10 online collaboration activities for remote teams

Internal communication mistakes are eye-wateringly expensive. According to estimates, they cost US companies up to $1.2 trillion every year. Mistakes lead to lost business, missed deadlines, and lower employee productivity.

In frontline organizations, communication mistakes are often more pronounced — because it’s notoriously hard to reach employees who are on-the-go, working away from the office in demanding, hands-on roles.

Here, we look at how to avoid six common frontline communication mistakes, improving frontline comms in the process.

This is what we’re going to cover:

• The frontline employee communication challenge
• The link between communication and retention
• How to avoid six common frontline communication mistakes
• Frontline employee communication: essential considerations
• Frontline employee communications FAQs

The frontline employee communication challenge

Reaching your frontline employees with internal communications has never been easy. Unlike desk-based workers, they often spend work days on their feet, away from a computer and sometimes their coworkers.

Communication over a traditional intranet or via email is, therefore, unlikely to be effective. Frontline workers don’t always have a good Wi-Fi connection or access to an appropriate device. So it can be hard for them to perform basic tasks — like finding and downloading a policy document or an email attachment.

Varying shift patterns make it hard for comms teams to reach employees with real-time updates. And — unless you’re tailoring your content to frontline worker needs — the volume of information can easily feel overwhelming. Employees then end up missing critical messages.

For too long, frontline employee communication has been an afterthought. Organizations haven’t always had the strategy or technology they need to make frontline comms effective.

But now, with a renewed focus on employee engagement and retention — and with more tech tools on offer than ever before — many organizations are rethinking how they communicate with their frontline staff.

The link between communication and retention

In frontline industries, there continue to be high levels of staff churn. In transportation, annual turnover stands at 56.7%. In hospitality, the figure stands at 73.8%. This compares to a national average of 13%. 

One of the primary culprits behind these sky-high stats? Internal communication mistakes. 61% of employees considering switching jobs cite poor internal communication as a factor.

Good internal communication keeps employees in the loop. It helps them understand company values and goals. Effective communication channels support frontline employees to connect with coworkers and feel part of company culture.

Being empowered to do a good job. Strong workplace relationships. Feeling part of something bigger. These things boost frontline employee engagement and encourage loyalty.

But with just 40% of frontline employees saying they have a strong sense of connection to their direct leader and 43% saying they have a strong sense of connection to their organization, it’s clear that frontline companies have work to do.   

How to avoid 6 common frontline communication mistakes

Good frontline communication can be transformative for your organization. Here are the mistakes you need to avoid to keep your frontline workers informed and engaged.

Mistake #1: Sticking to the same ineffective frontline communication channels

Many frontline organizations still use paper methods of communication. They send out a newsletter or put memos up on an already crowded noticeboard.

These messages are easy to miss. The information can be outdated by the time it’s distributed. And communication only goes one way — there are limited opportunities for employee interaction.

Email is equally ineffective for frontline workers who don’t always have a corporate email address. And word-of-mouth messaging and phone calls are time-consuming for frontline managers.

Many workers are turning to the tech tools they use in their personal lives to bridge the communication gap. 55% of workers say that WhatsApp is their primary workplace communication tool.

But shadow IT platforms, like WhatsApp, are flawed, too. There are huge compliance and data security issues associated with shadow IT. It also lies outside the control of your comms team so there’s zero oversight. 

Making do with internal communication channels like these makes it hard for your comms team to communicate key messages. It also harms the frontline employee experience. 

How to solve it:

Move beyond this patchwork approach to frontline communication. Unify your messaging with the help of internal communication channels that frontline workers can access easily.  

A reliable way to reach employees is via an employee app, which employees can access on their smartphones. Here, you can bring together all strands of workplace communication and provide social-media-style tools that employees will enjoy using.

Common features include a dynamic company news feed, secure chat, and a content hub packed with essential policies and guides.

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This app becomes a go-to hub of communication and a single source of truth. Employees know they can use the app to quickly and easily find the information they need.

Mistake #2: Your frontline communication tech isn’t mobile-first

A frontline connection gap exists in almost every frontline organization. And it can make frontline employees feel like second-class citizens.

49% of frontline workers say that there are two separate cultures at play within their company: “one for the frontline and one for everyone else.” This unfairness can lead to division and disengagement. And too often, internal communication mistakes — and poor tech choices — are to blame.

Not all employee apps are created equal. And unless you choose a mobile-first solution, designed around the needs of mobile users, you’re likely to run into one (or all) of the following problems:

1. Your app offers an inferior user experience. It doesn’t support the features and functionality that your desk-based employees enjoy on the desktop version.
   
   
2. Your app is difficult for employees to access, either because it uses long-winded login methods or because it requires a corporate email address.
   
   
3. Employees don’t like using your app, either because it has a complicated interface or because it’s one of many digital tools they’re expected to use during the workday.

Problems like these create a two-tier system, with office-based employees getting better access to internal comms than their frontline coworkers. They also cause friction for employees, which means they’re much less likely to use the app.

How to solve it:

When choosing technology for frontline employees, get input from a wide range of stakeholders — including your frontline staff. They can tell you what features and functionality they’d like to see in an employee app.

Supplement this input with an understanding of best practice. The best apps for frontline workers provide the following as standard: 

• A mobile-first solution. This ensures the platform experience is equitable, with the same features and functionality available on both mobile and desktop versions of the software.
• A user-friendly interface. To ensure high levels of app adoption, it should be easy for frontline employees to learn and use the platform.
• Strong integrations. So frontline workers can access all workplace tech — not just your communication channels — from one dashboard.

Single sign-on technology. So employees only have to remember one set of login details to access all the tech tools they need.

Mistake #3: An HQ-centric approach to comms content

With the right technology, you can finally reach the frontline employees in your organization. But you can’t simply serve up the same content you’ve always delivered.

Long-winded corporate content is a no-no for busy frontline teams. You’re unlikely to engage them if you ask them to download a PDF policy document or scroll through long paragraphs of text. Remember: they’re consuming content on a small smartphone screen.

Likewise, if most of the content they see is geared toward office-based employees, frontline workers are likely to lose interest. Scrolling through lots of irrelevant information to reach frontline-specific content is a headache your frontline really doesn’t need.

How to solve it:

Long-winded, text-based comms are out. Short, snappy, visual content is in. 

Think of the kinds of messages that work well on social media platforms. Here, attention-grabbing headlines, multimedia posts, Stories, and straight-to-the-point text convey a lot of information very quickly and effectively.

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This is ideal for busy frontline workers who don’t have time to scroll through reams of text-heavy content. They get need-to-know information in bite-size form.

Personalization is also key. A home care worker doesn’t need to know about the faulty photocopier in the office. But elderly care updates? New incident reporting procedures? The latest shift availability? That’s all really useful and engaging stuff. 

Segment your audience so frontline workers only see information that relates to them, their location, role, and team.

Mistake #4: Too many corporate updates, not enough community

Your office employees can congratulate their coworkers on a successful sales pitch face-to-face. They can share ideas with a teammate on the way to lunch. Or chat about the latest binge-worthy series with their buddies while brewing a coffee in the office kitchen.

But it’s different for the frontline. Frontline workers don’t get the same opportunity for coworker camaraderie as their desk-based peers. There are few options for collaboration and only 30% feel seen and valued by their organization.

Corporate updates are an essential part of employee communications. But you can’t stop there.  Failing to focus on community across your communication channels leaves frontline workers feeling isolated from company culture — and each other.

How to solve it:

Becoming a connected organization is about more than passing news from HQ to the frontline. Effective communication goes both ways and — with the right tech tools — you can build a shared sense of culture and purpose.

To bring every member of staff into the conversation, ensure your platform supports employee interactions. Can they leave comments on news feed posts? React with emojis? Post their own content?

