Struggling to get employees to engage with your intranet? Discover how to transform it into a must-visit destination with personalized content, social-style interactions, and a sleek, modern user experience.
Jess DeVore
Published:
March 27, 2025
Last updated:
March 27, 2025
Supercharge engagement across your employee intranet
It might be harsh, but we've all experienced it: Legacy intranet systems are bad at attracting and engaging workers. You may even find that staff actively avoid a traditional intranet, citing outdated content and a clunky interface as reasons to stay away.
If this sounds familiar, your employee intranet is crying out for a glow-up.
A new and improved intranet is a place where your workforce can access the information, connection, and support they need to do their jobs well. It contains engaging, useful content that has employees logging in multiple times a day.
This unified platform, built around the needs of your workforce, can improve internal communications and amplify company culture. It also has a positive impact on employee engagement, satisfaction, employee productivity, and retention rates.
Ready to turn your intranet into an employee magnet? This guide will help you create a modern employee intranet, with all the essential features and tools you need to transform platform engagement and the employee experience.
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How to turn your employee intranet into a hub of engagement
Set the stage: Design your homepage to make the ultimate first impression
Get your intranet experience off to the best possible start by treating your homepage as a digital storefront. Elevate visuals and copy so they reflect the consumer-grade experience employees enjoy on tech tools away from work.
Use vibrant imagery, brand colors, and an intuitive layout to draw employees in. And put the most important information front and center. That might include company news, employee recognition content, or your latest events.
Some other must-have intranet homepage elements include:
Clear navigation. Logical menu options make it easy for employees to navigate your intranet. Employees should be able to access all communication channels and resources in just a few clicks. You can also add a search bar and provide robust search functionality to help them uncover any and all intranet content.
Dynamic announcements. Your intranet homepage should feature real-time updates. This makes it easy for employees to get up-to-date news — and it reassures them that your intranet provides relevant, reliable information as standard. Use embedded videos, images, interactive tools, and compelling copy to direct employee attention to your announcements.
Quick links to essential tools. A good employee intranet platform acts as a central repository for all your digital workplace software. So whether employees want to swap shifts, view their pay stubs, or complete the next module of their training program, your intranet homepage should provide quick links to their most commonly used tools.
Also, bear in mind that your homepage will make zero impression if employees can’t access it. Frontline workers, in particular, struggle to access legacy intranet systems. So ensure your intranet is available on the devices and via the login methods that employees can actually use. That might mean honing or launching an employee app so workers can log into your intranet via their smartphones.
Make it personal: Tailor the experience for every employee
Imagine you’re a bus driver working for a transit organization and — thanks to your organization’s employee app — you log onto the company intranet using your smartphone.
What do you expect to see on your dashboard?
Are you greeted with details of the next Casual Friday event? A celebration of the previous office lunch? A link to the latest Excel training module?
Or do you see quick links to a shift swap tool and your pay stubs? Do you see the latest route and safety updates — and a post celebrating the driver of the month?
When an intranet dashboard offers a personalized experience, tailored to the role, department, location, tenure, and interests of each employee, you can count on:
Higher levels of engagement
Higher adoption rates
More intranet logins
So when giving your employee intranet a much-needed glow-up, make personalization one of your guiding lights.
Segment employees so they only receive relevant content. Allow employees to customize their intranet dashboard with the widgets and resources they use most. Use AI to surface relevant content and updates based on an employee’s intranet interactions.
Of course, there will be internal communications that are relevant to the whole organization. So there should also be space on employee dashboards for high-level company announcements and mandatory reads. These messages keep employees in the loop and connected to wider business goals.
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Keep it fresh: Ensure your intranet is dynamic and up to date
If we consider the big social media platforms as masters of engagement, it’s clear that up-to-date content is key to creating an employee intranet that your workers want to spend time on. Your intranet platform can quickly feel stale if you fail to maintain the right cadence of effective communication.
So, with that in mind, here’s what you need to do to keep your intranet content fresh.
Post content regularly
A content calendar helps you plan and create content in advance. Seeing everything down on paper, it’s easy to plan a varied mix of engaging content ideas, including news feed posts, blogs, videos, and leadership messages, while leaving space for critical updates too.
Find your comms cadence
It’s a delicate balance. You need to keep employees engaged with the platform. But you don’t want to overwhelm them with information. To find the right comms cadence for your organization, play around with your content schedule and keep an eye on platform engagement.
Like Coastal Medical — an emergency and non-emergency medical transportation organization — you’ll soon find the sweet spot. Their intranet now has a 98% adoption rate and gets 5.7 daily app opens per user.
Harness employee-generated content
You don’t have to leave content creation to your employee communications team. Encourage employees to share their own posts, photos, and Stories to create a sense of community. This informal content tends to prompt the likes and comments of coworkers.
Commit to regular content maintenance
The traditional intranet is a place where resources go to gather digital dust. Fail to update intranet content and employees come to see your content hub as unreliable and irrelevant. So keep track of publication dates and regularly audit old intranet content, updating and archiving content as needed.
Take inspiration from social media managers
Create Insta-worthy internal comms and your intranet will become irresistible to employees. So make like a social media manager and create news feed posts that are quick to access and easy to digest. Use multimedia visuals to stop their scroll and keep any copy concise and to the point.
Bonus points if your intranet has easy mobile access — especially helpful for frontline and remote teams.
Foster interactivity: Make your employee intranet a two-way communication hub
Two-way internal communication is another intranet essential. When employees can use the intranet to build connections with coworkers and to share their ideas and feedback with leadership, they’re much more likely to hang out there.
As we’ve already mentioned, employee-generated content is a great way to increase intranet engagement. You can support interactivity using the following key features too:
Engagement tools. Use polls, surveys, and forums to request employee feedback. If you have a willing leadership team, you can also host live Q&A sessions.
Recognition features. Use your intranet to celebrate employee achievements — and encourage coworkers to add their congratulations too.
Collaboration spaces. Create social Communities, where employees can exchange ideas, collaborate on work projects, and connect over shared hobbies.
Gamification. Use progress trackers, badges, and points to gamify the intranet experience. You can give rewards in return for activities like login streaks or survey completions.
Measure and adapt: Continuously improve the employee experience
No matter how much careful thought you put into your intranet software glow-up, it’s rare to get every little detail right, first time. And this is where intranet data proves invaluable.
The number of comments, likes, and shares associated with each news feed post
Employee adoption and login rates
User satisfaction scores
As well as tracking key metrics, be sure to seek feedback from employees using surveys and polls. Viewed together, this data will reveal which elements of your intranet solution and content offering are working well — and which could use improvement.
You can then set intranet performance goals and identify ways to adapt your intranet to keep ahead of ever-evolving employee needs.
Build an employee intranet your workforce will love
Make your employee intranet more magnetic and it can become one of the most-used communication tools in your digital workplace. To achieve this, you need to cultivate a social intranet platform, bringing it in line with internal communication trends and employee expectations.
Personalized, multimedia content. Opportunities to interact with coworkers and leaders. Visual appeal and an unbeatable user experience. Data-driven platform improvements.
Incorporate these social features into your employee intranet and you create a better digital employee experience. You can count on high levels of intranet engagement, a stronger corporate culture, and a happier workforce.
