Unionization, communication, and trust: A practical guide for modern workplaces

Imagine checking the weather forecast once a year and dressing for those conditions all year round.

Sure, you’re spot on for a day or two. But the rest of the year? Without reliable intel, you have to roll with whatever rain, snow, or sunshine comes your way — and scramble to adapt each time a new storm rolls in.  

That’s what happens when you rely on the annual employee engagement survey.

By seeking employee feedback so rarely, you miss out on key insights. Workplace issues evolve and — if you’re unlucky — explode, before they even appear on your radar.

And in all the months between survey seasons, employee voices go unheard and job satisfaction suffers. Staff shift their priorities, come up with fresh ideas, hit new points of friction, and maybe even switch jobs.

If you’re only listening to employees once a year, you’re making decisions in a downpour without an umbrella. Here’s how to flip the script and respond to employee input in real time.

Why annual employee surveys fall short

The annual employee survey comes with a couple of big drawbacks:

• It’s too slow. Think about the last big workplace problem you had to deal with. Did it arrive neatly in time for your annual survey? Probably not. By the time your official feedback rolls in, small problems have snowballed and good employees have jumped ship. Annual surveys may be great for spotting long-term trends — but they don’t help you catch and fix problems in the moment.

• Survey fatigue is real. Employees are busy. And the annual employee engagement survey tends to be long — you’ve got a lot of questions to ask because you’ve been saving them up for the past 11 months. Faced with competing priorities, employees are liable to skip the survey entirely — which means low completion rates and an even fuzzier picture of employee sentiment.

• It feels like a box-ticking exercise. This is another primary reason for low survey completion rates. If your annual survey is overly formal, impersonal, or doesn’t leave space for real, detailed feedback, employees see it for what it is: something the organization has to do, not something it genuinely cares about. If workers don’t believe you’ll act on their answers, they’re a lot less likely to fill out the form.

• The data is one-dimensional. Annual surveys are blunt instruments. They tend to value numbers over nuance. They can tell you what’s wrong — but they can’t always tell you why. And without the why, it’s hard to plan a meaningful plan of action. You end up with a spreadsheet full of stats but no clear path toward a better employee experience.

{{mobile-survey="/image"}}

‍

The case for real-time employee listening

In 2025, the world of work is changing — fast. So you can’t conduct an employee engagement survey once a year and call it a done deal. This is where real-time employee listening can help.

Real-time feedback mechanisms — in the form of pulse surveys, quick-fire polls, and team chats — allow you to collect up-to-the-minute employee insights. So you can spot and respond to issues early.

Regularly seeking employee feedback also builds trust. It shows a commitment to hearing employee voices — and to improving the employee experience. This improves survey engagement going forward.

Let’s look at an example.

Employee listening in action at Marlowe Fire & Security Group

Marlowe Fire & Security Group, a leading provider of fire safety and security solutions and a company with a large frontline workforce, knew they had challenges with employee communications, recognition, and company culture.

But traditional surveys weren’t helping them uncover root causes and solutions. Participation was low, insights were vague, and managers didn’t know how to take action.  

So Marlowe turned to Blink. Using Blink’s employee surveys, the company was able to customize questions by team and make them accessible on every employee smartphone.

Automated nudges boosted participation and personalized reports went straight to all 150+ line managers — putting actionable insight directly in the hands of those who could act.

Because surveys were easy and effective, Marlowe could run more of them, turning a once-a-year event into an ongoing employee listening campaign. The results speak for themselves: 92.5% survey participation and plenty of new insights uncovered.

Marlowe found that a breakdown in internal communication at line manager level — something their old surveys had never revealed — was a major problem. With this understanding, Marlowe has been able to tackle long-standing issues to create a more connected workplace culture revolving around effective communication.

{{how-marlowe-fire-security-group-modernized-the-employee-feedback-journey="/callouts"}}

How to gather real-time employee feedback

Making employee feedback a natural and regular part of the employee experience doesn’t have to be complicated. Take a look at these tips to get started.

Use pulse surveys and in-app polls

The annual survey can feel overwhelming for employees. This leads to survey fatigue and low completion rates. You can make it quick and easy for employees to give feedback with the help of pulse surveys and company news feed polls. In just a couple of clicks, employees can share their real-time opinions on everything from a new initiative to leadership communication to the manageability of their current workload.  

Create always-on feedback channels

Not all feedback fits neatly into a survey box. That’s why always-on channels like team chats, open forums, or anonymous suggestion boxes are so powerful. They give employees the opportunity to share what’s on their mind in the moment — and provide space for detailed comments. Because they give employees the freedom to talk about anything and everything, open channels like these can uncover issues you didn’t even know existed.

Use one-on-one meetings

Direct, personal conversations — either in person or via private chat — give managers the chance to hear employee feedback first-hand. Staff get the chance to share their latest challenges, frustrations, and ideas. Managers can ask follow-up questions to dig deeper and clarify issues. Handled empathetically, these meetings also build trust and strengthen open communication, making it more likely that staff will come forward with their concerns and suggestions in future.

Keep iterating

When you’re gathering employee feedback regularly, you don’t just get insight into the employee experience. You learn about your feedback process too. You get to see what works and what doesn’t. Perhaps some survey questions yield more honest and revealing answers. Maybe some corporate communication channels are better than others at boosting response rates. Use this data to refine your feedback strategy, finding new ways to encourage and act upon employee input.  

{{mobile-live-stream-poll="/image"}}

‍

Turning listening into action (in 3 simple steps)

You’ve collected real-time feedback. Now it’s time to act. To sustain employee survey buy-in and make meaningful changes to the workplace, you need to turn insights into tangible change.

Step #1: Analyze your findings

Don’t just skim the surface of feedback data. Dig into the details. Start by separating your data by a wide range of segments, like team, department, location, role, or tenure — different groups often experience the workplace differently. Look for patterns and recurring themes. Then ask yourself — What is driving this sentiment? — before forming a plan of action.

Step #2: Prioritize quick wins and plan for long-term impact

It’s rare that you can implement changes overnight. But small, visible improvements make a big difference to your workforce. So identify a couple of quick wins to show employees you’re listening — and outline larger projects that will take more time. Early successes encourage more participation and build trust in the feedback process.

Step #3: Close the feedback loop

Tell employees all about it. Openly share what their feedback has revealed. Explain what you plan to do next — the short-term changes and long-term projects, too. Even if you can’t act on every piece of feedback, explain your decisions to build credibility. By closing the feedback loop with thoughtful two-way communication, you show employees that their voices and opinions really matter to your organization.

