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2022: the year BYOD policy finally became mainstream? 

Towards the end of the 2010s, BYOD was considered on its way out. The balance between good data security and infringing on employees’ private lives was difficult to manage, and buy-in rates were low.

Now, however, employers are adopting BYOD in their droves. 

Why? 

If you’re thinking ‘COVID. Definitely COVID’, you’re about 90% of the way there. 

Of course, the shift to remote and hybrid working has played a huge role in widespread BYOD adoption. With employees adept at managing workloads using personal devices, and 97%  of workers looking to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their career, BYOD offers an IT policy that is flexible and easy to maintain.  

Equally, it’s not the only factor that has contributed: 

• The speed, resilience and availability of 5G make remote working significantly easier from a wider range of devices.
• Increasing usage of smart IoT to increase productivity, including smart speakers and enhanced wearables. With 1.3 billion projected subscriptions to IoT-related technologies in 2023, this is very much an emerging use case for BYOD.

With the increase in remote working since COVID and consumer tech evolving rapidly, now is the time to think about tightening up your BYOD policy, or creating one from scratch if you don’t have one already. Here’s what you need to know, with a bring your own device policy template included at the end of the article. 

What is BYOD policy?

According to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre: 

“BYOD is the concept of employees using their personally owned device(s) for work purposes.

With BYOD, an organization has ownership of the corporate data and resources that may be accessed or stored on a device, but the device itself is the property of the user.”

Following on from this, a ‘bring your own device’ policy is the set of rules and regulations both employee and employer need to follow to make this work. Ultimately, it’s about maintaining a balance between your employees’ privacy and your IT security needs as an employer. 

You might be partially BYOD without even realizing it! For most businesses, the big use case is smartphones. If you’ve ever asked employees to use their smartphones for any work-related purpose, that’s a BYOD policy. This could include: 

• Running work social media accounts
• Installing employee apps, workplace instant messenger or any other internal comms tool
• Taking work-related calls
• Using it to track mileage, manage driving routes
• Expense filing (via uploading photos of receipts, for example)

In fact, you’re very much in the minority if your employees don’t use their personal phones for any business activity – 87% of companies depend on their employee’s ability to access mobile business apps from their personal smartphones.

What are the benefits of BYOD?

BYOD policies can:

• Save your business money on recurring hardware spend (bear in mind that most laptops will need to be replaced every few years, and that you’ll need to keep buying more as your business grows its headcount!)
• Help establish remote working as a viable option. New employees have everything they need to start immediately and aren’t held back by not having the right equipment. 
• Increase employee productivity, as people can work with whichever device best fits their needs and preferences.  

When managed well, BYOD is flexible, affordable, and accessible. Employees save time by working with the devices they like best, and you can implement a mobile-first approach without a huge expenditure on company smartphones. 

What are the challenges and risks of BYOD? 

The biggest issue BYOD workplaces face is data and device security. Whilst you can set up fair usage policies and train your employees in good security practices, you can’t completely dictate how they use their personal devices. 

Let’s say you have a BYOD policy and you’d like your employees to install a mobile intranet app on their personal smartphones. After initial installation, you have no direct control over: 

• How often each employee installs updates
• Where they take their smartphone
• Who uses the smartphone
• What else they install on their smartphone and how they use it

All of these are major security risks when it comes to corporate data. Whilst personal devices are increasingly a target for hackers, even the most mundane everyday accident can pose a threat. 

Did your employee leave their phone unlocked on the bus? 

Could children or other family members access work info by accident? 

Instances like these can pose a huge risk. You’re also relying on employees to have access to devices that will support the software you want them to use. This might be a fair assumption for some workplace demographics (salaried, management level employees) but shouldn’t be taken as a given. 

That’s why, if you’re serious about BYOD, you’ll need to give some serious thought to: 

• Making your policy comply with a wide range of device types 
• Providing adequate IT support for personal devices
• Creating a policy that is seen as fair by employees, and doesn’t infringe on their personal lives 

Creating a bring your own device policy

Want to benefit from the flexibility and cost savings BYOD offers, without turning your workplace into your IT security team’s worst nightmare? A solid BYOD policy is the answer. Follow these steps for a safe and secure workplace.

Preparing for and creating a BYOD policy: 5 steps to success

Decide which apps employees should be able to access from personal devices

In terms of risk, there’s a difference between your employee’s personal calendar tool, a project management solution and your business’s accounting app. Consider which level of security you’re comfortable granting access to in a less-regulated environment – you might want to keep systems with particularly sensitive info away from BYOD policies. 

Decide which personal devices your employees can use for a BYOD policy

Weigh up risk vs reward here. If you already have a policy for using company laptops and have an entire cupboard of them to distribute, you might be better off sticking with them. Be sure to consider the implications of smart speakers and IoT devices too. 

You might also want to impose an age limit on devices your employees use. Older devices that don’t support the latest software and operating system versions are a huge risk as weak points become well documented by hackers. 

Set up reasonable security controls

Again, this is a balancing act. Your employees are likely to be more than happy with some security protocols on their device – this helps protect their personal information too! Equally, they might become understandably bitter about completing a 15-factor authentication process every time they check their WhatsApp. 

You could start with a requirement to password protect their device, with biometrics if available, and add two-factor authentication for each business app they need to login to. A screen that locks after a set period of inactivity is also useful. 

Check your SSL certificates

An SSL certificate is a snippet of code on your web server that makes online communications more secure. If employees need to view confidential information such as financial accounts or sensitive personal info like payroll and benefits, an SSL certificate helps ensure they can do that safely. 

Mostly, this is a job for your IT team – but it’s good to be aware of it whilst drawing up the rest of your policy. 

Outline BYOD expectations for employees and provide training 

Your employees know how to use their own devices – but don’t take it as a given that they’re completely up to speed on the latest IT security know-how.

That’s why regular IT security training is vital. Cyber threats are constantly evolving, and what was good practice 18 months ago might be out of date today. Make it part of your onboarding process, and ensure that you have e-learning top-ups every year for maximum impact.  

BYOD Do’s and Don’ts

Looking for a quick guide to BYOD security? Share these do’s and don’ts with your employees as a handy reference!