So what should you do first?
Start by taking a good hard look at your current intranet solution. There may be underutilized features on there with the potential to transform the intranet experience.
If, however, you feel you’ve maxed out your current intranet solution and still aren’t attracting employees to the platform, it may be time for a software switch. The best intranet software providers are built with the modern workforce and the latest internal comms trends in mind.
How engaged your frontline employees are directly impacts how successful they are as a team. If you can encourage engagement then productivity, quality, care, commitment, and retention surely follow.
Yet, no matter how clear the correlation is, it’s not always as clear how to achieve frontline employee engagement.
In this guide, we share expert insights for your employee engagement strategies — helping you create a positive working environment that inspires satisfaction and success.
From understanding the importance of communication and collaboration across the organization to leveraging technology for better team performance, this guide will cover the activities and tools needed to foster an engaging frontline culture.
The current state of frontline employee engagement
Recent employee engagement statistics tell us that only21% of employees are engaged at work.
The percentage is likely lower when it comes to the frontline.
That’s because frontline employee engagement is often handled as an afterthought. There’s a misconception that when workers are out in the field, then they don’t ‘need’ to feel connected to the wider business. Or that because their role doesn’t require a computer, they won’t want digital tools to improve their experience.
We see from our work with frontline organizations that these assumptions are wrong, and that frontline employees do want to feel engaged.
Communication starts to flow much more freely when the right tools are in place (as much as 10x more for certain Blink customers); frontline staff are more willing and able to provide feedback (survey responses increase by 300%); and you can help almost every employee to better connect with the company’s mission and vision.
So why do so many attempts at frontline employee engagement fall flat?
Workers might resist not because they don’t want to engage, but because they have become wise to empty frontline engagement projects and initiatives. The programs that fail are the ones that misunderstand what frontline workers need to succeed — or that ask too much of them while delivering too little.
“Great, another thing to remember”
“It’s not a natural part of my day”
“It’s a one-off thing”
“It’s too hard to use”
To help create frontline employee engagement initiatives that work, we first have to understand why these employees have become disengaged in the first place.
Why frontline employees become disengaged
1. Lack of the right technology
According to Blink research on the health and social care space:
Over one-third (34%) of employees can’t easily access workplace systems on their mobile
Nearly 20% aren’t using their company’s intranet
… and two-thirds of this ~20% aren’t even sure how to log on
Disengagement with — or lack of access to — company platforms leads to missed information and feelings of isolation. At best, this can impede a frontline worker’s ability to do their job (maybe they miss an important update or never receive new guidance). At worst, it distances them so much from the rest of the business that they exist in their own, dissatisfied silo.
52% of frontline workers say they would leave their job over tech tools, making leveraging the right technology a very easy win for keeping your frontline engaged and retained.
But we can’t take the same tech stack that desk-based workers use and apply it to the frontline.
As Ian Gordon, former President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring, told us in an interview:
“Being a frontline worker can feel like you’re on an island by yourself, and the solutions that you need must be quicker and more succinct. You can’t spend a lot of time signing in and navigating. You need to get to your answer now.”
The ‘right’ technology for frontline engagement will:
Be intuitive and frictionless
Allow the most essential, day-job-critical messages to cut through
Facilitate the workflows that are most important to the ‘deskless’ front line: shift swapping, accessing pay stubs, providing feedback, and so on.
If your frontline tools don’t deliver on the above, then your frontline employee engagement efforts will be wasted.
2. No sense of belonging
Frontline disengagement can also result from a lack of community. 80% of frontline employees say that they are afforded few connection opportunities at work, according to McKinsey research.
And even if these opportunities exist, frontline workers aren’t always engaging with them. McKinsey found that frontline workers were taking part in the below methods of community and connection just once a month or less:
Internal corporate communications (e.g., town halls)
Watercooler talks with co-workers
Employee resource groups
Other work-related events
Touchpoints like these are all essential for building team spirit and rapport within frontline teams. And if workers aren’t engaging with them, then this speaks volumes about the types of community events that frontline leaders should invest in.
The best way to learn what works for your frontline is to ask them.
We touch on the concept of outside-in thinking in our whitepaper, ‘The frontline engagement roadmap: A step-by-step guide to driving transformative change’. Download your copy today.
3. No clear development opportunities
If you think that all engaged frontline workers are ‘rockstars’ — satisfied with mastering the job they have today rather than looking to step up — then think again.
There’s a very good chance you have ‘superstars’ in your frontline workforce as well. When engaged in a role, these employees are further motivated by the idea of career progression and will actively seek out opportunities to advance and develop. 70% of frontline workers apply for advancement opportunities when they are offered, seeking greater financial security, learning, and development.
But how easy is it for these employees to find this professional development?
Lack of development opportunities came up as a theme — and a reason for leaving a role — among the health and social care workers we spoke to in 2021. Further research has found a similar trend in the retail space, where 32% of frontline workers cite a lack of career development as a turnover factor.
“The vast majority of deskless workers (97%) report that they would stay in their current roles if their conditions improved. Such conditions go beyond a pay rise, meaning that HR needs to offer deskless workers the same opportunities as their deskbound counterparts.”
Frontline leaders should strive to offer clear development opportunities to frontline workers, plus training and learning resources wherever helpful. This could include anything from providing access to relevant training courses and a Hub for training materials, or offering them direct opportunities to move into managerial roles.
There’s also something to be said for training and empowering first line managers to help frontline workers develop. 73% of frontline employees agree that having a manager who supports their career progression is key to career advancement.
4. They don’t feel listened to
The 2021 Blink research we mentioned earlier was called our Listen campaign. And it got its name for a reason.
In it, we surveyed 1,000 frontline UK health and social care workers to find out how their day-to-day lives could be improved. And one word cropped up again and again: listen.
Over one-third of the frontline workforce feels their organizations would fail to act on employee feedback — and that needs to change if we want them to keep providing it. To truly empower your frontline employees, you need to show them that you value what they do and that you hear what they say.
No more out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality. No more assuming your frontline is ‘getting on just fine’. If your frontline workers don’t feel heard, your engagement strategy isn’t working. It’s as simple as that.
5. No culture of, or channels for, recognition
Nearly 4 in 10 (37%) frontline workers don’t feel as valued as their desk-based counterparts. We were saddened to learn this from our Listen research, but not all that surprised.
After all, the recognition strategies that work for desk-basked employees can’t be efficiently deployed for the front line. A line manager can’t send a team-wide or company-wide email celebrating someone’s contribution. You can’t all get together at 5pm on Friday to toast the week’s achievements.
As with the tooling and community-building tactics we looked at above, frontline recognition requires a unique approach. How can you bolster both technology and community to give credit where credit is due?
It’s also important to make sure that feedback is given as soon after the event as possible. So ask yourself: what are the platforms that allow a quick turnaround of employee recognition in a fun, engaging way?
Frontline employees deserve to be recognized for the hard work they do: for being the backbone of an organization’s success.
Without this, it’s no wonder they become disengaged.
6. Inefficient communication strategies
In our research, almost one-fifth of workers state that they don’t receive relevant internal communications from their employer organization.