{{mobile-main="/image"}}

‍

Your people are talking — don’t be the last to hear

Annual surveys have their place. But if they’re your only employee listening or bottom-up communication tool, you’re missing out on huge chunks of the company conversation.

People are sharing feedback constantly — in chats, in meetings, in the break room. If you’re not listening in real time, you risk letting small frustrations grow into big problems, and letting great ideas go unheard.

Employee satisfaction, experience, and retention rates soon start to suffer — and major issues may take you by surprise.

So keep your ear to the ground and your finger on the pulse. Use employee listening digital tools to create regular and informal opportunities for employee feedback.

With Blink, you make those listening tools — from pulse surveys to polls to team chat — available on every employee smartphone and a core part of your employee communication strategies. Feedback is easy, engaging, and continuous. So you get the insight you need to act fast, build a better employee experience, and — ultimately — boost business success.

Blink. And find out what employees are saying about your organization.

Team building activities get a bad rap. While the intention behind such exercises is to break the ice, they are often seen as embarrassing and awkward.

Leaders are so enthusiastic when conducting these games that they don’t even notice workers looking for the nearest exit.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t conduct team-building exercises. Building collaboration skills in your team is essential, and team-building games can really help you achieve that.

The problem usually lies with the team-building activities managers pick. A quick search for team-building ideas will show you that the web is filled with hundreds of them. But many are unfeasible, difficult, or uncomfortable for workers. They look good on paper but you can’t really implement them in an actual workplace.  

So in this post, we are going to solve this problem. Instead of giving you a huge directory of endless activities, we’ve handpicked a few team-building activities that are easy, effective, and enjoyable.

Types of team building activities

Some team-building ideas are more suited for your company than others. Your choices will depend on several factors, such as team size and function.

But you also need to consider where you’re going to conduct the team-building exercises and how the location impacts the mindset of your team members. Based on the location of the team-building games, they can be split into three main categories. 

Indoor team building activities

Indoor games take place in the office or another work location. And you’ll likely conduct them during regular work hours. For this reason, indoor activities have a serious, formal overall vibe. If your whole team works from a single location, then choosing indoor team-building exercises is your best bet. 

Outdoor team building activities

At a team retreat, you need team-building games that can be played outdoors. Plus, the overall mood is more relaxed and casual than indoor exercises. So the team-building activities you pick should be more fun and energetic.

Virtual/online team building activities

More and more people are working remotely, and many teams are spread out in different locations these days. If that applies to your team too, you need remote team-building activities that can be conducted via web conferencing.

The good news is we’ve covered all the three types in the list below. In fact, some of our team-building ideas belong to multiple categories. For example, you’ll also find exercises that can be run indoors as well as online.

For each team-building activity, we’ve also mentioned its best-suited environments. So without further ado, let’s jump in.  

Quick and easy team building activities

Campfire stories

• Suitable environments: indoor, online, outdoor
• Number of team members: 5-25
• Objective: Foster informal communication by encouraging team members to share and identify common experiences

This is one of the evergreen team-building activities. It improves team bonding via inspired storytelling. Team members gather in a circle, as people do in a fireside chat when camping. They share workplace experiences, get to know each other better, and refresh memories.

What makes it great: Storytelling is a time-tested way to pass information informally and shape communities. So a storytelling session with work-related stories can get your team members to loosen up, learn some useful lessons, and feel closer to one another. You can also confine the stories to train people around a certain theme.

How it works: Come up with a list of words that can trigger your employees’ memories and remind them of a previous experience. For example, these could be “demo day,” "on-site trip," "side project,” and so on.

Find a way to display all the words to your team members. If you are conducting the activity indoors, for example, you can use a whiteboard.

Have team members take turns to pick a trigger word and share an experience related to it. Once a trigger word has been taken by a participant, move it to a separate area so it can’t be repeated.

You can also ask workers to share more trigger words that come to mind after they have heard a story. So you won’t run out of ideas for stories.

Blind draw

• Suitable environments: indoor, outdoor
• Number of team members: 10-25
• Objective: Improve delegation skills, communication, and teamwork among participants

This team-building exercise involves drawing an object with just spoken instructions. You can use this team-building exercise as a fun, light activity between two intense sessions.

What makes it great: It looks simple on the surface. But to win this team-building game, team members will have to get many things right. For example, they’ll have to pick the right person to draw, and to give instructions. Plus, they’ll need to communicate well. So the activity teaches them both delegation and collaboration. 

How it works: Gather some everyday objects, signs, or shapes. You can print them on sheets of paper, or search for photos on a free stock photography website.

Divide employees into teams of five people. Have each team choose the “artist” who will draw the shape. Assign a different object to each team and give them a time limit of 3-5 minutes.

Each team will then guide the artist on drawing the object. But they can’t say the name of the object. While the artist is drawing, he couldn’t know what the object is, nor can his team know what he is drawing until he’s done. The team with the drawing most similar to their object wins.

You know who

• Suitable environments: indoor, online
• Number of participants: 10-50
• Objective: Introduce team members to one another and establish connections

In this team-building game, employees will map the connections between one another on a whiteboard. Teams can choose their “avatars”, and then draw arrows to map how they are connected to other workers. It’s a great way to break the ice when team members don’t know each other well.

What makes it great: This team-building activity lets you build a small, social-media-style network, but without the technology. It will not just help as a standalone activity, but also allow team members to keep mingling throughout the whole day or event.

How it works: Provide participants with index cards, markers, and tape. Each worker will then write their name, add their job title, and draw an "avatar" on their index card, like how there’s a profile photo on a social network.

Then gather all the index cards and stick them on a whiteboard, with plenty of space between every two cards. Participants will then draw arrows from their card to others who they already know in some capacity.

Plus, they’ll also mention how they know the person. For example, maybe they went to the same university or were part of the same team in the past.

Cross-functional jigsaw

• Suitable environments: indoor
• Number of team members: 10-20
• Objective: Build cross-functional collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills

This team-building activity divides a group of employees into two teams, both of which are asked to solve a jigsaw puzzle in the time limit specified.

But there’s a twist. Some of the pieces required by each team belong to the other team. So both the teams need to work together.

What makes it great: This is a great exercise in improvisation, problem-solving, and collaboration. When the teams start putting the pieces together, they don’t know about the catch. They are surprised by the realization that their success depends on working with the other team, and this lesson remains with them for a long time.