Also, look to launch the following:

• Fun, informal posts. Create polls, launch content challenges, and post event videos. This fun content encourages interaction and helps frontline employees to feel part of company culture.
• Shared interest groups. Communities are a great way to bring frontline employees together. They can find coworkers who share their interests and hobbies, and build meaningful workplace relationships.  
• Regular recognition. Organizations that make recognition an everyday part of the employee experience improve retention, employee engagement, and a sense of belonging. So encourage managers and coworkers to regularly create employee recognition posts.
• Group chat. Create group chats for each frontline team and location. When employees can easily connect with their coworkers, collaboration and connection improve.

Mistake #5: Communication is one-way

Top-down communications are important. You need to keep employees in the loop about company updates, safety announcements, and schedules. But if communication only flows one way, engagement will suffer.

Two-way internal communication shows employees you value them and their input. It demonstrates trust, which then gets repaid. You also get insights that drive smarter business decisions.  

Frontline workers interact with customers. They can spot supply chain bottlenecks and operational inefficiencies. They know which policies are causing frontline frustration — long before the C-suite does.

Without easy, two-way communication, leadership is left in the dark on issues that impact productivity, customer experience, and employee retention.

How to solve it:

Don’t settle for a digital bulletin board. Make your employee app a hive of interactivity by encouraging employees to join the conversation. Here’s how:

• Surveys. Launch regular employee surveys to gauge employee sentiment on everything from policy changes to break room design to internal communication strategy.
• Forms. Make it easy for employees to report safety concerns or suggest improvements using easy-access digital forms.
• Real-time chat. Give frontline workers a direct line to managers and coworkers with 1-to-1 chat functions.
• Interactive content. Craft content that encourages employee input: pose questions in news feed posts, create flash polls, or run a leadership Q&A.

By giving frontline employees a voice, you create a more engaged, informed, and empowered workforce — one that actively contributes to company success. 

Mistake #6: You don’t act on insights from employees and app analytics

If you’ve already rectified the other mistakes on this list, you’re now actively listening to employees and gathering a ton of useful internal communication data through your employee app.

But collecting feedback and analytics is only half the battle — it’s what you do with that information that really counts.  

Failing to act on employee insights weakens trust in the feedback process. When employees don’t see changes based on their input, they become disengaged and less likely to participate in future surveys or discussions.

Ignoring app analytics is equally costly. Unless you segment and analyze the data, you risk making internal comms decisions based on assumptions, not facts. This means missed opportunities to optimize content, improve reach, and create messages that resonate with employees.

The result? Internal communications stagnate, employee engagement declines, and your strategy fails to keep up with the evolving needs and expectations of your frontline employees.

How to solve it:

• Close the feedback loop. Every time you launch an employee survey or embark on a listening tour, tell employees about your findings and thank them for their contributions. Let them know what you plan to do next and keep them posted on any changes and improvements you make.
  
  
• Make proper use of analytics. Use app analytics to track internal communication KPIs. Look at metrics like platform adoption rate, leadership visibility, profile completion, and the number of responses, likes, and reactions your messages receive. Also, segment the data so you get a real sense of how frontline employees are using your internal communication tools. Then, make improvements based on your findings to make your internal communication platform work even better for frontline teams.

Frontline employee communication: essential considerations

Internal communication mistakes are costly. But can avoid them by remembering these guiding principles for frontline comms:

• Think mobile-first. Frontline workers spend all, or most, of their time away from a desk. They need communication systems that move with them.
• Provide short, engaging content. Busy frontline employees need information in an easy-to-digest format. So make like a social media marketer with succinct, visual, and highly engaging messages. 
• Connection, not just communication. Build an online company community by encouraging employee interaction and coworker conversations. 
• Commit to iteration. Continually evaluate your communication strategy and encourage regular feedback from your frontline employees. Then, make meaningful changes based on data, not instincts.

Is your frontline communication falling short?

You only avoid the communication mistakes we’ve looked at in this article if you have the right internal comms tech on your team. That’s where Blink comes in.

Blink is an employee app that offers the same great experience for frontline and desk-based employees.

With secure, single sign-on technology, a user-friendly interface, and deep integrations, it acts as a digital hub. It gives frontline employees access to the information, tools, and connection they need day to day — all via their smartphones.

Blink. And connect your frontline employees like never before.

In 2025, the frontline workforce underwent a significant generational shift.

For the first time, Gen Z passed Millennials as the largest generation in the shift-based workforce.

Whether you’ve realised it or not, this generation is already on your shop floors, in your restaurants, and working your distribution centers. And now is the perfect opportunity to revisit your internal comms strategy.

Why? Because if your frontline communications only work for employees who tolerate email, check notice boards, and don’t expect much from their employer’s technology stack, you’re already falling behind.

Here’s what the Gen Z frontline workforce expects from your internal communications — and how you can develop a strategy that supports this, now dominant, frontline cohort.

The Gen Z workforce in numbers

Gen Z — those born between 1995 and 2009 — make up 22% of the global population. They now comprise 27% of the global workforce — a figure that will rise to 30% by 2030.

In the frontline workforce, a bigger shift has already taken place. Gen Z workers now make up 41% of US shift-based workers — slightly ahead of Millennials at 40% and way ahead of older Gen X and Baby Boomer generations.

Frontline organizations are feeling this shift first, because Gen Z has been hit hardest by the rise of AI and a cooling entry-level jobs market, and frontline roles have a low barrier to entry.

So what does this mean for your organization? Simply put, the employee communication strategies that worked for previous generations won’t work for Gen Z. That’s because Gen Z is bringing different priorities and expectations to the workplace.

What makes Gen Z workers different from older generations?

Understanding Gen Z internal comms starts with understanding what this generation actually expects from work.

• They grew up mobile-first. Gen Z is the first generation to have grown up with smartphones as their primary communication device. They’re used to consuming information in a fast, succinct, very visual format. For Gen Z frontline workers, a company that communicates through printed notices and manager cascades isn’t just behind the times — it’s an organization that doesn’t respect their time or preferences.
  
  
• They expect transparency. Gen Z employees want to understand not just what they’re being asked to do, but why. They expect leadership to communicate openly about company direction, decisions, and challenges. Organizations that broadcast information without context — or leave employees in the dark — lose Gen Z trust fast.
  
  
• They leave faster when expectations aren't met. Gen Z has a lower tolerance for poor employee experience than previous generations. A role that doesn’t deliver on the experience promised during recruitment, offer a visible path forward, or treat them as valued members of the organization won’t hold them for long. Their loyalties are also divided, with two in three poly-employment workers (those working multiple frontline jobs) falling into the Gen Z generational bracket. 

Where most frontline orgs get Gen Z internal comms wrong

The gap between what Gen Z expects from workplace communication and what the average frontline operation delivers is significant.

Paper schedules. Email-only company updates. Manager phone calls. A feedback survey that appears once a year and produces no visible response. An intranet that doesn’t work on smartphones.

This is a communication infrastructure designed for a different era. And for the Gen Z frontline workforce, it has a negative impact on employee engagement, motivation, and retention.

The organizations retaining Gen Z on the frontline are the ones that have recognized this gap and have closed it deliberately. Here’s what that requires.

The Gen Z internal comms readiness checklist

Find out if your internal comms meet Gen Z expectations. Here are five practical questions HR and comms leaders can ask right now.

#1. Can every worker access company updates on their phone?

For Gen Z frontline workers, mobile access isn’t a preference — it’s the expectation. If company news, policy updates, and operational information require a desktop login or a trip to a shared terminal, you’re not communicating with this cohort effectively.

(One important caveat: mobile access alone isn’t enough. 58% of Gen Z report digital fatigue — feeling overwhelmed by constant alerts and too many platforms. The goal isn’t more channels. It’s one well-designed channel that consolidates communication without adding noise.)

#2. Do they have a voice?

Gen Z expects two-way communication. They want to ask questions, share opinions, leave comments, and see their input influencing decisions. An annual engagement survey doesn’t meet that expectation. Reactive, visible, two-way channels will help to build trust.