An effective comms strategy combines group and 1:1 Secure Chats, regular Feedupdates, engaging company news announcements, and more — all wrapped up and delivered in a platform or platforms that frontline workers want to engage with.
Given anything less than this, frontline teams can feel left out of the loop and unable to participate fully in their organization’s culture.
Get your frontline-centric communication strategy right and you can expect to see frontline employee engagement pay off in a myriad of ways.
Blink’s best advice for frontline employee engagement
Use tools that work for them
Your frontline staff need digitaltools that work for them: where they need them and when they need them. From seamless integration with your current tech stack, to push notifications, single sign-on capabilities, and more, there are a number of tools that make it easy for frontline employees to engage on the go.
A frontline engagement app like Blink allows your workforce to easily access everything from one single platform. We’re talking company news, training materials and resources, inter- and intra-team communications, feedback surveys — the list of features keeps growing.
No more complex systems to navigate or multiple passwords to remember. Blink provides you with a simple, intuitive mobile app that gives your frontline employees the power to stay connected and engaged.
Your frontline staff are the eyes, ears, and face of your organization. Listen to what they have to say, and you can learn more than you’d realize about your product or service, how happy customers are, and how well your processes are working today.
Pulse surveys offer up a consistent and user-friendly way to gather frontline feedback, no matter where your teams are working.
The data you gather can help identify areas of improvement — both internal and external to the business. This, in turn, will have a positive impact on all the essential metrics: frontline employee engagement, customer satisfaction, plus revenue and ROI.
Remember that statistic about frontline workers not believing their feedback will be actioned? Now is your time to win back their trust.
Remember, employee engagement should be earned. It won’t be given freely.
As a frontline leader, making sure that feedback is heard and put into action should be an essential part of your wider engagement strategy.
Be open and honest with the results of your surveys — and communicate what you’re doing as an organization to action this feedback.
Never present results as better or worse than they actually are, and always encourage an open dialogue about the outcomes of feedback initiatives. If you want your employees to offer their feedback on an ongoing basis, you need strategies that communicate to them how you’re hearing what they say.
You could even share your survey findings in a company-wide Feed announcement, along with specific objectives the organization has taken from the results and when these new initiatives will be put into place.
This doesn’t add any extra pressure to your frontline, but it does make your employees feel heard and valued.
Create engagement champions
Setting off on a frontline employee engagement transformation isn’t easy — or, it doesn’t feel easy at the start, at least.
We look at the power of allies in our frontline engagement roadmap and Ian Gordon also referenced how influential they can be:
“You need to find someone who has the energy, passion, and is empowered enough to lead the initiatives. That person could be the project lead, but preferably it’s someone from the frontline or with frontline experience. The frontline needs to have that relationship with management all the way up and be comfortable to share their concerns.”
Ian Gordon, Former President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring
These allies, or engagement champions, can help drive initiatives both top-down and bottom-up, facilitating two-way communication between management and staff. They can also support the adoption of new tools, ensuring that frontline workers are comfortable and engaged as new technologies are implemented.
Working with other Champions to ensure the launch is a success
Raising awareness of Blink
Encouraging others to use the app
Being active in the Feed
Educating their team on how to use the app
Being an advocate for Blink
Becoming an expert on Blink
Get commitment from every level of management
Ideally, you’d have engagement allies from the front line to your C-Suite.
If your company’s mission is to boost frontline engagement, then every staff member in an authority position needs to show their support. Yes, engagement should be enabled by managers buying into the right digital solutions, but it should also be held up by your company’s values and all aspects of your leadership.
Our research also demonstrates that frontline staff want senior management to listen to them, communicate with them, and respond to them. A simple, yet frequently forgotten, task.
First line managers could be a particularly interesting group to engage with: making up 50% – 60% of a company’s management and directly supervising as much as 80% of the frontline workforce.
When employees interact with their first line managers daily, it’s essential that those individuals set an example and demonstrate engagement through their behavior.
Managers should also be available to listen to frontline workers and act upon any issues they identify. This will help drive the desired engagement from the bottom up, inspiring the workforce to keep engaging regularly.
Recognition and reward
Forward-thinking companies are already investing in co-worker recognition tools. This helps deliver meaningful recognition and rewards to their employee base, reminding employees how valued they are.
Such approaches can quickly encourage motivation, nurture employee wellbeing, raise employee morale, and boost engagement levels across the board.
You should also consider directly rewarding engagement (interactions with your employee app, for example) to reinforce and reward the behavior, creating a positive ripple effect to inspire more engagement.
What your business stands to gain
Frontline employee engagement = fewer absentees
Teams within the top 20% of employee engagement scores realize a 41% reduction in absenteeism. Imagine what your frontline organization could do with fewer empty shifts and less time spent finding staff to cover sickness — plus the additional revenue this will inevitably create.
The cost of replacing an employee can range anywhere from 50% – 250% of their annual salary. So it’s no surprise that 87% of HR experts consider employee retention one of their highest priorities.
Why are we telling you this in an article about employee engagement? Because engaged workers aremore likely to stay with their employers.
Disengaged workers will either be in an active search for their next role or much easier to sway should a desirable opportunity arise elsewhere. If you can create an engaging employee experience, however, you’ll retain your best talent.
Frontline employee engagement = a healthier bottom line
Engaged frontline employees deliver better quality of service, leading to customer satisfaction and loyalty.
92% of business executives believe that engaged employees perform better. And with engaged frontline workers performing at their best, better business outcomes are a natural development.
Bottom line improvements for highly engaged organizations include:
10% higher customer ratings
18% higher sales
A 23% difference in profitability
In this way, an increase in engagement from frontline employees can be felt by every stakeholder, in every department, and at every level of the business.
What now?
Achieving operational excellence is a challenge on its own. Doing so while also investing in employee experience can leave frontline management teams feeling overwhelmed.
So let’s break it down into simple steps.
If you understand why frontline employees disengage, what motivates them, and how to keep them engaged, then you can establish a frontline engagement strategy that truly works.
Companies can unlock tremendous value from their workforce, demonstrate a real commitment to their employees, and drive positive business outcomes — all by leveraging the power of frontline employee engagement.
How can Blink help?
At Blink, we understand the importance of engaging with frontline employees. We’ve helped over 250 frontline organizations increase engagement and performance throughout their frontline.
Our frontline engagement app helps you measure and manage employee engagement in real-time to drive sustained improvements across your business. With our advanced analytics and tailored solutions, you can quickly identify problem areas, create action plans, and keep your employees engaged.
With our comprehensive suite of solutions, we’ll help you unlock the power of your frontline and achieve the results you’re looking for.
I would like to nominate Mark following his heroic and kind-hearted behavior that recently saved a young girl’s life.
Mark pulled into the bus stand when a colleague approached him and alerted him to a young girl who had been found on the floor in a state. Mark approached the girl, and she told him she was considering ending her life.
Mark brought her back to the bus in a warm, safe space and he asked her about what happened — the girl believed she was drugged and the culprit had stolen her rucksack with her personal belongings inside. Mark called the paramedics and he waited with her for two hours as he spoke to her and calmed her down until she fell asleep on the bus. He monitored her every 5-10 minutes to check that she was breathing and wasn’t in danger. When the paramedics came, he took them up the road to try to search for her bag but sadly to no avail.
