Ren has been making her mark at Blink for over a year, helping to power our Revenue Operations function with a sharp analytical eye and a strong command of tools like SQL and Python. Based in our London office, she’s been a driving force behind smarter systems, cleaner data, and smoother cross-team collaboration.
We caught up with Ren to hear more about what drew her to Blink, the projects she’s proud of, and how being part of a fast-moving, mission-driven team keeps her inspired every day.
Which Blink office do you work out of?
I'm based in the London office.
What is your position at Blink?
I work as a Revenue Operations Analyst.
How long have you been at Blink?
I’ve been at Blink for just over a year now!
What initially attracted you to join Blink?
Honestly, it was the product that really stood out to me. I really connected with Blink’s mission of helping frontline employees stay connected. I had previously spent some time working in education as a teacher, so I saw first-hand how valuable something like Blink could be. I remember thinking, “If I had this as a teacher, I would’ve loved it.” That real-world application really sold it for me.
What confirmed I’d made the right choice was during the interview process. I got to meet my future team and was thrown straight into a collaborative SQL task. That experience representedthe collaborative nature of the environment at Blink and it immediately felt like a team I wanted to be part of.
What's a project you are proud of from your time at Blink?
Rather than one specific project, I’d say I’m proud of how much I’ve grown my technical skills. I’ve had the chance to work on projects that pushed me to master tools like SQL and Python. It’s been amazing to not only learn those languages but to use them daily and feel confident doing so.
One of the biggest challenges early on was finding the time and headspace to fully focus on that kind of technical development. But as a team, we tackled that by introducing dedicated Hackathon days, which gave us uninterrupted time to solve complex problems and upskill together.
The impact of this has been really rewarding. A lot of the work I’ve done in Rev Ops has helped bring critical data into the hands of our go-to-market teams, enabling them to better connect with customers and prospects. Most recently, I’ve been using SQL and Python to help build out parts of our very own internal “Blink ChatGPT” tool!
How would you describe the company culture at Blink in three words?
I would describe the Blink culture as fun, motivating, and challenging.
Fun because the social side of Blink is genuinely brilliant. We’ve had some amazing team events — from the Crystal Maze experience to crazy boules, an F1 simulator, and even a speedboat ride along the Thames. These moments really help bring people together and build strong bonds across teams.
Motivating because you’re constantly surrounded by incredibly smart, driven people who are all deeply invested in the success of the company. Being around colleagues who genuinely care pushes you to bring your best every day.
Challenging because the pace is fast, and the problems we’re solving are complex. Those challenges have also been the most rewarding and have accelerated my growth more than I expected.
What's one thing you're excited about for the future of Blink?
I’m really excited to keep seeing us sign big, well-known customers. Every time we bring a large name on board, it’s a huge morale boost across the company. It really shows how strong our product is. A standout for me was when we signed McDonald’s — such an iconic brand choosing us felt like a major moment. I’d like to see us continue to expand into the retail market. Another big fashion brand would be really exciting. It’s a sector where our impact could be huge, and there is a lot of potential there.
Can you tell us about a recent initiative or program launched at Blink that you found particularly exciting?
The first thing that comes to mind is all of the work that has gone into the upcoming summer party. I think it’s going to be an amazing event — not just for us internally, but for our customers too. It’s a brilliant opportunity to bring everyone together, share best practices, and show off what makes Blink such a great platform. Events like this really spotlight our culture and our community.
Since joining Blink, I’ve also had the chance to be part of three customer launches. It’s been incredibly rewarding to meet users in person and see the real impact our platform has on their day-to-day work. This definitely motivates me in the work that I do at Blink.
Why do you work for Blink?
I work for Blink because, as I’ve said before, I believe in the product. I think it’s an incredibly impactful software that helps a huge number of people. Another thing I appreciate is the variety in my role — it keeps the work dynamic and engaging. I get to work across lots of different teams at Blink, from operations to technical projects. That mix keeps things exciting. Plus, the atmosphere here is genuinely great. If I had to pick a favorite team to collaborate with, I’d say the sales team. They’re always full of energy, very motivated and really fun to work with. I’m grateful that I get the opportunity to collaborate with them.
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The digital revolution has reinvented how workers interact with their colleagues, customers, and their employers. But not all workers have felt the impact equally. Most office workers today have access to more digital platforms and tools than they can manage. But for the millions of deskless, frontline workers in industries like healthcare, transit, logistics, and retail, they have the opposite problem, often lacking access to basic corporate tools like email.
Many employers find themselves in a Goldilocks situation—some workers have too many digital tools to manage while some workers have access to too few. In both cases, the impact can mean employees are more frustrated and less engaged with work.
In this article, we’ll break down the challenge office workers face with so many tools available to them. Then, we’ll talk about how Blink is helping frontline organizations avoid the same challenges with our “digital front door” approach to our employee app.
More tools doesn’t always make for a better employee experience
If you ask an economist, they’ll tell you that, thanks in large part to advances in technology, productivity in countries like the U.S. has increased steadily this century. In the U.S., for example, labor productivity is up 1.5% per year since 2000—meaning that workers “produced 60 percent more ‘stuff’ and only increased their hours worked by 10 percent” during that period. As more employees in the workforce come to rely on computers, mobile phones, and applications to get their jobs done, productivity will continue to climb.
