Every leader in an organization that has frontline workforce has likely experienced the 'frontline connection gap' - but what is it?
Jess DeVore
Published:
September 6, 2023
Last updated:
October 8, 2024
What we'll cover
This article is part of Blink’s “frontline first” series: content created specifically for leaders of deskless or distributed teams. We know that the job of frontline leadership is entirely different from managing ‘desk-based’ teams, so this is for you and your unique set of challenges.
Every leader in an organization that has frontline workforce has likely experienced the 'Frontline Connection Gap' - it's the root cause of thousands of wasted hours and measurable negative impact on key business metrics like retention and productivity.
But what exactly is this 'gap', and how do you know if your organization is one of the ones experiencing it? And if it turns out that you are, how do you go about closing it (and is it even worth the effort)? In this article, we'll explore all of those questions and give you some simple answers.
What is the Frontline Connection Gap?
In a nutshell, the Frontline Connection Gap is the failure to enable frontline workers to communicate with the same ease, scale and speed as desk-based workers.
If it sounds simple, that's because it is. Think about how the average desk-based worker gets to communicate at work:
Easy access to their co-workers via email, work apps such as Slack and video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Easy access to key information and updates via intranets and cloud-based drives
Easy access to key HR processes such as booking time off and downloading paystubs through tools such as Deel or Workday
Easy access to learning and development through dedicated Learning Management Systems
Easy access to other parts of the organization (including leadership) through shared directories
Easy access to feedback portals through tools such as CultureAmp or Peakon
There's more where this came from, but the key point is that desk-based workers have access to a wealth of people, processes and information within just a few clicks.
For deskless workers, the picture looks very different - let's look at those same areas again:
Limited access to co-workers beyond those in the same physical space, often leading to isolation
Limited access to key information, often still delivered through paper memos as many frontline workers don't have access to a company email address.
Limited access to key HR processes such as booking time off and arranging shifts, which often requires making phonecalls or messaging managers via text and WhatsApp. Processes such as claiming expenses often still involve using paper forms.
Limited access to learning and development, as access to computers is infrequent
Limited access to management and leadership, leading to disengagement
Limited ability to deliver feedback or whistleblow on critical problems
The stark difference in these two worlds all comes down to communications infrastructure (or lack thereof): without continuous access to computers and email addresses, frontline workers are in a world that desk-based workers haven't experienced in more than twenty years.
The impact of the Gap
The way to know if your organization has a Frontline Connection Gap is by seeing if anything 'disappears' into it.
For the best examples of this, look to what your Human Resources team are doing. Let's take Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a key case - these critical initiatives are often planned and tracked at board level, and in order for them to be effective they need to impact every single member of an organization. The roll-out of these will often work well for desk-based teams thanks to regular communications such as emails, chat groups, in-person Employee Resource Groups and video calls.
However, getting to the frontline is a different matter. Without reliable channels for communications, People leaders will often find that promoting DEI programs is restricted to a flyer on a noticeboard, curtailing awareness and participation from the very start. In other words, the DEI program has fallen into the Frontline Connection Gap.
So we see just how big a problem the Gap can be: company policies and programs might as well not exist, for all the frontline are able to engage with them. As a result, the impact of the Gap can be felt on almost any core business metric - for example:
Retention drops because frontline employee engagement is low
Recruitment faces challenges as the organization is unable to offer an ideal employee experience
Customer experience is impacted when employees are ill-informed and disengaged
Productivity drops through inefficiencies in processes such as filling empty shifts and inconsistent onboarding and training
Safety is put at risk through failures to communicate critical information at scale
Employee wellbeing suffers as a result of isolation and inability to access support
The list could go on - and it does. If any one of these key metrics looks different in the frontline part of your organization in comparison to the desk-based part, then the likelihood is that you have a Frontline Connection Gap to bridge.
How to close the Frontline Connection Gap
It's important at this point to remember that the Frontline Connection Gap is rarely caused through neglect or intention - in fact, many organizations have tried (and are still trying) to close it. The problem is that the strategies that they employ usually fail, and it's for one important reason: the kind of communications infrastructure that works for the desk-based will not work for the frontline.
A key example of this is using intranets. Many organizations find intranets to be a useful means of sharing information with their desk-based workers, and so attempt to roll these out to their frontline workers through a mobile-based approach. In theory, this should work: most frontline workers have access to a smartphone and are confident enough in using them to download an intranet app.
However, this strategy comes across a number of roadblocks:
Firstly, it requires frontline workers to remember a new login and password (IT teams often find themselves facing high volumes of password reset requests as a result).
Secondly, engagement with intranet apps will usually be disappointingly low - but the reason for this poor uptake will help you unlock the secret of successfully crossing the Frontline Connection Gap (keep reading to find out).
To close the Frontline Connection Gap, there are three simple principles to follow:
Go mobile. With smartphone adoption having reached a critical tipping point, this is a no-brainer.
Consolidate where you can. The more systems and apps you ask a frontline worker to instal, the more you dilute your success. If you're asking your frontline to download and login to separate systems for accessing paystubs, receiving communications, giving feedback and arranging shifts, you're adding friction with every step. Create a single point of access wherever you can.
Put daily value at the centre of your solution. This is the crucial secret behind adoption, and the last mile of closing the Frontline Connection Gap. Busy frontline workers need a reason to engage with HQ, and that's the problem with simply rolling out an intranet on mobile: there's little in it for a frontline worker, so even if they have an app in the palm of their hand, they'll rarely take time out to log in. Success lies in inverting this, by making sure that at the heart of your communications infrastructure are processes that the frontline always need - for example, access to shifts and paystubs. By placing value at the heart of your system, you get the consistent engagement you need to close the Gap (we call this 'Chips and Dip theory'.
Despite the seriousness of its impact, the Frontline Connection Gap is actually a relatively simple problem - which thankfully means relatively simple solutions. If you're ready to get started, check out some of the best solutions on the market over here.
This article is part of Blink’s “frontline first” series: content created specifically for leaders of deskless or distributed teams. We know that the job of frontline leadership is entirely different from managing ‘desk-based’ teams, so this is for you and your unique set of challenges.