How it works: Simple! Take two puzzles. Replace some pieces in one puzzle with those of the other. Make two teams and give them the puzzles to solve. Ask them to keep communicating with each other while they’re on the task. But don’t tell them that you have interchanged some pieces. Let them figure it out on their own. Also, declare another rule that teams can exchange only one puzzle piece at a time.

Survival priorities

• Suitable environments: indoor, outdoor
• Number of team members: 5-30
• Objective: Inspire participants to solve problems together, demonstrate leadership, and practice negotiation.

Imagine your plane has crashed on an island in the middle of nowhere, and it’s burning. There are only a few minutes to salvage some items from the wreckage. What will you take and what will you leave? That’s what this team-building exercise is about.

What makes it great: This team-building game is great for giving your team a taste of a high-stress situation, and honing their ability to work together under pressure. Their success will depend on negotiating calmly, picking a leader, and planning the whole thing carefully.

How it works: Set up a space with several survival items such as various foods, water, knives, weapons, flares, tarp, matches, and so on. You don't even need to have the actual items. You can use their pictures too.

The quantity of each item should be limited so teams will be forced to trade and collaborate. Divide employees into two or more teams. And they have 30 minutes to rank what they need the most and get survival items from the space.

Coffee standup

• Suitable environments: indoor, online
• Number of team members: 2-8
• Objective: Build rapport and improve team communication

Countless professionals across the globe start their work with daily standup meetings and coffee. So there’s no reason you can’t combine the two. This team-building activity involves daily standups that can be conducted indoors or online. Participants talk about what’s on their to-do list for the day while enjoying a nice, hot beverage.

What makes it great: This team-building exercise is best-suited for remote teams in which workers don’t get to see their team members on a daily basis. Having a light chat while doing something casual can help build camaraderie, improve communication, and know what everyone’s doing.

How it works: Ask workers to grab a cup of coffee from the cafeteria, a coffee shop, or make one at home. Then all the employees in the team join a stand-up chat for 10-15 minutes. Each team member talks about what they intend to do, and if there’s anything they need help with.

Shark tank mania

• Suitable environments: indoor, online
• Number of team members: Up to 30, split into teams of five
• Objective: Encourage innovation, collaboration, and skills to sell your ideas

This activity is inspired by the popular TV series — Shark Tank. In this team-building game, participants create a product pitch for investors. The product and the investors both don’t need to be real. Your team will just create a mock version of the show.

What makes it great: Getting your team members to participate in their own version of Shark Tank goes a long way to instill entrepreneurship, innovation, and the ability to think big. Since there can be multiple cofounders and others behind a startup, this activity also promotes teamwork.

How it works: Divide employees into teams of 3-5 people, and ask each team to prepare their pitch for an imaginary product. The pitch could include product name, brand tagline, marketing plan, financial projections, and so on.

Choose some people to be the investors with an imaginary pool of money. You can also give them fake backgrounds. Every team will then present their pitch to these “Sharks.” The team that gets the most funding wins.

Over to you: team building activities to engage your workforce

Running an organization is not easy. It’s hard to get hundreds of workers on the same page, let alone get them to take collective action towards business goals.

Hard, but not impossible. With the right collaboration strategies and team-building activities, you can build an atmosphere of camaraderie and open communication at work. Plus, these exercises also teach your team valuable soft skills such as leadership, negotiation, and problem-solving.

They might take some time and effort to execute in the beginning, but the results will convince you to keep going. So start putting them into practice and reap the benefits of improved culture and collaboration at your workplace.

Also, the right technology can turbocharge your efforts to build a culture of open communication and collaboration. This is where Blink can help. Consider booking a free Blink demo today.

More than 80% of the global workforce is deskless. That's more than 2.7 billion people working outside of a traditional office setting, making it more important than ever to have effective communication tools in place.

This guide is designed to help business leaders keep their deskless employees connected and communicating, no matter where they are. We'll cover a variety of topics, from why communication is so important (and often challenging!) for deskless workers, to how to choose and evaluate digital communication tools to engage your deskless workforce with ease.

Why communication is important for deskless workers

With such a strong majority of the global workforce that is deskless, purposeful corporate communication solutions are crucial. This means ensuring all employees feel connected, in-the-loop and heard - even as a deskless team. As such, there are a number of reasons effective employee communication is important for frontline workers and their wider teams.

1. Reduces turnover 

With the Great Resignation still in full swing, all business leaders need to be focusing on employee retention. This becomes even more prominent for the deskless workforce, with 52% of frontline workers claiming they would leave their job over tech tools in 2022.

Additionally, according to a survey of 8,000+ global frontline workers and C-suite executives, 45% of frontline workers were planning on leaving the frontline altogether this year.

With most corporate communications tools not designed for them and frontline engagement projects lacking in substance, deskless workers are showing high turnover rates and low job satisfaction, creating an unstable workforce for your business.

Effective communication can improve job satisfaction by creating a sense of community and increasing transparency from leadership. This also helps to reduce misunderstandings and conflicts among employees, leading to better employee retention rates.

2. Increases profits

Better communication means better engagement. Indeed tells us that improved communication works to connect and keep open lines of communication between employees and other members of the organization, which ultimately works to create better engagement between employees. But did you know that this can have a further positive impact on your company profitability?

Engaged employees, who feel heard, valued and involved in communications, are more productive, and this increased productivity can often result in a more profitable business.

As we highlighted in our recent Employee Engagement Statistics Guide, highly engaged organizations achieve a 23% difference in profitability, alongside a 43% difference in turnover. By driving home your employee engagement with impactful, intuitive communication, you’re investing in the success of your deskless workforce, and the long-term success and overall profitability of your business. 

3. Drives employee experience & empowerment 

Deskless workers often have limited access to traditional channels of communication, such as email or company intranet. Providing alternative means of communication, such as mobile apps designed for the frontline, can help improve the employee experience by giving them a voice and empowering them in their work environment.

This also allows for agile, on-the-go, two-way communication that deskless employees need in their fast-paced work environments, which is where communications for deskless workers often fall short. 

Better employee experience can also boost your bottom line. HBR research shows that a shift in employee experience would result in a 45% increase in profits per person-hour, adding significantly to both individual, team and overall company success.

4. Increases productivity & organization

Effective organizational communication can increase productivity by reducing miscommunications and streamlining processes. It also allows for better frontline organization, as employees have access to important information and updates in real time. 

This helps deskless workers stay on top of their tasks and responsibilities, leading to more productive employees and a more organized frontline.

Without efficient two-way communication solutions, it can be difficult for business leaders to understand, or even acknowledge, the issues their frontline workers are facing. For example, did you know that 70% of frontline workers have either suffered from burnout or felt at risk of burning out?