DO

- Keep your passwords secure and change them regularly

- Use biometric features for device security if possible

- Download all updates as soon as you can – 40% of adults put this off, despite the fact out-of-date operating systems contributing to some of the biggest malware attacks in recent years

- Report any lost or stolen devices to IT within 24 hours

- Complete our refresher training regularly so you’re aware of the latest threats

DON’T

- Share your device passwords with anyone

- Screenshot or copy company data to other locations on your device

- Access systems that you don’t need to

- Access sensitive data in crowded areas without a screen protector

- Leave your device unattended for any length of time

BYOD policy examples

A basic, top-level BYOD template looks something like this: 

Introduction

Lay out what the policy is for and why it’s needed

Acceptable use

Explain what employees can and can’t do with a device used for BYOD

Supported devices

List what devices your IT team can support for BYOD access to business systems 

Security

Outline the security expectations for employees’ BYOD. 

Risks/disclaimers

Explain the risks of BYOD policy, what to do if a device is compromised, and how the business deals with security breaches. 

Want to see this BYOD template in action? Check out a real-world example here. 

BYOD policy: final thoughts

Plenty of businesses use BYOD solutions successfully, 24/7. With the right foundations, bring your own device can be a safe, accessible and flexible way of managing remote, hybrid and mobile workforces in particular. 

A solid BYOD policy is vital to unlocking these benefits. Too vague, and you risk security issues developing that you have no direct control over. Too overbearing, and your employees will start to resent it, disengage, and find workarounds. 

Set clear expectations, provide regular security training and be open to discussion with employees for the best results. Offering to pay a percentage of the value of the device each employee uses for work isn’t necessary, but it’s a nice touch that says “We appreciate what you’re doing for us”. And, in the long run, that will pay off significantly. 

Learn more about Blink, a workforce app designed to work perfectly on your employees’ own smartphones

Demand for home health aides is higher than ever. The job outlook for home health and personal care aides is projected to be 25% between 2021 and 2031 — meaning that, as a workforce, home health and personal care is expected to grow an incredible 20 percentage points more versus other industries.

This poses a significant challenge for home health care providers, not just in recruiting enough carers to answer to demand but in retaining these staff members as well.

The Great Resignation, high employee turnover, and decreasing job satisfaction are all impacting home health organizations in line with the wider healthcare industry. Tackling these issues starts with addressing the factors that cause them in the first place.

In this guide, we'll walk you through the numerous different factors that can influence employee retention, before diving into exactly how to increase employee retention in home health care.

If you're an HR or Operations leader in a home health care organization, keep reading to learn how you can successfully retain your valuable employees — and improve patient care and business outcomes in the process.

What causes attrition in healthcare?

Staff turnover is a natural and necessary process in all healthcare organizations. However, when turnover reaches high levels it can have a detrimental effect on the quality of care as well as being costly. And it's high levels that we're seeing.

The turnover rate for US-based home care aides sits at 35.42%, and a report from Skills for Care in the UK found a turnover rate of 29% for directly employed staff (almost double the cross-industry average).

Further problems arise when employees leave not only the organization but the health workforce itself.

By understanding and addressing employee retention and the factors that drive it, home health and personal care leaders can minimize staff attrition and the associated impact on cost of, and quality of, patient care.

While there are a number of factors at play here, Health Professional Mobility in a Changing Europe divides the organizational factors affecting retention into three main categories: 

1. Employment quality
2. Work quality 
3. Organizational quality

Below, we’ll take a closer look at each of these three dimensions and how they affect retention, before diving into actionable initiatives leading to improving employee retention throughout your home health organization.

What's important to remember is that each of these factors overlaps to create engaging, positive employee experiences and ensure retention. It's not a case of nailing just one of these categories but creating meaningful change in all three.

1. Employment quality

Employment quality is a key factor in retention and includes aspects like pay and benefits, job security, and working conditions. Other elements of employment quality relate to home health workers having direct lines of communication with their employer and being able to swap and fill shifts easily in order to support the work-life balance they seek.

Getting employment quality right is a particular challenge for home health and personal care organizations. For one, home health co-workers are typically more distributed than other healthcare teams. These are employees who leave their homes in the morning to visit patients at their homes and may rarely, or never, even step foot in a shared office or HQ.

And yet, home health organizations cannot deprioritize employee quality conditions — they can't settle for simply paying staff more in order to boost retention, as many have tried to do. As Gartner states:

"Monetary compensation is important for surviving, but deeper relationships, a strong sense of community, and purpose-driven work are essential to thriving."

That leads us to the concepts of work and organizational quality...

2. Work quality

Work quality includes the levels of responsibility, autonomy, and stress experienced in the workplace. 

Without going into any more detail than that, it quickly becomes clear how essential work quality is for healthcare workers. Few roles carry such a degree of responsibility and demand as much from employees. The scope for stressful situations is limitless — and to make matters worse, home health aides often feel isolated from the rest of their co-workers and the organization at large, meaning that when they start to feel stressed they have no one to turn to for support.

Work quality also relates to the technology provided to health professionals to help them succeed in their roles. With 52% of frontline workers claiming they'd leave their job over tech tools, it’s clear to see the impact that the right workplace technology has on work quality and employee retention.

3. Organizational quality

Organizational quality also impacts employee retention: the culture of the organization and the way that employees are managed and rewarded (or not) all play a key role here. Organizational quality can also refer to levels of organizational innovation, such as improvement programs or digitization initiatives.

Blink research shows that health and care workers overwhelmingly feel unheard and undervalued in their organizations. Unsurprisingly, the same research showed 50% are considering leaving, or have recently left, their jobs. 

Simply put, organizations with a positive culture, good management practices, and fair reward systems are more likely to retain their employees. On the other hand, companies with poor organizational quality are far more likely to experience high levels of turnover.

7 ways to increase employee retention in home health care

Turning attrition trends around is a big task. Businesses need to think bigger than compensation and make bigger commitments to the overall employee experience.

All roles in health and personal care must get the status and respect they deserve. But how can you, as business and HR leaders, provide that? 

1. Collect and analyze data

Up-to-date workforce data should be at the center of an effective retention strategy, helping you better target your employment, work, and organizational quality improvements. By collecting and analyzing data and identifying trends in your home health workforce, you can identify the starting point for your activities.