But when you ask office workers how the proliferation of technology is impacting their jobs, you’ll likely find a slightly different story. According to research, employees feel overwhelmed by new technology as much as they find it helping them. In fact, 96% say workplace tools aren’t helping them to keep up in their jobs because the “workplace tools are not addressing the root cause of the problems, and employees want tools that help them work smarter, not harder.”
According to that same research, one of the biggest issues (for 26% of workers) comes from “app switching,” with workers saying that they would prefer to have access to everything they need within one solution. A similar survey from Asana found that “21% of respondents agreed that flicking between apps had made them less efficient at their job.”
What, exactly, is behind the frustration with app switching, though? Why is productivity up for businesses but office workers themselves feel less productive? Let’s take a look at some of the factors.
1. There are more tools than ever that workers need to manage
Gartner found that, between 2019 and 2023, the average number of applications that knowledge workers need to do their jobs has nearly doubled, from 6 to 11, with some using 26 or more. That number doesn’t include the HR, scheduling, payroll, survey, and learning tools that workers need to manage as well. All of that adds up to a lot of needless switching between apps and a multitude of passwords to keep track of.
2. More tools means more notifications
Every tool and application is sending a constant stream of notifications to workers’ phones and email inboxes. Despite—or sometimes because of—the large number of notifications, 36% of workers are still missing or failing to notice important updates because of the number of applications used and the amount of information they’re being exposed to.
3. Tools don’t work together as seamlessly as workers would like
Whether it’s constantly having to login to different platforms or having to put the same information into multiple tools, workers are feeling frustrated by the challenges of managing so many tools. Sure, there are technological solutions such as API integrations and single sign-on that make juggling so many tools easier for workers. But, it can still feel like the incompatibility across different tools and the constant app switching is negating the productivity benefits of the tools themselves.
4. Burnout is bringing down engagement and productivity
Despite technology making employees’ jobs easier, the employee experience hasn’t necessarily improved alongside. When workers feel overworked and don’t get personal satisfaction out of their jobs, the end result for many is burnout. In 2023, 65% of employees reported suffering from burnout, which is impacting employee performance and retention for many employers.
How the “digital front door” makes for a better experience
Blink’s employee app was developed for the frontline organization. We know how challenging it can be to bring a deskless, email-less workforce into the digital age. Rather than developing Blink as a standalone app for frontline workers, we’ve built Blink to be the digital front door for the entire workforce.
What does a digital front door do and why does it matter?
Think of every app your employees use as a house. When knowledge workers get frustrated with app switching, it’s because they have to travel to a new house, unlock that house, and move stuff between houses.
Blink takes all of those detached homes and makes them rooms in the same house. Workers only have to walk through one front door to access all of the critical tools and systems they need—from scheduling and pay stubs, to HRIS and benefits, to internal communications and training modules.
That’s why we like to call Blink the employee super-app. It’s not just a place for workers to communicate. It’s not just an intranet. It’s not just a feed for important updates. It puts all of this and more into one personalized app experience that is accessible through any mobile device.
How Blink makes the digital front door work for frontline organizations
In today’s world, security concerns mean that a lack of a corporate email would typically keep frontline workers from using many corporate tools. Another concern is the added cost: whether it’s the cost of managing thousands of extra email accounts for frontline workers or the risk of low adoption rates for expensive tools.
Blink’s solution to these challenges is what creates our digital front door approach and helps elevate Blink from employee app to employee super app. Here are the three things Blink does differently to help bring frontline organizations into the digital workplace:
1. Solving the identity challenge
Identity and access management is critical for a secure technology stack, and it usually revolves around a work email address. No email is no problem for us, however: Blink can act as an Identity Provider.
By providing an identity to frontline workers, Blink can integrate with any third-party application that supports the SAML 2.0 authentication standard.
This allows deskless workers to effortlessly authenticate and have their accounts automatically provisioned on third-party applications—without asking workers to juggle multiple usernames, passwords, and applications.
Extra security can be added to Blink through biometric verification and enforcing minimum OS requirements for access to tools via the Blink Hub.
2. Leveraging existing IAM solutions
For companies who have existing identity access management systems like Okta or Azure, employees can still access third-party tools and systems via Blink while using the existing IAM tools to authenticate.
By linking directly into relevant sections of the workplace tools that are already part of your identity infrastructure, Blink can create a secure and cohesive experience for your entire workforce.
Thanks to deep links between Blink and the third-party tools, workers can focus on their task at hand, such as “Request time off” or “View payslip,” without worrying what application they need to open. Blink handles it all and takes them directly to the action in the third-party app.
See how the digital front door could benefit your frontline workforce
The goal of the digital front door approach is to make a seamless and efficient experience for workers to interact with the digital workspace. For frontline workers who have historically lacked access to many tools and platforms, Blink flattens the learning curve and helps avoid the frustration and burnout that many of their office-based colleagues have experienced.
If you’re looking to bring the benefits of the digital workplace to your frontline workforce, sign up for a personalized demo of Blink’s employee super app today.