Thanks to Mark’s selflessness and fatherly instinct, he saved her and brought her to safety in the hands of the paramedics. Mark deserves to be thanked and recognized for this act, and should know the huge impact he has had on this girl’s life.
How has Blink helped in his role?
Mark is very active in the community and he always takes part in events, which he finds through the app.
The last few years brought a storm of change to the HR industry. Artificial Intelligence. The gig economy. And more recently, a global pandemic has altered our reality and redefined workflows.
While Covid-19 has forced us to make many temporary adjustments to the way we live and work, not every new development is short-lived. There has been an influx of new trends that are here to stay.
These innovations have pushed us to view different areas of the HR function from a new perspective. And they have made us wonder: What’s in store for the future? What are the developments that will transform HR for good? Which trends will shape the new reality of work?
Read on for answers. In this post, we take a look at the top HR trends in 2021 for frontline business and HR leaders to take into account as they prepare for what’s to come.
Top HR trends for 2022
Designing work for frontline employees’ well-being
The line between work and home life has been blurring for some time, but the pandemic has all but erased it for many employees. In response, HR leaders have shifted from promoting work-life balance to pushing well-being into the work itself.
As per the 2020 Hartford’s Future of Benefits Study, workers are now demanding benefits like hospital indemnity insurance, additional paid time off, and employee assistance programs.
Companies, on their part, are focusing on online experiences that improve employees’ health. These include virtual team-building events, yoga and fitness sessions, and mindfulness classes, and so on.
So organizations that thrive beyond 2021 are going to be those that integrate health-related initiatives into the design of work. This will be done at the individual, team, and organizational levels to create an environment in which employees are at peak health.
Reskilling to unlock frontline worker potential
During Covid, many organizations struggled to retain employees because of financial problems, sick leave, or losing workers to the virus. So managers called on remaining employees to expand their roles and fill the gaps left by their coworkers. And like the Spartans, employees rose to the challenge.
Workers’ resourcefulness and agency in these hard times have shown that they can learn and contribute in unexpected ways. And in doing so, they have positioned their organizations to thrive in the long term.
So employee reskilling is another important trend to watch out for. According to a recent Udemy survey, the demand for building employee skills grew by 38% in 2020. The consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) illustrates this trend. It invested $3 billion in the learning and development of employees who have stayed with the business for at least 3 years. This suggests that reskilling is a lean and sustainable way to strengthen your workforce.
Building 'Superteams'
Organizations have been using ‘teaming’ (setting up a temporary team of people who aren’t familiar with each other) as a survival strategy to counter the impact of Covid-19. Many leaders have now begun to realize teaming as an opportunity to form “superteams.”
Coined by Thomas Malone, the term ‘superteam’ refers to the pairing of people with technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, to rethink workflows and get faster outcomes.
The strategy of turning teams into superteams is still in its infancy, as many companies still see technology from a limited viewpoint — more as a tool than a team member.
According to Deloitte’s 2021 Global Human Capital Trends report, only 16% of executive-level leaders said that they plan to transform work by combining humans and machines.
But the trend is expected to accelerate, with organizations shifting to this new mindset and strategy in a strong position to realize the untapped potential it offers to drive growth and handle uncertainty. Making sure you have the right employee experience software, and the right tech stack is vital.
Rethinking governance of workforce strategies
Covid-19 has opened our eyes to the fact that using data on your workforce’s current state to determine employee strategies is not enough. Relying solely on the metrics showing the workforce’s present situation is risky because it limits a company’s potential to survive drastic changes. This applies to all strategies, from staffing levels to employee retention.
Some organizations are shifting their approach from strategizing for likely, minor events to planning for the unexpected. 17% of HR executives say that their companies plan to focus on the occurrence of unlikely, high-impact events, as opposed to 6% before the pandemic.
Companies that want to handle change with confidence must address questions that force them to look into the future. It’s forward-looking insights that will help businesses accomplish new milestones.
Shifting from managing employees to re-architecting work
Covid-19 has positioned HR as a prominent part of surviving a crisis. And the good news is that HR has lived up to this new standard, gaining more credibility as a result.
A survey by Deloitte has shown that both HR and business leaders are now more certain of HR’s ability to tackle future challenges.
This creates an opportunity for HR departments to leverage their new position and transform their role from that of managing employees to re-architecting work.
HR leaders can make the most of this by taking charge of reimagining both the workforce and the workplace to ensure future success.
The survey also found that 61% of business and HR executives are planning to reimagine work in the next one to three years. This would mean:
Prioritizing outcomes over outputs
Focusing on building superteams that combine human and technological capabilities
Managing the cultural and leadership changes that arise from the new approach to work
As a result, HR trends and goals will align better with business objectives. And HR will need to work closely with other departments to shape the new architecture of work.
Conclusion
These HR trends show the future holds both big opportunities and tough challenges for HR and business leaders. All this is pushing HR professionals to search for and leverage innovative technologies to improve employee productivity and engagement.
In the near future, AI-based predictive and automation technologies are likely to improve all the areas under the HR function, including talent acquisition, workforce analytics, and reskilling of employees. All these ultimately help HRs role in employee engagement.
So use these trends to anticipate new developments in the human resource field, and to inform your business processes moving forward. It will give you a solid foundation to not just survive but thrive in the face of upcoming changes.
Digital tools are transforming the way organizations build and sustain employee engagement. Platforms like Blink, Workvivo, Staffbase, and Reward Gateway are helping teams stay connected, improve communication, and bring company culture to life — wherever employees work.
But with so many employee engagement tools on the market, choosing the right one can be tricky. The wrong platform can waste time, hurt adoption, and even reduce engagement.
Getting it right matters. Companies with highly engaged teams are more productive and see up to 23% higher profitability. The best employee engagement software goes beyond simple communication — it connects people, recognizes great work, and supports a shared sense of purpose.
Every organization is different. The tools that work for a remote or office-based workforce may not suit a frontline team. That’s why it’s important to align your engagement goals with the right platform.
You’ll find software built for:
Frontline employees — mobile-first apps like Blink that keep workers connected on the go
Remote teams — tools such as Asana and Slack that combine communication and project management
Office-based teams — platforms like Culture Amp and OfficeVibe that measure engagement and feedback
And others that specialize in areas such as:
Communication and collaboration
Feedback and performance
Wellbeing and productivity
Rewards and recognition
Choosing the right solution depends on your people and your priorities — because engagement software only works when it works for everyone.
For frontline organizations, this is especially true. Most engagement platforms are still built with desk-based employees in mind. Only 1 in 10 frontline workers says they have access to the tools and technology they need to connect and advance at work — even though they make up 82% of the global workforce.
Without easy access to company updates, communication, and recognition, frontline employees can quickly feel disconnected and undervalued.
That’s why your employee engagement solution needs to work for all employees — wherever and however they work.
In the next section, we’ll look at the best employee engagement software for 2026 — from all-in-one employee apps like Blink to specialized tools for communication, wellbeing, and recognition.
Let’s take a closer look.