Every leader in an organization that has frontline workforce has likely experienced the 'Frontline Connection Gap' - it's the root cause of thousands of wasted hours and measurable negative impact on key business metrics like retention and productivity.
But what exactly is this 'gap', and how do you know if your organization is one of the ones experiencing it? And if it turns out that you are, how do you go about closing it (and is it even worth the effort)? In this article, we'll explore all of those questions and give you some simple answers.
What is the Frontline Connection Gap?
In a nutshell, the Frontline Connection Gap is the failure to enable frontline workers to communicate with the same ease, scale and speed as desk-based workers.
If it sounds simple, that's because it is. Think about how the average desk-based worker gets to communicate at work:
Easy access to their co-workers via email, work apps such as Slack and video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Easy access to key information and updates via intranets and cloud-based drives
Easy access to key HR processes such as booking time off and downloading paystubs through tools such as Deel or Workday
Easy access to learning and development through dedicated Learning Management Systems
Easy access to other parts of the organization (including leadership) through shared directories
Easy access to feedback portals through tools such as CultureAmp or Peakon
There's more where this came from, but the key point is that desk-based workers have access to a wealth of people, processes and information within just a few clicks.
For deskless workers, the picture looks very different - let's look at those same areas again:
Limited access to co-workers beyond those in the same physical space, often leading to isolation
Limited access to key information, often still delivered through paper memos as many frontline workers don't have access to a company email address.
Limited access to key HR processes such as booking time off and arranging shifts, which often requires making phonecalls or messaging managers via text and WhatsApp. Processes such as claiming expenses often still involve using paper forms.
Limited access to learning and development, as access to computers is infrequent
Limited access to management and leadership, leading to disengagement
Limited ability to deliver feedback or whistleblow on critical problems
The stark difference in these two worlds all comes down to communications infrastructure (or lack thereof): without continuous access to computers and email addresses, frontline workers are in a world that desk-based workers haven't experienced in more than twenty years.
The impact of the Gap
The way to know if your organization has a Frontline Connection Gap is by seeing if anything 'disappears' into it.
For the best examples of this, look to what your Human Resources team are doing. Let's take Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a key case - these critical initiatives are often planned and tracked at board level, and in order for them to be effective they need to impact every single member of an organization. The roll-out of these will often work well for desk-based teams thanks to regular communications such as emails, chat groups, in-person Employee Resource Groups and video calls.
However, getting to the frontline is a different matter. Without reliable channels for communications, People leaders will often find that promoting DEI programs is restricted to a flyer on a noticeboard, curtailing awareness and participation from the very start. In other words, the DEI program has fallen into the Frontline Connection Gap.
So we see just how big a problem the Gap can be: company policies and programs might as well not exist, for all the frontline are able to engage with them. As a result, the impact of the Gap can be felt on almost any core business metric - for example:
Retention drops because frontline employee engagement is low
Recruitment faces challenges as the organization is unable to offer an ideal employee experience
Customer experience is impacted when employees are ill-informed and disengaged
Productivity drops through inefficiencies in processes such as filling empty shifts and inconsistent onboarding and training
Safety is put at risk through failures to communicate critical information at scale
Employee wellbeing suffers as a result of isolation and inability to access support
The list could go on - and it does. If any one of these key metrics looks different in the frontline part of your organization in comparison to the desk-based part, then the likelihood is that you have a Frontline Connection Gap to bridge.
How to close the Frontline Connection Gap
It's important at this point to remember that the Frontline Connection Gap is rarely caused through neglect or intention - in fact, many organizations have tried (and are still trying) to close it. The problem is that the strategies that they employ usually fail, and it's for one important reason: the kind of communications infrastructure that works for the desk-based will not work for the frontline.
A key example of this is using intranets. Many organizations find intranets to be a useful means of sharing information with their desk-based workers, and so attempt to roll these out to their frontline workers through a mobile-based approach. In theory, this should work: most frontline workers have access to a smartphone and are confident enough in using them to download an intranet app.
However, this strategy comes across a number of roadblocks:
Firstly, it requires frontline workers to remember a new login and password (IT teams often find themselves facing high volumes of password reset requests as a result).
Secondly, engagement with intranet apps will usually be disappointingly low - but the reason for this poor uptake will help you unlock the secret of successfully crossing the Frontline Connection Gap (keep reading to find out).
To close the Frontline Connection Gap, there are three simple principles to follow:
Go mobile. With smartphone adoption having reached a critical tipping point, this is a no-brainer.
Consolidate where you can. The more systems and apps you ask a frontline worker to instal, the more you dilute your success. If you're asking your frontline to download and login to separate systems for accessing paystubs, receiving communications, giving feedback and arranging shifts, you're adding friction with every step. Create a single point of access wherever you can.
Put daily value at the centre of your solution. This is the crucial secret behind adoption, and the last mile of closing the Frontline Connection Gap. Busy frontline workers need a reason to engage with HQ, and that's the problem with simply rolling out an intranet on mobile: there's little in it for a frontline worker, so even if they have an app in the palm of their hand, they'll rarely take time out to log in. Success lies in inverting this, by making sure that at the heart of your communications infrastructure are processes that the frontline always need - for example, access to shifts and paystubs. By placing value at the heart of your system, you get the consistent engagement you need to close the Gap (we call this 'Chips and Dip theory'.
Despite the seriousness of its impact, the Frontline Connection Gap is actually a relatively simple problem - which thankfully means relatively simple solutions. If you're ready to get started, check out some of the best solutions on the market over here.
What we'll cover
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Internal communications is the practice of keeping all employees, at every level of an organization, connected and in the loop. The primary goal of an internal communications strategy is to ensure that all members of an organization are well-informed and able to collaborate effectively.
Clear and streamlined communications are an essential factor in the success of any company, whether it has ten employees or one thousand. Over 40% of workers say that their trust in their leadership and team has been compromised due to poor communication.
From frontline workers to admins behind a desk, when each individual has a clear understanding of business goals, values, and guidelines, it makes for a much more connected workflow.
