be hard-to-reach and often end up feeling isolated from company culture.

So how do you create a sense of community for workers who don’t spend a lot of time together IRL? An employee app is an increasingly popular solution.

An app acts as a digital water cooler. With an engaging news feed and instant messaging tools, it gives employees access to conversation and company culture via their smartphones. You can also encourage workers to find their tribe, connecting with like-minded colleagues via digital Communities.

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Give health and wellbeing a boost

Show concern for employee health and wellbeing and you’re more likely to achieve high levels of morale. Workers see that you care about them as people — not just as employees — which makes them feel valued.

Here are a few ideas for how to support employee health and wellbeing:

• Create a volunteering program, so it’s easy for employees to give back to the local community
• Encourage employees to take a full lunch break and use their full PTO allowance
• Offer flexible work options and shift swap tools to support employee work-life balance
• Keep fit with exercise challenges and fitness subscriptions
• Talk openly about mental health and ensure employees know who to turn to if they need to talk

Initiatives like these help prevent stress and burnout while improving employee motivation and productivity.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Having and communicating an inspiring vision is crucial for employee morale. In many organizations, workers don’t know the “why” behind business objectives. Nor are they aware of how their own work ties in with those goals.

Poor communication leads to increased stress, lower productivity, and strained relationships. It also harms the trust employees have in their leaders. Hardly a recipe for workplace motivation.

To keep employees motivated and on the same page, open communication is essential. And with the right internal communication tools, you can share consistent and engaging messages with all employees.

You can keep employees up to date with company updates via a multi-media news feed. You can store essential documents relating to policies and mission in an easy-access content hub. Across all internal communication channels you can amplify company culture and the values that guide it.  

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Improve internal communication and you make everyone aware of company goals and the latest company news. Everyone understands what is expected of them — and they pull in the same direction — increasing employee morale in the process.

Give employees a voice

When employees feel heard, they feel valued and are more likely to do their best work. Gathering employee feedback helps in other ways too.

You can use employee surveys, listening tours, and one-to-one chats to find out what helps and harms the morale of your workforce. Let employees have their say and you’ll find meaningful ways to improve the employee experience.

As part of a well-executed employee voice strategy, you then close the feedback loop. You share your findings and your plan of action with employees. This builds trust in the feedback process and means your workforce is more likely to engage with future surveys and listening events.

Measure employee morale

You can supplement the qualitative data you gain from employee listening with quantitative data gained from analytics tools. Employee morale metrics include:

• Absenteeism rates
• Employee turnover rates
• Productivity
• Employee net promoter score (eNPS)

Benchmark and track these KPIs over time and you’ll build a better picture of employee morale. Keep your finger on the pulse and you’ll also be able to spot and address issues in real-time before demoralized employees impact their teammates.

The secret to sustained staff morale?

Building and sustaining employee morale is essential — to attracting and retaining top talent, and to getting the most out of your teams.

When employees feel valued, informed, and connected to the wider company, they’re more likely to feel motivated and engaged.

And when you understand the needs of employees and the state of morale in your organization, you’re better able to make meaningful changes to the employee experience.

With remote or frontline employees in the mix, you may need the help of morale-boosting tech tools. The right software allows you to reach all employees — giving them a voice, connecting them to co-workers and company culture, and recognizing the work they do.

Blink. And watch morale soar with the help of smarter workplace tech.

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