The top 5 HR trends you should be tracking right now

76% of workers say they enjoy working collaboratively. But workplace collaboration isn’t just good for team members. It’s also good for your organization.

That’s because, when your teams are pulling in the same direction, there’s less wasted effort, greater productivity, and better business results.

These days, collaboration is a little more complicated than it used to be. Many employees work remotely or on a hybrid schedule. There are also hard-to-reach frontline employees to consider.

In 2024, organizations are having to be more intentional about employee collaboration — and they’re turning to tech tools to bring dispersed teams together.

Collaboration in the workplace may be changing. But it’s still as important as ever. Here, we take a look at the benefits of workplace collaboration, along with the role tech can play in creating a collaborative ecosystem.  

What does collaboration look like in the workplace?

Workplace collaboration involves team members working together to achieve a common goal. It relies on empathy, active listening, conflict resolution, and accountability.

But it’s not just about team members working together on a big project. Or giving the standard monthly update on company developments. Collaboration is much, much more than that.

The most collaborative organizations make collaboration part of their company culture. It’s a mindset of openness and transparency. A place where all employees engage in effective communication and are ready and willing to help one another.

Employee collaboration might mean liaising with engineering, marketing, and sales teams to launch a ground-breaking new product. Or simply helping your co-worker get the photocopier working again.

In any form, collaboration is about sharing information and knowledge. About willingly offering support. And about combining employee strengths to get the best results each and every day.

Nowadays, there’s another key element to collaboration in the workplace — technology. In the wake of remote working and higher employee expectations with regard to tech, collaboration has gone digital.

Organizations use digital tools to facilitate employee collaboration even when teams don’t work face-to-face. They use tech, like project management software, employee apps, and real-time communication tools.

This is helping to maintain collaboration among desk-based teams, at home and in the office. It’s also supporting dispersed frontline workers to collaborate at work, too.  

The Blink employee app helps frontline and desk-based employees work better together. Take a look at our platform features to find out more.

Why is workplace collaboration important?

Collaboration is good for business. It ensures that your employees, like cogs in a well-oiled machine, are all working together. There’s more momentum and less friction. So you find it easier to achieve organizational goals.

Collaboration within teams helps those teams to function more effectively. Cross-functional collaboration is important too. Team-working across different departments helps to remove workplace silos and get all teams on the same page.

Workplace collaboration is also good for employee motivation and morale.

With easy and effective communication, the workplace becomes a happier place to be. And when employees operate as a team, helping each other to achieve tasks, the workplace becomes more caring and supportive.

Collaboration clearly makes a difference to employees. A 2022 Corel report into team-working revealed that:

• 41% of employees have left their job or would consider leaving their job due to poor collaboration at work
• 64% of employees say that poor collaboration costs them at least three hours per week in productivity
• 78% of employees say that leadership could be doing more to promote collaboration within the organization

Collaboration ties in with employee engagement, the employee experience, productivity, and employee retention, making it a really crucial component of any workplace. 

8 benefits of collaboration in the workplace

Let’s take a closer look at what workplace collaboration can do for your employees and organization. Here’s what you can expect when your employees routinely collaborate with one another. 

Improved employee engagement

Employees who feel they belong within an organization are 5.3 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. And employees who get enough information to do their job well are 2.8 times more likely to be engaged. 

Workplace collaboration brings employees together. It gives them need-to-know information, and aligns everyone behind company goals. 

This creates a sense of community and purpose, which fuels employee engagement. Collaboration leads employees to feel more satisfied in their work and more loyal to your company.   

Increased efficiency

When teams collaborate, they share information. Teams pool resources and people power. Employees who work together closely can share workloads and responsibilities.This enables teams to complete tasks more quickly. It also reduces the chance of duplicated work.

This efficiency frees up time in the workday. It helps managers to make workloads more manageable, while creating the time and employee headspace for even more creativity and collaboration.

Knowledge sharing

Imagine a company that fails to share its collective knowledge effectively.

Teams spend their time researching topics that other teams understand in depth. Employees repeat the same mistakes because there’s no one sharing their hard-earned insights. You fail to establish best practices. And employees are in a constant state of catch-up.

Now imagine the opposite. A company where knowledge is shared seamlessly between co-workers, teams, and departments. There’s no gatekeeper and collective knowledge is easy for everyone to access.

The latter scenario makes for a more successful organization. It helps you build a more knowledgeable workforce. And it saves a heap of time — because your people aren’t separately pursuing the same lines of research.  

Stronger relationships

Good employee collaboration relies on strong workplace relationships. And it helps to develop them, too.

When teams collaborate, they communicate regularly. They work together towards a shared goal. They also develop trust and mutual respect as they share ideas and rely on each other’s support.

By developing these strong relationships, your organization gets better at collaboration going forward. You create a culture of psychological safety, where people feel comfortable speaking up about their ideas, mistakes, and concerns.  

Strong workplace connections also improve the employee experience. With Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2024 report revealing that 20% of employees experience a lot of loneliness at work, nurturing workplace relationships has never been more important.