Understanding the profile of your workforce will help you to assess the risk points and ensure that retention issues affecting particular groups are addressed. For example, are retention issues organization-wide or specific to certain staff groups, demographics, departments, or teams?

For a home health provider, this will likely include looking at retention rates between carers employed directly by your organization vs agency staff vs workers brought in through other schemes like CDPAP. Carers indirectly employed by your organization might feel less connected to the company mission and vision — failing to meet their organizational quality needs as a result.

Getting to know the drivers of employee turnover, and who they impact in your specific organization, can help you create targeted initiatives to improve retention. If the data shows heavy attrition after 30 or 60 days, you might focus on creating an effective, engaging onboarding program to help new hires hit the ground running.

Making it happen

One way to improve employee retention is through the use of regular Employee Pulse Surveys. By conducting regular pulse surveys, you can ensure that you have a constant understanding of how your employees feel about their work. 

This will help you address any potential retention issues before they become a major problem or spiral into quiet quitting. Additionally, pulse surveys can help to improve employee engagement and job satisfaction, which can lead to improved retention rates.

You can also use tools like Blink’s Frontline Intelligence feature to collect and analyze critical employee engagement data and metrics, helping you to understand exactly where your healthcare workforce is feeling unengaged and unsatisfied.

2. Offer relevant training and development opportunities

Healthcare organizations that offer relevant training and professional development are more likely to retain their most valuable employees. It cannot be underestimated how valued and invested in healthcare workers will feel when their skills are being developed and their careers are progressing.

This answers to all of the three factors explored:

• Employment quality (as it opens the doors to higher pay)
• Work quality (through professional development)
• and organizational quality (as it creates a culture of progress and support)

Making it happen

Training and development programs for home health and personal care workers might include formal training programs, such as classroom-based learning or online courses. It might also include more customized opportunities, such as one-on-one mentoring or job shadowing.

What's essential to identify, however, is how these programs will be delivered. Technology will be crucial to bridge the gap between HQ and home health aides.

3. Lighten the load

An increasing number of health and care workers are struggling to balance the demands of their job with other aspects of their life, such as parenting or caring responsibilities. This often leads to stress and burnout; an early indicator of disengagement, and ultimately attrition. In some instances, burnout in healthcare staff has also been linked to medical errors and patient safety incidents.

To improve retention in healthcare, organizations must commit to creating a working environment where employees feel supported by their home health co-workers and managers — even if they rarely see them face-to-face — and are not overburdened with inflexible workloads.

Making it happen

Organizations can take a number of steps to lighten a home health worker's cognitive load:

• Providing more resources to team members and managers in a mobile and easy-to-access Hub for on-the-go support
• Implementing intuitive scheduling solutions and shift-swapping tools that can be used for real-time coordination and employee flexibility
• Encouraging work-life balance through a culture of peer support, so that co-workers can easily tap into the knowledge and experience of their peers

4. Consistent communication

Another factor that often impacts your employment quality is the consistency of your communication. Consistent two-way communication is essential for lasting relationships — and it can be one of your most powerful tools for encouraging employee retention.

Blink's research found that close to one-fifth of frontline workers don’t receive relevant communications from their organization. Organizations can create a sense of community and trust among their staff to minimize attrition by ensuring that all employees:

• Receive updates relevant to them
• Are part of the right team chats
• Can easily share their ideas and concerns

You can also use regular communication to obtain direct insight into how specific healthcare workers or teams are feeling about their work. This can help you to identify retention issues and create targeted interventions as needed.

Making it happen

Effective communication needs to be tailored to the specific needs of different staff groups. For home health and personal care aides, it will undoubtedly be about regular mobile updates and using Feed and Chat features to create energy and enthusiasm among your distributed workforce.

Read how Blink helped solve a million-dollar communication challenge for the home health organization, Elara Caring. Through deploying a number of transformative digital initiatives through Blink, 95% of Elara Caring's personal care, home health, and hospice care workers now feel more connected to the organization.

5. Focus on employee engagement

Employee engagement can be a powerful tool for improving retention, as it has been linked to higher levels of satisfaction and commitment among workers.

Healthcare organizations can create a work quality that is more attractive to top performers by getting to know the latest employee engagement trends, providing the right digital tools for key workers to engage intuitively, and regularly assessing the effectiveness of their efforts.

Engaging employees ultimately retains them.

Additionally, research by HBR shows that higher employee engagement levels can lead to a number of improved outcomes, not just retention. These include care costs (including legal action taken by a patient against a provider for negligent complications) and treatment effectiveness and patient outcomes (measured by the rate patients are readmitted).

Making it happen

To increase employee engagement, healthcare organizations should focus on creating a culture that values the opinions and input of employees. This might include activities like surveys or direct feedback, regular communications from leadership, and targeted recognition programs.

One transformative way to improve employee engagement in your healthcare organization is to pave the way with Blink, the powerful mobile employee engagement app that frontline workers love. With a suite of features perfect for healthcare, Blink will help you create a culture of engagement and retention in your organization.

6. Real recognition 

Recognition is fundamental to improving employee retention. The employers' organization for the UK's National Health System states:

"Meaningful recognition can help to motivate and retain our NHS people. Setting in place a holistic reward package, which is relevant to staff needs, can be key to ensuring your organization, and the wider NHS, retains its staff."

But recognition is more than a pat on the back. Driving real recognition for employees needs to be an ongoing, holistic process that inspires your healthcare workforce to feel valued, motivated, and connected to the company. 

Making it happen

While some companies may view the idea of regular rewards or incentives as impractical, Blink is a mobile employee recognition solution that makes it easy to provide targeted and consistent recognition to specific individuals or teams.

With features like real-time feedback, team and group chatting, and, of course, Employee Recognition, your healthcare organization can unlock the power of recognition as a retention tool. And with its wider suite of handy features, Blink is the perfect way to engage employees in your healthcare organization and help you retain talent.

7. Listen and action feedback

Over a third (35%) of frontline healthcare workers feel that their feedback will not be acted on by their organization. Unsurprisingly, half of frontline healthcare staff have changed or considered changing their job.