Read on to understand everything you need to know about internal communications, the types of internal communication, and the benefits that come from implementing a solid internal communications strategy.
Understanding internal communications
Internal communications can take a variety of forms – email, intranet, chat apps, newsletters, in-person meetings, bulletin boards, or an app specifically designed to streamline internal communications.
An effective internal communications strategy helps every employee feel connected to the larger company vision, and therefore aware of how their individual roles contribute to the overall success of the organization. A JobsinME poll found that a massive 85% of workers feel more connected to their jobs when there is effective communication in the workplace.
A solid internal communications strategy goes a long way in fostering that engagement – employees feel involved in the company mission and understand the role they play.
Regular communication also helps build trust between employees and leadership, strengthening that sense of belonging. Plus, those open channels of communication allow employees to share their ideas, concerns, and feedback, making them feel valued and empowered.
In frontline organizations, an effective internal communications strategy is even more critical. Deskless employees can be harder to reach through email or memos, as they’re not constantly checking email or messages (or may not even have access to these tools). But these frontline workers are even more in need of clear communications, to mitigate misunderstandings, enhance safety and compliance, and share urgent updates.
An internal communications app, like Blink, is ideal for organizations with frontline workers, connecting everybody and placing everything they need in one place.
This type of internal communication flows from higher levels of management to lower levels. It starts with the C-suite, who makes all the calls, then disseminates their instructions, policies, and decisions to the organization’s employees through managers and leaders.
Within an internal communications strategy, top-down communications are a structured approach that ensures important directives and guidelines are communicated uniformly. Top-down comms not only maintain consistency but also help in disseminating organizational objectives effectively throughout the workforce.
Formal top-down employee communication methods include company-wide emails, official announcements, regular town hall meetings, or memos from upper management.
For example, in a hospital's internal communications strategy, this could look like an all-staff email sharing new patient care protocols. In a manufacturing plant, a bulletin board could display dates for upcoming safety training sessions. Or in retail, a company-wide text message can share information about a new product that management wants workers to upsell.
Pros
It is an efficient way to communicate broad messages.
Messages are controlled and aligned with organizational goals, reducing misunderstandings.
Conveys a sense of professionalism in conveying critical information.
Cons
It doesn’t consider how employees can share feedback.
The passive reception of information may lead to disengagement.
Information flow can be slow, causing delays in decision-making and implementation.
It’s impersonalized, which can give employees a sense of being undervalued.
2. Formal bottom-up communication
This is the process where employees at lower levels of the hierarchy communicate their feedback, suggestions, concerns, and ideas to higher levels of management or leadership.
This type of communication involves conveying information from the "bottom" of the organizational structure upward, allowing employees to have a voice, contribute their insights, and influence decision-making processes.
Three-quarters of employees are more engaged and feel more effective when they feel their voice is heard, Workforce Institute found.
When included as a part of an internal communications strategy, formal bottom-up employee communication not only empowers workers but also fosters a culture of inclusion and innovation within an organization. It's a valuable channel for capturing on-the-ground insights, which can often be missed by higher management. Less than half of employees feel as though they have an easy way to share feedback on key communications; a solid bottom-up communication strategy is one way to mitigate this.
In a frontline organization, there are many ways to implement formal bottom-up communications. Employee surveys are a popular way to gather feedback from an entire team at once, and Blink’s in-app survey tool allows HR teams to get real-time data straight from the mouths of employees.
For example, in a healthcare setting, nurses and medical staff might use formal bottom-up communication to suggest improvements in patient care protocols or to report safety concerns.
Other formats for bottom-up communications include anonymous feedback forms and regular one-on-one meetings between employees and their managers.
By actively encouraging and acting upon this type of feedback, organizations can harness the collective intelligence of their workforce and adapt to the evolving needs of the industry.
Pros
Employees feel heard and valued, leading to higher employee engagement.
A range of diverse perspectives can be gathered, leading to more well-rounded and innovative solutions.
Frontline employees can identify challenges that might not be apparent to higher-level management.
When employees are involved in change processes, they are more likely to support and adapt to new initiatives.
Cons
Gathering, reviewing, and responding to a large volume of employee feedback can be time-consuming.
It can be resource-intensive, requiring specific software.
Not all employee suggestions may align with organizational goals or be feasible to implement.
Formal bottom-up communication may result in inconsistent messaging across teams.
3. Formal horizontal communication
This is the sharing of communications between individuals or departments at the same hierarchical level within the organization, for example, cross-functional meetings or interdepartmental emails.
Unlike the vertical communication we discussed above, which involves information flowing up or down within an organization, formal horizontal communication is between colleagues who hold similar positions within the organization.
Leadership consultancy Fierce, Inc. found that 86% of employees feel that a lack of proper collaboration and miscommunication between teams lead to workplace failures.
Formal horizontal communication helps facilitate the smooth functioning of departments, coordination, collaboration, and information sharing. For instance, in a retail setting, it's crucial for the sales team to communicate effectively with inventory management to ensure products are stocked efficiently.
In frontline organizations, formal horizontal employee communication connects the various cogs that make up the company and keeps it functioning. Within the structured internal communications strategy, it can take many forms, including project reports, regular email updates between departments, and the establishment of specific cross-functional teams.
When done right, formal horizontal communication enables seamless collaboration and makes the company culture one of teamwork and shared goals
The key here is constant communication. Using an internal app with a chat function - whether it’s private messaging or a group chat - will promote regular collaboration. Blink’s chat feature enables seamless conversation, to encourage employees to work together and share ideas.
Pros
Promotes knowledge sharing between peers with different expertise.
Allows teams to align their efforts and activities with each other, avoiding overlap or conflict.
Improves communication within the organization, leading to better company culture.
Allows colleagues to provide feedback on each other's work, which they’re often more receptive to than feedback from above.
Cons
A reliance on formal channels may discourage spontaneous creative interactions between colleagues.
Communication may become siloed within specific departments.
Can sometimes be time-consuming, especially when multiple people need to be involved.
May not adapt well to rapidly changing circumstances or unexpected needs.
