America’s Most AI-Optimistic Workforces

Every quarter, we get better at one job: building the universal platform for frontline work. This is one of our biggest releases yet, and it lands across four areas that matter most to the people who rely on Blink every day. That's comms teams publishing to everyone, and frontline workers reading, watching, and replying.

Here's what's shipping, and what it means for your organization.

Reach everyone, without losing an afternoon to it

For internal comms managers, "I need to tell everyone" shouldn't turn into an afternoon of admin. This release shortens that path.

On the Hub:

• Scheduled publishing and scheduled expiry are now live on Hub pages. Plan content ahead, or set sensitive material to come down automatically.

• Draft Hub pages let you build in peace. Work stays hidden from end users until you're ready to hit publish.

In the feed:

• Organization admins can now edit the copy and attachments on any post, no more deleting and reposting. That includes editing a post before approving it, which makes the approval flow faster and cuts down on back-and-forth with individual users.

• Post settings got a rework. A single importance selector (standard, important, critical) replaces the old mix of priority, pin, and feature toggles. Only critical posts can be pinned, so fewer stale posts linger at the top of the feed. Standard posts can still trigger a notification, and once a post's been live more than 24 hours, you can see exactly when it went out.

Communication worth watching

Frontline workers consume content the way everyone does now: short, visual, on a phone, between tasks. Text gets skimmed. Video gets watched. This release makes Blink video-first.

• Video in chat. Upload and play video directly in a conversation. No downloading, no detours.

• Custom thumbnails. Pick the frame that best represents your video, for feed posts and chat messages alike, instead of leaving it to chance.

• Better playback, powered by Mux. Video now runs on Mux, which means consistent playback and captions across every device, plus the groundwork for richer video analytics down the line.
• Sharper stories on iOS. Story videos now start at higher quality right away, regardless of connection.
• Livestream from your phone. Mobile livestreaming lets org admins go live straight from a phone, matching what's already possible on desktop, with support for native streaming and third-party RTMP.

Chat that works like the rest of your day

Frontline workers need to reach colleagues instantly, wherever they are. Chat should feel like every other messaging app they already use, so we made it feel that way.

• Pin what matters. Anyone can pin a message, up to 25 per conversation, and channel admins can unpin any of them.

• Mute without leaving. Step back from a busy conversation without stepping out of it.
• A status that actually fits your day. Set a status, write a custom one, or snooze notifications entirely. Organizations can even add their own status presets at the admin level, so everyone sees the options that make sense for your team.
• Polls that flex. Add up to 12 options, and votes are now editable, so no more accidental taps locking people in.
• Smoother media sharing. Drag and drop media into the order you want, add captions as you send, and upload multiple files in one go.

AI that does the work

Describe it. Blink builds it.

Building surveys, forms, journeys, and Hub pages has always been slow, fiddly work, the kind that bottlenecks comms teams right when they need to move fast. It's the headline act of this release.

AI builders turn a plain-English prompt into a ready-to-edit draft. Tell Blink what you need, and get a starting point in seconds instead of an afternoon. AI builders are now available on pages, journeys, surveys, and forms.

Sharper workforce insights

Blink IQ customers get two more additions from July 30: Blink IQ translations, which auto-translate analytics dashboards into 20 languages, and Blink Lens chat history, now built into its own tab in the admin panel so Blink IQ Gold customers can revisit past conversations with Lens anytime.

What's next: task management

We're giving an early look at what we're building next: task management, coming soon to Blink. Want a preview, or want to put your hand up as an early adopter? Get in touch with your Blink contact.

Want to see it all in action? Join our release webinar to watch AI builders, faster publishing, video-first chat, and everything else in this release live, plus a first look at what's coming next.

The Shift went live on Thursday April 20th, hosting an 'Ask Me Anything' session on the topic of frontline stress and wellbeing. Ahead of the event, we asked our audience to send in their questions about burnout on the frontline. The response we got was phenomenal.

Here, we list — and answer — the questions that weren't covered in the live discussion (now available to watch on-demand). These questions are all in search of practical insights: how to help employees who are struggling with burnout, what strategies other managers have had success with, why managers sometimes don't feel confident handling burnout conversations and how to build that muscle.

A big thank you to our 'Ask Me Anything' panel who helped put these answers together:

• Chris Stewart, Managing Director of Minding Minds, a Mental Health First Aid training company
• Ian Gordon, former President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring
• Simon White, VP of People at Blink

Understanding frontline burnout

Q: What are the early signs of burnout?

Burnout can show itself in several ways and, because we're dealing with people, everyone is individual in their responses. That said, the 'warning signs' are usually:

• Exhaustion/tiredness — You see this when employees still look tired on a Monday morning; the weekends don't feel long enough and just aren't touching the sides in relieving the fatigue. When tiredness becomes extreme, people will not only feel physically drained, but they'll also lose interest in the tasks they used to find enjoyable. This is also a warning sign for depression.
  