"By taking the time to listen and communicate, we can create a better and more supportive environment within healthcare," says Sean Nolan, CEO at Blink.

Through more effective communication, leaders feel more connected to their frontline, and frontline employees feel valued and listened to. This results in higher retention, increased productivity, and better two-way conversations.

Making healthcare workers feel heard needs to be a priority for any healthcare organization. By listening to their feedback and acting on it, you will be able to create a more supportive workplace culture that retains top talent — leading to reduced costs associated with employee turnover.

Making it happen

To effectively ensure your team is heard and their feedback is acted on, you need the right tech to manage it all smoothly. With the Blink employee app, you can listen to your employees and act on their feedback in real time, meaning they won't feel ignored or undervalued.

By using the powerful features of Blink, you can help create a culture where frontline workers feel heard and respected while focusing on:

• Encouraging two-way feedback through regular surveys and communications from leadership
• Ensuring feedback is acted on and implemented into business processes, updating employees on the progress of their feedback so they know they’re being heard
• Integrating your mobile app with workplace technologies like HR systems, payroll platforms, and more, to streamline the employee experience and implement feedback effectively across your organization

Your home health employee retention checklist

• Collect and analyze data - Gathered by regular Employee Pulse Surveys and Frontline Intelligence data
• Offer relevant training and development opportunities - Formal training programs, customized development pathways
• Lighten the load - Easy-to-access Hub for on-the-go support, intuitive scheduling and shift-swapping solutions
• Consistent communication - Team and 1:1 Secure Chats, regular and relevant mobile updates
• Focus on employee engagement - A powerful Employee Engagement App
• Real recognition - Rewards programs, Employee Recognition, Feed shoutouts
• Listen and action feedback - Regularly collect and act on feedback, update employees on actions taken

Retention next steps

Blink is the industry-leading frontline engagement app that connects management and frontline teams to build stronger organizations. With a proven adoption rate of 92% in care sectors, it’s never been this easy to unify the frontline. At Blink, we believe in empowering frontline organizations by helping you enable, engage and understand your workforce.

Our app provides a host of features that support employee retention in home health, such as employee surveys, polls, secure team and group chats and channels, employee recognition, and healthcare-friendly HR tools.

By using the app effectively, you will be able to create a culture where employees are engaged and respected – ultimately reducing employee turnover costs and driving employee retention up. We are experts in frontline engagement and retention and would love to help you achieve your goals.

Get started today

Choosing a new internal communication platform is one of those decisions that feels simple — right up until it isn’t.

Because once it’s live, there’s no quiet rollback. No easy undo. If adoption stalls, messages get missed, or employees revert to workarounds, you’re stuck fixing the fallout — not just the tool.

Most teams start this process for the same reasons: a legacy intranet no one uses, too many disconnected comms tools, and a growing sense that important messages just aren’t landing. You want fewer channels, clearer communication, and a platform employees actually trust.

The problem? Every internal communication platform promises the same thing in a demo.

So how do you tell the difference between software that looks good — and a platform that actually works in the real world?

That’s what this guide is for.

Below are seven signs you’ve found an internal communication platform that won’t create more noise, more work, or more clean-up later — but will quietly become the backbone of how your organization communicates.

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Signs you’ve found the right internal communication platform

1. It reaches every employee (not just desk workers)

Features to look for: Mobile-first design; a user-friendly mobile employee app; the same features and functionality on both mobile and desktop sites

The best internal comms platforms are mobile-first by design. So what does that mean?

Instead of cramming desktop intranet software onto a small smartphone screen, developers work in reverse. They start by creating an exceptional mobile experience, then scale up.

The result? The same user experience and functionality across all devices. And an internal communication platform that’s accessible to everyone — frontline, remote, hybrid, and office-based teams.

There’s no need for shared logins, VPN gymnastics, or insecure workarounds. You don’t need to maintain different channels of communication for different segments of the workforce.

So keeping everyone on the same page, aligned behind company goals, and connected to each other gets a lot easier.   

✅ Blink

At Blink, mobile-first design is a pillar of our approach. From the very beginning, our platform was designed as a mobile internal communication app. Frontline employees weren’t an afterthought — they were the starting point.

With a mobile and desktop version — both equally feature-rich and functional — Blink improves frontline comms and streamlines internal communications across your whole organization.

2. It brings chat, content, and knowledge together

Features to look for: Real-time messaging tools, a content hub, and a news feed

One of the biggest problems with inherited comms stacks is fragmentation. Chat lives in one tool. Real-time updates in another. Policies are housed somewhere else entirely.

Employees are stuck on a digital scavenger hunt, piecing together information across platforms, tabs, and inboxes. And it’s exhausting.

The right employee experience platform brings everything together. Conversations, company updates, and essential updates all live in one place, as part of a single, coherent experience.

That way, an announcement doesn’t just tell employees what is changing. It links directly to a policy, form, or guide so it’s easy to take action. 

✅ Blink

With Blink, everything is accessible from one intuitive dashboard.

Employees can head to the company news feed for company updates, send an instant message to their manager using real-time chat tools, and access the content hub to view policies and FAQs. They can even hop on a video or voice call when text communication just won’t cut it.

They can do all this without switching platforms and without logging in repeatedly. So teams get a connected, friction-free user experience.

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3. It makes information easy to find (and trust)

Features to look for: User-friendly content management tools; strong search functionality

“Is this the latest version?”

If you hear that question a lot, your internal communication platform isn’t doing its job.

When employees have to hunt for information — or second guess whether what they’ve found is accurate — it wastes time and erodes trust. And when people stop trusting your systems? They stop using them.

When choosing a new platform, look for a clearly structured resource library. A place where employees can find all the documents and resources they need to do their jobs well.

To ensure this space is useful and always up-to-date, you should also look for strong search functions, defined content ownership, and user-friendly content management tools.

✅ Blink

Blink’s content hub acts as a single source of truth. It’s built to house policies, handbooks, standard operating procedures, digital forms — all in one structured, searchable place.

With content management tools, it’s easy to keep hub content updated and relevant. And because Blink is a mobile-first platform, employees can access resources on the go, whenever and wherever they need them.