Better decision-making

When you make decisions as part of a team, you leverage the knowledge, perspective, and experience of each team member. You involve the people who are directly affected by the decision — and those who are responsible for implementing it.

Making decisions as part of a team means assumptions are challenged and everyone has a sense of buy-in. You make informed and balanced decisions that are more likely to garner company-wide support.

For example, in a recent webinar, we heard from the team at the Capital District Transport Authority (CDTA) in New York. They realized they needed new tech to improve internal communication at the organization.

When deciding on the right tech solution, they took a cross-functional approach. They involved communications, IT, and HR teams, along with leadership. They also consulted the workers who’d be using the new tech.

By collaborating in this way, the CDTA was able to choose a modern intranet that met everyone’s needs and enjoyed excellent levels of adoption.

Enhanced problem-solving

We all know the proverb. “Two heads are better than one.” And when it comes to problem-solving, you’re much more likely to come up with creative and effective solutions when working as part of a team.

Collaboration brings people with different viewpoints together. This diversity helps teams to approach a problem from multiple angles — and come up with a variety of potential solutions.

It also minimizes blind spots. Because there are people with lots of different perspectives involved, it’s less likely that some element of the problem or its solution is overlooked.

Stronger employee development

The practice of collaboration helps to develop employee soft skills, like decision-making, problem-solving, communication, conflict resolution, and creative thinking

When you have a culture of knowledge sharing, co-workers can also learn from one another. They can pick up new skills and information from the people they work with. Employees are organically coached by more experienced members of the team.

This informal learning can take place within teams and across departments. Successful cross-departmental collaboration enables workers to get a better understanding of different areas of the business.

Boosted productivity

As we’ve already seen, good teamwork is linked to:

• Improved employee engagement
• Knowledge sharing and employee development
• Increased efficiency
• Stronger relationships and communication

All of these things support workplace productivity. Employees have access to the resources, skills, knowledge, and relationships that help them perform at their best.

Collaboration also improves accountability. When employees are involved in planning, decision-making, and problem-solving, they’re more motivated to work hard and make a success of the initiative or project.

The role of technology in workplace collaboration

It used to be that collaboration could take place informally in the office.

Co-workers could share ideas as they made coffee in the break room. Or as they walked to the elevator together. There were plenty of face-to-face meetings where people could work together to solve problems and make decisions.

But things have changed. In recent years, technology has played a much bigger role in team working.  

Firstly, thanks to the pandemic, remote working became much more widespread. While some organizations are encouraging people back to the office, a sizable proportion of employees still spend part of their working week working remotely.

In the UK, figures for 2024 show that 40% of workers spend at least some time working from home. In the US, 41% of employees whose jobs can be done remotely work a hybrid schedule.

Secondly, employee expectations around workplace tech have increased. With intuitive tech at home making life easier and more convenient, employees now expect the same digital experiences in the workplace. This goes for frontline employees, too.

Frontline employees — working shifts, in isolation, or on a busy shop floor — haven’t always had the same opportunities for teamwork as their desk-based peers. But with organizations now focusing on frontline employee engagement and retention, this is something that employers are looking to rectify.

To involve all employees in workplace collaboration — no matter their location or schedules — we have to be intentional. We also have to use the right technology.

Here are a few tools that support collaboration in the modern, digital workplace.  

Real-time communication tools

When teams are working away from the office, real-time communication tools are an employee collaboration essential. You need a way for co-workers to communicate seamlessly, sharing information as if face to face.

We know that many deskless workers conduct conversations on personal apps. But this type of shadow IT poses security risks. It also fails to enhance collaboration and employee engagement as successfully as a dedicated communication tool, run with the oversight of your managers.

So providing employees with messaging and video conferencing tools is a must. You need software that facilitates 1:1, group, and company-wide chat.

Project management software

Projects have lots of moving parts. And — particularly for non-office-based teams — it can be hard to visualize project tasks and progress without project management software.

This type of software acts as a centralized platform for planning and executing projects. It keeps all files, discussions, and tasks in the same place, ensuring nothing gets lost and everyone is aware of their responsibilities.

Project management software is particularly useful for remote and hybrid teams. But it can still come in useful for purely office-based teams.

Streamlined communication, workflow automation features, file organization, task visibility, and real-time updates are useful for teams wherever they may be working.

Employee apps

For employees who don’t spend their day at a desk, an employee app is another vital workplace collaboration tool.

As Ian Gordon of Elara Caring said to us in an interview:

“Being a frontline worker can feel like you're on an island by yourself, and the solutions that you need must be quicker and more succinct. You can't spend a lot of time signing in and navigating. You need to get to your answer now.”

Apps, like Blink, fit Gordon’s description. They’re intuitive to use and available on employee smartphones. They also make it quick and easy for employees to complete tasks, whether that’s sending a message to a co-worker, checking the latest policy documents, or filling in a safety report.

Employee apps support collaboration for time-poor frontline workers. They help them build connections with co-workers, share their frontline insights, and keep up to date with company news, improving the employee experience in the process.