• Difficulty concentrating — Coupled with the above, employees may experience a 'butterfly mind', flitting from one thought to another. They may chase issues or tasks, but never stay on them long enough to make progress.
  
• Preoccupation with work and being overly driven — It might sound counterintuitive, but some people approaching burnout will throw themselves into their work and lose themselves within it...
  
• Presenteeism/drop in productivity — ...And yet, being 'at work' doesn't mean you're getting work done. It takes a person longer to complete their tasks when they start to burn out. 10 hours of work may only reap 2 hours of results; they're working more hours, with less output, and lower quality. Of course, the opposite can be a warning sign too. Some people will do less, attend work less, or leave work early due to a lack of interest or bandwidth.
  
• Loss of motivation or outlook — This can be a very corrosive warning sign, and we should always be looking for changes to someone's regular demeanor. Are they displaying more negativity than usual? Are they becoming more cynical? It's unlikely that the individual will notice this change in outlook as they are already in that belief system. It's a manager's role to notice this change. It's an important 'tell' that something is seriously wrong.

• Physical signs — Stress shows itself physically as well. Difficulty sleeping, gastrointestinal issues, aches and pains, low immunity and so higher levels of sickness; if someone is falling ill more often than they used to, burnout may be the root cause.

Q: How can we have an immediate impact on someone who is struggling with mental health?

As mentioned above, everyone's symptoms will be different — and their needs will be too. One thing we can all do is develop the skills to spot the warning signs, approach the person for a conversation, uncover the issues, and respond to their individual needs. There has to be a conversation. That's the most immediate action we can take to help.

Q: Is there a point of no return with frontline burnout or can it be reversed with early identification?

We can think of burnout like an elastic band. You can really stretch it, and though it's under stress, it's still holding. Hold it at a stress point for too long, though, and you'll alter the shape and elasticity of the band forever, even when it's released.

And what happens to an elastic band when we pull it too tight without relieving it? It breaks. You can tie the band back up and it will still serve its function, but it will never regain its original capacity for stretch or stress.

People's capacity for stress never seems to return to their pre-burnout point. Their stress container has shrunk with the experience. But there's a positive within this: when people do return to work post-burnout, they have little choice but to take stress management seriously. People may focus in different ways and manage stress much more effectively.

So, the answer is yes, burnout can be reversed. But given that the warning signs include a preoccupation with work and a drop in productivity or change in emotional outlook, it's up to the organization to have systems and support in place to pick up on these signs and stop them from developing. The individual may not even know they are going through these early or mid stages of burnout.

We have tachographs for lorry drivers and pilots because we know the risks associated with a lack of relief or downtime. The same applies to our people. The company tachograph must look at more than just hours logged, though. Clear and communicated support, with honest feedback sought, and ongoing risk assessment are all essential.

Q: What is the top question you're getting from managers who are on-site and helping lead the frontline?

The biggest question frontline leaders usually have is: "Even if I think there's an issue, how do I broach talking about mental health? I'm not qualified to deal with this. I have enough to deal with already. I am under-supported and under-skilled".

Q: How can you fight and mitigate stress in a mostly remote or deskless work environment? As someone in the corporate office and not close to the frontline, what can I do to help?

Start with communication. This is one of the most powerful ways of fighting and mitigating stress: you have to understand how your frontline is doing and they have to know that you care.

Next, there's advocacy. As a leader, you're either in or close to the seat of power, and you can get buy-in at the top for frontline wellbeing support.

Third, you need to make life easier for the frontline where you can. Reduce the stress that comes from unnecessary cognitive load. Help make them more efficient at work with proper tooling that makes a meaningful difference to their day-to-day.

Q: What can an individual do to support their own mental health?

Check for the warning signs in yourself, where possible, and start to learn what the beginning of stress feels like for you. It's important to take responsibility for your own stress and wellbeing, and to communicate with others when you're feeling the symptoms.

Wellbeing solutions and strategies for frontline teams

Q: Do you have any unique or innovative ways of improving engagement with key wellbeing initiatives? How do you increase morale?

One great example comes from Salutem, a leading care provider in the UK. Like many businesses, Salutem's staff were left feeling stressed and with low morale following the pandemic. The organization was disconnected and disengaged, and Salutem's leaders wanted a new, inspiring way to give employees a voice.

Salutem launched S.E.L.F (the Salutem Employee Listening Forum), with managers using Blink to nominate S.E.L.F Reps using the Feed. These Reps were responsible for moderating Blink Channels for their regions and following up with their teams. Co-workers were encouraged to share their thoughts and have candid conversations regarding their concerns and ideas for improvement.

Given how essential conversation and communication is for promoting wellbeing and mitigating burnout, creating these connections can deliver a lot of impact, fast.

Social and peer proof can also be powerful. There will always be workers who appreciate the importance of taking care of themselves more readily than others. Enlist these people to advocate for your wellbeing initiatives — as fellow frontline workers, they might just be more influential than management.

Q: What are your tips for making stress management accessible and relevant for frontline workers to use in real time? What delivers immediately?