#3. Is recognition immediate and visible?

Lack of recognition is a primary driver of Gen Z workplace stress. For frontline workers who rarely interact with senior leadership, peer-level and manager-led recognition delivered through a shared digital channel is essential. It shows that their contribution matters.

#4. Are onboarding and training mobile-friendly?

1 in 3 Gen Z frontline workers feel bored, unprepared, or left behind by the training they receive. 

Gen Z learns best through short-form video, interactive content, and mobile-accessible resources they can return to at the moment of need. They need onboarding and training delivered to mobile devices in a way that keeps them engaged and informed.

#5. Can employees connect with co-workers?

Gen Zs with close workplace friendships are 15 points more likely to stay with their organization for more than five years. 

In shift-based environments where workers may rarely overlap with the same colleagues, those relationships don’t form by accident. 

Communication tools that support peer connection — group chats, communities, shared social spaces — are vital comms infrastructure.

Read more: How to engage Gen Z with employee communications

What good Gen Z communication actually looks like: Domino’s x Blink

Domino’s is a good example of what happens when a frontline organization commits to meeting frontline employees where they are.

With a workforce that skews heavily toward Gen Z, Domino’s needed a communication approach that worked for employees who don’t sit at desks, don’t have corporate email addresses, and expect a consumer-grade digital experience from their employer.

After implementing Blink as their frontline communication tool, Domino’s was able to transform Gen Z internal comms.  

Store employees had a single place to access company news, operational updates, training resources, and peer recognition — all in an engaging, interactive, multimedia format, and all from the smartphone already in their pocket.

The Blink app is now part of daily life at Domino’s, with 94% platform adoption and more than 8 in 10 employees actively using the platform every month. It’s transformed company culture, giving every team member access, ownership, and a stronger connection to the brand.

Read the full Domino’s x Blink case study.

Managing Gen Z employees on the frontline: Five quick wins

• Lead with purpose. Gen Z wants to understand how their work connects to the bigger picture. Build context into your communications — not just what's happening, but why it matters.
  
  
• Communicate in their format. Avoid walls of text. Instead, create Insta-worthy internal comms — short-form video, visual content, interactive polls. It’s engaging for Gen Z and helps to build trust.
  
  
• Make feedback loops visible. When Gen Z employees raise an issue or respond to a survey, show them what happened as a result.
  
  
• Don't make them ask their manager for everything. Self-serve access to schedules, payslips, policies, and shift swapping removes friction from daily work and gives workers a sense of autonomy.
  
  
• Recognize early and often. Don't wait for milestones. Regular employee recognition — particularly for new hires finding their feet — is an incredibly effective Gen Z employee engagement strategy.

Are your comms future-ready?

Your Gen Z frontline workforce isn’t waiting for your internal communications strategy to catch up.

Staff are already making daily judgments about whether your organization is worth sticking with — based largely on the quality of communication and connection they experience on shift.

The good news is that improving Gen Z internal comms doesn’t require radical changes.

A mobile-first platform that consolidates communication, supports two-way dialogue, makes recognition visible, and gives every employee self-serve access to the information they need addresses most of what this generation expects.

Blink’s mobile-first app is built for exactly this. It’s a consumer-grade platform Gen Z frontline workers love to use — because it’s designed for the way they love to work.

Blink. And start speaking Gen Z’s language.

For comms leaders who want to bring their teams together, employee engagement is a critical element in creating a sense of belonging in frontline organizations. There are a number of different employee engagement frameworks available.

Therefore, it’s important to understand their respective strengths and weaknesses to make the right decisions for your teams.

How can you know which one is right for your organization?

The answer lies in understanding the goals that you want to achieve through engagement, and how the different frameworks can help you do so.

At Blink, we believe in the importance of employee engagement, which is why we've carefully evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of key frameworks on the market, to help you find the one that aligns with your organizational goals.

Whether you're an SME looking to create a fast-growing startup culture, or a large enterprise looking to make your employees feel more empowered and innovative, this guide will help you understand what an employee engagement framework is and find the right model for the job.

What Is An Employee Engagement Framework or Model?

An employee engagement framework or model is a strategic structure created to help you understand and measure the factors that drive employee engagement within your organization. 

These models work to identify the specific factors that are most important to creating an engaged employee workforce, and provide a strategic framework for improving these factors as part of your wider employee engagement strategy.

But why does this even matter? Why bother? Well, studies have shown that engaged employees see increased customer satisfaction, boosted job satisfaction and improved turnover (43%) compared to their competitors, amongst a range of other competitive benefits. We know, we've told you before! But that's because it's true.

As for the framework, it provides a core structure to your communications and engagement efforts and helps you to focus on the elements that are most important. So whether you're looking to drive innovation, retention, or productivity within your organization, there's bound to be an engagement framework or model out there that can help you achieve these goals.

Before we dive into how to choose the best employee framework for you, let's take a look at some of the main employee engagement models.

Employee Engagement Framework Examples

When it comes to employee engagement theories, specifically frameworks, the sector is dominated by a few major players. In this section we'll outline the key focus and aims of each employee framework example, hopefully providing you with some insight into which model might be best for improving employee engagement in your organization. 

1. The Zinger Model

The Zinger model of employee engagement consists of 14 employee engagement elements, with key symbols for each element. Together, these elements make up a symbolic framework for measuring employee engagement, with each element representing a specific part of the engagement process. These 14 elements include:

• Achieve results
• Craft strategy
• CARE (Connect, Authentic, Recognition, Engage)
• Enliven work roles
• Excel at performance
• Esteem organization
• Foster community
• Serve customers
• Develop career
• Leverage energies
• Experience wellbeing

The model is designed to help organizations evaluate and monitor the factors that impact employee engagement over time, and track progress towards their organizational goals.

While this theoretical model lacks depth in terms of human resource management theory, it does provide a useful visualization of different engagement factors and mechanisms, making it a great choice for comms leaders looking to map out their employee engagement strategy in a visually appealing way.

2. The Deloitte Model

The Deloitte model of employee engagement was created after two years of discussions and research with clients, revealing five major elements and 20 underlying strategies that work together to make an organization truly “irresistible.” The 5 major elements included in this framework are:

• Meaningful work
• Hands-on management
• Positive work environment
• Growth opportunity
• Trust in leadership

All of these factors work together to form a core system of engagement within an organization (See Figure 1 below) that maintains itself through strong company culture. And while the model is aimed at maximizing employee satisfaction, it also works to improve productivity and profitability.

This framework has been used by hundreds of organizations around the world and boasts a high success rate in improving organization-wide employee engagement and company performance. If you’re looking for an evidence-based approach to employee engagement that can help you achieve results across the board, this might be a good fit for you.

3. The JD-R model

The Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory of employee engagement is a model that explains how the organizational environment impacts employee well-being and performance.

One central idea in the JD-R theory is that although workers may be based in various sectors–think transport, manufacturing, or finance–their job characteristics can be classified into two categories: job demands and job resources.

• Job demands are job aspects that require continuous effort and usually come with physical and mental costs. Some examples could include a heavy or unmanageable workload, conflicting demands from managers and customers, and workplace bullying.
• Job resources help workers progress in their careers, make their jobs less demanding, and improve their day-to-day life both professionally and personally. Some examples of resources could include scheduled breaks during the workday, access to line management training, or implementing specialized employee engagement software for manufacturing that gives workers instane mobile access to a Central Hub storing core company document.

Using a variety of methods to study leadership and workers, such as Employee Surveys, interviews and administrative data, the JD-R model has been proven to be a valid method for assessing how employees feel about their job resources and demands, and in turn their engagement levels.

4. The Gallup Employee Engagement model

The Gallup model of employee engagement refers to their Q12 Survey, which consists of 12 employee engagement survey questions. After taking the Q12 survey, leaders and managers will be able to effortlessly work each item's concepts into conversations, meeting agendas, performance evaluations and team goal setting. The 12 questions are:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

The 12 questions are split into four levels (See image below) required for an environment of trust and support in the workplace. By meeting the needs of the three levels of foundational employee engagement drivers, leaders can drive top level personal and professional growth for their employees.