With great team communication, your leaders can hear and respond directly to workers needs, implementing them into their organizational practices.

Whether that means giving employees an intuitive two-way communication solution such as a mobile employee app, an accessible scheduling tool to prevent miscommunications or an easier way to organize shift swaps, effective communication can improve the productivity and organization of your workforce. 

5. Boosts trust, engagement & morale

A lack of communication can lead to a disengaged and distrusting workforce, as employees feel isolated and disconnected from the larger company culture.

Research shows that nearly all (99%) of C-suite executives believe their frontline workers trust them, while only a quarter (26%) of workers entirely trust their organization to communicate company updates and news transparently.

Clearly, as part of the C-Suite it's important to understand how purposeful internal communications help to build a sense of community among deskless workers. By increasing transparency from leadership, you can drive employee engagement long-term. In turn, this can improve overall job satisfaction, minimize churn and build trust with your workers.

6. Improves worker safety

Proper communication can also improve safety in the workplace. Problems with communication leading to major accidents/incidents are well known, according to HSE.

Proper frontline communication includes informing deskless employees of important safety updates, as well as providing a platform for reporting concerns or hazards. In turn, this can lead to a better quality of work and decrease the likelihood of accidents or injuries on the job.

The Blink frontline engagement app offers a central Hub for storing core company policies, procedures and training documents, ensuring all teams have access to important information and updates in real time. It also includes Secure Chats, giving frontline employees the ability to report concerns or hazards directly to management for swift resolution.

The challenges of communicating with deskless workers

While the benefits are great, it can be a huge challenge to communicate with deskless workers in the modern work environment. Some key challenges of communicating with deskless workers include:

• Budget: When you're under-budgeted and under pressure, finding the right communication channels and tools for your deskless workers can be a complex and costly process for business leaders that don't know where to invest.
• Old software or no access to tech: Deskless workers may not have access to the same technology or software that office-based employees do, leading to communication disconnects, especially when using tech not designed for them.
• Implementing new software: Introducing new communication software can also be a challenge, requiring dedicated training and support to ensure adoption and success for your deskless teams.
• Easy access to the right information: Deskless workers often require easy access to essential information, such as company updates, product knowledge or HR policies. Without proper communication channels in place, there can be a breakdown in sharing important information with these teams.
• Disconnected, disengaged & distributed: With teams spread across various locations, it can be difficult for deskless workers to feel connected and engaged with the company and their coworkers. Effective communication helps bridge this disconnect.
• No sense of community or belonging: Deskless workers may not have the same office community or team spirit as traditional office-based employees, making it crucial for businesses to find ways to build a sense of belonging and connection within their remote or distributed teams.

So – how can leaders overcome these challenges and drive stronger communication between their employees? Let’s take a look.

How to improve communication with deskless workers

Build a digital culture

The pressure’s on for leaders in the frontline sector to digitize their communication efforts with deskless employees. As such, many companies are now developing digitalization strategies that enhance employee experience and drive performance.

WeForum reports:

• One key to business success in a post-Covid world is to embrace a digital culture.
• For digital culture to be successful, it must be driven from the ground up.

Clearly, it's important for business leaders to embrace a digital culture, with communication tools and processes that accommodate deskless workers. This means investing in the right technology solutions, as well as training and support for adoption of more complex tools.

For leaders of a deskless organization, digital communication can reduce the complexity of managing a dispersed team, as well as improve transparency and accessibility for employees in remote locations, making everyone's lives easier. 

Digital transformation and digital adoption are now key concepts for the deskless workforce, and a focus on digital culture can ensure deskless workers feel connected and included in company processes. With your workers able to access important information and comms from the palm of their hand, you'll have no shortage of engaged, on-the-ball and informed employees.

And remember, this digital transformation must be built from the ground up, with impactful input from deskless workers themselves on their communication needs and challenges.

Listen to and act on feedback

As important as it is to have the right communication tools in place, it's also essential for business leaders to implement processes that gather and listen to feedback from their deskless teams. Ask for input on what channels and tools they prefer, as well as how communication processes can be improved, and implement it in your communication strategy.

Direct communication with features such as surveys, polls or secure chats can make it easier for deskless workers to provide their input. And listening to and implementing this feedback can lead to more successful communication strategies with your deskless teams.

When workers know that their feedback is being listened to, and acted upon, they will be more receptive to future engagement strategies and communications. 

With the right processes in place, deskless workers can feel just as heard, connected, included as their office-based colleagues, leading to a more natural, intuitive communication flow within the entire organization.

Provide easy access to key information

By providing an easy-to-access, intuitively designed central Hub for information and communication, deskless workers have easy access to the essential information they need for their roles. This includes company updates, product knowledge, HR policies and more - all in one place, accessible on any device.

A central Hub can also promote a sense of community by allowing deskless workers to connect with their colleagues and share ideas or important information. 

This not only saves valuable time for you and your employees, but can also boost your productivity and improve communication initiatives in the long run.

Focus on building a sense of belonging and connection

Though they may not have the same office community as traditional office-based employees, there are still ways to build a sense of belonging and connection for deskless workers. 

This includes regularly scheduled check-ins with managers or team members, virtual (and meaningful) team building activities, and offering opportunities for professional development.

These efforts can help deskless workers feel included, valued, and connected with their colleagues and the company as a whole, which can improve employee engagement in a way that feels natural and earned.

Keep two-way communication channels open

As we touched on, it’s important for deskless workers to not only receive information, but also have the opportunity to share their ideas and feedback. 

Communication should not be a one way street from the top down. Employees should be engaging in two-way conversations with both each other and management in order to keep communication open and transparent.

This can be done through regular check-ins or meetings, as well as utilizing communication tools that allow for a two-way flow of information - such as Secure Chats or collaboration platforms.

Encourage real employee recognition

Recognition and appreciation are important for all employees, but can be even more impactful for deskless workers who may not have the same opportunities for team praise or company events.

Implementing a recognition program, with features such as virtual badges or “shout-outs”, can help deskless workers feel seen and valued. And don’t underestimate the power of a personalized thank you note or Feed shoutout from leadership - deskless employees can feel just as appreciated through these small gestures.

The role of technology in deskless communication & employee engagement

The right employee technology is vital for your team communication. And as the deskless workforce continues to grow, so does the need for communication technology and tools specifically designed for them.

Reports show that 75% of deskless workers spend most of their work time using some form of technology, yet 60% reported being unsatisfied with the tech they use.