A resource hub

Whether it’s on your company intranet or an employee app, a digital resource hub is another useful tech tool for employee collaboration.

A resource hub allows co-workers to share files and work together on them. It also acts as an internal knowledge base.

Here, employees can find best practices, company policies, and FAQs. If they have the appropriate permissions, they can also add their own insights to the hub, tagging documents so employees can find them easily.

AI and automation

AI and automation tools are also playing a role in employee collaboration. They’re providing time savings that give team members more opportunities for collaboration. And they’re supporting collaboration in other ways, too.

Companies are using this tech to automatically tag resource hub documents so users can find what they’re looking for more easily. AI is producing better resource hub search results.

AI is also supporting employees in their use of data. With automated data analysis and predictive analysis, AI is giving employees a sound basis for their collaborative problem-solving and decision-making efforts.

Some organizations are also using AI to facilitate communication between different departments. For example, technical teams are using it to translate complicated documents for non-technical co-workers. 

This is helping to close the communication gap between departments and ensure that everyone has the information they need to collaborate effectively.  

In summary

Workplace collaboration has changed dramatically over the past decade. But it’s still a key indicator of business success.

Collaboration supports workplace productivity, communication, and business results. It leads to better problem-solving and decision-making.

It also supports your employee retention and engagement efforts by making your workplace an open and supportive place to be, improving the employee experience.

Face-to-face collaboration is trickier than it used to be. But with the right tech solutions, you can champion collaboration in your organization, no matter where your employees spend their work days.

Blink has everything you need to bring collaboration to your desk-based, remote-working, and frontline employees. Our mobile-first employee app provides:

• Real-time communication via 1:1 and group chats, plus the company news feed
• A resource hub, where employees can access company documents and forms
• Deep integrations with the project management tools you already use
• AI support that supports better workplace communication

With Blink, you also get all the tools you need for better internal communications and employee engagement.

Why not book a demo to see Blink’s modern intranet in action?

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While some things from the 90s are coming back into style - extra baggy jeans, cardigans, bucket hats -  there are also some things that never went out of style that should have, like your employee intranet. In this era of digital transformation, old school intranets are having an (often negative) impact on employee engagement from the office to the frontlines. 

For most HR and Comms teams, relying on a traditional intranet system that came out at the same time as the Playstation 1 to fuel their employee engagement strategy won’t cut it anymore. Let’s dive into the reasons why and what to look for when searching for a better alternative. But first…

What is an intranet?

The advent of a computer and internet-powered workforce in the 1990s made working faster with global teams a reality, but it introduced a new problem: how do you make information accessible to employees without relying on the nascent, unsecured web?  

The intranet solved that problem by giving companies a local, private network for employees to store and share information. Traditional intranets are secure and cost-effective ways to manage sensitive company data, but it comes with many limitations and disadvantages for today’s workplace.

Traditional intranets are sprawling digital file cabinets. With so much information, from policies and benefits packets to corporate updates, it can be hard to find and keep things updated. And because most are relics of a different era, mobile access for frontline employees can be difficult, if not impossible. In short—traditional intranets aren’t doing HR and Comms teams any favors when it comes to getting critical information out to the entire organization.

We’ve broken down the advantages and disadvantages between traditional and modern intranets if you want to learn more. But since you’re here, it probably means you’re familiar with many of the challenges with a traditional intranet because you’re seeing the end result: employees aren’t using it. 

To fix that problem, HR and Comms teams have to understand what’s driving the (lack of) behavior. Then, you can properly search for a solution that addresses the root of your employee engagement challenge. 

7 reasons why employees don’t want to use your intranet

The intranet was designed to be the end-all-be-all source of information at every organization. Over the last three decades of digital workplace transformation, that perception has changed. Now, according to our research, nearly one-fifth of employees don’t use their intranet and a worrisome two-thirds of those are not even sure how to log on. 

With emails and instant messaging tools dominating communications and employees relying on dozens of SaaS-based apps to do their jobs, even the HR and Comms employees who are using the intranet aren’t keeping it up-to-date. There’s just not enough time to manage everything, and oftentimes this means the intranet becomes an afterthought. 

Here are the 7 key reasons that your traditional intranet is no longer living up to your employees’ needs and expectations. 

1. Lack of user-friendly design

Ask your employees to describe your intranet and you’ll probably hear words like clunky, frustrating, and useless. In fact, research shows that nearly half (47%) of workers find their company intranet difficult to use. 

When held up to the standards of modern business tools, traditional intranets fall short in every category. Everyone, from Boomers to Gen Z, is frustrated by the confounding search function, the not-from-this-century navigation, and the top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to organizing and presenting information.   

As a result, users are choosing friendlier, more siloed options whenever possible and leaving the intranet behind.

2. Irrelevant or outdated content

Whether you’ve had an intranet for three years or thirty, it is likely filled with an immense amount of content. And most of that content is not relevant to most people. Keeping your old intranet up-to-date is a monumental task, but it rarely belongs to any one person or organization in particular. As much as HR and Comms teams try, some information must remain there for historical or compliance reasons, further complicating efforts to provide a good information experience. 