Gartner has published its 2026 Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, and one category sits among the highest-impact, fastest to adopt technologies on it: Frontline Worker EXTech where Blink has been named as a Sample Vendor. Gartner rates the category transformational.
If we look at the 2026 Hype Cycle as a whole, almost every transformational technology on it points at the store: generative and agentic AI, AI-assisted checkout, smarter inventory, AI shopping agents. The store associate shows up again and again, in frontline worker technology, in associate superapps, and in workstyle analytics. Retail's new wave of technology runs through the person on the floor. The retailers with the advantage will be those who’ve thought about the journey for their frontline.
The technology was never the hard part
Retail has spent over a decade buying frontline tools. Scheduling lives in one place, tasks in another, comms somewhere else, and a training portal gets dustier with every passing day that nobody logs on. The truth is, the gap has never been the tools. The real gap is whether they actually get opened in the first place.
If your store associates never open a tool in the aisles, its value goes unrealized shift after shift, and the operational excellence your tech stack promises remains nothing more than a phantom return on investment. So the real question behind Gartner’s research isn’t whether the category matters. It’s how you get a deskless, high turnover, always-on-the-go workforce to engage with it. If adoption never gets off the ground, even the most advanced frontline tech in retail is just a budget line item nobody uses.
Retail is solving adoption first
We at Blink find the transformational rating credible because we’ve witnessed it happen. McDonald's reached 80% adoption in 16 days. Shake Shack hit 78% in 21 days. AG Barr got to 94% in two weeks. Domino's sees 8 in 10 employees active every month.
The best bit is that these aren’t launch-week spikes that fizzle to nothing after the second month. They're a clear, reliable pattern. Retail experiences the sharpest edge of the frontline problem: shift work, seasonal hiring, high turnover, and thin lines of comms from head office to stores at the coalface. If adoption can work here, it will get off the ground anywhere. We don’t think retail leaders are waiting for the category to mature, the potential for execution advantage in this sector is proof that it’s already worth betting on.
What we think "transformational" actually takes
The technologies that earn the rating of ‘transformational’ do one thing: they unify the whole frontline work day. Communication, tasks, and knowledge in one, familiar place the associate already opens, on the device already in their hand.
Most platforms retrofit the frontline. Many began as a desk-first tool for knowledge workers with a mobile app bolted on, built for the office and flung at the frontline as an afterthought. Blink started there, built for the frontline first and proven across the enterprise. We think that's the difference between a category Gartner calls ‘transformational’ and software that sits unused behind the till.
What retail leaders should look for
If you're evaluating the category, three questions matter more than any feature list:
Does it reach every worker, not just head office? The frontline makes up the majority of your workforce and they’re the hardest to reach. If a tool wasn’t built with them in mind and can't easily get to them, it can't transform anything.
Will the frontline actually adopt it, and can the vendor prove it with numbers? Ask for real adoption data on real deployments, and sense check this usage with existing customers.
Does it meet enterprise security, scale, and compliance? Frontline-first and enterprise-grade don’t need to be in battle. At real scale, both should be core to the platform.
"Operational excellence at the frontline doesn't fail because the technology is missing. It fails because no one adopts it. Retail worked out that the people are the deployment, they shouldn’t be an afterthought." - Peter Durkin, CMO, Blink
Where retail technology is heading
Gartner's rating confirms the category is real, high-impact, and worth investing in now, but the winners will be decided by how well the technology is adopted. As a sector, Retail is showing the rest of the frontline economy how it's done.
On 29th July we're breaking down the research with our own commentary on where retail budgets go next, real adoption numbers from the likes of Dollar Tree and Shake Shack, and a live AMA with the team that deploys this for a living. [Register for the webinar - HERE]
You can read the Gartner Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2026 here. [Get the report - HERE]
Gartner, Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2026, Max Panther Hammond, Kelsie Marian 30 June 2026.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark, and HYPE CYCLE is a registered trademark, of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
There's a question HR and comms leaders hear constantly. Not from their teams. From finance, from the C-suite, from every budget conversation they've sat in.
"Can you put a number on it?"
For years, employee experience has struggled to answer this question cleanly. The work is real. The impact is real. But the costs are spread across departments, buried in different reports, attributed to different owners. Turnover sits in HR. Productivity drag lives in ops. Compliance risk belongs to legal. Nobody's joining the dots.
So the status quo continues. And the bill quietly compounds, yet the symptoms get louder and louder across the organisation.
This is the cost of inaction - and it's larger than most organizations realize.
When frontline employees don't receive the right information at the right time, things go wrong in slow, expensive ways. Managers get buried in administration instead of being out on the floor with their teams. New starters take longer to get up to speed. Safety incidents increase when critical information doesn't reach the right people. And when workers don't feel connected, absenteeism climbs and your best people start to leave.
None of these show up as a line item called "poor employee experience." But they are costing money. Every week. Across every site.
The challenge for HR and comms leaders isn't proving that the problem exists. It's translating it into language that moves a business case forward.
The most effective approach is to align on the inputs before you build the case. Work backwards from what the business already tracks. Confirm the turnover figure with HR. Ask ops for average shift-fill time. Check with compliance on how often missed communications create rework or incidents. When the data points are owned across the organization, the problem is too - and the conversation shifts from "can you prove this?" to "what do we do about it?"