This is where better employee communication and engagement apps come in. By investing in technology that truly supports and engages your deskless team, you’re able to better connect with them, reaping all of the benefits of great communication we explored above.

But what is the exact role of technology in team comms and employee engagement? Here are a few key roles great technology solutions can play:

Easy communication & real-time responses

The right tech should connect your deskless employees with ease, ensuring they have the same access to communication as their desk-based colleagues. With mobile and desktop apps, they can easily communicate no matter where they are or what device they’re using, making one key role of employee tech easy and intuitive communication.

Successful communication also relies on timely responses, and the right employee communication app should support this with real-time messaging and notifications. This helps to keep your deskless team in-the-loop, ensuring they have access to important information as it happens.

Easy access to important information

Employee engagement technology reduces complexity and overhead for your teams by simplifying password management with single sign on to your tools. By centralizing important information, documents and updates on one platform, employees can easily access what they need without having to navigate multiple systems or chase down colleagues, resulting in a better overall employee experience.

Easy implementation & adoption 

A key role of the right technology in team communication and engagement is simple implementation and adoption. Look for a solution that’s easy to set up and navigate, with support available when you need it. This helps make the transition smoother, leading to faster adoption and better results from your tech investment.

It can also be useful to choose a technology that feels familiar to employees in order to drive adoption of your chosen tool. By providing a user-friendly, familiar experience, such as a mobile app, deskless workers are more likely to engage and adopt the technology in their day-to-day work.

{{ www.joinblink.com/callouts/the-complete-a-b-teting-kit-for-designers }}

Develop business value away from BAU IT

One core role of employee communication tech is to help your business leaders focus on driving real change and value, rather than being bogged down by day-to-day IT management. Look for a solution that is scalable and customizable, allowing you to easily adapt your communication strategy as your business grows and changes.

By developing business value away from business-as-usual (BAU) IT and into an employee communication and engagement platform fit for your frontline, you’re investing in your deskless workforce, and ultimately, your organization.

How to measure the impact of communication technology on your workforce

C-suite leaders are starting to catch on to the potential benefits employee communications technologies, tools and apps can have on their workforce. In fact, leadership trends show increased HR support of supervisors and managers with innovative processes and technology. But how can those leaders measure the success of these digital initiatives?

As part of the C-Suite, the CIO will want to see ROI on any investment made in employee communication technology. In fact, data from CIO found that 81 percent of IT leaders agree that CIOs are under extreme pressure to defend their technology investments and prove ROI.

The best way to measure and prove this is through collecting and analyzing engagement data before and after implementing the technology.

This can be done through surveys, pulse check-ins, or feedback from leaders and managers on team performance. Additionally, you should consider investing in a technology that provides real-time employee engagement analytics, like our Frontline Intelligence feature, to get live insights into how your deskless teams are utilizing the tool.

This key data can help inform and improve your internal communication strategy, ultimately leading to better, and more tangible, ROI.

It’s also important to consider other measures of success, such as improved team profitability, communication and collaboration, boosted employee engagement and satisfaction rates, increased productivity, and higher retention rates for deskless employees. These all contribute to the overall impact of employee communication technology on your workforce.

Final thoughts

At Blink, our employee communication and engagement software offers a mobile-first, intuitive solution for your deskless workforce. We support real-time communication, easy access to important information, and simple implementation and adoption – all key roles of technology in team communication and employee engagement.

Our employee app is made for the frontline, to support the needs of your deskless team and drive business value in the process. 

Interested in learning more? Request a demo today to see how Blink can drive value for your deskless organization.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/uV1_4ZdjPQ4

Businesses are investing more than ever to engage their frontline workforce

Recognition platforms. Pulse surveys. Culture initiatives. Manager training programs built on the idea that employees would be more engaged if leaders were simply inspiring enough.

And yet deskless employees remain the most disengaged segment of the global workforce. More than half say they’re feeling burned out and more than a quarter are actively or passively looking for a new job.

Something isn’t adding up. If engagement investment is going up but frontline employee engagement isn’t shifting, perhaps we’re trying to solve the wrong problem.

The motivation myth in frontline employee engagement

Most employee engagement strategies start from the same assumption — disengagement stems from a lack of motivation. Ultimately, it’s an emotional problem.

People don’t feel motivated enough, connected enough, recognized enough. So we focus on fixing the feeling. We appreciate our teams more, communicate more, and run more surveys.

For deskless workers, this framing misses something important. Because the problem isn’t only emotional. It’s also operational.

It’s hard to feel engaged at work when you don’t know what you’re supposed to be doing, when priorities change without warning, or when information arrives late — or not at all.

What frontline employees need isn’t more motivation. It’s clarity on the day ahead.

This is where many employee experience strategies fall short. They focus on how people feel — without fixing how work actually works.

And for frontline employees, the operational experience is a huge part of their overall employee experience. 

What deskless workers say they actually need

When frontline employees are surveyed, they don’t complain that their organization runs too few employee engagement activities.

Some of their biggest frustrations center on something more fundamental: operational friction.

• 40% are unsure of their job expectations
• Only 10% of frontline workers say they have access to the tools, tech, and opportunities they need to connect and advance in their workplace

Frontline workers say that management is inconsistent. That they waste time chasing updates. And that they don’t have the information they need to do a good job. 

These operational issues have a big impact on engagement. Because when work feels harder than it needs to, mistakes happen more often, confidence drops, and frustration builds. Eventually, people leave — or stay but stop trying.

The role of the frontline manager

So where are frontline managers in all this? 

Frontline managers are stretched. They spend their days juggling priorities — solving operational problems, striving toward targets, and supporting employees.

They’re expected to communicate with staff over a patchwork of phone calls, bulletin board notices, WhatsApp messages, and occasional face-to-face check-ins.

And they have limited time in which to share information. 27% of frontline managers spend 15 minutes or less communicating with their team each day.

The answer to poor levels of employee engagement isn’t landing another engagement initiative on a manager’s plate.

Instead, it’s giving them what they actually need: the tools to set clear priorities, assign tasks, communicate operational updates, and track progress in real time.

When that infrastructure exists, employees arrive at their shift knowing their brief — what’s expected of them that day, that week, and that month.

And managers spend less time fielding questions, chasing updates, and managing the safety incidents that result from poor information flow and ineffective task assignment.

The case for task clarity as an employee experience strategy

Task management doesn’t usually sit under employee experience. But we’re here to make the case for a shift in mindset.

While task management is often seen as an operational issue, it’s also one of the most important drivers of deskless employee experience.