The first truth we need to remember is that what works for desk-based employees typically won't work for the frontline. A frontline worker's 'real time' situations look vastly different compared to someone sitting in head office; they are out in the 'field', on the go, with little access to desktop files. This means that any stress management support we provide has to be easy to access from anywhere, at any time.

Not only that, it has to be easy to access from a usability standpoint too. Adding another platform or tool to the frontline's already unintuitive tool stack will do more harm than good. Don't labor them with another set of log-in details to remember in order to access wellbeing resources.

This is where an 'all through one' employee app like Blink has value.

Get a Blink demo

Q: In healthcare specifically, how do you get people to take care of themselves when they've cared for others all day?

This is the classic 'Caregiver's Dilemma'. Caregivers are amazing people and, by choice, they place their health and wellbeing second to that of the people they care for. And, to be clear, that's not just how they are at work — it's how they are in every aspect of their lives.

We can encourage better self-care in caregivers by helping them realize that poor self-care will only render them unable to care for others. More than that, they may become the one thing they all fear: a burden on the people around them.

You can also run on-site check-up days for caregivers, where other healthcare professionals come in to perform mental health assessments — like a physical health check, but for stress and wellbeing. Doing so not only makes stress awareness more convenient for the caregiver, but you create a dedicated time slot in their otherwise fully-booked days.

Q: How can managers become more confident and comfortable in leading wellbeing conversations with their frontline workforce?

This question was answered during the live event. But given that managers often feel under-qualified, under-skilled, and under-supported when it comes to approaching these topics, it's worth recapping the answer again.

Confidence and comfort come from two-way conversations around stress and wellbeing. Ian referred to this as 'inverting the hierarchy' — managers making themselves vulnerable to open dialogue up, being present, and acting as a 'servant leader'. Chris explained that managers don't have to stand back and pretend they are all well; empathizing with an employee's experience makes everyone feel more at ease.

These conversations are a core part of your job, says Ian. Once you start breaking down those barriers you remove the fear factor for everyone. You're just another person; someone they trust to have their back and whose job it is to support them. Once you've shown that you value your employees, they will feel much more able to open up to you with personal and professional truths, and you will feel more able to start these conversations too.

This wellbeing resource is available whenever you need it

You can watch The Shift LIVE: 'Ask Me Anything' on frontline stress and wellbeing here at any time.

And make sure you're subscribed to The Shift — Blink's fortnightly newsletter for frontline leaders. That way you'll be the first to know about our next 'Ask Me Anything' event, coming soon.

Frontline workers are leaving the party 

We all know why we’re here. Frontline workers are quitting en masse: more than 55% of the US frontline left their posts in 2021.  

Unfortunately for C-suite execs at frontline organizations, unless decisive action is taken quickly, things will only get worse. 

While the problem of frontline turnover has many contributing factors, from salary competition to changing workforce demographics, one important part of the solution remains constant: employee engagement.  

And here lies the problem: most of the time, it doesn’t work.  

“If you build it...they won’t actually come”  

Frontline businesses have invested in engagement solutions and projects before, but regardless of the type of organization, these are generally met with tepid responses. 

The list of fallen soldiers here is considerable: town halls, employee surveys, intranets, ERGs. And often, the response sounds something like this:  

“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”  

Hours of time from leadership, People teams, Internal Comms functions and supervisors go into projects that rarely succeed in their mission. This is like the birthday party where the decorations are up, the cake is ready and the music’s on – but nobody’s showed up.  

The result? Frontline workers aren’t sustainably engaged, the cycle of attrition continues and there’s little meaningful data in order to understand exactly what to do to fix it.  

The solution: chips and dips 

Turning this around warrants changing the way we think about employee engagement. For most businesses, employee engagement is a thing that we ‘do’ - it’s a project, an initiative, even a tool or an app. But this is where we’re going wrong.  

The solution lies in approaching frontline engagement as something that we ‘earn’ - it’s an outcome, not an output.  

To illustrate this, let’s return to our party. Anyone who’s ever been to a house party will be able to tell you exactly where most people end up: the kitchen. And why are they in the kitchen? Because that’s where the drinks, the mixers, the snacks and the ice is. There’s useful stuff there, and so they gravitate there, and the good times start rolling.  

So to return to frontline engagement: put out the ‘chips and dips’. In other words, focus on providing frontline workers with services and tools that not only fit into their busy days, but make them better – and use that space to invite engagement.  

How it works: chips, dips and paystubs  

Blink is a new type of frontline engagement app that the average worker opens ten times per day! Blink brings the processes that frontline workers and their managers need all into one place – from payslips to scheduling and critical documents, all with one login. This is our ‘chips and dip’. 

For leaders and managers looking for engagement, this is the time to swoop. The whole of the frontline’s eyeballs are on the app, which means that surveys get seen, important messages from the CEO and HQ are read, and the work being done to improve the working day gets cut-through.  

If a once-yearly employee engagement survey is the equivalent of putting out samples at Costco in the hope that a nameless stranger will take a drive-by snack, this is the equivalent of the work cafeteria – the place where the whole companies gathers, day after day.  