4. It supports two-way communication

Features to look for: An interactive news feed; employee surveys and polls; consumer-grade chat tools; other real-time collaboration tools

Internal communication isn’t a broadcast — or at least, it shouldn’t be.

If a shortlisted platform only allows leadership to push messages out, without letting employees respond, it’s a big red flag. Because two-way employee communication is essential for a strong culture and employee engagement.

The best platforms support top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer communication. They do this with features like surveys, chat tools, a social media-style news feed, and spaces for employee-generated content.

✅ Blink

Blink is built for conversation. Features like news feed comments and emoji reactions invite participation, while audience targeting ensures spaces never get too noisy. You can create an internal creator culture with the help of moderation and content approval tools — and gather employee feedback using polls and surveys.

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5. It’s secure without being a headache

Features to look for: End-to-end encryption; automated user management; a streamlined login process

Platform security is non-negotiable — particularly when employees are accessing internal communication tools on their own devices. But it’s all about finding the right balance.

If security makes a platform clunky, slow, or frustrating, employees will stop using it. Worse, they’ll find workarounds — WhatsApp groups, personal email, spaces with zero comms team oversight.

The right internal communication software offers enterprise-grade security without killing usability. That includes end-to-end encryption, clear admin controls, and automated user management.

✅ Blink

Blink is secure by design. IT teams get the controls and compliance they need, while employees get an experience that feels intuitive and enjoyable.

Blink also provides secure digital access to other workplace systems. With deep integrations and single sign-on, employees can access all workplace software — without taking risky shortcuts or resorting to shadow IT.

6. It doesn’t just push messages — it helps build culture

Features to look for: Employee recognition tools; co-worker communities; social media-style content tools

If a platform feels cold, corporate, or transactional, it won’t do much for company culture. Today’s dispersed employees are craving recognition, real stories, and moments of connection.

So the right platform makes space for appreciation and informal moments. It acts as a hub for employee experience and employee engagement. It feels less like a corporate noticeboard and more like the apps your employees already enjoy using away from work.

The best internal communication platforms act as a digital water cooler, bringing people together and creating a sense of belonging.   

✅ Blink

Blink makes culture visible. It has all the consumer-grade tools you need to build company culture and improve employee engagement.

Recognition tools weave appreciation into every day. Stories (short-form video reels) capture authentic moments. Communities are a space for employees to connect over shared roles and interests. And the news feed, packed with multi-media content, brings it all together.

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7. It proves its value with real data

Features to look for: Analytics tools; data segmentation; user-friendly reports

Is your internal comms strategy a success? What should you be doing to improve employee communications? When answering these questions, you shouldn’t have to rely on gut feeling.   

The right platform gives you data you can act on and it doesn’t distract you with vanity metrics. It lets you track key internal comms metrics like these:

• Platform usage rates
• Content performance
• Employee sentiment
• Employee advocacy score

✅ Blink

Blink’s analytics and easy-to-action reports show you what’s working and why. You can segment insights by team or location, identify disengaged teams, and identify your best-performing content.

You also have the data you need to demonstrate comms ROI and find ways to make internal comms an even more effective part of your organization.

The right platform = comms without the chaos

The best internal communication platforms bring clarity and connection, while cutting friction and noise. They make it easier for everyone to do their jobs — and feel part of something bigger.

Use the signs we’ve outlined above to guide your decision. Find a solution that ticks all the boxes, and you’ll see a difference from the moment you launch.  

Adoption that comes naturally. Fewer messages missed. Employees who know exactly where to go for information. And internal communications that make a much bigger impact on employee behaviors and organizational goals.   

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Meet one of Blink’s earliest builders — Ryan McClarnon, London-based Android Developer and proud co-creator of the Blink app itself.

Nearly eight years ago, he joined a tiny team with a big vision. Since then, he’s helped bring that vision to life — architecting our Android experience from scratch and playing a key role in shaping the platform that now powers millions of frontline workers worldwide.

We caught up with him to talk about product pride, purpose-driven work, and what it’s like to grow alongside the app you helped create. Let’s get into it.

1. Which Blink office do you work out of?

London.

2. What is your position at Blink?

I’m an Android Developer.

3. How long have you been at Blink?

I’m about to hit my 8-year Blinkiversary!

4. What initially attracted you to join Blink?

When I interviewed, Blink was still in its infancy. The product looked very different — many of today’s features didn’t exist yet — but in my conversations with Sean I could clearly see where he wanted to take it. His vision of building something people genuinely benefit from, rather than just have to use, really resonated with me. Joining felt like an opportunity to help shape something meaningful from the ground up.

5. What’s a project you are proud of from your time at Blink?

Before I joined, there was no native Android app — only a web version you could load on a phone. My teammate Olly Fox and I built the Android app entirely from scratch and have maintained and grown it over the last eight years. Knowing that a stable, user-friendly app, which millions of people rely on every day, started as our blank canvas is easily what I’m most proud of.

6. How would you describe the company culture at Blink in three words?

I’d sum it up as innovative, collaborative, and driven.

We’re constantly evolving — whether that’s the app itself or the way we work together—so innovation is baked into everything we do.

Collaboration is equally core. Every success here is a team effort, and people genuinely lean on one another’s expertise.

And finally, we’re driven: The company sets clear goals and everyone rallies around them, pushing hard to make them a reality.

7. What’s one thing you’re excited about for the future of Blink?

I’m excited for the day Blink becomes a household name — when any frontline or office worker immediately thinks of our super-app (not the security camera!) the moment they hear “Blink.”

8. Can you tell us about a recent initiative or program launched at Blink that you found particularly exciting?

The Blink for Everyone initiative — the charitable arm of Blink that supports non-profit organizations everywhere — really inspires me. Hearing about the organizations signing up and the impact it can have on them shows how much difference our platform can make.

9. Why do you work for Blink?

Blink’s mission aligns with my own values: We build a product that genuinely helps people. On top of that, as one of the product owners, I have considerable responsibility and variety in my day-to-day work, which keeps things engaging and rewarding.

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Engaged employees are more productive, more collaborative, and more likely to stay working for your company. And with 33% of hiring managers predicting that employee turnover will increase in 2024, there’s never been a better time to get the right employee engagement tech on your team.