However, since traditional intranets struggle to deliver a good search experience for documents and lack the deep personalization of modern apps, many employees skip the intranet and instead just ask others for help finding the information. Or, if the content is able to be found, it can result in redundant work being done.

3. Lack of mobile accessibility

Mobile devices are now a staple for any worker to stay connected and productive. In fact, 87% of companies have policies that encourage personal device usage for work activities. Traditional intranets, however, are not designed — let alone optimized — for smartphones. 

For frontline workers who often rely solely on mobile devices to stay connected, this can mean accessing and using the intranet while at work is impossible. As more work gets done on mobile devices, traditional intranets will fall further out of use in your organization. 

4. Insufficient training and onboarding

Many organizations are caught in a vicious cycle when it comes to user adoption for traditional intranets. As the old intranet becomes less useful for employees in your organization, it becomes less of a focus during training and onboarding, making the intranet less useful for a new round of employees who will then train…. Ah, you get the idea.

Since the clunky interface and search make it difficult for employees to just pick up the intranet on their own, training and onboarding are more important for it than more user-friendly, modern tools. But in reality, that time is being spent on training elsewhere now on other, more relevant things.

5. Limited integrations

At one point, the traditional intranet was the pinnacle of connection in the enterprise. But, as every company has added dozens (if not hundreds) of apps to their tech stack, your old intranet is no longer the center of the corporate information universe. HR, IT, and Comms teams now rely on a variety of tools where employees can access critical information and functionality. 

Without deep integrations with these tools, the intranet becomes just another — even less useful — tool for employees to remember their login for. 

6. Lack of engagement and social features

If an intranet is going to have an impact on employee engagement, it needs to be equipped with features that actually promote engagement. Traditional intranet solutions lack chat, social feeds, and surveys. Without those integrated alongside the content, employees will stick to the channels where they can actually collaborate with peers and stay engaged with leadership. 

The further behind traditional intranet solutions fall behind modern communication apps in engagement and social functionality, the less useful it will be for employees, HR, and Comms teams. 

7. Poor leadership endorsement

Executive teams are driven by high-level goals and KPIs. As the intranet becomes less useful and relevant to everyday life, it becomes less relevant to those goals and KPIs. That makes getting executives to buy-in and endorse using the intranet more difficult. 

It’s the final nail in the coffin for any technology. But a new era of intranets is changing the perception of the technology for employees and executives alike. 

What’s happening in the new “era” of intranets 

The business needs behind the traditional intranet haven’t changed — companies still need a way to securely share information and collaborate across different headquarters and work sites. In fact, the challenge is even greater now as more and more digital content is being created across the organization. Since traditional intranets can’t keep up with the need, they’ve fallen out of favor and into disrepair. 

Without a modern intranet to replace the traditional intranet, employees will find a more fractured information landscape, with documents and information stored in different apps and accounts — if it is accessible at all. In many organizations, email has become the lowest common denominator place for HR and comms teams to share information. But for organizations with frontline workforces, many employees lack a corporate email, which makes sharing sensitive information and corporate updates even more complicated.

The expectations for critical business tools like the intranet have evolved. Traditional intranets were purposely siloed away for security, but workers today expect their digital tools to be easy-to-use, connected, and be accessible anywhere. Most importantly, it should feel like an integrated part of their digital workplace, not a relic or an afterthought. 

Despite the power of today’s digital solutions, employees are increasingly disengaged at work. According to Gallup’s State of the Workplace Report for 2023, just 23% of employees are engaged on the job. Modernizing the intranet experience for your employees is not the only solution, but it is low-hanging fruit if you want to reverse that trend.

Delivering a modern intranet solution that is engaging and accessible to the entire organization is exactly why there are employee apps like Blink. The new era of employee intranets is not only aiming to solve the information problem of yesteryear — it is solving the challenges of the modern workplace. From working remotely on mobile devices to simplifying the number of digital tools needed to do the job, employee apps are revitalizing the intranet as a true, one-stop-shop for communication and collaboration.

What to look for in a modern intranet solution

When selecting an employee app to replace your aging, traditional intranet, there will be some familiar functionality to look for (how content is stored and searched for). But there will also be new features and functionality to consider that make an employee app more relevant to frontline and office-based employees. 

Here’s a breakdown of the key areas to consider when choosing the employee app to improve the impact of your employee engagement efforts.

Design

Often overlooked, a good design can seriously boost engagement. In particular, the design can make adoption easier, ensuring the initial onboarding phase goes smoothly at launch and in the years to come. 

The design of your modern intranet solution should be:

• User friendly: can everyone from the most to least tech savvy employees use it?
• Familiar: is it customizable with your brand look and feel?
• Easy to learn: can anyone pick it up and successfully navigate, search, and engage with others?

Content

One of the biggest challenges of traditional intranets is the clunky content experience for producers and consumers. Your replacement should make it easy for HR and Comms teams to keep content fresh and up-to-date without becoming overwhelming. On the other hand, the employees reading and watching the content should only see what’s relevant to them. Make sure your employee app allows for personalization of the content experience by role, location, etc.