4. Informal communication
Unlike other aspects of an organization’s internal communications strategy, informal communication isn’t facilitated or regulated by the organization’s internal communication channels. It happens spontaneously between colleagues – water cooler chat, if you will.
This style of communication often occurs in casual settings or through personal relationships and can take place at various levels of the organization, including between employees and managers, and even across different departments.
Informal comms include face-to-face conversations, social media interactions, instant messaging, and phone calls. It serves as a complement to formal communication channels and plays a significant role in building relationships and shaping the company culture.
We can look at Bank of America as a case study. Breaks for customer service employees used to be staggered so as not to have a shortage of staff fielding customer complaints. However, an internal audit found that productivity increased when workers took breaks together and socialized over lunch.
Oftentimes, frontline employees are working in silos and isolated from their coworkers. In frontline organizations, informal communications go beyond just sharing practical insights, it also gives these frontline workers a sense of camaraderie and belonging. In high-stress environments like hospitals or retail, where teams need to work seamlessly to serve customers and patients, these informal connections are invaluable.
Furthermore, workers can share valuable information that they learn on the job, which might not necessarily warrant discussion in formal channels. For example, tips for handling certain customers, which patient rooms have better heating, or even finding help to cover a shift.
The informal nature of these interactions fosters a culture of approachability, ultimately contributing to a more resilient and united frontline workforce.
The main Feed in Blink is designed specifically to foster this informal communication that keeps an organization running. It brings the whole company together in one place, without the formality of a memo or email chain. The Feed looks and feels like the social media apps we’re already accustomed to, making it easy for everyone to use.
Pros
Quick and easy, especially in fast-paced environments.
Helps to build personal relationships and a sense of camaraderie among employees.
Allows frontline workers a way to connect and engage with their coworkers, especially those who don’t have these opportunities come naturally.
Practical knowledge, tips, and best practices are shared more easily through informal conversations.
Cons
Frontline workers are limited in their opportunities for spontaneous chat, requiring the need for a centralized informal communications platform.
It can lead to the spread of inaccurate information or rumors if not properly managed.
Individuals who are not part of specific conversations or social circles may be inadvertently excluded.
Important issues might not receive the attention they deserve when discussed informally.
Why is internal communications important for your business?
For a truly effective internal communications strategy, a workforce should be three things: connected, engaged, and aligned.
A connected workforce
The right internal communications strategy bridges the gap between remote, frontline, and office employees. Without a wide-reaching net, internal communications can become stilted or even ineffective.
Frontline employees are consistently at a disadvantage due to the fact they most times do not have a company email or a desktop, like the organization’s office workers.
More than 80% of the global workforce is deskless. Whether your company is in healthcare, manufacturing, or transportation, these frontline workers need to feel just as involved and valued as the ones behind a desk.
For these organizations, effective internal communications reduce turnover, increase profits, enhance employee experience, and boost productivity. Read more about deskless worker team communication here.
An engaged workforce
Transparent communication empowers employees and boosts morale.
When employees are informed about the company's vision and the reasons behind certain actions, they feel a sense of ownership and inclusion. Transparency fosters trust, as employees perceive that their contributions and concerns are valued, leading to increased engagement and overall satisfaction.
Two-way internal communication is essential for employee engagement – as we covered above, top-down communication can lead to passive reception of information, which is a killer for engagement.
An effective internal communications strategy gives employees the ability to voice concerns and provide feedback or suggestions to management. This gives them a direct hand in decision-making, directly increasing their engagement with their work.
An aligned workforce
Aligning teams and goals across the entire organization, from the CEO to frontline workers, is crucial for success.
This involves ensuring everyone is across the broad business goals and objectives and understands how their individual work is crucial for reaching these goals. A study conducted by IBM found that 72% of employees don’t understand their organization’s core strategy, due to poor communication.
Don’t let that 72% be your employees. An aligned workforce ensures that the messages being communicated resonate with everyone, and are understood in the intended manner.
Effective internal communications leads to better collaboration, within teams and across departments.
Strategies to implement successful internal communications
Only 7% of workers agree that internal communication within their workplace is accurate, timely, and open.
Building a cohesive internal communications strategy is the key to uniting and motivating your workforce. We’ll touch on some strategies to help you create a successful internal communication plan, or you can read our in-depth step-by-step guide to writing an internal communications strategy.
Utilize technology for internal communication
These days, there are endless tools and software available to help organizations stay on top of internal communications. We’re no longer in the age where we have to rely on printed memos and morning meetings.
Blink, and other digital communication tools which promote collaboration and information sharing, can totally revolutionize an organization. They provide efficient, real-time means to disseminate information, engage employees, and foster collaboration.
Not only can these platforms allow employees to ask questions, provide feedback, and participate in discussions, but they also act as a centralized place for policies, procedures, and guides that employees can access.
A recent Emergence study found that more than half of deskless workers are dissatisfied with the software solutions provided by employers.
Particularly for decentralized teams and organizations with frontline workers, technology-driven internal communication plays a pivotal role in keeping employees informed, connected, and aligned with organizational goals.
Understand how to best reach your employees
Obviously, organizations are made up of different types of employees, and traditional top-down internal communication strategies generally don’t take this into account. In order to make sure your message is relevant to your audience, you need to tailor your message based on who you are communicating with.
For example, a message intended for frontline staff may focus on practical details and how it impacts their daily tasks, while a message for senior management might emphasize strategic implications and long-term business goals.
Consider the different workers that need to be reached with your internal communications strategy, and segment your audiences based on:
Job role
Seniority level
Communication needs
Whether they are desk-based or frontline workers
Then, you can analyze previous engagement data to see what type or format of content works best for each audience – eg. Email, live chat, video, etc., and the best times to communicate for the most engagement.
Utilizing technology can be very helpful here. Blink offers real-time powerful analytics to help you understand what content performs best, when, and with whom.
By customizing the messaging approach, and using data to optimize what the content is and when you are sending it, internal communication becomes more effective, increasing employee engagement and alignment with goals.
Establish regular feedback
Without regular feedback, internal communications are simply one-sided, which does nothing for employee engagement and satisfaction.