Best employee engagement app for frontline organizations
Frontline employees are the backbone of many industries — from transportation and retail to healthcare and hospitality. But engaging this workforce comes with unique challenges. Many frontline employees don’t have regular access to company systems, email, or desktop devices, making it harder for them to stay informed and connected.
That’s why mobile-first employee engagement software has become essential. The best platforms for frontline teams combine communication, recognition, and real-time updates in one easy-to-use app.
These tools close the gap between head office and the field, helping every employee — regardless of location — feel included in company culture.
Below are some of the best employee engagement tools for frontline workers in 2026, starting with Blink, a leading all-in-one platform designed specifically for deskless and distributed teams.
Best employee engagement software for frontline workers
Blink
When it comes to engaging a dispersed, frontline workforce, few tools match what Blink delivers.
Blink is a mobile-first employee engagement platform built to help organizations connect with every worker — whether they’re in the field, on the factory floor, or on the move. Used by teams across industries such as transport, healthcare, logistics, and construction, Blink turns everyday communication into connection.
Employees can easily chat with colleagues, access company updates, view schedules, and complete essential tasks all in one place. The result: better communication, stronger engagement, and a more unified culture.
Managers benefit, too. Blink’s analytics dashboard helps leaders track engagement and performance trends, identify communication gaps, and celebrate wins through built-in recognition tools.
Key features include:
All-in-one communication: Peer-to-peer chat, team groups, and company-wide updates keep everyone aligned.
Employee recognition: Built-in recognition features highlight great work and reinforce culture.
Engagement surveys: Pulse surveys provide quick, actionable insights into morale and satisfaction.
Analytics and insights: Track usage, engagement, and content performance to inform strategy.
Seamless integrations: Connect scheduling, HR, and project management tools for a single digital workspace.
Mobile-first design: Works on any smartphone — no corporate email required.
With Blink, your entire workforce can access the same tools and information, creating a seamless digital experience that keeps everyone connected, informed, and motivated.
Request a demo today to see how Blink can transform engagement across your frontline teams.
Best employee engagement software for desk-based remote workers
If you're looking for employee engagement software platforms suited to desk-based remote workers, here are some excellent options.
Google Chat
Source: Google Chat Capterra Reviews
Google Chat is a communication platform that includes features like video and voice calls, and group chat. It's a great option for workplace communication and it's free to use.
As you’d expect, this tool integrates with the rest of the Google suite, including Google Calendar, Drive, Groups, and Gmail. But it lacks some of the advanced features you tend to get with paid tools.
Reviews from Capterra note that Google Chat is easy to use. It also provides good collaboration tools. However, the interface can be frustrating, message delivery can be an issue, and notifications can be challenging to navigate.
Pricing: Monthly pricing for Google Chat for business starts at $6 per user.
Discord
Discord is a chat app designed for gamers. But it’s recently been used for workplace communication, too. It includes features like voice and video chat, so you can easily connect and communicate with colleagues.
You can use Discord for free, making it a basic but cost-effective tool for internal communications, especially in a remote working environment.
Pricing: Many of Discord’s features are free to use. For businesses that want to invest in extra perks, Discord’s premium tier, “Nitro,” is available for $99 per year.
Asana
Asana is a popular project management tool that can also be used for employee engagement. With Asana, you can easily create and assign tasks, track task progress, and set team priorities. You can also use Asana to create custom projects for easy employee collaboration.
Source: Asana Capterra reviews
Asana makes a great option for remote teams, in part because it offers a mobile app for easy access to tasks and progress data. This helps to ensure that employees are working cohesively and effectively wherever they’re based.
Reviews from Capterra note that while Asana offers a clean, intuitive, and integrated interface, notifications are often missed, automatic opt-in to email notifications can be annoying, and the different projects and access features can be confusing.
Pricing: Monthly pricing for Asana starts at a basic free plan. A business plan costs $24.99 per user per month when billed annually.
ClickUp
ClickUp is a cloud-based collaboration and project management tool and it’s a good option for those looking to improve remote employee engagement.
Key features include task assignments and statuses, alerts, and a task toolbar. But while ClickUp does well in terms of task management, it doesn’t offer a full range of employee engagement tools.
This platform lacks features relating to real-time communication, employee recognition, and social interaction. So you’re likely to need additional software.
Pricing: ClickUp offers a free version. Monthly pricing for a Business plan costs $12 per user per month.
WorkTango
WorkTango is an employee experience platform with a number of solutions for employee engagement. It provides tools like employee surveys, real-time analytics, rewards, and recognition.
You can also see how your engagement scores rank against other WorkTango customers to get a better sense of how you’re doing.
On Capterra, users say that anonymous feedback and anonymous employee chat allow for truly honest conversations. Clients also praise recognition features. However, some users would like better reporting tools and easier platform navigation.
Leapsome is a good employee engagement tool for goal setting and employee development.
It’s designed to support organizations to create high-performing teams. You can use Leapsome to track and collaborate on goals, run 360-degree reviews, and create personalized learning pathways.
With lots of tools for remote teams, Leapsome helps maintain employee progress even when employees aren’t in the office. The software also offers video conferencing tools, which make it easy to collaborate on agendas and align action plans.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $8 per user per month, with the option to add on the extra features you need.
Slack
Source: Slack Capterra Reviews
Slack is a great productivity tool for remote office workers. It helps you to organize teams and their work, with the help of channels, huddles, and a workflow builder.
However, it's worth noting that Slack doesn't provide much in the way of scheduling, performance tracking, or survey features. If these tools are essential to your organization, you’ll need to use Slack plus another employee engagement platform.
Reviews from Capterra note that Slack’s user interface is easy to use. They like channel and plugin features. They also appreciate having all work conversations in one place.
However, reviews also note that it can be a confusing platform to use, with lots of channels across different teams. Adoption can also be difficult if people are not familiar with the software.
Pricing: For multiple employees, monthly pricing for Slack starts at $6.67 per user.
Best employee engagement software for desk-based office workers
Now, let’s take a look at the tech tools best suited to office worker engagement.
OfficeVibe
Source: OfficeVibe Capterra Reviews
OfficeVibe is a “people-first” employee experience platform, with a number of employee engagement features designed for the office.
It helps employers to assess and improve employee engagement levels with robust measurement tools. It also provides an app so you can track progress on the go if needed.
Reviews from Capterra note that OfficeVibe is an innovative tool that helps organizations better understand employee happiness. The company also provides strong customer service.
However, managers complain that survey questions can’t be customized and that insights don’t go deep enough. They also say that the Slack integration doesn’t work too well and that setup can be confusing.
Pricing: Monthly pricing for OfficeVibe ranges from a free version to a $5 per user Pro Plan.
SurveyMonkey
By using employee satisfaction survey tools like SurveyMonkey, you can collect regular feedback from employees on their engagement levels. This real-time feedback can help you to identify problem areas and take steps to improve employee engagement in your organization.
As well as survey templates, SurveyMonkey offers reporting and analytics features that help you spot data trends and insights. It also uses AI to reveal employee sentiment.
Pricing: For over three users, monthly pricing for SurveyMonkey starts at $31.83 per user.
Doodle
Employee polls are a quick and easy way to collect anonymous feedback from employees on a range of topics. You can use employee poll tools from Doodle to gather feedback on everything from engagement levels to job satisfaction.