Employee engagement apps are intuitive and easy to use. They enjoy high rates of adoption. And they offer a range of features that support employee engagement.

But which are the best of the many employee app options available? In this guide, we look at the seven best employee engagement apps for 2024 and explain a little more about why an app could benefit your business.  

Best employee engagement apps for 2026

The best employee engagement solution varies depending on your industry, the functionality you need, and the engagement metrics you want to improve. Here are our top picks for this year.

Blink: best employee app for frontline workers

Workleap Officevibe: best employee app for EX data

Engagement Multiplier: best employee engagement app for small businesses

Bonusly: best employee app for rewards and recognition

WeThrive: best employee app for mental health support

Culture Amp: best app for performance management

Workvivo: best employee app for large, multi-lingual organizations

1. Blink — best employee engagement app for frontline workers

Blink is an employee engagement app built specifically for frontline workers. It brings employee engagement tools to every employee smartphone.

Frontline workers don’t need a desktop computer or even a company email address to access the Blink app. Instead, a simple sign-on process gives them access to an intuitive, user-friendly dashboard.

Here, they can view employee communications, respond to surveys, read policy documents, and use the newsfeed to take part in the company conversation.

They can also use the Blink Hub to access the other workplace tools you use. With a couple of clicks, they can view their current training module, their pay stub, or their upcoming shifts.  

Managers get lots of useful engagement features too — like recognition and survey tools. They can also use Blink’s workforce analytics to measure engagement and make data-driven decisions.

All in all, the Blink employee app helps frontline teams to connect with each other and with leadership. It ensures they have access to the people, comms, and tools they need to do their jobs well.

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.6/5
• G2: 4.6/5

See Blink in action. Get your free demo.

2. Workleap Officevibe — best employee app for EX data

Performance management and recognition tools are part of the Workleap Officevibe employee app. But its most impressive features revolve around employee feedback. This app has a range of tools to help your HR team understand employee sentiment and make data-backed improvements.

Pulse surveys, onboarding surveys, eNPS scores — there are plenty of ways to find out what employees are thinking. You can also launch anonymous surveys so you know you’re getting honest, unfiltered feedback from employees.

Officevibe then helps you make sense of the feedback you’ve gathered. You can use reports to identify trending feedback topics. And use well-presented survey data to benchmark employee experience (EX) results and set targets. 

Pricing

Workleap Officevibe has a free version with limited functionality. Prices for paid plans start at $3.50 USD per user per month.

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.6/5
• G2: 4.3/5

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3. Engagement Multiplier — best employee engagement app for small businesses 

Engagement Multiplier is a reasonably priced app aimed at small to medium-sized businesses. It’s not as in-depth as some of the other employee engagement software on this list. But it can be really useful for new companies and start-ups wanting to learn more about their engagement levels.

Features include benchmark assessments, anonymous data collection, recommended actions, and the ability to create custom employee engagement surveys.

Pricing

Prices start from $7.20 USD per user per month.

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.8/5
• G2: 4.3/5

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4. Bonusly — best employee app for rewards and recognition

Bonusly is all about motivating your teams with employee recognition and rewards. The app lets you give each employee an allowance of points. They allocate these points to co-workers, appreciating them for their support, for doing a great job, or just for being an awesome work friend.  

Recipients can then exchange their points for a variety of different rewards, choosing between big brand gift cards, company merchandise, and custom rewards chosen by your company. Employees can also convert their reward points into charitable donations.

Bonusly supports the kind of peer-to-peer recognition that engages employees. It also allows you to share recognition in a company-wide feed, so you improve motivation and amplify company culture to every member of every team.

Pricing

Bonusly offers new users a free trial. Paid plans start from $5 USD per user per month, plus the cost of employee rewards.

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.8/5
• G2: 4.8/5

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5. WeThrive — best employee app for mental health support 

WeThrive is an employee engagement platform focused on the mental health of your workers. It helps you create surveys to check on employee wellness and take action to safeguard it.

The app’s mental health and wellbeing survey helps you to identify the root causes of stress, burnout, and anxiety. An easy-to-use feedback dashboard segments results by team, location, department, tenure, and manager so it’s easy to see where improvements need to be made.

The app also uses feedback data to suggest wellbeing actions for your managers so it’s easy to decide the next steps.

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.6/5

6. Culture Amp — best employee engagement app for performance management

Culture Amp is an employee platform built around employee feedback and analytics. It also has some excellent performance management tools.

You can use 360-degree feedback to find out how employees are doing. You can use goal-setting functions to align employee work with company strategy. And you can use 1-on-1s to encourage meaningful communication between managers and employees. 

With tools that support regular coaching and feedback, Culture Amp aims to provide organizations with everything they need to build a culture of continuous improvement and high employee engagement. 

Pricing

Pricing is available upon request.

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.5/5

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7. Workvivo — best employee app for large, multi-lingual organizations

Workvivo is owned by Zoom. It’s a desktop intranet that comes with a user-friendly employee app.

There are lots of community and social features for employees to engage with. You have the option to live-stream company updates in real-time. And, with Spaces, users can create their own community groups

For large organizations with employees who speak a range of different languages, Workvivo has some particularly useful tools. The auto-translation feature allows you to easily translate posts into a user’s preferred language. There’s also the option to auto-translate video subtitles.

Pricing

Pricing is available upon request.

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.8/5

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What are the advantages of an employee engagement app?

The best employee engagement software meets employees where they are. These days, that tends to be on their smartphones. And that’s why employee mobile apps are an increasingly popular choice.

Apps are inherently engaging and very easy to use. In fact, 53% of frontline workers already use messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for work-related conversations.

When you replace those apps with your own user-friendly employee app, you make communication more secure — and make it a key part of company culture, too.

Here are six other advantages of mobile-first employee engagement tools:

1. An employee app reduces costs and improves profitability

Construction giant Caterpillar found increasing engagement helped save $8.8 million at one of its European factories in just one year. The company also improved customer ratings and increased profits by $2 million.

Gallup research shows that Caterpillar’s cost savings aren’t an anomaly. They looked at thousands of teams and found that highly engaged businesses experience:

• A 43% decrease in employee turnover
• A 10% improvement in customer satisfaction
• An 18% uptick in sales
• A 23% increase in profitability

Employee engagement has a big impact on a company’s bottom line. So an employee engagement app tends to have a high return on investment.