That's exactly the framework behind Blink's Cost of Inaction Calculator. It takes the metrics your organization already holds - workforce size, average salary, turnover rate - and models the financial impact of communication gaps, productivity loss, employee replacement costs, and operational risk. This can then be used in your business case for employee engagement, built in the language leaders can't ignore: tangible financial impact, grounded in your own numbers.
We work alongside our customers and prospects to diagnose these symptoms every day. The goal isn't to win a budget argument. It's to make the cost of doing nothing impossible to ignore.
If you want to see how the model works in practice, I am running a live session on June 17 - The hidden cost of a disconnected frontline. The session walks through the calculator methodology, the assumptions that drive the calculations, and how to use the output to build a stronger business case with finance and operational leaders. It's also available on demand.
The investment in employee experience is easier to justify than most people think. You just need the right framework to show what inaction is already costing.
Workplace communication is evolving fast. If you’re an HR, internal communication, or IT leader within your company, your job hinges heavily on staying updated on the latest developments and best practices.
But knowing where to look for unique ideas and advice is another matter. It's not always easy to identify who to turn to for the best insights.
Following the top voices in the industry is a brilliant way to stay ahead of the curve and learn new tactics. However, if you are looking for immediate inspiration to apply to your own frontline workforce today, you might also want to review concrete internal communication strategy examples before diving into the thought leadership below.
The good news? We've done the research for you. We have been following and learning from many thought leaders over the years. And with this post, we’ll share the list of our favourite internal communication influencers with you. Let’s begin.
Best internal communication influencers to follow in 2022
Jenni Field, Redefining Communications
Jenni Field is a communications strategist with more than 20 years of experience spread over several industries, including the public sector, travel, hospitality, and defence. And she has served in a director-level role at many global companies, such as the pharmaceutical giant Perrigo.
Besides that, she has been quoted by numerous renowned publications like The Times and Raconteur, and she is one of the Inspiring Workplaces’ Top 101 Global Employee Engagement and Experience Influencers.
You should follow her especially for her insights and research into deskless workers, workplace culture, leadership, hybrid working, boundaries, and productivity. Apart from running a consulting firm, Jenni speaks often at industry events and organizations, along with hosting an award-winning podcast.
Steve and Cindy Crescenzo have been in the communications space for over 20 years each, and have worked with thousands of communicators.
Steve started as a journalist for trade publications like The Ragan Report and Communication World. And it has been 15 years since he started Crescenzo Communications to help organizations through speaking at conferences, workshops, and consulting. The same goes for Cindy Crescendo.
The duo focuses on simplifying internal communication processes and providing the tools to streamline and extract performance data from these processes. So their expertise also covers conducting surveys, executive interviews, and focus groups.
Priya Bates is an award-winning communicator with a strong emphasis on performance. As the owner of Inner Strength Communication, she takes charge of internal communication and transformational change that connects business goals and employee behavior.
In a career that spans over 20+ years, Priya has managed communications for companies like Compaq, Loblaw Companies Limited, and HP in Canada. And all of these companies have been recognized as top workplaces from time to time.
Priya is an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC), was awarded the Master Communicator (MC) designation in 2010, and IABC fellowship in 2016, which are among the highest global honors for a communications professional.
The founder and principal consultant at All Things IC, Rachel Miller is a globally recognized expert on internal communications.
She helps communication professionals and organizations via training, consulting, and mentoring. And companies like ARM, Lego, BBC, NHS, and British Red Cross have been her clients.
As an experienced and award-winning professional, she has also been teaching Masterclasses since 2014, training hundreds of comms professionals. And her articles and podcast episodes are jam-packed with actionable internal communication strategies.
Advita Patel is an experienced speaker and the director of Comms Rebel, helping executives and organizations with solutions that improve internal communication and workplace diversity.
She has been working in internal communications and change management fields for over 17 years, and has helped companies in multiple business verticals including education, transport, healthcare, and energy. Her client list consists of businesses like Royal Mail, Puma, Amazon, and Magnox.
Liam spent several years as a PR professional, eventually discovering his passion for change communication. Since then, he has helped many well-known companies in retail, fashion, pharma, transport, and other sectors with this specialization.
From safety improvement to strategic reviews, and from crises to quality improvements, he has worked on almost every kind of transformation.
He also lectures at many universities and has authored two books on best practices of internal communication.
Paul Barton has spent years helping senior leaders and managers connect with their workforce and customer base. And his advice has been featured on several podcasts, blogs, and magazines.
His career spans over 20 years and six large organizations, after which he started a consulting firm. Through this company, he provides strategic guidance, workshops, coaching, as well as hands-on support. And his clients include a wide range of businesses such as CBRE, Banner Health, Swire Coca-Cola, and more.
Harriet Small is the founder of Comms Over Coffee and a communications expert with over 12 years of experience in a wide range of business sectors. She has worked with companies such as Hackney Council, Transport for London, the European Union, NHS, and more.
In 2019, she won the IoIC rising star award, and she was recently shortlisted in the internal communication category for The UK and Europe Employee Engagement award. She has also been in charge of communication and employee engagement in the Strategic Insights Team at Sky.