Using these levels as a guide to manage your team, you can improve their performance and continue developing them professionally.

It's important to note that these four levels do not represent consecutive phases. Managers do not complete level one and then level two, etc. Leaders must ensure that employees' needs are met on level one first, however they must then continue to deliver on that level while meeting their needs on the second, third and fourth levels.

Simply put: if you don't meet your employees basic needs on an ongoing basis, the other levels won't follow.

5. The AON Hewitt model

The AON model of employee engagement consists of three main sectors, Say, Stay and Strive. Based on employee responses to "say, stay, and strive," engagement levels can be determined and used as a predictor of business outcomes. 

AON goes on to recommend some key steps when implementing an engagement framework, which include:

• Define your improvement strategy
• Boost the impact and effectiveness of your managers and leaders
• Create an aligned employee value proposition
• Design and implement total reward programs.

By using these steps, leaders can successfully improve employee engagement and drive better business outcomes for their organizations.

How to pick the right employee engagement framework for you

What business targets are you aiming for?

To choose a fit-for-purpose engagement model, you need to understand the goals that you want to achieve through engagement. Some of the most common business targets are: improved innovation, increased employee retention and productivity, and better financial performance.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) built around employee engagement metrics can also make strong targets for your engagement framework. For example, some organizations might aim to increase employee participation in the workplace and their willingness to contribute to company goals – both of which are important metrics for measuring employee engagement and satisfaction.

Some key questions to ask yourself at this point could include:

• What's the main engagement problem you’re currently facing? 
• What are your business targets?
• Does the engagement framework align with KPIs and company goals?

Understand your team setup

The first step in choosing the best employee engagement framework for your organization is to understand the different types of teams that you have. This will help you to better understand the specific engagement needs of your team, and tailor the framework accordingly.

For example, a frontline workforce is going to require specific framework targets, such as increasing employee engagement in nurses or on the factory floor. On the other hand, an office-based team may be looking to increase employee participation in company events or projects.

The truth is, frontline workers are often left with no engagement projects that meet their needs. Unfortunately, this has led to a growing number of frontline workers left feeling unheard and disengaged. 

To do better for your staff, start by really getting to know them and their team setup.

Assess your current technology

When choosing your framework to engage employees, run-of-the-mill employee engagement activities and boring old company practices need to stay in the past.

If you really want to drive employee engagement outcomes in your organization, you need the right tech. Luckily, when it comes to the best digital tools for employee engagement, we know a thing or two.

From employee engagement platforms and digital communication tools to online learning resources, there's a growing number of technology solutions available to help you improve your organizational culture and increase engagement.

In our humble opinion, Blink is the absolute frontrunner when it comes to tech solutions for engaging employees. Blink offers:

• Secure Chats to drive feedback loops, two-way communication and meaningful workplace relationships
• Central Hub for instant access to core company policies, procedures and files
• Blink Feed for company announcements and engaging day-to-day updates
• Frontline Intelligence to help you measure and analyze how your employee engagement strategy is performing
• Employee Surveys to drive a movement of listening within your organization.

With these digital features in one Frontline Engagement App, Blink really is the perfect fit for any business looking to improve employee engagement and, ultimately, business outcomes.

So if you're ready to start taking your employee engagement efforts to the next level, how about trying Blink today? You'll be able to easily meet your communication, collaboration and company culture goals!

Identify engagement framework allies

Employee engagement framework allies are those who are invested in improving your organization's culture and are willing to work alongside you to help achieve this.

For example, if you're looking to boost employee participation in your workplace, it might be worth reaching out to HR teams or management to see if they can dedicate budget towards more frequent team meetings or staff events.

Alternatively, if you're a comms or HR leader, you might need to get CIO or even CEO buy-in in order to implement the right digital tools to kickstart a new framework.

Overall, finding allies for your employee engagement framework can be a powerful way to get more support behind your goals, and achieve better results in the long run. So make sure you reach out to anyone who might be able to help you move forward.

How do you implement an employee engagement model?

It’s important to choose the right model and identify your allies to ultimately achieve your goals. To implement this thinking, it's important to approach implementation in a structured way. This will help you have a clear plan to manage the process from start to finish.

Some key steps include overhauling your digital employee engagement tools, testing and setting measurable goals, creating regular check-in points for measuring progress, and ensuring that everyone involved is aligned with the same vision and implementing employee engagement best practices.

What Blink can do for you...

Now that you have a better understanding of how to implement an employee engagement model in your organization, you can think about implementing a tool like Blink.

At Blink, strong employee engagement is at the heart of what we do. That's why our mobile engagement app offers a range of powerful tools and features to help frontline organizations improve their culture and build better relationships with their staff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV1_4ZdjPQ4&ab_channel=Blink

With an average activation rate of over 85% across numerous deskless industries, Blink can help you drive more open and honest communication, increase employee participation in your initiatives, gather feedback from across all departments, all of this to help you drive key metrics and KPIs. 

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Get to know your organization like never before

On a 2023 listening tour, Safeguard Global, an HR consulting company, discovered that employees were worried about their winter heating bills. The organization acted on this feedback by providing a monthly stipend to help cash-strapped workers. 

Chief People Officer Katherine Loranger told SHRM, “It wouldn’t have happened without the firsthand information about how inflation was impacting those employees.”

Similarly, after layoffs at Change.org, Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Dulski used a listening tour to understand the impact on remaining employees. She found that trust was at an all-time low. 

The company responded by improving transparency and communication about its financial situation. Employees came to understand why difficult decisions had been made — and felt reassured about their job security. 

As organizations like these have found, a listening tour can help you find and fix employee problems before they cause undue harm to your organization. They can also surface fresh perspectives on everything from your products to customer service to the employee experience.

In 2025, a listening tour is an essential part of any good internal communication plan. Let’s look at why that’s the case — and how you can put a listening tour into action.

What is a listening tour and why does it matter in 2025?

A listening tour is a series of structured conversations with employees, designed to gather feedback and insights.

It can include:

• 1-to-1 interviews with employees
• Focus groups
• Pulse-check polls
• Workplace walk-throughs
• Town hall meetings

A listening tour goes way beyond the annual employee survey. By actually speaking to employees, asking relevant questions, and encouraging honest and expansive answers, you develop an in-depth understanding of the employee experience.

In the case of an internal comms listening tour, you get to understand the employee experience in relation to your communications. You discover what employees think of your internal communication channels and tools. And whether your internal comms plan is having the desired impact.

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Key benefits of a listening tour

Executing an impactful listening tour takes time and effort. But it’s well worth the investment. Here’s why: 

• It builds trust. Conduct a listening tour and you show employees that you value their input. When you act upon their feedback, employees feel heard. This strengthens their trust in your organization and its leadership.
  
• It fosters inclusion. On a well-planned listening tour, you gather feedback from hard-to-reach sectors of your workforce — like frontline employees — who may have little chance, day to day, to share their ideas, challenges, and perspectives with company decision-makers.
  
• It surfaces actionable insights. A listening tour provides lots of useful qualitative data. You get to know what employees are struggling with and their preferred solutions. These actionable insights allow you to make changes that make a real difference to your workforce.

Why run a listening tour now?

There’s never been a better time to run a listening tour.

We know that many hybrid and frontline employees feel excluded from the company conversation. Nearly 2 in 3 UK workers are worried about burnout in 2025. And the latest Gallup figures show that just 23% of employees are engaged at work.

In 2025, employees are also holding leaders to a higher standard of accountability and transparency. Deloitte research shows that 84% of workers and 74% of leaders say an increasing focus on trust and transparency between workers and the organization is very or critically important.

According to Deloitte, transparency is the most pressing business trend. It’s predicted to have the greatest impact on an organization’s success, both this year and over the next two years. 