2. An employee app improves communication without adding to the noise

An employee app streamlines company communication by putting everything in one, searchable location.

A social-style news feed. Employee surveys. Messages from management. With an app, teams know exactly where to go to get the information they need.

Managers also get the tools they need to highlight critical messages and ensure employees read them.

3. You connect every member of your workforce — including those on the frontline

To make a success of employee engagement, you need to take every member of the workforce with you. That includes those hard-to-reach employees working on the frontline of your organization.

Deskless workers get the raw end of the deal in terms of engagement tech. Only 10% of frontline workers say they have high access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace. 

But these workers are in greatest need of engagement intervention. Deskless employees are less trusting and engaged, and more likely to experience burnout than their desk-based peers.

An employee app ensures frontline workers aren’t excluded from company comms and culture. You take engagement beyond the office and a desktop computer and put it in the palm of every employee’s hand.

A good app is also easy and intuitive to use. It enjoys high rates of user adoption. So by using an employee app, you make engagement tech more accessible than ever to all employees.

4. You make work more engaging and efficient

The best employee engagement apps put the most effective engagement tools in one, single place. You give employees access to the things we know help to improve employee engagement:

• Training and development
• Recognition
• Two-way communication and collaboration
• Feedback opportunities

You also remove friction and frustration from the work day. Because employees can access all the comms, tools, and resources they need via your employee app, they become more efficient and productive.

Employees can get on with doing their jobs to the best of their ability. Managers save time thanks to improved communication channels and employee self-serve resources. That translates into increased levels of staff satisfaction.

5. Employee engagement apps support frontline safety

Employee engagement makes for better workplace safety and fewer workplace accidents. According to Gallup, companies with high engagement experience 64% fewer safety incidents than those with low levels of engagement.  

An employee app supports frontline safety because workers have all policy documents and safety procedures at their fingertips. They also have a direct line to managers, so it’s quick and easy to report safety or maintenance concerns.

6. Managers get access to data and analytics

When employees engage with your organization via an employee app, managers get access to valuable user data and analytics.

They get insight into how people are using the app and how they’re engaging with company communications. They get to know what engagement looks like for different teams, locations, and managers. Use an app with great integrations and you get insight into how employees are using other workplace tools, too.

The best employee engagement apps present this data in a way that is easy to understand and act upon. So your teams have everything they need to make employee engagement improvements going forward.

Does your company need an employee engagement app? 3 key questions

Staff engagement apps aren’t the best fit for every company. You can figure out if your organization would benefit from this by answering the following questions.

Do we have a communication channel that reaches everyone?

Effective internal communication is the foundation of engagement. So you need a reliable communication channel for all employees, particularly when there’s a time-sensitive update to share.

Email may not be a viable internal communication strategy if some workers don’t have email addresses. Getting managers to make phone calls and send text messages takes up a lot of time. Paper notices up on a board are easy to miss.

If you have a patchwork of different communication channels, an employee mobile app is a great streamlining tool. It saves your comms team time — because they have fewer comms channels to maintain. And it makes communication more efficient, relevant, and reliable.

Are employees treated equally?

Fairness is really important for employee engagement. If an employee feels like someone else is getting preferential treatment, it’s unlikely they’ll bring their A-game. So when it comes to opportunities for engagement, it has to be a level playing field.

Use surveys to find out if frontline staff and office workers enjoy the same level of engagement and the same access to company comms, culture, and connection.

If some workers are feeling overlooked, an app can help you treat employees equally. Ditching a two-tier engagement strategy means everyone feels valued and like they belong.

Do we need to lighten the load for managers and HR teams?

When there isn’t an easy way to share company policies, resources, and comms, managers and HR teams often end up acting as gatekeepers. Employees have to ask for the information they need, which adds to the HR and management workload.

An employee app removes this bottleneck by allowing employees to access relevant information for themselves. They can view their schedule and vacation time. They can read the most recent safety policy and get details of the next company social event.

HR and management spend less time answering the same questions. And employees — with resources in the palm of their hands — feel more engaged with the organization.

Final thoughts: The best employee engagement apps

An employee engagement app can be a game-changer when it comes to your employee engagement strategy.  Whether you’re a small office with a few dozen employees or a multinational corporation with hundreds of stores, the best employee engagement apps help your workers feel more connected.

At Blink, we’re passionate about helping companies connect with their frontline employees. And our frontline employee engagement solution will help your workforce thrive in 2026 and beyond.

Blink’s employee app offers the same great features across mobile and desktop. A company newsfeed, recognition, secure chat, surveys, analytics, and more. So your teams have everything they need to improve employee engagement — along with staff satisfaction, productivity, and retention.

If you want an all-in-one frontline employee engagement solution, get started with Blink today!

Collaboration starts at the top

Picture an orchestra. The musicians are world-class. The music is tried and tested. The venue is sold out. But the conductor?

If the conductor doesn’t show up and lead the way, each musician does their own thing. The strings speed up. The brass drags. Percussion is having its own little party in the back.

The same thing happens in the workplace.

You can hire the best people, invest in the smartest collaboration tools, and launch a jam-packed schedule of team-building activities. But without a leader actively bringing people together — and modelling the kind of team collaboration you want to see — you fail to see the desired results.

Collaboration is a by-product of consistent leadership behaviors — along with the right systems and practices. Find out what you can do to encourage your people to work together and stop going it alone.

Leaders are a catalyst for collaboration

There’s a strong link between internal communication and collaboration. When workplace communication is open and effective, collaboration comes much easier.

The right comms tools take you part of the way. But it’s leaders who decide the style and tone of communication. They set the stage for how information is shared, decisions made, and conflicts resolved.

Most importantly, they shape psychological safety within your organization. This is the belief that it’s safe to speak up, challenge ideas, and share new perspectives — all of which are vital to effective collaboration.

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Common collaboration blockers: Where leaders are going wrong

Collaboration brings many benefits — including increased efficiency, productivity, and employee engagement. But you may be missing out on all the above if leadership is displaying the following collaboration-blocking behaviors.