Because clarity on the task at hand changes how work feels. When tasks are clearly explained and assigned, employees:

• Know what’s expected of them
• Understand what success looks like
• Feel more in control of their day
• Build confidence and find work more rewarding

When tasks aren’t clear, employees second-guess themselves. They interrupt managers to ask questions that shouldn’t need to be asked. Or they make decisions despite not having the right information, which means everyone deals with the consequences later.

This cycle of confusion, error, and frustration helps to drive frontline disengagement. And no amount of recognition or culture change will fix it while that underlying operational friction remains.

This is why task clarity belongs inside your EX strategy.  

This is where Blink's task management earns its place in an EX strategy, not just an ops stack. Standard, scheduled, and ad hoc tasks show up in the same app your team already uses to talk, share, and stay in sync, packaged with the checklists, forms, and photo capture people need to get it right the first time. No guessing, no chasing a manager for context, no gap between what's expected and what's understood. That's task clarity, built in.

Task management in employee experience: Where to start

If you want to improve deskless employee experience, start with a simple audit. Not of your engagement programs, but of your managers’ ability to create task clarity.

Ask these three questions:

1. Do our managers have a clear way to assign and track tasks? Or are tasks shared verbally, via WhatsApp, or scribbled on paper? If there’s no clear route, task assignment is inconsistent, and completion is hard to track.

2. Can employees easily see what they need to do — and what’s changed? If information isn’t accessible, it isn’t actionable. Frontline employees should be able to view tasks and communications via their smartphones.

3. Can we see where work is getting stuck? Or do we only find out when something goes wrong? Visibility into task progress helps managers see where support is needed and ensure tasks are completed on time.

If your honest answer to any of these questions is “not really”, you have a task clarity problem, which can quickly translate into an engagement problem.

More positively, you also have a very clear focus for frontline employee engagement improvements.

Making operational design part of your employee experience strategy

Employees disengage when the work is harder than it needs to be, when expectations are unclear, and when the information they need to do their jobs well doesn’t reach them reliably.

Fixing that requires a shift in how we think about EX. Motivation-boosting initiatives are unlikely to succeed while operational friction remains. So operational design has to be an EX priority. 

That means a greater focus on operational infrastructure — tools that allow managers to assign tasks, communicate clearly, and organize work more effectively.

Blink can help. Our mobile-first employee experience platform gives you everything you need to manage frontline motivation and the operational experience.

Blink. And give frontline managers the tools they need to get more from their teams.

Why look for a Yoobic alternative?

Yoobic delivers mobile tools for task management, learning, and communication—especially in frontline industries like retail and hospitality. But as organizations grow or diversify, they often find Yoobic limiting in flexibility, integration depth, or user experience. Whether you need stronger communication tools, richer analytics, or a more intuitive interface, there are compelling alternatives worth exploring.

What to look for in a Yoobic alternative

When considering a switch, prioritize platforms that offer:

• A mobile-first, intuitive experience for every employee
  
• Unified communication, scheduling, and task tools
  
• Engagement and feedback features to boost retention
  
• Integration with your existing HR, LMS, and ops systems
  
• Scalability across distributed teams and locations

Top 12 Yoobic alternatives for 2025

#1. Blink — Best all-in-one Yoobic alternative

Blink is the employee experience platform built to unify communication, tools, and culture—seamlessly. Where Yoobic leans operational, Blink elevates the full employee experience with a mobile-first interface that actually gets used. From personalized news feeds and embedded forms to secure messaging, digital workflows, and pulse surveys, Blink replaces scattered tools with a single hub for everything your teams need.

Trusted by global brands like McDonald's, Shake Shack, and easyJet, Blink empowers organizations to simplify their tech stack while increasing engagement, compliance, and visibility. It’s designed for both frontline and HQ teams — making it the go-to alternative for organizations seeking more than just task tracking.

Pros: Unified hub for comms, operations, engagement, and integrations
Cons: No built-in LMS (but integrates with existing systems)
Gartner Rating: 4.7/5

{{watch-video="/callouts"}}

#2. Axonify

Axonify specializes in frontline learning through microlearning and gamified content. It helps reinforce knowledge retention with bite-sized daily training and works well in retail, grocery, and manufacturing. While it doesn’t replace broader communication or task platforms, it’s an ideal learning companion.

Pros: Engaging training, gamification, strong knowledge retention
Cons: Limited communication or task capabilities
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.5/5

#3. Connecteam

Connecteam offers a mobile-first workforce management suite with scheduling, task tracking, and team communication. It’s ideal for operations-heavy sectors like logistics, retail, and construction. The app is easy to deploy, though its focus is more functional than culture- or engagement-driven.

Pros: All-in-one mobile app for scheduling, tasks, and time tracking
Cons: Less tailored for engagement and internal brand-building
Pricing: Free for up to 10 users; paid plans start at $29/month for 30 users
Gartner Rating: 4.5/5

#4. Nudge

Nudge is built for frontline employee engagement, combining surveys, communications, and recognition tools. It helps managers gather feedback and drive adoption of key initiatives. However, it may lack the operational features organizations need for broader workforce execution.

Pros: Great for surveys, recognition, and team feedback
Cons: Limited task or scheduling functionality
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.5/5

#5. WorkJam

WorkJam unifies task management, training, scheduling, and messaging in one platform. Designed specifically for the frontline workforce, it’s widely used in retail and food service environments. It’s highly configurable, though it may require a steeper onboarding curve.

Pros: Feature-rich for scheduling, training, and communication
Cons: More complex setup compared to lighter-weight tools
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.6/5

#6. Flip

Flip focuses on internal communication for large, distributed workforces, particularly in sectors like retail and manufacturing. It’s known for secure updates, mobile alerts, and simplicity. While not a full operations platform, it works well as a centralized comms tool.

Pros: Effective communication and updates at scale
Cons: Lacks scheduling, forms, or deep tasking features
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.5/5

#7. Zipline

Zipline is a go-to platform for retail operations, helping brands streamline execution and communication from HQ to frontline. It ensures that every associate receives the right message with the right task—on time. Zipline’s specialty is bridging strategy and store-level action.

Pros: Excellent for retail execution and compliance
Cons: More tailored to retail; less flexible outside that use case
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.7/5

#8. Beekeeper

Beekeeper is a communication and productivity platform built for frontline teams. It enables messaging, announcements, and workflow automation with easy integration into existing HR tools. While it’s strong on communication, some organizations find its analytics and personalization features limited.