Accessibility

Every employee app needs to be designed for mobile access. Whether you have a frontline workforce or not, every employee should have access to the intranet. If your new intranet solution requires a desktop to use fully, the adoption and engagement rates will suffer as more people access work content and apps on the go. 

Usability

For something as important as an intranet, ease-of-use needs to be a top concern. Your employee app should be intuitive enough that anyone can use it. Apps that cater to tech-y power users can be fun, but everyone from the Gen Z cashier to the semi-retired Boomer bus driver need to feel as confident in using the employee app as the head of IT.

If your future employee app requires a lot of training on just how to use it, it may not be the right fit for a dynamic workforce. 

Integrations

Let your new employee app be a cure for app fatigue. In the SaaS era, employees are being asked to use and remember logins for too many tools. With deep integrations and secure single sign-on, your employee app can be a one-stop-shop tool for everything they need — from the content in the intranet to payroll, timekeeping, benefits and IT tools. 

We call this the “digital front door,” because everything employees need to be successful can be housed in one app. This approach not only makes your intranet adoption skyrocket, but it also boosts the usage of all those other tools as well. 

Flexibility

Your company has unique needs, so your employee app should be flexible. For those with frontline organizations, having features like secure group and individual chats, social-media style news feeds, and built-in surveys gives HR and Comms teams many more ways to engage and inform workers who might otherwise not have access to email or other communications tools. 

The flexibility also allows employees to interact with and engage others in their preferred ways — whether that’s through likes and comments on posts or individual messages to peers. 

Executive buy-in-ability

Replacing something as ingrained as an intranet will need executive buy-in and sponsorship. Your new employee app needs to deliver greater ROI than a traditional intranet to justify the investment and the change in their eyes. (So make sure your next employee app features powerful analytics to measure adoption, engagement, and other KPIs.)

If you’re looking to improve the employee experience by upgrading to a modern employee app, we’ve put together tips to get leadership onboard. Download “The essential guide to executive buy-in for frontline employee experience” now.

Trade in your old intranet for a modern employee app

The intranet still matters — employees still need to securely access and share content internally — but traditional intranets are clunky, siloed relics of a bygone era. Neither employees nor the content are being set up for success today. What was once intended to be a source of truth is now just a source of frustration.

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Blink’s modern employee app gives the intranet a new lease on life. With a mobile-first, user-friendly design, everyone from the frontline to the boardroom can access it anytime. By pairing the intranet’s functionality alongside social features, integrations with other tools, and single sign-on security, Blink simplifies the digital employee experience into one app with one login.   

For HR and Comms teams struggling to keep frontline workers engaged and informed, Blink makes staying connected easier than ever. See it in action with a demo today.

Looking for a modern comms tool for your modern workforce? Unlike traditional internal communication methods — like a static intranet or email — an employee communication app is engaging and user-friendly. 

It supports the distribution of relevant and personalized content to every employee. And it goes beyond the desktop experience, to give remote and frontline employees access to company comms via a mobile device.  

It goes without saying that an employee app can help you improve internal communications. But the impact of the best apps is much wider-reaching. They give you the tools you need to transform employee productivity, engagement, and retention, too. 

Here, we’ve put together a list of the best employee communication apps for 2025. We look at the primary features, potential drawbacks, and customer ratings associated with each app to help you find the right platform for your organization.

Best employee communication apps for 2025

These workplace communication apps help you get the right messages to the right employees, without adding unnecessary noise.

Our top employee communication apps for this year are:

Blink: best app for large enterprises with a mix of frontline and desk-based employees

Slack: best app for dispersed desk-based teams in need of real-time collaboration tools 

Staffbase: best app for companies with a large, distributed workforce

Beekeeper: best for frontline organizations in highly operational environments

Haiilo: best app for mid to large businesses looking to boost employer branding and advocacy

Workvivo: best app for building community and culture within hybrid and remote teams

Here, we take a detailed look at each app in turn.

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1. Blink 

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Best for: large enterprises with a mix of frontline and desk-based employees

Blink is an all-in-one employee communication app designed for organizations that have both desk-based and frontline employees. Both segments of your workforce get the same high-quality, two-way communication tools via a simple, intuitive platform.  

Via the Blink app — available on both smartphone and desktop computers — employees can access a company news feed, real-time messaging, shift schedules, digital forms, employee surveys, and a content hub. Thanks to deep integrations, workers also get one-click access to your other workplace software.

One of Blink’s best features is its user-friendly social-media style interface. Our company communication app enjoys high levels of adoption and usage because there’s virtually no learning curve. Employees can download and start using the app with ease.

Key features/strengths

Social-media style news feed: Employees can stay up-to-date with company news via the news feed, which is populated with engaging posts, photos, videos, and stories. Depending on the settings you choose, employees have the option to like, comment, and create their own posts.

Audience segmentation tools: Wave goodbye to information overload. With Blink, you can segment employees based on their role, team, location, tenure, and interests to ensure they only receive relevant messages.