A listening tour helps to address all these issues. Employers can uncover what employees want from leadership and better understand employee motivation and wellbeing. They can then develop a plan to improve internal communications, transparency, and employee engagement, benefitting workers and the organization’s bottom line.

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Planning your next listening tour

So how do you make a success of a listening tour at your organization? It starts with a clear and comprehensive plan.

Set clear goals

Decide what you want to achieve with your listening tour and how your communication goals align with broader business objectives, such as employee retention.

If you’re running an internal communications listening tour, you may want to find out how employees feel about the company intranet — or the other internal communication tools you use. You may want to know if employees feel part of company culture and how they rate the transparency of your leadership team. You may also want to gauge their feedback on internal communication efforts such as key messages, internal emails, or peer communication.

Whatever your focus, establishing your goals helps to ensure your listening tour has direction and that you can measure outcomes effectively.

Identify your audience

The goals of your listening tour will help to dictate its audience segments. If you’re looking to address challenges within a single team, you only need to target that department. But for business goals that relate to your entire organization, you should look further afield.

Also, consider the diversity of your target audience. If you want to get a holistic sense of employee sentiment, speak to employees from all corners of your organization. That includes hybrid and frontline workers who experience the workplace differently from desk-based workers.

Choose the right format

The format of your listening tour needs to align with the needs and expectations of your workforce. Be conscious of time zones, shift patterns, access to tech tools, and the resources available to your interviewing team when deciding how to conduct your tour. Options include virtual sessions, in-person conversations, or a mix of the two.

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Prepare key questions

You’re more likely to achieve your listening tour goals if you set a couple of key interview questions in stone. Some examples include:

• What challenges are you facing in your role?
• How can we improve employee communications?
• What support would make your work easier?
• Which key messages do you care the most about?
• What motivates you to stay with the organization?

Pro tip: Conduct an employee survey before running a listening tour. This helps to surface issues you might want to explore in more depth during the tour.

Executing the tour

To get the most from your listening tour: 

• Be present and authentic. Show genuine interest in employee feedback by demonstrating active listening skills and empathy. Leave space for them to elaborate on their answers.‍
• Encourage open dialogue. Use inclusive language and emphasize that all opinions are valued and confidential. Facilitate two-way communication by allowing participants to ask questions, too.‍
• Adapt as you go. Be flexible and prepared to pivot if certain topics emerge as priorities. Don’t be afraid to go beyond your key questions to ask meaningful follow-up questions.‍
• Document key insights. Designate a note-taker or record sessions (with permission) to ensure no feedback from employees is lost

Related read: Crisis communication best practices: the only 4 you need to remember

Analyzing and acting on feedback

If you’ve executed an extensive listening tour, the amount of data you now have at your fingertips can feel overwhelming. Here’s a step-by-step process for analyzing and acting upon it.

Step 1. Organize your findings

Group feedback into themes like communication gaps, technology issues, or recognition needs. You can do this manually, using a spreadsheet or sticky notes. Or you can use tech tools like AI and mind-mapping software. This helps you identify any burning issues and prioritize your action plan.

Step 2. Share what you’ve learned

Transparency builds trust. So share a summary of the feedback with employees, acknowledging recurring themes, significant insights, and any surprising findings. Also, thank workers for their input, emphasizing the crucial role they play in shaping workplace improvements.

Step 3. Take action

The ultimate goal of any listening program is meaningful workplace change. So outline specific steps the company is planning to take, along with timelines. Involve managers to ensure employees see immediate and tangible results.

Most importantly, prioritize transparent and effective communication along the way, keeping employees up to date with progress on your action plan and closing the feedback loop.

Pro tip: Seek ongoing employee feedback to find out if changes have addressed the concerns raised in your listening tour. If not, go back to the drawing board and come up with a new plan.

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Beyond the tour: Building a listening culture

When you go beyond a one-off listening tour to build a culture of listening at your organization, you embed the benefits. 

Employees have faith that their feedback is listened to and acted upon — and they feel comfortable voicing their opinions because there’s a wider culture of psychological safety.

As a result, you receive honest and valuable employee input, which yields more effective workplace improvements. You also get ongoing feedback, which means employee dissatisfaction is much less likely to take you by surprise.

So how do you create a listening culture? Start by putting these key foundations in place:

• Ongoing feedback channels. An annual feedback event isn’t enough. Encourage employee feedback all year round with regular pulse surveys and 1-to-1s, ensuring feedback channels are accessible to all workers.
  
• Leadership training. Equip managers with the tools and skills they need to conduct their own mini-listening tours, making open and empathetic communication a priority.
  
• A regular schedule of listening tours. Keep your finger firmly on the pulse by turning listening tours into an annual event. You’ll improve the process — and employee input — with each new cycle.  

It’s time to make listening tours a fixture of your internal communication plan

Listening tours are a commitment of time and effort. But — because they provide insights that you simply can’t get from an employee survey — they’re well worth the investment.

By embarking on an annual listening tour, deploying other employee listening tactics in the months between tours, and reliably acting upon feedback you build a culture where employees feel heard and supported.

Find new ways to improve your internal communication strategy, foster employee engagement, and build workplace trust. And make a tangible difference to the work lives of employees in the process.

‍Blink. And start truly listening.

“Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.” — Joy Gumz

Keeping that train on the right track is the job of a project manager. You have to look at project deadlines, budgets, and deliverables. Then, craft a project plan that achieves the desired project outcomes.

But projects can be derailed by any number of issues. Poor communication. Changing stakeholder expectations. Unidentified risks. Ineffective workplace tools.

So preparation is key. Every good project manager tries to identify and avoid potential pitfalls. That’s why, in this article, we help project managers prepare for their next project.

Read on to discover our ten tips for successful project management.

How do you manage a project effectively?

Effective project management means setting a clear project plan and using the right tools to monitor progress. The best project managers can manage setbacks while keeping the company's goals and workflow on track.

Here are five tips for successful project management:

1. Foster clear and effective communication

The Project Management Institute (PMI) 2023 Pulse of the Profession report reveals a range of “power skills” for project management, as agreed by project managers.

Top of the list? Communication. 68% of survey respondents say that communication is critical to achieving organizational objectives.

Effective project management relies on communication — and not just any kind of communication. To be successful, projects require open communication. Information needs to flow freely between all relevant parties to ensure timely project progress. 

Without this type of communication, your project team becomes inefficient. Collaboration is near impossible. You find it hard to share updates with key stakeholders. Motivation and engagement are likely to dip, too.

With that in mind, here’s how to establish effective communication during projects:

• Hold regular meetings with team members to ensure everyone is on the same page. Clarify deliverables and deadlines. Use these meetings as an open forum, where the project team can share any concerns or ideas.
  
  
• Use communication tools — like Blink’s super app — to communicate over messages and in real-time, even when your project team isn’t working face-to-face.
  
  
• Send project reports to relevant stakeholders regularly, making them aware of any project changes or new developments.
  
  
• Be a good listener. Consider multiple points of view, not just your own. That way, you use all of the skills and expertise within the project team to come up with the best possible solutions.

2. Set clear goals for your project

A great project manager starts by setting goals. Clear goals keep your team focused and aligned. They aid productivity and decision-making.

Well-defined goals also help you decide what project success looks like, making it easier to assess your project once it’s finished.

So before you dive into tasks, ensure you understand the overall mission and objectives of the project. Set the parameters of your project, too. You need to know which tasks you’ll be tackling and which deliverables are expected, along with the timeframe and budget allocated.

With projects becoming more complex, you might like to go further, setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals. You should end up with something like this:

• An understanding of your project goals and how they align with stakeholder expectations
• Project SMART goals and associated metrics
• A clear definition of what return on investment (ROI) means for this project

Once you’ve established your overarching project goals, you can break these down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

3. Create a schedule

A thoughtfully crafted schedule helps a project to run more smoothly. It guides your team to complete project tasks on time, while managing stakeholder expectations, too. It also reveals which tasks are dependent on others, helping you to allocate resources effectively.