Pros: Simple to use, mobile-first, great for large teams
Cons: Limited customization and reporting options
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.6/5

#9. Jostle

Jostle is a cloud-based intranet designed to organize company news, documents, and people in one place. It’s more effective for desk-based or hybrid teams, and less suited for field-heavy operations. Jostle focuses on making communication clearer and more accessible.

Pros: Clean design, great for company-wide announcements and directories
Cons: Not mobile-first; lacks task or shift features
Pricing: Starts at ~$6/user/month
Gartner Rating: 4.3/5

#10. Sociabble

Sociabble combines employee communication with advocacy and content-sharing features. It’s especially effective for marketing-driven organizations looking to engage employees while expanding brand reach externally. However, it’s not built for scheduling or operational workflows.

Pros: Strong for engagement, content sharing, and brand advocacy
Cons: Not designed for internal task execution
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.4/5

#11. Workvivo

Workvivo offers a modern intranet experience focused on employee connection and engagement. It brings together social feeds, shout-outs, pulse surveys, and communication tools. While it doesn't replace operational platforms, it’s strong in building culture and visibility.

Pros: Engaging UI, social features, great for internal comms
Cons: Lacks operational tools like scheduling and workflows
Pricing: Custom
Gartner Rating: 4.6/5

#12. Microsoft Teams (with Tasks & Shifts)

Microsoft Teams, when paired with add-ons like Shifts and Planner, can be extended to serve frontline teams. It’s best suited for organizations already embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem. However, it often requires extra setup and training to deliver the same out-of-the-box experience as dedicated platforms.

Pros: Secure, widely adopted, deeply integrated in Microsoft 365
Cons: Requires customization and third-party add-ons
Pricing: Starts at $4/user/month (Microsoft 365 Business Basic)
Gartner Rating: 4.3/5

Final thoughts: Choose a platform that moves you forward

Yoobic helped push frontline platforms forward—but it’s no longer the only player. Whether your team needs deeper engagement, simpler execution, or better integration, there are powerful alternatives available.

Blink stands out for its ability to unify communication, culture, and tools in one platform. It’s modern, mobile-first, and proven across industries. If you’re ready for a simpler, smarter employee experience, Blink is your best next step.

 Book a demo with Blink to see it in action.

If it’s been a while since you set up an intranet, you may remember how clunky the process of setting up traditional intranets used to be.

Companies relied on custom solutions that involved a long-winded setup and required lots of tech expertise. But times have changed. In today’s digital workplaces, a modern intranet solution with a comprehensive employee app is now the norm.

These intranets and apps offer the same communication and knowledge management features as a traditional intranet — and they offer rock solid security. But they’re more user-friendly. They’re also easier to set up, customize, and maintain.  

With a more effective and engaging platform in place, you can reap the benefits of improved communication. You can also use a modern intranet to support collaboration, co-worker connection, workplace recognition, and a strong company culture.

In this post, we look at the dos and don’ts of setting up a modern intranet like Blink. We share our tips and real customer experiences to help you transform your company intranet — making it more streamlined, effective, and fit for the future.

What is an employee intranet?

An employee intranet is a private network your company uses for internal communications. Typically, access is restricted to current employees.

The system is a centralized hub where your workers can access workplace tools and resources. It’s a place where they can communicate with co-workers, check their schedules, request leave, and collaborate on projects.

The best company intranets enhance internal communication and knowledge management. They streamline HR operations and give employees access to all the workplace resources they need.

This can have a big impact on company performance and employee retention. Effective communication can increase workplace productivity by 25% — and employees who get enough information to do their jobs well are 2.8 times more likely to feel engaged in their work.

How company intranets are changing

Large, enterprise-level companies traditionally built their own, branded intranets while smaller firms tended to rely on cloud-based intranet software that required minimal coding.

While big, traditional intranets were an effective way to centralize company information, they didn’t inspire employees to start their days by logging on.

So now, many enterprise organizations are joining those smaller firms. They’re switching from traditional intranets to modern intranets. Benefits of a modern intranet include:

• Cost savings and scalability
• On-the-go intranet access for employees
• Speedy deployment
• An engaging and personalized user experience

‍

Modern intranet features include a news feed, two-way communication tools, and multimedia content. Organizations can also incorporate workforce apps into one intranet interface, making it easy for employees to access the tools and resources they need. 

For a frontline workforce, an intranet with an employee app is essential. This type of intranet allows frontline workers to access company news, feel part of company culture, and build workplace connections — without a desktop computer or company email address.  

The dos and don’ts of setting up an employee intranet

Now we know what a modern company intranet looks like, let’s take a closer look at the setup process. Here, we explore the dos and don’ts of setting up an employee intranet.

DO: Get clear on the functionality you need

There are lots of different ways you can use an intranet. So before you start looking at intranet software providers and signing up for demos, you need a clear idea of the functionality you need.

Spend time deciding how your ideal intranet will aid internal communication, employee engagement, and other organizational goals. Do you need a way to keep frontline workers in the loop? Or to support remote worker collaboration?

If you’re unsure where to start, consider a few intranet must-haves. These include:

• Communication and collaboration tools
• A centralized knowledge hub
• HR tools
• Customization and easy integrations

Then, think about the extra features and functionality that will encourage employees to adopt and use your intranet platform.

That may be a social-media-style news feed that enhances employee engagement. Or survey and recognition tools. Perhaps you want to keep a closer eye on communication and engagement performance with robust analytics functions.

Many Blink customers have told us that, at this stage of the intranet setup process, they took a cross-functional approach. They brought together people from across their organization to find out what they needed from an intranet solution.

At the Capital District Transport Authority (CDTA), this meant including senior leaders, HR, operations, communications, IT, and frontline managers.

DON’T: Neglect your workforce

It’s important to involve departmental leaders of your organization when deciding on what the ideal intranet solution looks like. But don’t forget about your end users — your workforce.

These are the people using whatever traditional intranet or communication channels you already have in place — and they’ll be the ones using the new system when it goes live.

So use surveys to ask them what features and tools they’d most like to see in your company intranet. Quiz them on the problems they experience with your current system. If employees aren’t using your existing intranet, find out why. Involve employees in platform pilots.

Be sure to include employees from all sectors of your workforce to get a holistic picture of intranet needs. Survey frontline workers, office workers, and remote workers. Seek feedback from employees in different locations and departments.

When a representative sample of employees is involved in the decision-making process, you choose solutions that meet workforce needs. You also get employee buy-in, which becomes really important at the rollout stage of intranet setup.

DON’T: Rush into choosing intranet software

There are countless intranet software options to choose from, all with a different combination of features and functionality. So at this point in the intranet setup process, you need to compare solutions in terms of integrations, security, cost, support, and the user experience.