But Doodle does more than polls. It also provides meeting, video conferencing, and scheduling tools. You can even poll meeting attendees to find a time that works for everyone and improve attendance.
Pricing: Monthly pricing for Doodle Professional starts at $6.95 per user.
Monday.com
Monday.com is a project management tool that can also be used for employee engagement.
With Monday.com, you can create and assign tasks, track progress, and more. You can also use it to create performance tracking templates for employees. This can help you to identify areas where employees need improvement and take steps to address them.
On Capterra, Monday.com users say that the platform’s project management tools are excellent. But others complain that the backend of the platform is complicated and involves a steep learning curve.
Pricing: For more than two employees, monthly pricing for Monday.com starts at $8 per user per month.
Culture Amp
Culture Amp’s employee engagement platform provides over 40 science-backed survey templates. You can use these surveys to find out how employees feel about engagement, belonging, inclusion, and more.
The platform also uses AI-powered insights to summarize employee engagement findings, supporting your business to make data-backed decisions.
Reviews from Capterra say that Culture Amp has a user-friendly user interface. They also praise the platform’s ready-to-go survey templates.
But users don’t like having to rely on the Culture Amp support team to update some parts of the platform. They also say that — while survey features are strong — features like the objective and key results (OKR) module aren’t as well-developed.
The following tools specialize in one area of employee engagement. As such, they make a great add-on to your chosen staff engagement tool.
At Blink, our App Marketplace integrates all the tools you need to manage your employee engagement in one place. If we don't already integrate with your app, just ask!
Kudos
Kudos is an add-on app that allows employees to give and receive recognition in real time. With Kudos, you can create a culture of recognition where employees feel appreciated for their hard work.
Pricing: Monthly pricing for Kudos starts at $3.25 per user.
Friday
Friday is an app that makes it easy to give employees recognition for a job well done. With Friday, you can give employees badges, points, and rewards to show your appreciation.
Pricing: Friday has a free version. Monthly pricing goes up to $100+ for company plans.
Bonusly
Bonusly is another dedicated employee recognition tool. Bonusly supports peer recognition, allowing employees to give each other bonuses in the form of points that can be redeemed for rewards. By using Bonusly, you can create a culture of appreciation and recognition throughout your workforce.
Pricing: Monthly pricing options for Bonusly starts at $2.70 per user.
Limeade Wellbeing
Employee wellbeing programs, like those on offer from Limeade, go hand in hand with employee engagement programs. Because when employees feel healthier, happier, and less stressed, they have the headspace they need to engage with their work.
Limeade provides customized employee wellness programs. These programs encourage participation and deliver essential wellbeing resources via one handy tool.
With this tool, you can also listen and respond to your workforce in real time through anonymous surveys, polls, and quizzes. All that’s really missing from this system is strong employee communication tools.
WeThrive is an employee engagement tool designed to support the mental health of desk-based workers. With this platform, you can create surveys to assess employee wellbeing and then take action to improve it.
WeThrive analytics allow you to segment survey results by team, tenure, location, department, and manager. This makes it easy to identify the root causes of poor wellbeing and identify areas for improvement.
Reward Gateway is an employee engagement solution that offers employee discounts, employee rewards and recognition, and tools for employee communications.
This combined platform is a great tool for office-based employers looking to boost employee recognition, with features such as discounts and rewards accessible in one place.
Reviews from Capterra note that Reward Gateway is flexible and easy to use. But it can be glitchy, with reporting features sometimes not running properly and some features failing to run as smoothly as others.
Pricing: Monthly pricing for Reward Gateway starts at $10.19 per user.
Weekdone
For structured goal setting, Weekdone is an excellent choice. It’s a top-rated OKR platform that allows you to track weekly plans and progress, provide feedback, and get everyone pulling in the same direction.
OKR software can also be used to ensure that remote employees have clear objectives, with performance reviews and goal tracking.
Pricing: For more than three employees, monthly pricing for Weekdone is $8 per user.
Awardco
Awardco is another bonus tool that makes recognizing and rewarding people easier and more effective.
With Awardco, employers can set up reward and recognition programs that their employees can access from any device. You can tailor incentives to your teams, ensuring the prizes on offer act as real motivation.
This tool is a good option for office-based companies of all sizes looking to increase employee satisfaction and engage with their workforce to boost productivity.
Pricing: Pricing for Awardco ranges from $2,500 to $4,000 per year.
QuizBreaker
QuizBreaker is a virtual team-building tool. It works well for both office-based and dispersed teams, bringing a bit of gamification to the work day.
Key features of QuizBreaker include:
a scheduled icebreaker quiz that helps employees get to know each other better
escape games and 1,000+ trivia quizzes for fun team-building events
employee profiles that reveal work style, unique strengths, and fun facts
pulse surveys to help you get regular feedback from employees
QuizBreaker isn’t an all-in-one employee engagement tool. But this platform helps teams to bond and brings a little fun to your workplace culture.
Capterra score: Not found in Capterra database. Pricing: Monthly pricing for QuizBreaker starts at $3 per user.
Motivosity
Motivosity is employee recognition software that makes it easy for managers to give recognition and rewards.
Motivosity’s “Thanks Matters” card is an innovative way of rewarding employees. Like Bonusly, you assign points for great performance. These points directly translate into cash, which employees can access via a special Visa debit card.
They can choose from hundreds of reward options. You can even add your own gifts such as branded swag or lunch with the CEO. Employees can also choose to forgo cash rewards in order to make charitable donations.
Key employee engagement software features to prioritize in 2026
When choosing the right employee engagement software for your organization, focus on the features that will help you overcome your biggest engagement challenges. The right combination of tools can improve communication, morale, and productivity across every level of your workforce.
Channels and chats
Communication is the foundation of engagement. Real-time chat features — including group channels, private messages, and announcements — ensure employees stay in the loop and can collaborate quickly, wherever they work.
Surveys, polls, and content analytics
Platforms with built-in surveys, polls, and analytics help you measure engagement levels, gather employee sentiment, and identify emerging issues before they become major problems. This data ensures every employee has a voice and helps leaders take action with confidence.
Employee recognition
Recognition tools — such as kudos, badges, or points systems — make it easy to celebrate achievements and highlight great work. This simple feature goes a long way toward strengthening motivation, morale, and a sense of belonging.
Analytics and dashboards
For organizations managing distributed or frontline teams, analytics functions are essential. They allow you to measure engagement, retention, and satisfaction while uncovering insights into how employees interact with leadership and one another. These insights drive continuous improvement in your employee experience strategy.
A main feed or hub
A centralized hub — or main company feed — brings all updates, videos, documents, and announcements together in one place. This consolidation creates a single source of truth, keeping employees informed and aligned with your company’s goals.
At Blink, our frontline employee app brings all of these features together. With tools for chat, recognition, surveys, analytics, and communication, Blink helps you overcome common engagement challenges and connect every employee — from the frontline to the office.
The business benefits of digital employee engagement tools
Digital engagement tools require an upfront investment — both financially and in time. But the return on that investment is substantial. The right software encourages participation, builds connection, and creates a culture employees want to be part of.
Below are the five key business benefits of using digital employee engagement software.