Every successful internal communications strategy should have built-in practices to regularly collect feedback from employees at every level of the organization. This can be done through surveys, suggestion boxes, town halls, anonymous feedback, or weekly leadership check-ins.
Employee feedback allows an internal communications strategy to be actually shaped by the people it’ll affect, not just the high-up decision-makers behind desks. Highlighting areas where improvement is needed – before it escalates into a problem – is crucial, not just for the employee experience but also for the success of the business as a whole.
Case study: Our collaboration with Salutem
During the COVID pandemic, the health industry faced endless challenges. Employees and organizations were dramatically affected by high levels of stress, low staff morale, and a huge hit to communications.
Salutem, a healthcare company that provides services such as care homes and healthcare staffing, needed a solution to overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic. To do so, Salutem used Blink to revamp their internal communications strategy.
With Blink’s easy-to-use super-app, Salutem was able to launch monthly surveys, collect feedback and plan face-to-face group meetings to encourage two-way conversations between managers and staff.
Salutem launched S.E.L.F (Salutem Employee Listening Forum) initiatives to connect staff and promote a culture of free communication within the organization. Each division had a rep – nominated by managers through the Blink Feed – who were responsible for moderating Blink Channels and following up with their respective teams.
Colleagues were encouraged to share thoughts and open up conversations around concerns or opportunities for growth, which started conversations and reconnected employees across all teams.
The improvements that came from the new internal communications strategy were nearly immediate. The organization saw a:
300% increase in survey responses
92% adoption rate of Blink
Tenfold increase in staff who were easy to communicate with
The integral role of internal comms in organizational success
There aren’t many constants in this world, particularly in the ever-changing landscape of a frontline organization. But one does remain: the vital role of an internal communications strategy. From formal top-down messages that steer the company's vision to informal water cooler chats that breed friendships, effective internal communication is crucial for the success of any organization.
By implementing a solid internal communications strategy, organizations can create a workplace where ideas flow freely, where feedback is valued, and where employees are informed, engaged, and motivated. It's a workplace where everyone, from frontline staff to top executives, feels heard, appreciated, and connected.
Internal communications shouldn’t just be a strategy, however. It needs to be a core tenet of your organization’s culture. Introducing an effective tool – like Blink – to encourage effective internal communication is key. By fostering open dialogue, valuing feedback, and leveraging technology, organizations can create an environment where everyone feels heard, informed, and engaged.
It's not about reinventing the wheel, but about adopting effective internal communications strategies that keep your workforce connected and motivated.
Since joining Blink’s London office less than a year ago, our Data Analyst, Nikita, has already made her mark — tackling data-driven projects, collaborating across teams, and fueling the mission to empower frontline workers. She loves the energy of a smaller startup and finds real purpose in crafting tech solutions that make a positive impact.
Read on to learn how Nikita dove into the world of advanced analytics at Blink, why she’s proud of her work on the AEI tool, and what keeps her excited about the future!
What initially attracted you to join Blink?
I was really inspired by Blink’s mission to empower frontline workers. It was great to see technology being used for such a positive cause. I’ve worked at startups before and really enjoy the energy of a smaller company. Before joining Blink, I was at a slightly bigger startup, but I love our size and find what we’re doing here incredibly exciting.
What's a project you are proud of from your time at Blink?
AEI! I’m particularly proud of the Advanced Employee Intelligence (AEI) tool. I’ve been working on it with Izzy for the past few months, and it’s been exciting to provide customers with insights they didn’t have before. This tool offers actionable metrics, and it’s gratifying to see how our data can truly help other organizations.
How would you describe the company culture at Blink in three words?
I would say supportive, vibrant and energetic.
What's one thing you're excited about for the future of Blink?
I’m really excited about the coming year at Blink. We have a lot of great new customers on board, which means there will be even more data to explore. I can’t wait to see the insights we uncover and how they’ll help us continue innovating.
Can you tell us about a recent initiative or program launched at Blink that you found particularly exciting?
I found the recent Frontline Heroes holiday campaign especially meaningful. It highlighted real stories from frontline workers who use Blink every day, and hearing their experiences was incredibly heartwarming. It served as a powerful reminder of the impact Blink can have on people’s daily lives, and it gave me a renewed sense of purpose in supporting our users on the frontlines.
Why do you work for Blink?
I’m early in my career, and one of the biggest benefits of working at a smaller company like Blink is getting exposure to so many different areas — Marketing, Customer Success, Product — you name it. I love the variety and the fact that I can see the direct impact of my work. Plus, Blink’s mission really resonates with me, so it feels great to contribute to something I believe in every day.
I started here as an Operations Support Analyst under Ana (Mason), which was a fantastic learning experience. But as I took on more analytical tasks, especially around the development of AEI, I transitioned into my current role in Data RevOps. I’m finding it incredibly interesting, and being hands on with such an important product is really rewarding.
Given how much I’ve already learned and how the company is evolving, I see myself staying at Blink for the foreseeable future. It’s a prime opportunity to keep growing, and I don’t want to miss out while I’m still soaking up knowledge at this stage in my career. I’m excited to see what new challenges and opportunities will come as Blink continues to expand.
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.
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.
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. With52% 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.
"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
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.
For IT leaders, SharePoint can feel like a safe bet
Microsoft tools already power your organization. So why wouldn’t you use SharePoint as your employee intranet?
The truth is, while it can seem like a quick-fix solution, SharePoint has its drawbacks. It’s complex to learn and use. It doesn’t support frontline access or employee engagement. It simply isn’tbuilt for every employee or every intranet task.
The upshot? SharePoint lands your organization with a hidden IT tax — in the form of resources, consultants, workarounds, and additional software. It can quickly become a drain on your IT team’s time and budget.
So here, we look at exactly where SharePoint falls down — and explore modern intranet alternatives that make life a whole lot easier for your IT crew.
The promise vs. the reality of SharePoint
SharePoint is marketed as an “all-in-one” employee intranet and internal communications solution. File storage. Team sites. A knowledge base. A communication hub.