To create a project schedule, you need to put all project tasks into a logical sequence, taking into account any dependencies between tasks. You can use project management tools (or just a stack of sticky notes) to visualize project progress.

Next, estimate the duration of each task, using historical data or the past experiences of your project team. You can then identify the longest path of dependent tasks — also called the critical path. This is the project’s shortest completion time.

From this point, you need to:

• Assign resources — including team members, equipment, and materials — adjusting your schedule if resources are needed in two places at once
• Establish milestones and deliverables so you can make sustained progress toward your final project deadline
• Communicate the schedule, sharing it with the project team and key stakeholders
• Use project management tools with features like Gantt charts, time tracking, and Kanban boards to help your team track their progress

4. Use the right tools to monitor progress

It's easier for your team to operate efficiently with the right project management software. Nothing slips through the cracks because everyone can see what needs to be done. If any of your team is working remotely, then this type of tech is critical to project success.

It provides a centralized location for project documents, files, and communication. It allows easy assignment and tracking of tasks. The best software also provides reports and dashboards that summarize project information and facilitate better decision-making.

When selecting a project management software, here’s what to look out for:

• Features that match the complexity of your project and can scale with you as you grow. That way, you're not forced to switch to another software further down the line.
• A streamlined solution. You need a tool that integrates with the workplace software you already use so teams don’t have to log in and out of multiple accounts.
• A platform that’s available on your teams’ preferred devices. If your team members are working remotely, make sure there's an employee app available for mobile devices.
• A clean, modern design that minimizes distractions and a user-friendly dashboard that involves little to no learning curve for your project team

5. Assemble a multi-skilled team

A project is only as good as the people who work on it. You need the right mix of personalities and skills to aid productivity and minimize friction. Get it right and you’ll improve project efficiency and outcomes.

So what traits should you be looking for when selecting project team members?

• They must have excellent communication skills and be able to interact with lots of different people
• They should have basic knowledge of project management methodologies such as Agile and Waterfall
• They must be highly organized so they can keep on top of tasks and meet deadlines even under significant pressure
• They should be familiar with project management software — and happy to use your chosen platform

Remember that the most skilled employees may need some training to thrive as part of a project team. So be willing to invest in their personal and professional development to cultivate those essential soft skills.

6. Motivate your project team members

Skilled project managers know there are times when Waterfall diagrams, Gantt charts, and work breakdown structures aren’t enough to get your team over the finish line. These things definitely help. But the best teams have something else in their favor — motivation.

Gallup research shows that motivated, engaged employees make fewer mistakes. They’re also 17% more productive than their less motivated peers.

Of course, project managers don’t have complete control over employee motivation. But there are some things you can do to increase motivation and employee engagement.

• Recognize the effort and achievements of your team, praising them publicly on shared communication channels
• Create a supportive culture, where all people and their contributions are valued and where work-life balance is respected
• Reduce friction by giving teams the tools and resources they need to communicate and complete tasks effectively
• Don’t micromanage — trust teams to get the work done and encourage team members to share ideas and suggestions

7.  Identify and plan for risks

Risk management is a crucial aspect of project management. That’s because unidentified risks can derail a project. They cause unexpected problems that impact budgets, deadlines, and deliverables.

In the planning stage, project managers need to recognize and assess project risks. By building these risks into your project plan, you’ll find it easier to keep the project on track.

To plan for risks in project management:

• Identify risks. Review past projects and brainstorm with your project team to list potential risks.
• Use SWOT analysis. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in relation to each risk.
• Determine the probability and impact of each risk, giving each risk a score.
• Prioritize risks with the highest score, finding ways to mitigate or avoid these risks where possible

Once your project has ended, take the time to identify and document any lessons learned. It could be that unexpected risks in this project help you to avoid similar risks in the next one.

8. Identify and interact with key stakeholders

Stakeholders are the people who have a vested interest in your project and those who are affected by project outcomes. Some will be directly involved in the project, some will influence decisions, and some just need to be kept in the loop.

Nurturing stakeholder relationships helps your project to run more smoothly. It ensures that you get stakeholder support, with vested interests understanding and agreeing to your project plans.

Here’s what you need to do to create strong relationships with stakeholders:

• Communicate with stakeholders early in the project to establish trust
• Find out how stakeholders want to receive information. Which communication channels do they prefer? Do they want you to provide high-level summaries or in-depth reports?
• Tailor communications to the interests and concerns of each individual stakeholder and resolve any issues proactively
• Engage stakeholders with regular meetings and clear channels for feedback

9. Be a leading example

As a project manager, you need to lead by example. If you demonstrate the behavior, values, and work ethic you expect from your team, your team is more likely to follow suit. You positively influence their approach to work and bolster your own authority, too.

This type of leadership approach also encourages open communication. When team members see you acting with integrity, they’re more likely to trust you. This makes them feel more confident and comfortable when sharing their ideas or concerns.

The best project leaders are:

• Ethical. They treat all team members fairly and communicate transparently and honestly at all times.
• A team player. They take responsibility for their own mistakes and share credit with the whole team.
• True to their word. They deliver on their promises and meet deadlines.
• Proactive. They seek to resolve challenges and conflicts as they arise.

Lead by example and you improve team communication and performance. This helps you achieve project goals more efficiently and effectively.

10. Ask questions

Some leaders like to behave as if they have all the answers. But the best project leaders ask the important questions.

They tap into the collective expertise of their project team so they have all the information they need. They also ask questions of stakeholders so they understand exactly what’s expected.

This approach helps to improve project collaboration and engagement. It also facilitates crystal clear communication. You clear up any doubts, challenge assumptions, and identify potential risks.

With information from all relevant parties — and no questions left unanswered — you’ll find it easier to make decisions and solve problems throughout the course of your project.

What are the most common project management problems?

No project is plain sailing. Here are some common problems to look out for when managing projects.

1. Scope creep

Scope creep is the gradual expansion of a project’s scope beyond its initial objectives. This impacts a team’s ability to complete a project on time, on budget, or in a way that meets project goals. It can also leave everyone — project team and stakeholders — feeling dissatisfied.

A study by the PMI showed that scope creep affects up to 39% of projects. It’s a problem usually caused by stakeholders changing project conditions — things like budget, deadlines, or deliverables. Scope creep can also occur when project scope is not adequately defined or documented at the outset.

To avoid scope creep, you need to proactively engage with stakeholders during the project planning stage. Pin down their requirements and expectations, then get their approval once you’ve put a plan together.

You may also like to establish a change control board or a change request process. This means you have a fixed and logical way to consider and respond to proposed changes.

2. Poor communication

Poor communication is at the core of most project failures. It undermines cohesion and clarity. It opens the door to misunderstandings between your team members and stakeholders. It also serves to erode trust.

This is why it’s so important to establish an open dialogue from the very start of a project. By communicating transparently and collaboratively, you create an environment where everyone shares information and pulls in the same direction.

Communication tools also come in useful. The right internal communication tools helps you to maintain consistent, two-way communication throughout the whole project.

3. Financial setbacks

Wellingtone reports that only 34% of companies mostly or always complete projects while remaining on budget. This is a big issue because a project can only provide the expected ROI if it’s delivered within budget.

So what can you do to keep a project on the right financial track?

We talked a little earlier about project risks. These risks can cause unforeseen costs. So good risk identification and mitigation is crucial.

You also need to ensure the right level of visibility and control over project expenditure. Establish a clear process for tracking and approving expenses to prevent project budgets from spiraling out of control.

Final thoughts on successful project management

We hope that these project management tips help you make a success of your next project. If you take one thing away from this article, let it be this — communication is the foundation of any successful project.  

Whether you’re motivating your team, brainstorming risks, or liaising with project stakeholders, frequent, open communication makes your job easier.

It supports positive teamwork and ensures you keep key stakeholders in the loop. It also facilitates informed decision-making and problem-solving.