#1. Reduce employee turnover and save on recruitment costs
Engaged employees are more likely to stay with your organization, reducing the cost of recruitment and training. According to SHRM, hiring a new employee can cost three to four times the position’s salary, making engagement one of the most effective retention strategies available.
Digital tools strengthen this connection by amplifying company culture and ensuring all employees can participate fully — leading to a happier, more loyal workforce.
#2. Strengthen company culture through digital engagement platforms
In today’s competitive labor market, salary alone isn’t enough to retain top talent. Engaged employees are motivated by purpose, belonging, and appreciation.
Digital engagement tools help reinforce these pillars by improving communication, supporting growth, and enabling public recognition. The right platform makes culture tangible — connecting leadership, values, and everyday work.
#3. Improve internal communication with employee engagement software
Two-way communication is critical for engagement. Modern tools help you deliver the right message to the right people — whether through audience segmentation, targeted updates, or role-based notifications.
These platforms also make it easier to track the effectiveness of communication. With built-in analytics, you can see how employees interact with content and refine your messaging to increase engagement and clarity across the organization.
#4. Use analytics to understand and improve employee engagement
Feedback is the backbone of a strong employee engagement strategy. Without it, leaders can’t identify what’s working or where improvements are needed.
Employee engagement software with advanced reporting provides actionable insights. You can see how satisfied employees are, how frequently they engage with company updates, and where there are communication or experience gaps.
With Blink, for example, you can access detailed data on engagement, satisfaction, and retention — helping you identify frontline challenges early and respond faster.
#5. Boost productivity with connected employee engagement platforms
Disconnected tools slow teams down. Employees lose valuable time switching between apps, searching for information, and handling repetitive admin tasks.
A unified engagement platform streamlines these processes. By digitizing workflows, automating basic tasks, and connecting every workplace app in one place, you free up employees to focus on meaningful, high-impact work.
Blink’s connected platform helps teams stay organized and productive — from digitized HR processes to mobile-friendly task management — improving both individual and organizational performance.
Mike is always willing to help out where needed. He has run the loader on days when we are very busy and does a great job of training new employees in processes and the culture here at Holcim.
He recently received a new 12-yard mixer that he works diligently to keep as clean as possible throughout the week — so much so that his truck was recently used at an NRMCA event!
His great attitude and friendly demeanor makes him a joy to work with every day and he embodies what Holcim is all about.
How has Blink helped in his role?
Blink has helped Michael get new employees set up with the things that are most important to them and helped show the culture that makes Holcim great.
What does he want to do next?
Mike would love to become a Master Driver Trainer in the near future, so he can continue teaching new employees in the future.
Nominated by: Joseph Bockenfeld, Plant Manager Sandcreek RMX
Movement is your bread and butter. The movement of goods. The movement of passengers. But when it comes to the movement of information, transit and logistics organizations have it tough.
Reaching employees who aren’t tethered to a desk isn’t always easy. These employees don’t tend to have a company email address. And they don’t have easy access to desk-based tech and tools. This means they can’t access the traditional intranets that many organizations still use.
If you’re anything like thousands of transit and logistics companies up and down the country, you may be experiencing an employee communication gap. And this causes no end of organizational headaches.
Frontline managers bear the brunt. They already juggle competing demands. But they also spend a big chunk of their workday relaying messages between the C-suite, HR, and frontline workers.
Remember, every minute a frontline manager spends sending out comms or fielding inquiries is another minute diverted from delivering speed and quality.
Frontline workers suffer, too. When internal communication is patchy, they feel less connected to their organization. And less satisfied with their jobs.
You can put an end to these headaches with effective workplace communication. It’s a bridge that connects HQ with your transit depot, warehouse floor, and drivers. A solution that eases a frontline manager’s workload and helps you better reach transit and logistics employees.
In this article, we explore all the ways you can develop effective workplace communication in your transit or logistics organization. So buckle up and let’s take a closer look.
Importance of reaching your transit & logistics employees
When the people within your organization struggle to communicate effectively, it isn’t simply an inconvenience. Poor employee communication can cause serious problems for your company. Problems like inefficiency, employee disengagement, and staff churn.
Luckily, the converse is also true. Prioritize communication and find ways to reach your transit and logistics employees and there are valuable business benefits to be gained.
You improve manager efficiency
Currently, managers spend a lot of time using ineffective methods to reach employees.
They stick paper memos on the depot noticeboard. They make phone calls. And they take on the role of messenger, carrying information between HR, leadership, and frontline employees.
When you make employee communication more effective, managers get valuable time back. They can get messages out quickly and effectively. So they have more time to focus on other tasks.
You empower your frontline
Good employee communication empowers your frontline. You help them thrive in their roles and feel connected to the larger mission. You put the tools and resources they need at their fingertips.
For example, employees find it easy to get the latest company updates. They can also access information on their shift schedule and pay stubs. And get support from managers when they need it.
You boost staff happiness and retention
Focus on communication and you make your workplace friendlier and more connected. Managers and leadership can communicate with employees. But employees can also communicate with one another. And they have a direct line to decision-makers
This connection supports engagement, which supports employee loyalty. When an organization has good internal communication, staff are less likely to leave.
We know that it’s difficult to hire frontline staff right now, in both transit and logistics organizations. Labor shortages are impacting a company’s ability to operate and turn a healthy profit.
Engaging your employees better — with the help of effective internal communication — makes it more likely that they’ll stay working for your organization.
8 strategies to improve how you reach your transit & logistics employees
We know how important good employee communication is to a frontline organization. So let’s take a look at all the ways you can achieve it.
Use an employee app
Some of your transit and logistics employees sit at a desk. But many of them spend their days on the road or on the warehouse floor, away from the office.
These frontline team members don’t necessarily have an employee email address. And they very rarely have access to a work computer. This makes them hard to reach — particularly if you’re using traditional, desktop-based communication tech.
A mobile-first employee communication tool, like a frontline app, bridges the gap between head office and frontline workers.
A few standout features?
An employee app doesn’t require an employee email address or a desk-top device. Employees can access all company comms securely via their smartphones.
An employee app is easy to use. Its interface is like that of popular social media apps. So employees find it intuitive to use and adoption tends to be high.
An employee app is a one-stop-shop. Employees get everything from pay stubs to shift schedules, co-worker messages to mandatory updates. All in the palm of their hand.
An employee app is effective. Updates and tools are available for employees to access at a time and place that suits them. So fewer messages are missed.
Implement regular meetings
Whole-team meetings help you to create an open dialogue. Employees get up-to-speed on the latest company news. Managers can answer employee questions. Everyone feels more connected to co-workers and the wider organization.
You can also use meetings to find solutions to problems. When you have a full range of perspectives and priorities in a room, it’s easier to make decisions that work for everyone.
Regular meetings are an important tool in internal communications. But they’re not always easy to arrange for transit and logistics teams. When everyone is working different shift patterns – across many locations – implementing whole-team meetings is a challenge.
There are a couple of ways around this.
You can rotate the time and location of meetings so employees on a fixed shift pattern aren’t always missing out. You can also keep meetings short and sweet to maximize the number of people who can attend.
And don’t forget to harness the power of tech. Virtual meetings are just as valuable as in-person meetings. As long as everyone is able and encouraged to give real-time input.