But the practical reality is a little different. The fundamental role of SharePoint is to store files. So, as an intranet, supposed to go way beyond file storage, there are some key ways that SharePoint fails to deliver:
Top-down communication. SharePoint prioritizes corporate broadcasts over peer-to-peer interaction. Without additional software, teams miss out on the human connections that drive satisfaction and retention.
Limited personalization. No intuitive dashboards or role-based filters here. So employees have to wade through irrelevant content to find the information they need. This is bad for intranet engagement and employee productivity.
An outdated user experience. In a world where TikTok and WhatsApp set the standard, SharePoint feels like a dusty corporate archive. Employees expect simple, fast, consumer-grade experiences — and SharePoint simply isn’t up to the task.
And those are just the headlines, not the full story. Beyond these issues, SharePoint poses problems for two key segments of your workforce — the IT team tasked with implementing it and the frontline workforce struggling to access it.
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The IT tax of SharePoint explained
First, let’s look at SharePoint from the perspective of your IT team. What does using SharePoint as an intranet platform mean for the people tasked with running it?
#1. Complex customization and integration
Configuring SharePoint isn’t a case of plug-and-play. Setting up permissions, workflows, and integrations requires specialized IT knowledge. Even small changes — like tweaking layouts — become time-consuming tasks.
Yes, SharePoint is customizable. But for many, that flexibility comes at a cost in the form of heavy technical requirements. Developers are essential to get just the basics working smoothly.
#2. Ongoing maintenance and updates
SharePoint setup is never “done.” Updates, patches, and version issues all demand ongoing IT oversight. This can be a huge burden for small IT teams and another cost to consider if you have to outsource this maintenance work.
#3. Reliance on consultants
Most organizations don’t have deep SharePoint expertise in-house. That means relying on external consultants for custom builds, integrations, and even routine maintenance. This can drag out timelines and inflate your IT budget.
#4. Extensive training
Training existing staff is an alternative to getting in the consultants. But it’s, again, expensive and time-consuming. It can take months of training to ensure that teams are proficient, and across a large IT team, getting everyone up to speed turns into a long-term project.
#5. Managing additional software
When you use SharePoint as your employee intranet, there are inevitably going to be gaps. IT has to find software that supports employee engagement, mobile access, and custom notifications.
This can bring its own problems. Your IT team shoulders the burden of keeping all software updated and integrated. And when employees have to navigate a complex tech stack, juggling multiple logins and passwords, tickets start to mount.
#6. Constant employee support
SharePoint’s complex infrastructure makes it hard for non-technical users (like your comms team) to create, update, and manage the intranet. Routine tasks turn into IT tickets, creating delays and frustration.
Comms teams can’t publish updates quickly, employees wait a long time for information, and IT is stuck in helpdesk mode. Instead of driving innovation, your tech team only has the bandwidth to wade through support requests.
#7. Adoption issues
Employees are used to fast, easy, and convenient online experiences. And SharePoint doesn’t live up to their high expectations. Intranet adoption suffers. Your IT budget is spent on an intranet platform that a large proportion of your employees avoid using.
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How SharePoint falls down for the frontline
SharePoint causes problems for another segment of your workforce — frontline employees. The platform was never designed with deskless workers in mind. So, if you choose to use it as your only intranet platform, your frontline experiences the following.
A clunky mobile experience
SharePoint’s mobile navigation is awkward and slow. For employees on the go, employee communications are hard to access. This damages internal communications and the frontline employee experience.
The need to “go seek” information
Without real-time notifications, role-based alerts, or clearly defined communication channels, SharePoint forces employees to hunt down updates. For busy shift workers and deskless teams, this means critical comms are often missed.
No support for asynchronous work
SharePoint emphasizes live chats and video calls but ignores the reality for employees working shifts or across different time zones. If frontline staff aren’t online at the right time, they struggle to keep up with organizational updates.
A disconnected culture
Without a central, easy-to-use space for celebrating wins, sharing knowledge, or connecting co-workers, frontline employees are excluded from the company conversation. They miss out on the camaraderie that boosts engagement.
A digital divide
SharePoint creates a digital divide. Your desk-based employees can use it to access comms and resources online. Frontline employees have to make do with word-of-mouth messaging and the chaotic memo board. This two-tier approach leaves deskless workers feeling undervalued and less loyal to your organization.
And — in another bit of bad news (sorry!) — frontline accessibility issues spell further problems for IT.
Your IT team spends a huge amount of time troubleshooting accessibility gaps, finding workarounds, third-party plugins, and manual fixes. All the while, comms go unread, resources go unused, and the cost and complexity of your intranet ecosystem spiral higher.
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The alternative? A modern employee intranet
Let’s give SharePoint its due. It’s a powerful document management system, deeply integrated with Microsoft 365. For compliance-heavy workflows and content storage it does the job.
But here’s the issue. SharePoint was never built to be an all-in-one employee intranet. And in 2025, an intranet needs to do far more than simply manage files.
An employee intranet has to work for all members of staff, including those hard-to-reach employees on the frontlines of your organization. It needs to support information sharing, employee engagement, and company culture. And it needs to alleviate the pressure on your IT team, rather than adding to it.
If you want an intranet that does all of the above, SharePoint isn’t the answer. Instead, you need a modern intranet solution, with the following intranet features:
Mobile-first design. A modern intranet is designed to work beautifully across all devices. It provides real-time notifications, offline access, and easy login — even for employees who don’t have a corporate email address.
Easy admin. Comms teams can post updates, share resources, and customize dashboards without sending a single IT ticket. With user-friendly drag and drop controls, they can tailor the platform to fit their needs without complex back-end development.
Culture-building tools. Modern intranets aren’t just information repositories. They’re engagement platforms — places where employees can share successes, receive recognition for a job well done, connect with peers, and feel part of something bigger.
A consumer-grade experience. The best modern intranet solutions are as intuitive and engaging as the comms apps employees use away from work. They feature social media-style tools, deep integrations, and single sign-on technology. So employees can access all workplace tools in a few easy clicks.