How to be a good frontline host: Elara Caring’s story 

Elara Caring – one of the largest US-based providers of personal care, home health and hospice care – had a frontline engagement problem when we first met them last year. With a 62% turnover rate of their more than 32,000 personal care attendants (PCAs), the leadership team needed sustainable engagement badly.  

In adopting Blink, Elara looked to empower its PCAs and make their lives easier – and get engagement and loyalty in return.  

They used Blink to remove the burden of paper-based admin: Elara’s PCAs had to constantly fill out expenses and other forms on paper. Blink’s solution was to integrate these manual processes and systems into a single app. Payslips, expenses and mileage reporting, key information from Sharepoint, schedules and rotas were all suddenly available to Elara’s PCAs at their fingertips. 

The benefits for Elara’s PCAs? Time savings, with more attention devoted to their “real jobs” than ever before.   

The benefits for Elara Caring? Sustainable engagement, with 95% of employees saying that they now feel more connected to the company. PCAs have begun to use Blink to create a community – and sub-communities – within the organization, creating the connection and cohesion that makes them stay.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dINw_Y7CjWQ

In conclusion: good parties don’t skimp on the guac  

In a war for a diminishing talent pool, the need to directly address frontline engagement has never been more acute. But it’s also shown where there are failings in trying to get engagement from the activities and programs that work for desk-based, white-collar workers. The key to success for the frontline is to not only fit into frontline life, but to make frontline life better and easier – and use that digital space you’ve created to finally connect your people. 

Out of all the terms we’ve added to our lexicon over the course of 2020, ‘frontline workers’ is our favorite.

At Blink, we build software that improves the experience of thousands of frontline workers all over the world. We know how hard they work. The hours they put in. The pride they take in keeping their communities healthy, fed and well looked-after. 

There’s a lot about this year we’d all like to move on from. The word 'unprecedented' being one of them. But there’s one thing that we need to take forward, and that's our appreciation of brave frontline teams.

We're forever indebted to you. Thank you for looking after us during the most unprecedented (sorry) of times. 

We can’t possibly mention you all, and we’re sorry. But we hope you know how much we appreciate everything you do for us.

Long live society’s newfound appreciation; long may it continue!

The frontline workers we need to thank

NHS medical teams

This Christmas, many will be raising glasses to the medical staff who threw themselves behind global efforts to contain the pandemic and minimize its impact. 

We’ll certainly be joining them. 

So, here’s to the doctors, nurses, paramedics, healthcare assistants, physios, occupational therapists and pharmacists.

Whether directly or indirectly involved in treating Coronavirus patients, the world owes you one.  

While we extend our gratitude to healthcare workers globally, we can’t help but be extremely grateful for our native NHS. Providing stellar, free-at-the-point-of-access care during a global pandemic isn’t easy - but somehow you’ve managed, and managed spectacularly.

It’s stories like that of Dr Sarbjit Clare, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital NHS Trust's deputy medical director, that demonstrate what a gargantuan effort healthcare workers put in.

Central to operational and clinical decision-making surrounding COVID-19 treatment, Dr Clare cared for over 700 patients. Oh, and she single-handedly kept her department open when all her colleagues were sick or self-isolating. 

If treating and caring for patients wasn’t enough, some healthcare workers took on even more responsibility in their spare time. Ashleigh Linsdell founded and coordinated a national effort to make scrubs during the UK shortage.

Alison Williams raised funds for COVID-19 patient essentials, including iPads to help them contact their families during isolation.

NHS support teams

We need to thank the often-overlooked support teams that keep wheels turning behind the scenes. 

Without them, it would be practically impossible for healthcare workers to do what they do. They’re the backbone keeping the NHS - and healthcare organisations the world over - together and functional. 

Caterers for keeping staff and patients fed. 

Laundry and housekeeping staff for keeping hospitals clean, whilst navigating intense and often-changing safety regulations. 

Hospital porters, for providing an ever friendly, welcoming service. Veteran porter Terry Allen worked tirelessly for patients, transferring them between departments, facilitating their treatment and helping them feel comfortable.

The NHS’s medical teams provide first-class care, but they couldn’t do it without Terry and thousands of others like him. 

Care home workers

Residential care home staff - working with elderly people or those with disabilities - look after those most vulnerable to COVID-19. 

It’s a tough, underappreciated (and often underpaid) job. So, it's all the more remarkable that care workers have gone above and beyond for their patients and their families. 

Care staff have made it an absolute priority to keep their residents safe. Sometimes, they have done so at great personal sacrifice to them and their own families. 

A staggering one in four residential care workers left their families to isolate with residents. Staff from the Victoria House Care Home even committed to sleeping in tents (during March, no less).

Countless others moved away temporarily, when the support of loved ones has never been more important. 

We haven’t even mentioned all the work they put in keeping spirits up amongst those who couldn’t go outside. 

From fiddling about with FaceTime to organizing activities, care home residents would have struggled without them.