Luckily, there are lots of communication and collaboration tools that can help.

With the Blink super-app, project teams can communicate seamlessly. They can share critical documents, launch surveys to gather stakeholder feedback, and recognize one another’s hard work.

Blink also integrates with a range of popular project management software. This means your teams can access communication and project management tools from one user-friendly interface. You can streamline the project process and prevent app overwhelm for your teams.

Want to see Blink in action? Schedule your personalized demo today.

Today’s employees routinely use digital tools to manage their personal lives — for banking, shopping, fitness, and even dating — and now expect a similar level of convenience and connectivity in their professional environments.

Forward-thinking organizations are meeting these expectations through employee experience software platforms that transform how teams communicate and engage. Solutions such as Blink’s employee experience platform enable staff to feel more connected, motivated, and loyal to their company by simplifying communication and recognition.

Frontline teams, in particular, benefit from a unified employee experience solution. The “frontline connection gap” often leaves these employees isolated from leadership and peers, reducing both satisfaction and retention.

A mobile-first employee experience platform, such as Blink, bridges that gap by bringing everyone together wherever they work. It gives each employee a stronger sense of belonging, supports regular recognition, and creates continuous communication that makes work more fulfilling.

This guide from Blink outlines some of the best employee experience software platforms available today — helping you identify the right solution to connect your workforce and elevate engagement across your organization.

Whether your organization has frontline, desk-based, or hybrid teams, an employee experience software platform like Blink’s employee experience platform helps you meet and exceed modern employee expectations and deliver measurable improvements across engagement, operations, and culture. Here’s what effective employee experience software can help you achieve:

Enhanced employee engagement

Low employee engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion, according to Gallup. Employee experience platforms like Blink enable two-way communication, recognition, and collaboration that increase loyalty, satisfaction, and productivity.

Streamlined HR processes

The best platforms automate repetitive and time-consuming HR tasks such as time tracking, performance appraisals, and routine communication. By handling these automatically, HR teams free up time for human-touch, value-add work that improves the overall employee experience.

Improved talent management

Around 65% of frontline employees are unsure how to progress in their careers. Employee experience software provides continuous feedback, coaching, and development tools that help managers identify high-potential talent and guide employees toward advancement.

Data-driven insights

Comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities enable organizations to measure engagement, sentiment, and performance. Blink’s platform, for example, supplies real-time insights that support better decisions, highlight trends, and surface issues early.

Employee recognition and empowerment

Employee appreciation and self-service tools make staff feel valued and informed. Access to essential information anytime, anywhere fosters a sense of support and connection across the organization.

A positive company culture

Transparent communication and meaningful connection — both core features of leading platforms like Blink — build positive company culture. When employees feel proud of where they work, satisfaction rises, churn decreases, and employer branding strengthens.

Key things to look for when choosing an employee experience software platform

Now that the benefits of an employee experience software platform are clear, it’s important to identify the key capabilities that define an effective solution. When choosing your platform, consider these essential features — many of which are core to Blink’s employee experience platform:

User-friendly interface

The best employee experience platforms minimize the learning curve. They should feel intuitive and familiar from day one, encouraging quick adoption across all teams.

Personalization and customization

Every organization is different. Choose a platform that lets you tailor tools and workflows to your company’s structure and employee needs.

Employee self-service

When employees can access the information and tools they need independently, HR teams spend less time handling routine requests and more time on strategic, people-focused initiatives.

Integration capabilities

For a seamless employee experience, ensure your platform integrates smoothly with existing business systems — from scheduling and payroll to communication tools. Blink, for example, integrates across multiple systems to provide a unified digital workplace.

Mobile accessibility

Frontline workers and remote employees often lack equal access to company tools. A mobile-first platform like Blink enables engagement and communication anywhere — whether on the shop floor, in the field, or during a commute.

Analytics and reporting

Select software that delivers robust analytics on engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Data-driven insight helps HR teams make informed decisions and address trends early.

Comprehensive feature set

To reduce the need for multiple apps, look for a platform that combines employee engagement, feedback, rewards, performance management, and learning and development. Blink’s platform consolidates these into one accessible hub, simplifying management and improving the overall employee experience.

‍

15 best employee experience software platforms

1. Blink

Blink is a leading employee experience app and communication platform purpose-built for frontline teams. As a mobile-first solution, Blink unifies dispersed workers and connects them with leadership through an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

Users can quickly launch pre-loaded or custom employee surveys, add mandatory reads to a shared company news feed, recognize colleagues for outstanding work, and access real-time insights on engagement, satisfaction, and retention.

Built around frontline accessibility, Blink’s Hub centralizes essential information, including pay stubs, schedules, and key documents. Its interface encourages high adoption and consistent daily use — ensuring every employee stays informed, valued, and connected.

Key features

• News feed
• Employee surveys
• Employee recognition
• Secure chat function
• Content hub (Blink Hub)
• Insights and analytics
• Integrations
• Mobile-friendly design
• Content translation

Even after identifying the right employee experience management software, securing senior leadership buy-in remains essential. Before presenting your case, gather evidence and insights in the following key areas — all central to the successful implementation of a platform like Blink.

Developed by the team at Blink, the platform brings together communication, engagement, and HR functionality in one secure space. It’s designed to strengthen connections and alignment across all levels of an organization while reducing the administrative burden on HR teams. The essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience

Scalability: Evaluate how your chosen platform will adapt to your company’s future needs, including long-term growth and an expanding workforce. Blink’s platform is designed to scale seamlessly as organizations expand, supporting larger teams without adding administrative complexity.

Implementation: Assess how straightforward it is to deploy your software and integrate it with existing systems. A solution such as Blink simplifies this step with pre-built integrations and guided onboarding.

User adoption: An employee experience platform only delivers value when employees actively use it. Confirm that your software has a proven record of adoption. For example, 97% of employees at Care Synergy now use the Blink app, demonstrating how intuitive design drives engagement.

Vendor reputation and support: Review customer testimonials and case studies to verify a provider’s reliability and service quality. Blink’s long-term partnerships and customer success programs help ensure ongoing performance and satisfaction across industries.

Case study: Elara Caring

Elara Caring employs more than 32,000 caregivers who provide in-home and hospice support to patients across the United States. The organization faced a significant communication and coordination challenge:

• Without company-issued phone numbers or email addresses, caregivers felt disconnected from both colleagues and headquarters.
• An outdated manual scheduling process left hundreds of shifts unfilled each week.
• The existing HR platform failed to meet employees' operational and engagement needs.
  

To close these gaps, Elara Caring implemented Blink’s employee experience platform, developed by joinblink.com. The mobile-first platform unified essential communication, scheduling, and feedback tools into a single, secure, accessible application. Managers and caregivers could now share updates through a company news feed, manage shifts in real time, and recognize great work — all from their smartphones.

The impact was immediate. Workforce efficiency improved, communication bottlenecks were eliminated, and employees felt more connected to both their teams and leadership. Ninety-five percent of employees now report stronger connections to Elara, and 96% would recommend Blink’s platform to others in their field.

Read the full Elara Caring case study on joinblink.com

2. Culture Amp

Culture Amp is an excellent choice if you want to improve your performance tracking process. You can set and track employee targets, create personalized L&D plans, and access historical conversation and 1:1 data so managers can provide actionable feedback.   

This employee experience management software also gives you access to a ton of data. This provides a great basis for analysis and insight. And the platform even does some of the hard work for you too, using employee engagement stats to predict staff turnover.

Key features

• Reporting and analytics
• Turnover prediction tool
• Performance reviews
• Goal tracking

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

3. Bonusly

Bonusly is a great option for employee recognition. Employees meet personalized targets and build up points, which they can then use to claim a selection of rewards,  all via the platform.

Whether you want your team to go above and beyond for customers, meet their sales quota, or simply engage with a request for employee feedback, Bonusly helps you to promote and recognize the employee behavior you most want to see.