Bear in mind that a modern intranet doesn’t have to replace SharePoint altogether. It can integrate with it, pulling through documents, policies, and resources, while layering on the communication and engagement features SharePoint lacks.
That way, IT gets to keep Microsoft compliance and storage, and employees get an interface they’ll actually use — all without the associated implementation headache.
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SharePoint isn’t all bad — it’s just not enough
SharePoint is perfect for storage. But it’s not built for connection.
If you want a true intranet — one that engages frontline employees, strengthens culture, and reduces IT overheads — you need a modern platform, designed for today’s workforce.
That might mean ditching your current setup and opting for a SharePoint alternative. Or it could mean layering a digital front door on top of SharePoint, retaining the software’s good points while fixing its flaws.
An intranet like Blink is the perfect solution. Think mobile-first design, a consumer-grade user experience, and deep integrations with the workplace tools you already use.
With Blink. comms and employees can publish updates, share resources, and customize dashboards without waiting on IT — and IT finally gets to step away from firefighting SharePoint problems to focus on strategic projects.
The result? No more workarounds. No more time and money spent on that hidden IT tax. Just an employee intranet that works for everyone — from HQ to the frontline to your IT team.
Blink. And go beyond SharePoint to discover what really works for internal comms.
What worked even a year ago might already feel tired to employees. That means your messages land with less impact, and the engagement you were counting on slips away.
So how can you tell if your internal communication strategy is still working — or whether it’s time for a refresh?
Start by watching for these tell-tale signs that your approach needs a glow-up in 2025 and beyond.
6 signs you need to upgrade your internal communication plan
#1. You’re still broadcasting, not conversing
Top-down comms were once the norm. But employees are no longer happy to be the passive recipients of company news. Why? We can point the finger firmly in the direction of social media.
Thanks to the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, we’ve been publishing our own content for decades. We’ve also been interacting with big brands and celebrities who were once completely off-limits.
Employees expect a similar experience in the workplace. To the point that top-down communication now feels like a form of gatekeeping.
When you broadcast information instead of starting a conversation with your workforce, they’re left thinking: What have they got to hide? Are they scared of employee feedback? Is the organization simply uninterested in what we think?
This lack of trust and transparency harms the employee experience. And if this sounds familiar, you need to flip the script.
How? With a culture of two-way communication — and the communication tools that can facilitate it. Think interactive news feeds, polls, surveys, and leader Q&As.
The C-suite still shares essential information. But employees can reply, react, and respond to messages. They can share their ideas via polls and surveys. They can spark conversations with co-workers and managers.
You make employee communications more interactive, improving comms engagement in the process.
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#2. Your engagement metrics are mysterious… or missing entirely
You can’t fix what you can’t measure.
If you don’t know who’s opening your messages, which channels are driving the most engagement, or how comms are actually landing across your workforce, you’re working in the dark. And you’ll struggle to make targeted internal comms improvements.
Get real-time data on reach, employee sentiment, employee engagement, and more
Draw links between your comms performance and company KPIs, like customer experience, employee retention, and business revenue
Segment your data to shine a spotlight on the departments, teams, and locations where comms aren’t cutting through
With the effective tools for analytics and reporting, you can put data at the center of your internal communications plan. Which means less instinct, more insight — and meaningful comms improvements.
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#3. Everything sounds like it was written by legal
You know the tone. Overly polished, overly cautious, super-jargony corporate speak. The kind of language that makes every internal message feel like you’re wading through a set of terms and conditions.
This type of language is completely forgettable. It’s unlikely to spark interest, engagement, or interaction — particularly with younger generations within your workforce. And it takes longer for even your smartest employees to read.
So is your comms TOV giving more corporate robot than relatable human? Try reading your messages out loud. If it doesn’t feel like something you’d actually say to someone face-to-face, it’s probably way too formal for your internal communication channels.
Use plain language — no long and complicated words, confusing acronyms, or corporate jargon
Use a conversational tone — writing more or less as you speak
Break up long blocks of text — this makes messages less overwhelming and easier to scan and read
Show a bit of personality — empathy, gentle humor, and the odd personal anecdote go a long way
Above all, remember that the role of comms isn’t just to inform employees — it’s to connect with them. And it’s much easier to do that when you sound real and relatable.
Most legacy internal communication tools were designed for desk-based workers, so they don’t translate to a mobile format. They also require a corporate email address — something many frontline employees simply don’t have.
You can survey your frontline workers to find out what they think of your comms. And — if they’re feeling left out of the company conversation — this is another sure-fire sign your comms strategy needs some TLC.
The golden rule? If it doesn’t work well on mobile, it doesn’t work for everyone.
So in 2025, you need to go beyond paper memos, personal messaging apps, and word-of-mouth information to embrace mobile-first communication tools, suited to frontline workers.
These tools provide an exceptional experience on desktops and smartphones. And they give all employees easy and intuitive access to company comms, culture, and connection.
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#5. Your comms channels are working against you
Got a strategy that starts and ends with email? Or SharePoint? Or — on the flip side — so many channels that no one knows where to look?
Both extremes create issues. A one-channel approach makes it hard to reach everyone. But piling on too many platforms without a clear strategy leads to confusion, noise, and missed messages.
Different employees prefer different communication styles. Gen Z might favor short, social-style updates. Other generations may be happy with email. But when there’s no central system or channel clarity, employees are left asking: “Wait — where was that shared?”
Worse still, your internal communications team ends up unsure where to publish updates, and messages get scattered across tools. The result? Diluted impact, clutter, and poor reach.
The fix? Create a unified company communications hub that serves as a single source of truth and supports a mix of clearly defined channels — with audience segmentation baked in.
That might include:
Instant messaging for real-time collaboration
A news feed for top-down updates
Communities for employee-generated content and co-worker conversation
A content hub or resource center for evergreen info
Targeted notifications based on role, location, or department
This structure reinforces important messages, helps employees find what they need, and keeps your comms ecosystem organized, strategic, and effective.
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#6. You’re still treating comms like a service, not a strategy
27% of internal comms professionals surveyed by Gallagher said they lacked leadership buy-in and were left out of decision-making. Many comms teams are still treated like a message delivery service, rather than a strategic partner.