Her insights come from a keen visual awareness and observations on how social media, podcasting, videos, and other digital technologies can aid in corporate communications.
Tony Stewart uses his expertise in technology, communication, and collaboration to form digital employee engagement solutions for big brands around the world. From social media platforms to chatbots, he deeply understands both the medium and the message.
Before he freelanced with Scarlett Abbott in 2016, Tony worked on launching a digital workplace platform for a global media company. And he has demonstrated the application of digital communication in various sectors including financial and administrative services.
Andrea is a globally recognized expert in internal communications with 25 years of experience. Plus, she is the founder of Vision2Voice, an internal communications consultancy in Canada. She has led internal communications and business transformation projects at several large corporations.
As a certified change management professional, published author, and speaker, she helps companies improve employee communication by following a people-first approach.
Wrapping up: top 10 internal communication influencers to follow
Investing in internal communication is a must to differentiate yourself in today’s competitive landscape. But the right investment will require due diligence and awareness of what works and what doesn’t.
That’s where the above list of internal communication influencers can provide tremendous value. These are the people who were once in your shoes and know the challenges of being a communications leader inside and out.
These great minds bring unique and proven insights to the table based on their years of experience — insights that you can implement with confidence in your own company. So take advantage of their wealth of knowledge and connect with them on your favorite social platform today!
The first days in a new job are always a little stressful. There are faces and names to remember, new systems to learn, and a ton of information to process.
A good onboarding program alleviates some of that stress. It gives employees the information and support they need to quickly acclimatize to their new role.
But onboarding programs aren’t as good as employees would like them to be. According to a survey by payroll company Paychex, only 52% of employees say they’re satisfied with the onboarding experience at their current job.
The research also revealed that poor onboarding can lead to:
Disorientation
Feeling undervalued
Losing trust in the organization
Losing interest in the role
An employee’s first few months at your organization are crucial to employee retention. We know that up to 20% of new hires quit within the first 45 days of employment and that, by 90 days, almost a third of new employees have chosen to leave.
To prevent your newly hired talent from going the same way, it may be time to rethink onboarding.
Good onboarding goes beyond orientation. It’s a program of employee engagement that starts before an employee arrives for their first day and continues for up to a year.
At this point, it blends seamlessly with your employee engagement strategy to sustain engagement and retention over the entire employee lifecycle.
In this post, we’ll be looking in detail at what you can do to engage employees — from recruitment to an employee’s first day to their annual review and beyond.
Ready to engage new employees from day one?
An overview of the employee lifecycle
We can break the employee lifecycle down into five key stages. These are:
Attraction — The employer branding, recruitment marketing, and job ads that introduce potential applicants to your organization.
Recruitment — The process of shortlisting, interviewing, and hiring employees.
Onboarding — Assimilating new hires into your organization through a comprehensive training and coaching program.
Development — Giving employees the training and development opportunities they need to progress in their careers.
Separation — Parting on good terms so that ex-employees will continue to act as employer brand advocates.
At every stage of the employee lifecycle, you need to incorporate employee engagement and retention strategies. These will help to ensure employee satisfaction long term.
Some things should come as standard. A positive workplace culture. Co-worker connection. Open company-wide communication. Employees should also get the training, resources, and tech tools they need to succeed in their work.
These engagement essentials apply to every employee, at every lifecycle stage. But you can also tailor strategies to the tenure of each individual. Engagement and retention success requires a blend of broad, ongoing initiatives and targeted interventions at key points in the employee lifecycle.
The importance of employee engagement through onboarding and beyond
To keep employees invested in their work and your company, you need an engagement strategy that starts and ends strong. It should begin before a new hire’s first day — where it sets the scene for the employee experience — and continue beyond their last.
Get it right and here’s what you can expect for your organization.
Better productivity and performance
Engaged employees are invested in their work and your company. This means they’re more likely to work hard. They’re happy to collaborate and innovate. They’re committed to quality and make fewer mistakes.
Improved employee retention rates
When you make a success of employee engagement throughout the employee lifecycle, workers are less likely to leave your organization. There are lots of benefits associated with employee retention. These include reduced recruitment costs, improved employee training, and improved customer relationships.
Stronger workplace culture
Engaged employees contribute to a strong workplace culture. They’re confident in their roles and resilient to stress. They demonstrate collaboration, trust, and motivation — helping to amplify workplace values.
You also reduce costs associated with recruitment.
How to engage workers at every stage of the employee lifecycle
So we’ve covered the employee lifecycle — and why employee engagement is important for your business. Now, let’s look at what you can do to improve engagement and retention at every lifecycle stage.
Attraction
At this first stage of the employee lifecycle, it’s all about employer branding. You need to get clear on your brand — then, create engaging content, job ads, and job descriptions that showcase it.
Just be sure that your branding accurately reflects who you are as an organization. It should create realistic expectations for prospective employees so there’s no confusion when a new hire starts work.