Supermarket workers

A huge shoutout to supermarket and food supply chain workers for putting food on our tables.

Whether you’ve been working on the supermarket floor or manning the warehouse, we wouldn't have survived the pandemic without you. We mean that literally –– access to food is generally important for long-term survival, after all. 

Here are a few of the ways food supermarket and food supply chain workers made a difference: 

• Eased shortages by introducing limits on certain items (toilet roll, anyone?) and enforcing them effectively at checkouts
• Remapped warehouses and supermarkets and implemented queueing systems so they could operate with social distancing
• Kept up with frequently changing regulations with regard to masks and PPE 
• Stepped up to a massive increase in demand for online orders/home delivery

Julie Cook, who works at Asda in Aberdare, South Wales, spent her time off shopping for care homes to ensure they received key supplies. 

It’s thanks to supermarket workers like Julie that we’ve all been able to eat and shop safely this year. So, wherever you shop, make sure to thank their in-store team for their efforts when you pop in next.

Teachers

As schools shut and lessons launched online, anyone with a child found themselves more appreciative of how hard teachers work. 

If you thought homeschooling your school-aged child was hard, imagine trying to teach a class of 30. Then imagine trying to teach a class of 30 online, with the myriad distractions and potential for disruption that offers. 

Teachers have kept classrooms open for children of key workers. Dealt with whole year groups being sent home for isolation. And increased their risk of exposure to the virus to minimise disruption to education. 

Headteacher Jane Davenport and the staff at Reynalds Cross School kept classrooms open for children of key workers. They also made sure the school’s most vulnerable children - with complex educational, healthcare and behavioural needs - could attend classes safely. Jane put so much work that she was recognised with an OBE for services to young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

They’ve certainly earned those Christmas chocolate boxes, bottles of wine and ‘best teacher ever’ mugs. If you can’t offer these, a nice note thanking them will be equally as treasured!

Logistics personnel

In a pandemic, it’s vital to keep key supply lines open. That’s exactly what lorry drivers do, alongside the logistics teams that support them. 

The logistics sector made sure food, essential medicines, PPE and medical equipment were delivered to organizations in need, whilst working under significant pressure and increased demand. 

To all the frontline workers across the logistics and supply chain sector, whether working for an in-house operation or a third-party logistics specialist –– thank you.

You can’t eat food that doesn’t arrive on supermarket shelves before expiring. Pharmacists can’t fill prescriptions if they don’t have the right medication on hand. Doctors and nurses can’t protect themselves with PPE if it doesn’t arrive on time. 

Logistics teams make this all happen. 

Public transport workers

Car ownership is by no means a given amongst many groups of frontline workers. Without the efforts of public transport personnel worldwide, lots of urgently-needed staff would have been stranded. 

Drivers, ticket sellers, platform guards and many others in every transport system across the globe need to be thanked here. 

We were in awe of how professionally our own transit clients’ workforces carried out their duties under lockdown regulations. 

Drivers from Go Ahead, Metroline and Stagecoach provide essential services whilst operating in uncertain and unfamiliar circumstances. Not to mention dealing with significantly reduced capacity to ensure social distancing. Kudos to you.

Police, fire and social workers

While it’s great we recognize the contribution ambulance drivers and paramedics made, it’s easy to forget other essential services.

For police and fire crews, this involved keeping essential services running, whilst adding new responsibilities to their workloads. 

For example, UK police have been tasked with enforcing both national and local lockdown laws. These have often changed quickly, and guidance for policing them has been somewhat vague at times. 

Enforcing them whilst strengthening links to local communities has been a difficult, often thankless task. We’d like to thank them for their part in containing the spread of the virus. 

Meanwhile social services workers have continued to do an emotionally demanding job in extremely difficult conditions. 

The Queen’s Birthday Honours List reflected this, with both senior and on-the-ground practitioners recognised for the work they do. 

Social workers Manvir Hothi (Hammersmith and Fulham), Danny Levine (North Yorkshire) and Louise Peart (Vale of Glamorgan) were all recognised for supporting service users throughout the pandemic - but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. 

Thousands more helped vulnerable people and families navigate a particularly confusing time, provided community-based support and eased the loneliness of those self-isolating. 

Postal workers and parcel couriers

There’s a lot to be said for delivering ‘everyday’ post as well.  

Ask yourself: how much more difficult would those initial stages of lockdown have been without that new hobby you took up?

How much more lonely would elderly relatives or those living alone have felt without cards, letters and gifts delivered?

Postal workers kept it together in tough working conditions. In doing so, they kept countless others together by keeping them connected and keeping them occupied. 

Lockdown would have been a lonelier, more boring place without them. 

Honorable mentions

Containing and treating the Coronavirus pandemic has required a Herculean effort from so many key workers across different industries. 

Not everyone involved in the COVID effort needed to work directly on the frontline. So much organization has gone on behind the scenes, from so many people – many of whom weren't involved as professionals. 

We’d like to give an honourable mention to the groups below for stepping up!