Knowledge library: A content hub where admins can create or upload documents, policies, FAQs, and resources. Workers can access this hub anytime and from any device with an internet connection.

Instant messaging: Employees can launch secure, one-to-one live chats — or create groups to organize conversations around a specific team, topic, or project.

Mandatory reads: To ensure essential internal communications are read, admins can require employee acknowledgment. They can also use push notifications and in-app reminders to highlight critical messages.

Employee journeys: Admins can automate employee communications, ensuring that workers get the right information at key points in the employee lifecycle.

Employee surveys: Blink has all the tools you need for two-way internal communication, including polls and surveys.

Communities: Support employees to find like-minded coworkers. The Communities feature supports the creation of coworker groups based on hobbies or interests.

Digital forms: You can use Blink to digitize paper processes, creating and distributing digital forms to gather employee information. Popular options include leave request forms, absence management forms, and near-miss reporting forms.

Platform analytics: With powerful analytics, admins can track internal communication metrics and find areas for improvement. They can see which content is most effective — and identify employees who aren’t engaging with company comms.

Single sign-on: All Blink tools are available via mobile app using single sign-on technology. Deskless workers can access the same employee communication tools as their desk-based peers, without needing a company email address.

Potential downsides

• Some users say that the app’s search function could be better. They’d like to see more search management tools and refiners.

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Ratings

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.7/5

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2. Slack

Best for: dispersed desk-based teams that need real-time collaboration tools  

Slack is one of the most popular workplace communication apps, especially for organizations that have employees working from home. This software is known for its intuitive interface and variety of third-party integrations. Its supported platforms include web, iOS, and Android.

Key features/strengths

Instant messaging: Employees can chat one-to-one via text, audio, or video call. Screen-sharing and file-sharing are supported. A worker can also initiate a conference with up to 15 members.

Channels: Workers can create separate channels for individual projects, topics, or teams. Channels can be private, with only a few team members, or available to everyone in the company.

Knowledge sharing: The files you share on the chat are saved online and are searchable through the platform.

Integrations: Slack connects with common office applications like Google Drive, Zapier, and Trello.

Workflow builder: Workers can automate routine tasks that need inputs and approvals from team members.

Potential downsides

• You need an email address to use Slack, making it an impractical solution for frontline workers.
• Some users complain that the platform can feel overwhelming and that there are too many notifications.
• Users say it’s easy to miss messages because there are so many channels and because search functionality is lacking.

Pricing

• Pro: $8.75 per user per month
• Business+: $15 per user per month

There is an enterprise plan, with pricing available on request — and a free plan with limited features.

Ratings

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.5/5

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3. Staffbase

Best for: enterprise companies with a big, distributed workforce

Staffbase is a company intranet that provides a mobile app for frontline employees. It gives big organizations all the tools they need to plan, create, send, and measure the impact of internal communications.

Key features/strengths

Content publishing: Staffbase lets admins create, publish, and measure the impact of content. It’s easy to create compelling communications across a range of channels and editors can publish posts under company leaders’ names.

News feed: An interactive social feed, with clear layouts and a user-friendly experience, available on both desktop and mobile app versions of the platform.

Live chat: Employees can initiate or participate in one-to-one and group chats for fast and secure communication.

Employee directory: An employee database makes it easy for employees to find and communicate with coworkers.  

Analytics: Admins can get data-driven reporting on employee activity, adoption, and engagement with internal messages.

Integrations: Integration with popular workplace applications such as Google Workspace, Salesforce, and Slack are available.

Potential downsides

• Some add-ons and integrations come at an additional cost.
• Admins complain that there is limited customization. 
• There are few out-of-the-box features for frontline workers.

Pricing

Pricing is available on request. 

Ratings

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.6/5

How does Staffbase compare to Blink? View a platform comparison: Staffbase vs. Blink.

4. Beekeeper 

Best for: frontline organizations in highly operational environments

Beekeeper is an app for employee communication, designed specifically to connect deskless employees with company HQ. Initially focused on retail employees, Beekeeper has expanded its reach to include other frontline industries.  

This platform helps frontline organizations to replace paper processes with digital ones — and it’s a popular choice in fast-paced, operational environments. 

Key features/strengths

Real-time communication: Workers can communicate on the go via “streams” and secure chats. You can also use digital surveys to gather frontline feedback. 

Content hub: A file library allows quick access to vital documents and resources. Files can be uploaded from a device or imported from Microsoft SharePoint.

Instant translations: For multilingual organizations, Beekeeper provides automatic inline translations to ensure everyone understands your employee messages.

Analytics: Built-in analytics reporting allows admins to view metrics on engagement, popular content, and readership.

Single sign-on: Employees can access the app and other connected apps without an email address, phone number, or password.

Potential downsides

• Some users have found the app difficult to use.  
• With a focus on the mobile and frontline experience, this app isn’t the best option for desk-based employees.

Pricing

Pricing is available on request. There’s a 14-day free trial available.

Ratings

• Capterra: 4.6/5
• G2: 4.8/5

Find out how Beekeeper compares to Blink.