Work on employee engagement throughout the rest of the lifecycle and existing employees will do some of this hard work for you. If they feel engaged, they’re more likely to share their positive employee experience — in online employer reviews and via word of mouth. This makes it easier to attract talented candidates.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Clarify your employer brand
Create content that showcases your employer brand
Write detailed job descriptions
Recruitment
How you treat candidates during the recruitment process is important. It helps to establish your workplace culture in the minds of candidates. It also impacts employee engagement during this lifecycle phase and beyond.
So aim for a speedy recruitment process, punctuated with reliable and engaging communications. Show appreciation for the time candidates spend on their applications and try to reply to everyone who applies, even those who are unsuccessful.
Also, highlight your company values as often as possible. Make it clear what matters to your organization and how people achieve success there.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Streamline your recruitment process so candidates aren’t left waiting
Highlight workplace culture in comms and interviews
Use candidate communications to thank candidates for their time and effort
Pre-boarding
Once a candidate has accepted your job offer, you can start giving them the support and resources they need to hit the ground running.
So give them practical information, like where they should go and what they should wear on their first day. Send over a copy of the employee handbook and get them started on new hire paperwork.
Also, help them to build some early connections. Get their manager to send a friendly note and — if you have lots of new hires starting at the same time — put them in contact with each other via your company intranet or app. That way, they’ll know at least one familiar face.
You might like to send a small gift to your new hire, too. A welcome package, including items like cookies or a coffee mug, helps to create a sense of belonging before employees even step through the door.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Send a gift
Give employees access to useful information
Introduce employees to at least one manager or employee
Day one
First impressions are difficult to change and we know that 44% of new hires regret their decision after the first week.
But we also know that 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for at least three years after a great onboarding experience. So start as you mean to go on.
Before your new hire arrives, tell the relevant team to expect them and prep any essential devices, passwords, and resources. Set them up an account on the company intranet or app.
During the first day, give employees a clear point of contact. This could be a manager, buddy, or mentor — someone they can turn to with their questions or concerns. Also, give them clear information on their role and assign lots of time for relationship-building — with managers and co-workers.
The priorities for this first week are practicalities, culture, and connection. Focus on these areas and don’t overwhelm your new hires with too much information.
Start by establishing the basics. For example, for frontline workers, you may like to begin by training them in essential health and safety protocols. You can then build on this foundation logically over the next weeks and months.
Also, make sure that new hires find it easy to access the information they need during these early days. In frontline organizations, a mobile-first digital solution — with all tools and resources available via one dashboard and one login — works best.
That way, employees don’t have to track down a paper manual to read up on policies. Or go to a more experienced member of staff to get answers to their FAQs. They have essential onboarding resources at their fingertips. This speeds up their learning.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Ensure your new hire’s workstation, log in details, and passes are ready to go
Introduce your employee to other members of the team
Introduce your new hire to the employee app and its onboarding resources
Day 30
At this point in the employee lifecycle, your new hire is probably feeling more familiar with the basics of your organization. But onboarding is far from over. Employees are still learning the ropes and need ongoing support.
So conduct regular check-ins. These meetings are an opportunity to find out what extra training your new hires might need. They’re a chance to highlight areas of achievement and to provide constructive criticism.
Clear expectations are also important. Work together to set goals for the next couple of months and for the first year.
Encourage employees to share their thoughts too, either in these face-to-face meetings or with the help of anonymous survey tools.
Find out what they think of the onboarding and employee experience so far. Ask about the quality of the information provided and the pace of delivery. Employee answers will help you improve your onboarding process for future hires.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Send out a survey to assess the initial onboarding experience
Conduct regular check-ins
Set goals for 90 days and the first year
Day 90
Three months in, your employee should now feel like a productive member of their team. They’re contributing in a meaningful way towards company objectives.
So now’s the time for another review. This is another chance to discuss progress, celebrate achievements, and review any goals you set in previous meetings.
You could also try to broaden an employee’s experience at this point. Perhaps there are new projects or responsibilities an employee could take on. Or useful connections they could build with other teams or departments.
It’s also helpful to outline what career paths are available within your organization. In frontline organizations, particularly. Here, it can be hard for new employees to visualize where they go from the shop floor or the warehouse.
Mapping the opportunities available helps keep people engaged and invested in their work. It gets them thinking about a long-term future at your organization, too.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Review goals and progress toward them
Recognize and praise success
Discuss career paths along with learning and development needs
Day 180
Mid-way through an employee’s first year is another great point for engagement intervention. You should ensure that employees are getting training and development opportunities that align with their career goals.
Supporting employees to network is also important. Encourage them to take part in employee communities and company-wide committees. Keep planning social events that support team building and co-worker connection.
Also, remind employees of your open-door policy. They should know who to turn to — and feel comfortable raising their problems and questions.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Enroll employees in learning and development programs
Plan social activities that widen an employee’s network
Remind employees of your open-door policy
Day 365
After a year in the job, it’s time for a celebration. Recognize your employee for all they’ve achieved in their first 365 days by posting a message of appreciation on the company news feed. That way, co-workers can add their own congratulations, too.
Now is also a great time to give and gather employee feedback. In the annual performance review, highlight employee successes and areas for improvement. Set new goals for the coming year.
To get honest employee feedback, use a mix of surveys and 1:1 meetings. Get employee satisfaction scores. Then, use them alongside other employee engagement KPIs to find out how your organization has performed over the first year of the employee lifecycle.