Operations who repurposed their facilities

The most impressive thing about society’s collective response to the Coronavirus was how everyone came together.

Companies repurposing their manufacturing operations to provide essential items and supplies was just one example of this phenomenon. 

It takes entrepreneurship, ingenuity and a lot of hard work to turn around a new, unfamiliar product at short notice. We think it’s important to recognise just how much effort this took, for both strategic decision-makers and on-the-ground workforces. 

There are countless examples across the globe here. Close to home, we saw international craft beer brewery BrewDog produce batches of hand sanitizer to help meet skyrocketing demand.

Luxury fashion brand Barbour’s manufacturing workforce turn their sewing machines away from wax jackets to making seriously high-quality medical gowns. 

Further north, design teachers from James Calvert Spence College and Duchess’s Community High School in Northumberland teamed up to make PPE. 

James Calvert Spence science teacher Dan Davison, who previously worked in an NHS lab, helped develop a test protocol whilst still teaching online classes. Miss Scrimgeour, Mr Donnison and Ms Whitelock from the two schools’ DT departments laser cut visors for use across local hospitals and care homes. 

This ‘all hands on deck’ attitude helped significantly in easing shortages - particularly at a local level. 

Last but not least... let's hear it for the volunteers

Alongside frontline workers and key workers paid to do their jobs, an army of volunteers rose to the challenge.

They transformed old bedsheets into useful medical scrubs, started essential goods collections for struggling families, dedicated their time to befriending isolated people over the phone and so much more. 

We can’t list everyone who helped out, so to finish off, we’ll share Cambridgeshire resident  Geoff Norris’ story.

Already a frontline worker, Geoff worried elderly and vulnerable residents would struggle to get their groceries amidst food shortages. Noticing that all the delivery slots were booked up too, he set up a weekly food delivery service.

On the days he wasn’t working at Asda in Wisbech, he picked up orders, put them through the tills and delivered them at his expense, using his own vehicle. Soon, he had recruited colleagues to help, and was taking orders via phone and email.

We all know a Geoff - or several - who has selflessly given up their time to help others during the pandemic. In our eyes, they’re just as much key workers as anyone else. 

So we’ll end by saying “thank you, volunteers, for donating time when you didn’t have to, and making a real difference to so many.”

Your contribution has been absolutely unprecedented (oh no!), and we appreciate it. 

While 2020 was a rotten year for many, many reasons, the sense of togetherness fostered is inspiring and moving. 

If you’re new to mobile workforce management, you’re not alone. 

Before the pandemic, just 6% of the employed workforce worked from home. Now, 74% of US companies are either operating on a hybrid working model or plan to do so in the future. Businesses that previously did not need mobile workforce management strategies are now rapidly trying to figure out what works when your team is scattered across multiple locations. 

If that’s you, don’t panic. With the right tools and approach, it’s possible to run an effective mobile workplace, without compromising on productivity. Here’s how. 

What is mobile workforce management?

IBM defines a mobile workforce as “a group of employees that isn’t bound by a central physical location. Instead, the employees are connected by various types of mobile technology: computers, smartphones and other mobile devices.”

This includes – but isn’t limited to – remote desk-based teams who might have worked in a centralized office pre-pandemic. It could also include: 

• Community healthcare teams who visit outpatients during working hours
• Drivers – whether for public transport, taxi or private logistics fleets
• Traveling sales teams, who spend part of their time visiting clients, conferences and trade shows
• Teams of engineers, tradespeople or contractors who attend different clients each day 

Mobile workforce management is simply the process of managing these teams so that they’re as effective, efficient and engaged as possible. The three ‘e’s, if you like. 

The differences between the mobile and the standard workforce

Traditionally, a ‘standard workforce’ is based on physical location. You might have an office HQ that your employees commute to each day or a manufacturing plant that needs to be manned 24/7, for example. 

Thanks to the wave of remote and mobile working brought on by COVID-19, things aren’t as clean-cut as they once were. Mobile workforce management is now a major consideration for desk-based teams as well as more traditionally mobile workforces. 

In terms of how you approach managing your teams, this means: 

• You’ll need to use mobile workforce management software to run your team effectively
• You’ll need to be mindful of differences across time zones when scheduling calls or arranging deadlines

The principles of good management still hold. A transparent and fair approach to managing your team is still a great foundation to work from – you just might have to incorporate a couple of extra tools for maximum effect!

The benefits of mobile workforce management

The benefits of a strong management strategy remain the same across both mobile and traditional workforces: 

• Increased productivity: teams get more done in the same amount of time
• Improved visibility: managers provide insights into how your business works day to day
• Improved customer experience: good managerial support allows your employees to offer a great customer experience through building skills and retaining talent
• Improved employee engagement: employees feel supported by management and engage more with the business as a result

Mobile workforce management specifically – when done right – offers two key benefits besides. 

Firstly, you’re no longer bound by geographic location when hiring. This opens up a vastly wider talent pool that you can draw from – especially useful at a time when competition for new employees is at an all-time high. 