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5. Haiilo 

Best for: mid to large businesses looking to boost employer branding and advocacy

Haiilo is another top employee communications app in 2025. This company was born from a merger between COYO (which specialized in social intranets), Smarp (which was known for its employee advocacy tools), and Jubiwee (which focused on employee surveys).

This app is available on three payment plans. There are also additional modules available if you want to incorporate an employee intranet, surveys, or multichannel communication.

Key features/strengths

Email builder: An email template builder and automatically created delivery lists help you reach desk-based employees with engagement internal newsletters.

Content creation: With the help of AI, co-creation tools, and a content calendar, Haiilo makes content creation easy.

Analytics: Platform analytics help leaders make data-driven decisions. You can also set up alerts for critical developments and get automated reports.

People directory: User profiles and a list of coworkers make it easy to find the teammates you’re looking for.

Live streams, podcasts, and digital signage: Haiilo supports a variety of communication methods, including via TV screens displayed at your office locations.

Employee advocacy: Employees can link their personal social media accounts to the Haiilo platform, then share content directly using the Haiilo interface.  

Potential downsides

• Some internal communication features are only available as add-ons and come at an additional cost.
• There are limited integrations with other workplace tools.
• Admins report issues with bulk content control, multi-language features, and app customization.  

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Ratings

• Capterra: 4.3/5
• G2: 4.6/5

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6. Workvivo

Best for: building community and culture within hybrid and remote teams

Workvivo, owned by Zoom, is a workplace communication tool with a familiar news-feed-style interface so there’s a minimal learning curve. It combines the features of an intranet, internal communication software, and a mobile employee app.

The mobile app makes the platform accessible to remote, office-based, and frontline employees. Supported formats include online, Android, and iOS.

Key features/strengths

Activity feed: Workers from across the company can post updates and keep others informed about the latest workplace news. Posts can also be scheduled for later.

Instant messaging: A chat function is available through integrations with tools like Slack, MS Teams, and Zoom meetings.

Live video streaming: Executives can stream town hall sessions via live video or podcasting for people who cannot attend in person.

People directory: A searchable directory of workers with profile information allows workers to get to know each other better.

Internal articles: Admins can publish and manage articles with rich content such as photos, tables, and video clips.

Potential downsides

• Integrations with third-party systems can feel a little light.
• Admins say they want better customization options — there is limited out-of-the-box functionality for customization.
• The search experience on mobile isn’t as robust as on the desktop app.  

Pricing

Pricing is available on request.

Ratings

• Capterra: 4.7/5
• G2: 4.8/5

Read more: Workvivo vs. Blink: How do these platforms stack up?

Final thoughts: best employee communication apps in 2025

An internal communication app can help you improve employee communications within your organization. It goes beyond paper processes, email, or an outdated intranet to deliver essential comms to every employee smartphone.

As you can see from this list, there are lots of employee communication apps to choose from, each with its own set of features and use cases. You need to consider the size of your organization and the composition of your workforce when deciding between them.

Across most apps, you’ll find a variety of communication channels. The best apps provide access to multimedia news feeds, instant messaging, and surveys. They also give you tools to segment your audience, promote two-way communication, and analyze your comms performance.

But — when choosing an employee communication app for your organization — it pays to think beyond internal comms. To avoid app overload and ensure a streamlined digital employee experience, a platform that helps you achieve multiple workplace goals is ideal.

Blink’s employee app supports internal communication, employee engagement, and employee listening. It provides a home for HR resources and self-serve tools. It also offers deep integration with other workplace software to create a one-stop digital hub for your organization.  

Discover what an employee app like Blink can do. Watch our on-demand webinar: Putting a frontline employee app to the test.

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

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

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

What is mobile workforce management?

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

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

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

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

The differences between the mobile and the standard workforce

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

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

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

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

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

The benefits of mobile workforce management

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

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

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

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

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

Source: buffer.com

Trends and challenges shaping mobile workforce management 

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

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

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

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

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

Manage your mobile workforce

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

Use the right software

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

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

Check in…but don’t micromanage

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

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

Constant communication, not necessarily on topic

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

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

Mobile workforce management software

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A few final thoughts on mobile workforce management

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

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

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

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

By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Workplace from Meta is shutting down. The platform will be read-only starting September 2025 and will cease entirely from May 2026.

If you’re one of thousands of Workplace customers working out what to do next, we know there’s a lot of work to be done. Looking at alternatives to Workplace takes time and energy you hadn’t planned on spending, and planning a successful migration journey doesn’t happen overnight.

But there’s a silver lining to this news: This is a timely opportunity to find a platform for workplace communication, connection, and employee engagement that works better for your workforce.

Blink is making it easy for customers to make the switch from Workplace. Our secure and scalable Workplace alternative provides two-way communication tools, a company news feed, a centralized resource hub, surveys, recognition, analytics, and more — everything you need to upgrade the employee experience at your organization.

But don’t just take our word for it. According to G2 reviews from real users, Blink is one of the best employee intranet software providers and outranks Workplace across several critical areas, making it a top alternative.