Playing favorites

When leaders give certain people or teams special treatment, everyone sees it. Opportunities, information, and recognition flow toward the chosen few. Other employees stop bothering to contribute. Over time, trust erodes and people assume collaboration is shorthand for helping someone else to shine. 

A closed leadership style

When leaders are reluctant to share information or delegate tasks, when they struggle to admit mistakes or ask for help, they model a non-collaborative style of leadership and communication. Employees are likely to follow suit, gatekeeping workplace knowledge and keeping their guard up.

Siloing teams

Failing to encourage cross-department collaboration creates silos. Projects are contained within one team. This limits the sharing of ideas, causes duplicate work, and prevents teams from seeing the bigger picture. Collaboration becomes the exception, not the rule.

Leading only through email or announcements

Relying solely on email or one-way announcements leads to poor comms engagement. It’s then hard for leaders to convey information — on corporate strategy, common goals, and company culture — and to encourage the two-way communication you need for effective collaboration.  

Not inviting feedback from all levels

Leaders who only hear from their inner circle miss out on well-rounded insights. If you don’t proactively seek perspectives from every level, you risk building strategies in an echo chamber — and making it clear to certain groups of workers that their contribution isn’t valued.

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Leadership behaviors that encourage collaboration

We’ve looked at what could be going wrong. Now, let’s look at what leaders can do to get it right. To improve teamwork in the workplace, good leaders consistently demonstrate these collaborative behaviors.

Modelling open communication

Collaboration thrives when leaders share information openly and honestly — and when they create opportunities for employees to respond, ask questions, and contribute ideas. Acting on feedback is also important. It shows that employee input is valued. And that leadership isn’t afraid to adapt and admit mistakes.

Consistently demonstrate this style of communication and employees will adopt these behaviors as their own, helping you pave the way for effective collaboration across the organization.

Recognizing and celebrating cross-team wins

If a joint project succeeds, shout about it. Not just in the quarterly meeting, but in the moment. Share teamwork achievements in real time, and allow employees to add their congratulations, too.

When praise comes from the highest levels of your organization and is amplified across the organization, employees see that working together is valued and celebrated.

Showing up regularly and authentically

Only picking up the microphone when there’s big news to share? Then you’re missing out on opportunities to engage and align your workforce.

Show up regularly on the communication channels your employees like to use and — once you’re there — be yourself. Share an unpolished video message. Tell stories about real people.

By going beyond formal emails and announcements, you make yourself visible, approachable, and aligned with the day-to-day work of employees. Again, this is great for building psychological safety and setting norms around workplace communication.

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Embedding collaboration into company culture: 6 practical tips

Beyond individual leader behavior, the right systems, policies, and practices can bake collaboration into company culture. Here’s what leaders can do to make teamworking an expected and celebrated part of the workplace.

#1. Make cross-functional projects the norm

Cross-functional collaboration helps you solve problems faster and more effectively. When launching a new project, consider which teams should get a seat at the table. Then, give these teams the time, support, and tools they need to work together.  

#2. Providing tools and spaces (digital + physical) for collaboration

The right supportive environment makes all the difference. Breakout spaces encourage collaboration within your physical workplace. But you need digital collaboration tools too. That might mean creating a central hub of resources and information — where everyone, from remote teams to frontline crews, is kept in the loop.

#3. Set collaboration as a performance metric for managers

What gets measured gets managed. You can encourage managers to develop teamwork skills by evaluating them on collaboration outcomes. Recognize the joint projects and information sharing that goes on under their watch, and they’re more likely to encourage collaborative behaviors.

#4. Provide training

Collaboration relies on soft skills, like open communication, active listening, empathy, and negotiation. These skills don’t always come naturally, so it pays to provide training. With the right support, employees have a better understanding of collaborative behaviors, and managers know how to encourage them.

#5. Ask for employee feedback

Regularly seek feedback from employees and you show them that their opinions and ideas matter. To build trust and psychological safety even further, close the feedback loop. Whether you’re surveying employees on the state of internal communication, their engagement levels, or the latest shift swap policy, share survey results and the action you plan to take.

#6. Regularly revisit and refine collaboration rituals

The needs of your teams are liable to change. The collaboration tools that worked two years ago might feel clunky now. The teamwork strategies you put into play may no longer feel relevant to the makeup of your teams. Leaders should make it a habit to review and refresh the collaboration rituals they’ve established to ensure that teamwork remains effective.

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How the right collaboration tools can help

Leaders have a huge impact on workplace collaboration. They set the tone. But with all the will in the world, dispersed teams will find it hard to collaborate without the right digital communication tools. You need collaboration software for remote teams, frontline workers, and office-based staff to facilitate knowledge sharing and project management. Here’s what to look for.   

Centralized communication platforms

Updates, files, and conversations scattered across multiple apps? Then you’re creating friction and encouraging siloed working. A tool like Blink puts all internal communications and essential files in one centralized hub. As a mobile-first tool, these resources are available to any employee with a smartphone. So everyone is kept in the loop.

Real-time feeds, stories, and live updates

Leaders can use digital channels to reinforce collaborative behaviors daily, not just at once-in-a-blue-moon meetings. You can use a Story, a live update, or a recognition post to highlight teamwork lessons and wins. In doing so, you show that collaboration is happening — and that it’s valued.

Integration with existing systems

The best collaboration tools don’t expect people to drop what’s working. Instead, they connect the dots. Blink integrates with your other workplace software — so employee communications, collaboration, and project management can all live in one place. Teams don’t have to hop between apps — instead, they can focus on tackling the task at hand together.

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Lead the way: Make collaboration part of your day-to-day

If you’re committed to improving collaboration in the workplace, you can’t be the conductor who hides in the wings.

Leaders have to be visible and present. They need to use every update, recognition post, and meeting as a chance to model the teamwork strategies they want their workforce to follow.

Because collaboration is built by leaders who demonstrate collaborative behaviors themselves. By leaders who listen as much as they speak, who establish a culture of psychological safety, and who welcome the input of employees from all levels of the organization.

Combine a collaborative leadership style and the right teamworking tools and you give employees everything they need to achieve more, together.  

‍Blink. And use leadership comms to supercharge collaboration.