Provide training opportunities
Continuous training gives employees the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to excel. It helps employees to make better decisions and provide better service. It also helps your organization to comply with safety regulations.
But frontline employees often miss out on training opportunities.
According to McKinsey research, 20% of frontline employees says that their employer offers no resources to adequately prepare them for advancement opportunities. And 65% say they are unsure or unaware of how to achieve career advancement.
Employees feel more engaged — and therefore more receptive to company comms — when they feel valued, enabled, and supported.
As well as offering role-based training equitably to both frontline and desk-based teams, you can use training to support your comms goals in the following ways:
Teach new hires about company culture and communication norms
Offer training on the communication tools you use
Incorporate training on company goals and how an employee’s role supports them
Training makes employees better at their jobs. But it can also help them to feel more connected to their work and the wider organization.
Establish feedback loops
A one-way conversation, where we can’t get a word in edgewise, is no fun. We’re happy to listen – but we want our voices to be heard, too.
It’s no different for company communications. The most connected and engaged organizations welcome two-way conversations between employees and leadership.
Of course, top-down communication has its place. Leaders need to share company updates and essential information with employees. But ideas, queries, and opinions need to flow in the other direction too.
You can encourage more bottom-up communication from your transit or logistics employees by creating feedback channels. Try to run:
Pulse surveys: to get a snapshot of how employees are feeling
Annual surveys: to gain in-depth insight into the employee experience and benchmark your performance
If you don’t have survey tech that frontline employees can use, suggestion boxes are an alternative. You could also run a regular schedule of 1-2-1 meetings so employees can speak up about any issues they’re facing.
Just remember that facilitating regular, anonymous feedback is only the first step in the process. To ensure employees get involved with your feedback program, you need to establish a feedback loop.
This means telling employees what their feedback has revealed — and any changes you plan to make. You can then give them further updates on the actions you’re taking and the results they’re producing.
Promote transparency
Trust is the foundation of positive internal communication. Employees are more likely to engage with your comms when they trust in what you’re saying. And they’re more likely to be transparent in their own communication when they have your example to follow.
So how do you make your employees more trusting? It all starts with transparency in the way you share information.
Transparent communication helps employees to understand leadership logic. When they understand the reasoning behind decisions and changes, they’re more likely to get behind them. And when you’re honest about challenges and problems, they may also be able to offer helpful solutions.
Ultimately, when employees can count on open, valuable communication like this, they’re less likely to avoid noticeboard memos and the company emails that land in their inbox.
Transparent employee communication is easier when you have the right communication channels — like town hall meetings, a frontline app, and regular 1-2-1s. Training can also help managers and employees to embrace a company culture where sharing information is the norm.
Recognize your employees
Recognition is a form of employee communication that fosters connection between employee and employer. It helps to create a positive work environment with high morale and engagement.
If you feel you could do more to recognize employees, start by thinking about your company culture. What are the behaviors you want to see in your organization?
Then align recognition with these behaviors, celebrating and rewarding employees when they demonstrate them.
Here are a few ideas for ways you can weave recognition into your day-to-day:
Celebrating work and personal milestones
Peer-to-peer recognition (where co-workers get to highlight the successes of their peers)
Employee of the Month awards
Public recognition via employee communication channels
By offering regular, timely recognition you motivate employees to do a great job. And by recognizing employees publicly, you inspire their co-workers to follow suit.
But it’s not just about performance and productivity. Recognition feeds your internal communication efforts, too.
That’s because engaged employees are more likely to read and respond to company messages. And because recognition helps to strengthen workplace relationships. Show that you value one another and open, trusting, effective communication becomes a whole lot easier.
Support collaboration
Collaboration supports internal communication — and vice versa. That’s because collaboration translates into all the following:
Effective knowledge sharing: when employees have the right communication channels, they can share insights and learning with other team members
An aligned organization: when your teams work together, you align employees around company goals and objectives
Improved problem-solving and decision-making: two heads are better than one, so when employees regularly share ideas and perspectives you end up with better solutions and decisions
Strong relationships: employees who work together develop stronger relationships and find it even easier to communicate and collaborate in the future
You can encourage collaboration by celebrating collaboration when you see it. You also need easy-to-use communication channels that break down silos. This means frontline teams can work together, even when they’re physically apart.
Imagine a bus driver comes across a patch of black ice on their route. With a clearly defined, mobile-first communication channel, they can quickly and easily alert other drivers to the hazard.
With good collaboration, everyone’s work gets safer, easier, and more satisfying. And employees have the support they need to be better at their jobs.
Offer clear internal communication channels
Think about how your organization communicates with employees in the here and now. You and your teams might be using some (or all) of the following:
An intranet
Noticeboards
Phone calls
Emails
Word of mouth
A suggestion box
Personal messaging apps
Town hall meetings
1-2-1 meetings
These communication channels don’t meet the needs of every employee within a transport or logistics organization.
Drivers and warehouse workers don’t always have access to a company email address or the company intranet. It’s pretty much impossible to schedule a town hall meeting that everyone can attend.
Some of these methods of communication are also unreliable and inefficient. Memos on a noticeboard are quickly out-of-date. Individually calling employees about their shifts takes up a lot of manager time. And messaging via personal apps isn’t always secure.
A modern intranet or employee app is a more effective alternative. When you put a clear communication channel in place — and train employees in how to use it — you cut the noise.
You also reap the following benefits:
You create one source of reliable information so employees learn to trust company comms
Managers spend less time on comms because they can quickly and easily reach all employees on the same communication channel
Frontline and office-based employees get equal access to internal communication – no one is left out of the loop
Employees get targeted comms, relevant to their roles, so they’re much less likely to ignore the messages you send
Blink is an employee app built for frontline organizations. It helps transit and logistics companies to achieve better communication, connection, and efficiency. It also acts as the digital front door for your organization.
Communication
With a built-in newsfeed, messaging function, and content hub, you can achieve effective company communication. You can share your mission and acknowledge top performers. Managers can post mandatory reads, conduct 1-2-1s, and direct communications to specific regions, sites, and departments. All while avoiding information overload.
Connection
You help to combat driver loneliness with employee chat, employee surveys, and an engaging, personalized news feed. You bring connection to solitary roles and help employees to feel seen, heard, and appreciated.
Efficiency
With Blink, you connect frontline staff to management and resolve issues faster. Staff are empowered to file accident reports and outage updates. Managers replace time-consuming paper-based processes with digital ones. Leaders also get valuable data and reporting features that allow them to visualize communication flow and further improve their comms strategy.
A digital front door
Via Blink’s user-friendly dashboard, employees can access all the apps and tools they use. Shipment details, shift schedules, digital order forms, health and safety notices, training materials, pay stubs. With the Blink frontline app, you put everything at the fingertips of every employee.
Blink case study: Stagecoach bus company
UK bus company, Stagecoach, has already put Blink’s frontline app into action. They needed a way to connect their 21,000 bus drivers and improve staff engagement.
Thanks to Blink they have:
Reduced staff turnover by 26%
Increased employee satisfaction by 46%
And with 89% of drivers opening the employee app an average of six times per day, they’ve managed to reach the majority of their frontline workforce each and every day.