Key features

• Peer-to-peer recognition
• Employee rewards
• Goal setting
• Reporting and analytics

Pricing

• Core: $3 per user/month
• Pro: $5 per user/month

Contact sales team for custom plans

4. Lattice

With Lattice, you’ll find it easy to launch employee surveys, celebrate employee wins, and get real-time experience data with the help of the platform’s Pulse feature and sentiment analysis. Lattice also supports employee development opportunities. It connects individual work to business outcomes so employees can view their progress easily.

Key features

• Reporting and analytics
• Employee surveys
• Employee recognition
• Goal management

Pricing

• Performance Management + OKRs and Goals: $11 per user/month
• Engagement: +$4 per user/month
• Grow: +$4 per user/month
• Compensation: $+6 per user/month

5.  Qualtrics XM

Qualtrics XM offers several products, one of which they’ve designed specifically for people teams. The employee experience platform uses AI and automation, so you can continually gather and assess employee feedback and get to know employee views at every point in the employee life cycle.

Data analytics tools help you to connect employee feedback to customer experience and business outcomes – so you can target employee experience improvements where they stand to make the most difference.  

Key features

• 24/7 technical support
• Automation tools
• Analytics and reporting
• Action plans

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

6. Workhuman

Workhuman is built around social recognition. Team-based social feeds support peer-to-peer appreciation. Employees gain recognition points, which they can exchange for personalized and locally sourced rewards. And an AI-powered Inclusion Advisor gives real-time feedback on recognition posts to prevent unconscious bias and promote a culture of belonging.

Key features

• Employee recognition
• Performance management
• Translation into 34+ languages
• Community building

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

7.  Mo

Mo is one of the best employee experience software platforms for team communication and appreciation. It allows you to share successes, recognize results, and reward good work.

Standout features include the Mo assistant, which helps people managers to remember work anniversaries and prompts them to appreciate employees who haven’t had a pat on the back in a while, and the social feed, where you can start conversations, prompt employees to start conversations, and ask for employee feedback.

Key features

• Team appreciation
• Social feed
• Employee feedback
• Insights

Pricing

• Starter: $3 per user/month
• Level Up: $5 per user/month

Contact sales team for custom plans

8. Motivosity

Motivosity provides tools for every stage of the employee journey. From recruitment to onboarding to development to career progression and even an employee’s company exit experience. The basic plan gives you access to a company social feed, great for important announcements and getting to know co-workers. Add-ons include Recognition and Rewards, Manager Development, and Employee Insights.

Key features

• Social feed
• Employee recognition
• Manager training
• Surveys and insights

Pricing

• Motivosity: $2 per user/month
• Recognition and Rewards: +$2 per user/month
• Manager Development: +$2 per user/month
• Employee Insights: +$2 per user/month

9.  WorkTango

WorkTango (formerly Kazoo) allows you to highlight the strengths and skills of peers and employees, while a points and rewards system incentivizes key behaviors. It’s one of the best employee engagement platforms for teams who want to make recognition an integral part of their company culture.

Key features

• Employee recognition
• Goal setting and feedback
• Surveys
• Analytics and reporting

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

10. 15Five

15Five is one of the best employee experience software options if you’re looking to connect employee work with business objectives. Managers and employees can create career paths that motivate performance. Employees can identify their strengths and how these align with their goals.

Key features

• Goal setting tools
• Feedback
• Employee recognition
• Manager coaching

Pricing

All of the following prices are billed annually:

• Engage: $4 per user/month
• Perform: $8 per user/month
• Focus: $8 per user/month
• Total Platform: $14 per user/month

11. Leapsome

Leapsome is a solid employee engagement software, particularly if you’re looking for a solution that can scale with your company. You can select the modules you need, adapting the software to the size and budget of your organization. With Leapsome, you can run meaningful, well-structured meetings. You can also congratulate co-workers publicly and share private feedback too.

Key features

• Employee feedback
• Learning and development
• Goal setting
• Employee competency framework

Pricing

Pricing starts at $8 per user/month with the option to add on the extra features you need

12. BambooHR

BambooHR provides a huge range of HR tools. Teams can use it to track payroll, hours worked, and paid time off. The platform offers recruitment and L&D tracking tools.

As well as making life easier for HR teams, BambooHR has a couple of features designed to improve the employee experience. Wellbeing and eNPS surveys help teams to understand the employee perspective, while performance tracking tools support employee progression. 

Key features

• Performance reviews
• Time tracking
• Payroll management
• Applicant tracking system (ATS)

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

13. Officevibe

If you’re looking for an easy and effective employee survey tool, Officevibe is an excellent choice. Officevibe is just one of the HR products available under the Workleap umbrella and this offering is laser-focused on employee experience.

The platform gives managers tools to become better leaders and build happier teams. Pulse and customized surveys, peer-to-peer recognition, and 1-1 meeting tools that guide meaningful and productive conversations are all at a manager’s disposal.

Key features

• Surveys
• Employee feedback
• Employee recognition
• Performance tracking

Pricing

• Free: $0 per user/month
• Essential: $5 per user/month
• Pro: $8 per user/month

14. Workvivo

Another good employee experience management software, Workvivo helps organizations streamline their communications and showcase their company culture, even when teams work remotely. When posting on the social feed, employees can link their posts to company values and goals. And with the Badge Feature, managers can recognize employee achievements publicly.

Key features

• Social feed
• Employee recognition
• Content hub
• Analytics & insights

Pricing

Contact sales team for prices

Read more: Workvivo alternatives

15. Jostle

An intuitive platform with a quick and easy setup process, Jostle is another popular employee engagement platform. It works to connect everyone within an organization, providing a social feed and a space for shared documents.

Managers can set tasks and then use built-in chat functions to track progress. They can also separate the social feed by location or team, ensuring that the right information reaches the right people.

Key features

• Social feed
• Surveys
• Peer-to-peer recognition
• Document and policy sharing

Pricing

Prices depend upon the number of employees you have. For an organization with 15-50 employees, prices are as follows:

• Bronze: $5 per user/month
• Silver: $9 per user/month
• Gold: $12 per user/month

Smaller organizations can expect to pay more per user. Larger organizations can expect to pay less. Prices for the Platinum plan are available from the sales team.

Additional considerations for HR teams

You may already be sold on a particular employee experience management software, but getting senior leadership buy-in is a vital next step. Before entering conversations about the type of tool you’d like to implement, be sure to gather information on all of the following:

Read more: The essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience

• Scalability – Find out if and how your chosen platform will respond to your company’s future needs, considering long-term company growth and an increase in the number of employees.
  
• Implementation – Determine how easy it is to implement your chosen software and whether it integrates with your other existing systems.
  
• User adoption – An employee experience platform provides very little value if employees don’t use it. Check whether your chosen platform has a user-friendly interface and a history of high adoption rates. We’re proud that 97% of employees at Care Synergy are now using the Blink app. Find out more by watching our on-demand webinar.
  
• Vendor reputation and support – Take a look at customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies to find out whether your software provider has a good track record in terms of product quality and client care.

Case Study: Elara Caring

Elara’s 32,000 carers spend their workdays caring for patients in their homes or in hospice settings. The company faced a million-dollar communication problem:

• Without company phone numbers or email addresses, carers felt disconnected from their co-workers and head office
• Carers wanted shift opportunities but an inefficient manual system meant hundreds of shifts went unfilled each week
• The company’s existing HR platform was failing to meet the needs of employees and the wider organization

Elara saw a solution in Blink. Our platform gathered all the information and tools that employees needed in one easy-to-use platform that everyone could access from their smartphones. Employees and managers had access to a social feed, shift scheduling, employee feedback and employee recognition tools.  

The result? Improved workforce efficiency and streamlined communications. Thanks to Blink, Elara has transformed the employee experience. 95% of employees now feel more connected to Elara and 96% would recommend the platform.

Read the full Elara case study.