Also, think about the user experience on mobile devices. If your workforce will access your intranet via a smartphone, they should enjoy the same features and functionality as those using the platform on a desktop computer.

Blink’s employee intranet was created for organizations with a large frontline workforce. We know that most frontline workers don’t have a company email address. They also tend to spend their days away from HQ.

So our mobile-first app makes all intranet features available via smartphone. This makes our platform particularly suited to companies working in sectors like transport, construction, healthcare, and retail.

But there are others suited to fully desk-based organizations. There’s a solution out there for every type of company. So take your time looking at options and taking them for a test ride, with a demo or free trial.

For impartial advice, you can look at sites like G2 and Capterra, where verified users contribute to software ratings. You can also use these sites to compare your shortlisted intranet software options, side by side.

Clearbox Consulting, an independent intranet and digital workplace consultancy, also provides a detailed intranet comparison report each year. Blink won a ClearBox choice award in 2024 and you can see the full intranet report here.

DON’T: Forget about your usage policy and access controls

Software switching wastes time — and having to chase down resources is frustrating for intranet users. So it’s a good idea to keep as many important documents on your employee intranet as possible.

To ensure that sensitive information is handled carefully, you need a clear usage policy, outlining how confidential data should be shared and stored on the platform.

You should also outline acceptable and unacceptable platform behavior and give users guidance on creating and maintaining strong passwords.

Some areas of your employee intranet will contain confidential information. In these cases, access controls are essential. When setting up an intranet, you need to decide early on who has access to what, to avoid data getting into the wrong hands.

DO: Customize your intranet

Most company intranet systems allow some degree of customization. In some cases, you may need a developer to make changes. Other platforms give managers drag-and-drop controls.

Blink allows for a high degree of customization. Some clients choose to completely rebrand the app to match their own company branding. This creates an engaging and immersive experience for intranet users.

Our platform also allows you to build your own micro-apps, quickly and easily. You can create apps and digital forms that make it easy for employees to request leave, give feedback, report incidents, or swap shifts, all via your intranet. This streamlines tasks for your employees, their managers, and HR teams.

Customizing content is also important. When employees see information and resources that don’t apply to them, they’re more likely to switch off from your intranet. So segment employees based on team, department, location, and tenure. That way, only relevant communications reach their dashboards.

DON’T: Be vague about ownership

To get the most from a modern intranet, you need an internal communication strategy. You also need to clarify who will own and create intranet content.

Start by appointing an intranet manager. This person should oversee content sharing and restrictions in your employee intranet app. They may be responsible for creating content themselves as well as gathering content from department heads and your leadership team.

Depending on the size of your intranet and your organization, you may need a wider team to help with publishing content and maintaining the platform. This will keep your intranet relevant and up-to-date.

Intranet content from HQ keeps employees in the loop on company news and culture. But — for optimum engagement — you also need locally-produced content, specific to each team and location.

That might mean involving team leaders in intranet content creation and getting them to post tailored content, exclusively for their teams, on a specified basis.

DO: Create a launch pad

It’s best to start with a bang. So think carefully about how you plan to launch your new intranet — and have lots of engaging intranet content ideas ready to go.

The best intranet solutions require minimal employee training. They’re easy and intuitive to use. But you still have to create some buzz and momentum to encourage adoption of your new intranet app.

Here are a few launch ideas Blink customers have put into action:

• Launching Blink at their annual convention to encourage opt-in, right there right then
• Promoting the app a month ahead of launch with the help of letters, posters, and digital screens
• Visiting staff in break-out rooms in every company location to promote the intranet and field questions
• Running contests and giveaways to incentivize employees to download the Blink app — free ice cream proved popular! 

At Blink, we work with you to plan an effective intranet launch. Our team goes out to all partners during the rollout phase. We help explain the app to employees, showing them how to download and use it.

When setting up a new intranet, it also helps to establish intranet ambassadors within your organization. These are influential people within the company who get to know the new intranet platform inside out. They can then recommend the platform, talk about its benefits, and answer co-worker questions.

DON’T: Feel like you have to launch everything all at once

Most intranet solutions come with a variety of different features. But if you’re unsure you need all of them — or you have doubts about how your organization will respond to them — it’s ok to take things step by step.

For example, at Blink, we’ve had customers who jumped right in with the news feed, giving employees the ability to comment on posts from day one. This has helped boost adoption and engagement, and it’s contributed to a transparent company culture.

But other companies like to take things more slowly. So they have the option to switch off the features they don’t want — like employee comments. They can also pilot features with a small group of employees, deciding at a later date if they want to roll them out to the wider organization.

DO: Highlight the benefit for employees

Your company intranet is only effective when employees choose to log onto it. It can’t benefit internal communication, employee engagement, and company culture if people simply don’t use it.

So during the launch phase — and beyond — highlight the benefit your new intranet solution offers to employees. 

Tell them what they can do on the app. That might be shift swapping, requesting leave, checking their pay slips, or getting up to speed with the latest company policies. Your intranet may be a place where employees go for learning and development courses or for co-worker connection.

As well as telling employees how useful your new intranet is, it’s important to create content that employees actually want to see. Sharing company news is vital. But you should also post informal content to your company intranet.

Photos of your latest away day, recognition for a co-worker’s birthday, or information on workplace benefits are all engaging and relevant to employees. These types of content help to ensure high intranet adoption and engagement rates. 

DON’T: Ignore analytics

Whatever your intranet goals, you need analytics to understand whether you’re achieving them.

If you had a traditional intranet or any other previous system in place, take baseline metrics before you switch to your new solution. Select the internal communication metrics and employee engagement KPIs you want to track. Then, as you set up your new intranet, set new targets.

Once your new platform is up and running, you can track employee adoption and usage alongside your other performance metrics. Also, seek employee feedback.

By uncovering problems and points of friction, you can make targeted improvements to the user experience, improving engagement, communication, and productivity as a result.

‍

DO: Model the intranet behaviors you want to see

Something we see time and again at Blink is the leadership impact. When leaders are active on the company app, employee adoption and engagement increase.

That’s because employees see that the intranet is a valuable and integral part of the workplace experience — and that their leaders are listening to what they have to say.

So encourage leadership to model the intranet behavior you want to see from your workforce. They should try to check into the app every day to answer questions, praise hard work, or acknowledge feedback. They should share company news transparently and regularly reference company values.

Make your intranet a place for open, relevant, and reliable communication and you’re more likely to make it a vibrant company hub.