Secondly, flexible working is a hugely attractive benefit to offer new and existing employees. Nearly all (97%) respondents in Buffer’s 2022 State of Remote Work survey said they wanted to work remotely at least part of the time for the rest of their career. 

Source: buffer.com

Trends and challenges shaping mobile workforce management 

Some of your employees are onsite. Some of them are remote or on the move. How do you collaborate in such a seemingly fragmented team? 

This has been one of the major issues about mobile workforce management in the post-COVID era. Whilst the majority of businesses want to implement some sort of hybrid working arrangement, 63% of employees say that their company has not made any major changes to make this easier. 

If your working model has changed, your processes need to change too. 

One trend that’s becoming increasingly popular is a remote-first approach to work. This means that you run your entire team as if fully remote, by having all meetings via video conferencing software, for example.

The result is that everyone feels included and can interact on the same level – you remove the awkward atmosphere created by having some people meeting in person with others phoning in via a conferencing system. 

Manage your mobile workforce

Getting started on mobile workforce management? Here are some tips. 

Use the right software

Mobile workforce management is 100% reliant on using technology to communicate and collaborate, so having the right tools can make all the difference! An employee app to help you get messages across is essential, and you should also invest in a strong project management tool (e.g. Trello, Asana, Basecamp) at a minimum.

There are many different types of mobile workforce management software that you can use to make managing your teams easier. We’ve included a guide at the end of this article to help you get started. 

Check in…but don’t micromanage

Daily check-ins are a must when your team is on the move or scattered across different locations. It’s all too easy for these to slip into micromanagement if you frame them wrong. 

By all means ask for updates, but avoid listing ‘must-do’ tasks or demanding constant micro-updates on progress. Instead, ask if there’s anything you could be doing to support your employee, or if there’s anything they need assistance with. Check-ins are as much about offering support as they are about task updates. 

Constant communication, not necessarily on topic

How much of your traditional office chat was work based? Inane office chatter – pets, the kids, weather, vacation plans – actually serves a valuable purpose in team bonding and making social connections across the company. 

Use channels on your messaging app to provide a virtual space for this. You’ll find your team works better together as a result. Your remote and mobile workers start to feel more like a part of the wider organization, and engage more as a result. 

Mobile workforce management software

Employee apps and mobile intranet (e.g. Blink)

Mobile-first employee experience apps are vital for day-to-day communication between team members as well as employee recognition, networking and engagement. ‘Mobile first’ is a must here – if your employees don’t have 24/7 access to a desktop, you need to be able to spread key messages via smartphone. 

Project management tools (e.g. Trello, Asana, Basecamp)

Provide a single point of reference for tasks and deadlines with an online project management tool. Choose from a variety of project views to suit your team, with automated notifications and reminders when a deadline is approaching. 

Remote collaboration tools (e.g. Google Docs, Miro, Microsoft Teams)

Unlock your team’s creativity with a range of collaboration tools. Video conferencing is an absolute must-have, as is some form of collaborative document tool – Google Docs is by far the most intuitive here. For visual projects, virtual whiteboard tools are a particularly handy tool for online collaboration. 

Mobile scheduling tool (e.g. Deputy, RotaCloud, Blink)

If your teams work in shifts, rota management is a must. Mobile rota management and scheduling apps save you hours by automating this process, and your employees will get instant updates if the rota changes. Eliminate misunderstandings and never be accidentally short staffed again!

Performance management software (e.g. Engagedly, Reviewsnap, Talent Guard) 

Performance management is as important in a mobile setting as it is in a traditional work environment. Give your managers the tools to give feedback, run appraisals, manage employee goals and more with an extensive performance management solution. 

A few final thoughts on mobile workforce management

Mobile workforce management doesn’t have to be a huge departure from your existing management strategy. Open communication, respect and approachability will get you some of the way there on their own.  

It does, however, mean that you need to support employees across more than one different location though. And this means that finding the tech that works for you is essential in keeping everything running smoothly. 

Spend time thinking about your requirements here, and don’t rush into any purchases, no matter how urgent they may seem. Being locked into an unsuitable contract will cause a lot more damage in the long term than waiting to find the right software for you. 

Blink is an employee app that helps you manage your mobile workforce. Book your free demo here.

This article is part of Blink’s “frontline first” series: content created specifically for leaders of deskless or distributed teams. We know that the job of frontline leadership is entirely different from managing ‘desk-based’ teams, so this is for you and your unique set of challenges.

Every leader in an organization that has frontline workforce has likely experienced the 'Frontline Connection Gap' - it's the root cause of thousands of wasted hours and measurable negative impact on key business metrics like retention and productivity.

But what exactly is this 'gap', and how do you know if your organization is one of the ones experiencing it? And if it turns out that you are, how do you go about closing it (and is it even worth the effort)? In this article, we'll explore all of those questions and give you some simple answers.

What is the Frontline Connection Gap?

In a nutshell, the Frontline Connection Gap is the failure to enable frontline workers to communicate with the same ease, scale and speed as desk-based workers.