Drill down into the data to find particular teams, managers, or departments that aren’t producing the employee retention and engagement you’d hope for. Then use your findings to make data-backed improvements.
Look at surveys and analytics to assess your onboarding process
One year +
As we mentioned earlier, employee engagement and retention efforts don’t end after the first week, the first month, or even the first year of the employee lifecycle.
A year in, you should strive to maintain a positive and inclusive workplace culture. You should prioritize clear and effective internal communication using dedicated employee communication tools. You should continue to recognize and reward good work.
Training is also still important. As well as offering learning and development opportunities, you may like to consider stretch assignments or lateral moves so employees continue to feel challenged and engaged in their work.
If an employee decides to leave, conduct timely exit interviews and surveys. Find out why employees are leaving and what would convince them to stay.
Supportive, two-way conversations at this point in the employee lifecycle can help you identify and rectify engagement issues, making your organization an even better place to work. They also increase your chance of ex-employees becoming loyal employer brand advocates.
Key employee engagement tasks:
Continue to recognize and reward employee work
Support employees to achieve their career goals
When an employee leaves, conduct exit interviews and surveys
Using technology to boost engagement throughout the employee lifecycle
Improving employee engagement across the whole of the employee lifecycle improves retention, productivity, and business profits. But completing tasks in line with key lifecycle milestones inevitably adds to the workload of already stretched managers and HR teams.
This is where the right technology — like a modern intranet or an employee app — makes things easier. By giving employees access to an intuitive, digital platform, you benefit from the following.
Surveys. You can use an employee app or modern intranet to send surveys to employees. Because these surveys come in a user-friendly format, you get more responses and more useful data.
A centralized hub. You can give employees access to a digital hub. This contains useful onboarding information like policy documents, FAQs, and a people directory. It also provides easy access to other workplace tools, like learning and development software.
Recognition. With the help of an engaging company news feed, it’s easy to share recognition with employees and the wider company, too.
Automation. The right tech will send automated messages and surveys as employees reach each new milestone, taking the pressure off your managers and HR team.
Communication channels. Employee communication tools make it easier for you to conduct 1:1s and share company culture with all employees — including those who work remotely or at the frontlines of your organization.
Data. You can see how new and seasoned employees interact with your chosen platform, getting to know which content best engages your workers and spotting engagement issues early.
Analytics. Analytics and reporting features help you understand survey responses and identify gaps in your engagement strategy.
Here at Blink, our employee super-app provides all of the above to every employee’s smartphone.
With our app, you can automate need-to-know messages and milestones from day one of the employee lifecycle, supporting a comprehensive and consistent onboarding, training, and feedback experience.
If you’d like to learn more about Blink and what it can do for employee engagement throughout the employee lifecycle, schedule a personalized demo today.
We’ve rounded up the seven top training programs that will help boost morale, foster collaboration, and increase productivity for your staff. From interactive workshops to online employee engagement courses, these programs offer something for everyone.
Whether your team is new or experienced, office-based or deskless, there are plenty of options available to help create an engaged workforce.
So let's dive into what the best employee engagement training programs are, what they offer, and how they can benefit your organization.
Choosing the best employee engagement training courses
A great employee engagement course should provide teams with a comprehensive understanding of how to create an engaged workplace environment.
It may include a range of topics covering effective communication practices, problem-solving strategies, team-building exercises (that don’t make employees squirm), and more strategies that create highly engaged employees.
They may also offer special features such as a dedicated tutor support service, unlimited online email support, certification upon completion, real-time feedback on learning, resources to help employees create tangible goals and objectives, and interactive tools that can be used in the workplace.
To choose the right employee engagement program for your organization, you should assess and compare who the course is made for and what the content of the course is, alongside the:
Cost
Length
Location
Credit awarded
By assessing these four elements, you can make a more informed decision about which program is best suited to your team’s needs.
What to look for in employee engagement training for managers
Before you can select a training program for managers, it’s important to know what factors to consider for your leadership team. Employee engagement training is essential for even the most high-performing managers, especially frontline managers, as their impact has the unique advantage of cascading effects throughout their entire team.
Cost varies greatly, especially given the number of remote learning and development options available. While eLearning courses are typically more affordable and easily worked into a manager’s schedule, in-person courses offer the benefit of interaction, personalized feedback, and, often, more in-depth practice.
It’s also important to consider whether you, your C-suite, management teams, and HR professionals value certification or credit hours for the time undertaken. The accreditation may add value and incentive for course engagement, as well as the name of the institution offering the training.
Two common HR management organizations that accept credit hours for professional certification are SHRM and HRCI.
You should also consider whether your managers will feel more compelled to complete the learning experience offered by a big name like Harvard to make up for the additional expense.
Additional considerations for choosing an employee engagement program
If you have a frontline workforce, be sure to look for a program that can be easily accessed on mobile devices or through an app with audio lessons available. This will ensure employees can access the course anytime, anywhere, helping you bridge the frontline connection gap.
Additionally, consider the size of your organization and budget. If you have a large team, you may want to look into programs with bulk discounts or offering free training resources. On the other hand, if you’re a smaller business without many resources, eLearning courses may be more cost-effective due to their convenience and lower investment needs.