Let’s take a closer look.

A comparison of Blink and Workplace from Meta using G2 ratings

G2 ratings are generated from verified customer reviews, which means they’re a reliable way to compare software platforms and providers. Here’s how Blink and Workplace measure up across seven fundamental software performance criteria:

1. Meets business requirements

When ranking and rating software products, G2 asks users whether the product meets their business requirements. Platforms with higher scores advertise their features accurately and address user pain points comprehensively.

As an all-in-one solution for boosting employee engagement, workforce experience, and overall productivity, Blink has the edge over Meta.

G2 scores:

• Blink: 9.2
• Workplace from Meta: 8.4

2. Ease of use

Blink is easier to use than Workplace. This is perhaps because our intranet has been built with frontline organizations front of mind. 

We know that frontline employees will only open and use an employee app if it fits seamlessly into their work day. So we made our platform as intuitive as possible for both desk-based and deskless workers, incorporating single sign-on technology and a user-friendly interface — where every tool, resource, and chat is easy to find.

G2 scores:

• Blink: 9.3
• Workplace from Meta: 8.8

3. Ease of setup

A good G2 ease of setup score shows that users enjoy a streamlined onboarding experience. It indicates that the product and its team offer good levels of support, easy implementation, and all the documentation new customers need.

This is another area where Blink outperforms Workplace. With dedicated customer support and easy integrations, it’s quick and simple to get started with Blink.

G2 scores:

• Blink: 9.0
• Workplace from Meta: 8.6

4. Ease of admin

We’ve already seen that end users find it easy to use Blink. But what about the people within your organization who are responsible for managing the social intranet?

Blink again scores more highly than Workplace from Meta when it comes to ease of admin. Communications, HR, IT, and other leaders across the business find it easy to upload content and update platform information independently, without having to contact Blink support.

G2 scores:

• Blink: 9.0
• Workplace from Meta: 8.3

5. Quality of support

To rate platform providers on this criteria, G2 asks users: Is the support team able to answer your questions or support cases quickly and effectively? Here at Blink, we prioritize the customer experience and pride ourselves on fast and effective customer support.

G2 scores:

• Blink: 9.2
• Workplace from Meta: 8.2

6. Has the product been a good partner in doing business?

The best workplace experience vendors serve as not just a platform but a partner, helping their customers to achieve their business goals.

At Blink, workplace communication, employee experience, and employee engagement are our bread and butter. Unlike the big tech companies, like Meta and Zoom, our team isn’t divided between many different and competing projects.

We focus solely on the Blink platform and we care about customer success. So we work to maximize adoption, engagement, and the value organizations get from our employee app.  

G2 scores:

• Blink: 9.4
• Workplace from Meta: 8.3

7. Product direction

Lastly, G2 asks users whether they think the product is moving in the right direction and whether recent product roadmap decisions have been positive for them.

Here at Blink, we don’t wait for ratings from G2 or similar review sites to inform our product roadmap. Our product and customer success teams are in constant collaboration with our customers, searching for ways to make our platform work better for them. This helps keep our customers ahead of the curve and helps them achieve organizational goals.

G2 scores:

• Blink: 9.8
• Workplace from Meta: 7.5

Blink makes Workplace migration easy

When looking at Workplace alternatives, think Blink. Our modern intranet platform consistently outperforms Workplace from Meta across several critical G2 measures, as determined by verified platform users.

Blink also provides a familiar experience for Workplace users. Key Blink features include:

• News feed and chats, with multimedia content
• A knowledge library
• Teams and communities
• Employee surveys and recognition
• Easy integration with the software you already use

Our user-friendly employee app with single sign-on authentication makes it easy for leaders to engage and communicate with their teams, from the office to the frontline. Powerful analytics help you determine what’s working and what isn’t, and our always-on customer support will ensure you’re maximizing every aspect of the platform.

Our expert team of migration specialists is ready to help your organization transition from Workplace to a new and improved employee engagement platform.

Find out how you can upgrade from Workplace to Blink. Speak to one of our migration experts today.

What makes them awesome? 

Mohammad Ramzan is one of Scotland’s longest-serving bus drivers. He began his journey with Tayside Passenger Transport in 1978 and continues to serve the Dundee community with unwavering dedication.

In addition to his regular duties, Mr. Ramzan has played a key role in Xplore Dundee’s “Did It for Me” recruitment campaign, emphasizing the supportive and friendly environment created by his colleagues. He credits this camaraderie for his long-standing tenure with the company.

Mr. Ramzan — most commonly known to his colleagues as Uncle Ramzan — has been a dedicated Xplore Dundee bus driver for over 46 years, and was even awarded the esteemed title of Frontline Employee of the Year at the Scottish Transport Awards 2024.

How has Blink helped in their role?

Blink has empowered Mohammad Ramzan to interact with his colleagues and provide them with additional support.

What do they want to do next?

Despite being past retirement age, Mr. Ramzan would love to continue his service to contribute to the McGill’s Bus Group.

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Nominated by: Bethan Dooley, Marketing Team Leader