If it sounds simple, that's because it is. Think about how the average desk-based worker gets to communicate at work:

• Easy access to their co-workers via email, work apps such as Slack and video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams
• Easy access to key information and updates via intranets and cloud-based drives
• Easy access to key HR processes such as booking time off and downloading paystubs through tools such as Deel or Workday
• Easy access to learning and development through dedicated Learning Management Systems
• Easy access to other parts of the organization (including leadership) through shared directories
• Easy access to feedback portals through tools such as CultureAmp or Peakon

There's more where this came from, but the key point is that desk-based workers have access to a wealth of people, processes and information within just a few clicks.

For deskless workers, the picture looks very different - let's look at those same areas again:

• Limited access to co-workers beyond those in the same physical space, often leading to isolation
• Limited access to key information, often still delivered through paper memos as many frontline workers don't have access to a company email address.
• Limited access to key HR processes such as booking time off and arranging shifts, which often requires making phonecalls or messaging managers via text and WhatsApp. Processes such as claiming expenses often still involve using paper forms.
• Limited access to learning and development, as access to computers is infrequent
• Limited access to management and leadership, leading to disengagement
• Limited ability to deliver feedback or whistleblow on critical problems

The stark difference in these two worlds all comes down to communications infrastructure (or lack thereof): without continuous access to computers and email addresses, frontline workers are in a world that desk-based workers haven't experienced in more than twenty years.

The impact of the Gap

The way to know if your organization has a Frontline Connection Gap is by seeing if anything 'disappears' into it.

For the best examples of this, look to what your Human Resources team are doing. Let's take Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a key case - these critical initiatives are often planned and tracked at board level, and in order for them to be effective they need to impact every single member of an organization. The roll-out of these will often work well for desk-based teams thanks to regular communications such as emails, chat groups, in-person Employee Resource Groups and video calls.

However, getting to the frontline is a different matter. Without reliable channels for communications, People leaders will often find that promoting DEI programs is restricted to a flyer on a noticeboard, curtailing awareness and participation from the very start. In other words, the DEI program has fallen into the Frontline Connection Gap.

So we see just how big a problem the Gap can be: company policies and programs might as well not exist, for all the frontline are able to engage with them. As a result, the impact of the Gap can be felt on almost any core business metric - for example:

• Retention drops because frontline employee engagement is low
• Recruitment faces challenges as the organization is unable to offer an ideal employee experience
• Customer experience is impacted when employees are ill-informed and disengaged
• Productivity drops through inefficiencies in processes such as filling empty shifts and inconsistent onboarding and training
• Safety is put at risk through failures to communicate critical information at scale
• Employee wellbeing suffers as a result of isolation and inability to access support

The list could go on - and it does. If any one of these key metrics looks different in the frontline part of your organization in comparison to the desk-based part, then the likelihood is that you have a Frontline Connection Gap to bridge.

How to close the Frontline Connection Gap

It's important at this point to remember that the Frontline Connection Gap is rarely caused through neglect or intention - in fact, many organizations have tried (and are still trying) to close it. The problem is that the strategies that they employ usually fail, and it's for one important reason: the kind of communications infrastructure that works for the desk-based will not work for the frontline.

A key example of this is using intranets. Many organizations find intranets to be a useful means of sharing information with their desk-based workers, and so attempt to roll these out to their frontline workers through a mobile-based approach. In theory, this should work: most frontline workers have access to a smartphone and are confident enough in using them to download an intranet app.

However, this strategy comes across a number of roadblocks:

• Firstly, it requires frontline workers to remember a new login and password (IT teams often find themselves facing high volumes of password reset requests as a result).
• Secondly, engagement with intranet apps will usually be disappointingly low - but the reason for this poor uptake will help you unlock the secret of successfully crossing the Frontline Connection Gap (keep reading to find out).

To close the Frontline Connection Gap, there are three simple principles to follow:

• Go mobile. With smartphone adoption having reached a critical tipping point, this is a no-brainer.
• Consolidate where you can. The more systems and apps you ask a frontline worker to instal, the more you dilute your success. If you're asking your frontline to download and login to separate systems for accessing paystubs, receiving communications, giving feedback and arranging shifts, you're adding friction with every step. Create a single point of access wherever you can.
• Put daily value at the centre of your solution. This is the crucial secret behind adoption, and the last mile of closing the Frontline Connection Gap. Busy frontline workers need a reason to engage with HQ, and that's the problem with simply rolling out an intranet on mobile: there's little in it for a frontline worker, so even if they have an app in the palm of their hand, they'll rarely take time out to log in. Success lies in inverting this, by making sure that at the heart of your communications infrastructure are processes that the frontline always need - for example, access to shifts and paystubs. By placing value at the heart of your system, you get the consistent engagement you need to close the Gap (we call this 'Chips and Dip theory'.

Despite the seriousness of its impact, the Frontline Connection Gap is actually a relatively simple problem - which thankfully means relatively simple solutions. If you're ready to get started, check out some of the best solutions on the market over here.