With digital inclusion now crucial to the modern workplace, it's important to assess the ease of use and accessibility of any courses you choose. Are they easy for team members to access and navigate, or do they require any specific software?
Now that you know what to consider before selecting a program for management let’s go over some of the best employee engagement training programs available today.
The 7 best employee engagement training programs
1. Gallup engagement champions
Workplace advisory and polling group Gallup offers a Creating an Engaging Workplace for Engagement Champions course to help anyone in a leadership position foster a more engaging workplace and support higher productivity.
The course's primary focus is educating higher-level leadership on how to best help their mid-management increase team engagement. There are also practical takeaways for HR professionals or managers themselves.
Cost: $3,000.
Length: Two days.
Location: In-person and virtual.
Credit: The in-person course earns professional credit hours from HRCI (14.5) and SHRM (14.5).
The six-hour course focuses on actions managers can undertake that inspire workers to put forth their greater discretionary effort. The emphasis is on practicing emotional empathy that delivers a long-lasting culture of engagement.
Cost: $699.
Length: Three two-hour sessions.
Location: Virtual.
Credit: It offers professional credit hours — 5.5 HRCI (5.5) and SHRM (5.5).
3. LSA Global
LSA Global’s employee engagement training personalized course focuses on accountability, change-readiness, and engaging purpose (ACE) as the foundation for a greater level of engagement and business clarity.
Cost: Available upon request.
Length: Two-day workshop.
Location: In-person.
Credit: None.
4. DecisionWise
Engagement technology provider Decision Wise offers an online engagement training program called Engagement Magic.
The training covers the importance of employee meaning, autonomy, growth, impact, and connection for engagement and educates learners on fostering these attributes through various employee engagement strategies.
There is a large emphasis on building positive company culture through effective communication and conflict resolution.
Cost: $2,895.
Length: Two consecutive days.
Location: In-person.
Credit: Credit towards Harvard’s Certificate of Leadership Excellence in Leading Teams.
6. eCornell
Cornell’s online educational division strategic engagement course is ideal for managers looking for more training in the quantifiable aspects of employee engagement.
The course teaches methods of measuring employee engagement, like employee engagement surveys, and guides managers through building engagement initiatives to combat disengagement based on organizational data.
Cost: Available upon request.
Length: Two weeks, two-to-five hours per week.
Location: Virtual.
Credit: Credit towards Cornell’s Strategic Human Resources Leadership Certificate.
7. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning offers various employee engagement training courses for managers through its catalog of user-generated lessons.
Self-paced pre-recorded lessons like this one on Employee Engagement are a highly accessible training resource for organizations of all sizes.
Cost: $34.99 for a single course or $19.99/month.
Length: Varies.
Location: Virtual.
Credit: Online certification and continuing education credit to SHRM (1.25) and HRCI (1.25).
The value of employee engagement training for managers
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report, just 31% of employees in the US and Canada are engaged – and that's the second-highest in the world! As such, it makes sense for implementing engagement strategies to be one of your organization’s largest retention priorities.
Typically, most think of across-the-board engagement tactics like benefits, salary, and advancement opportunities. But when it actually comes down to increasing everyday engagement and profitability, as Gallup explains, the best bet is focusing on some of the most critical players in your team: your managers.
They understand each employee’s career goals, strengths, and opportunities for improvement. Managers help shape the culture that can make or break an employee’s experience.
Despite their essential role in increasing the number of engaged employees, few managers are naturally good at navigating the nuances of managing people.
Why? Well, we know that many managers make their way to a management role because of experience in their industry (as practitioners) rather than their experience leading people.
They might be a very experienced warehouse manager, but if they haven't got years of experience managing other warehouse managers, then this kind of training can add a huge amount of value in increasing team-wide employee engagement.
With nearly 70% of frontline leaders expressing interest in developing their leadership skills, a lack of this training can cause growing leadership development gaps in your organization.
On top of this, without training to improve the specific leadership skills required to be a strong manager, there can be potentially disastrous consequences when it comes to engagement and overall employee retention.
In fact, after surveying 3,000 American workers,GoodHire found that 82% of them said they would potentially quit their job because of a bad manager. For that reason alone you may want to consider management employee engagement training as part of your wider L&D efforts.
After all, if you can train managers to increase employee engagement, then you can unlock all the key business benefits that come from having a more engaged workforce, making employee engagement training for managers well worth the investment.
What’s next for frontline managers?
Choosing the right employee training method and investing in the right technology are crucial actions for business leaders wanting to boost engagement.
Hopefully, this guide gave you a better understanding of the considerations to keep in mind when selecting an employee engagement training program and highlighted some of the best ones available today.
After equipping your employees with the right training programs, the next step is to seek the best tools in the industry. Blink’smobile-first frontline engagement super-app is the perfect all-through tool for any organization wanting to boost employee engagement.
With a suite of features designed to connect your entire workforce, Blink can help your business drive optimal performance and engagement from every member of your team.
With Blink’s Content Hub, employees and managers can access any training documents and company procedures from the palm of their hands, making any employee engagement training initiatives more effective and accessible for you in the long-run.
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