This is one of the biggest comms mistakes you can make. Because when internal communications are involved in corporate strategy from the outset, they can:
With top-level insight and input, your comms team finds it easier to achieve the metrics laid out in your internal comms plan — and achieve metrics relating to wider business performance. We’re talking productivity, employee retention, and employee engagement.
If you’ve identified one or more of these internal communications issues, rest assured that you’re not alone — and you’re not stuck.
Every one of these challenges is fixable. In fact, just recognizing the gaps in your strategy is the first step toward building a smarter, more effective communications plan.
What next? Upgrade your internal communications strategy and tools to reflect the needs and expectations of the modern workforce.
A modern comms plan is flexible, human, and data-driven. It supports the sharing of relevant, personalized communications to every member of your workforce. It meets employees where they are — over mobile-first tools and a rich mix of communication channels.
Most of all, an up-to-date strategy recognizes that modern internal comms is not just a service but a vital part of your corporate culture, change initiatives, and employee experience.
Blink. And give your internal comms strategy the makeover it needs.
Explore top platforms that deliver more than a SharePoint skin
Akumina positions itself as a digital workplace experience layer built on SharePoint—but for many organizations, it creates more complexity than it solves.
It’s highly customizable, yes—but that often comes with long implementation timelines, heavy IT lift, and limited employee engagement. If you're looking for a solution that’s easier to roll out, more intuitive to use, and built for actual adoption, you're not alone.
In this article, we break down the 12 best Akumina alternatives—modern intranet and employee experience platforms that go beyond SharePoint overlays to deliver real value for today’s hybrid, remote, and mobile workforces.
#1. Blink
Best all-in-one intranet and employee app
Blink is a modern employee platform that combines internal communications, essential tools, and content into one intuitive experience. Unlike Akumina, Blink doesn’t sit on top of SharePoint—it replaces it, offering native mobile and desktop apps that employees actually want to use.
Why Blink over Akumina:
Lightning-fast deployment (no dev work required)
Personalized, social-style feed
Messaging, surveys, forms, and files all in one place
Works beautifully on mobile and web
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#2. Interact
Best for structured intranets with strong comms features
Interact is a mature intranet platform that offers a blend of content governance and communication tools. It provides more flexibility and a better out-of-the-box experience than Akumina, especially for internal comms teams.
Key strengths:
Smart content targeting
Built-in comms features (surveys, likes, comments)
Page templates and drag-and-drop tools
#3. Simpplr
Best for AI-powered content personalization
Simpplr is a polished, AI-driven intranet focused on employee engagement. It’s known for lifecycle communication (e.g. onboarding, transitions), and offers more automation than Akumina without the same technical setup burden.
Why it stands out:
AI-powered content surfacing
Smart search and recommendations
Built-in templates for lifecycle moments
#4. Staffbase
Best for internal comms at enterprise scale
Staffbase shines when it comes to centralized, top-down communication. With a branded employee app and multi-channel messaging, it’s a better option than Akumina for organizations prioritizing reach and visibility.
Top features:
Newsletter builder
Campaign management
Native mobile app with notifications
#5. LumApps
Best for global enterprise deployments
LumApps offers a broad, customizable employee experience platform with deeper integrations and personalization than Akumina—without being tied to SharePoint. It supports global rollouts and multi-language content delivery.
Why it’s better:
Google & Microsoft integrations
AI personalization
Multilingual and regional content support
#6. Happeo
Best for Google Workspace users
If your organization uses Google Workspace, Happeo is a lightweight, user-friendly intranet that connects seamlessly with your tools. It’s far easier to deploy and use than Akumina, especially for remote teams.
Highlights:
Tight Google integrations
Social intranet features
Customizable layouts
#7. ThoughtFarmer
Best for easy-to-manage intranets
ThoughtFarmer focuses on simplicity and people-first design. Unlike Akumina’s complex configurations, it offers a quick setup and low learning curve—perfect for organizations without large IT departments.
Notable features:
People directory and profiles
Easy content editing
Micro-sites for teams and departments
#8. Igloo
Best for governance and compliance-heavy teams
Igloo is a solid Akumina alternative if your focus is structured content, document control, and knowledge management. It’s more rigid than Blink or Happeo, but ideal for finance, legal, and healthcare.
Strengths:
Document versioning
Access controls
Policy and procedure hubs
#9. Jive
Best for community collaboration
Jive is ideal for organizations that value social collaboration and peer-to-peer interaction. While Akumina layers content, Jive fosters real-time engagement and employee communities.
Features:
Social groups and forums
Peer recognition
Advanced analytics
#10. Haiilo (formerly Smarp)
Best for employee advocacy and engagement
Haiilo is a newer entry but a compelling Akumina alternative if you’re focused on culture, employee voice, and comms amplification. It goes beyond intranet basics into the territory of employee engagement and advocacy.
Why consider Haiilo:
Omnichannel comms
Employee-generated content
Engagement analytics
#11. Noodle
Best for small companies wanting a turnkey intranet
Noodle is a lesser-known but solid option for SMBs. It’s easy to set up and includes standard intranet features without the need for SharePoint or heavy integrations.
Pros:
Budget-friendly
Core intranet tools (news, docs, chat)
On-prem or cloud options
#12. Unily
Best for enterprise intranets with rich features
Unily is a well-known intranet solution with a robust feature set, polished UI, and strong Microsoft integrations. It’s a better alternative to Akumina if you want a full-featured, polished intranet with deep customization—without starting from scratch.
Why it’s a solid pick:
Beautiful UX
Strong multilingual and multi-brand support
Flexible integrations with Microsoft 365 and beyond
Final thoughts: Choosing the right Akumina alternative
Akumina can work well for highly customized intranet needs—but that flexibility often comes at the cost of complexity, budget, and adoption.
Whether you want something faster, simpler, or more engaging, the 12 alternatives above offer modern options that fit different use cases and team types.
Want a platform that people will actually use?
Blink replaces legacy intranet headaches with an all-in-one, beautifully simple platform for communication, tools, and culture.
