What is a communication platform? The complete 2026 guide

Apps for frontline workers? Absolutely!

For years, office workers have had the digital advantage. They’ve been treated to tools that make their work lives easier and more productive.

Frontline workers? Not so much. If you’re on your feet, on the shop floor, or out on the road, logging into a desktop computer just isn’t practical. That’s why frontline teams are often left behind in terms of workplace tech.

Thankfully, things are changing. Secure, mobile-first apps are putting the right tools directly into the hands of frontline employees. No workarounds. No clunky systems. And no manager phone calls necessary.

The apps in this list are designed to make work more seamless, give teams a stronger voice, boost engagement, and help frontline employees do their best work.  We’ll be looking at:

• Best intranet and HR apps
• Best company culture and well-being apps
• Best learning and development apps
• Best driver apps
• Best apps for healthcare workers
• Best retail and hospitality apps
• Best construction, field worker, and facilities management apps
• Best shift worker and team scheduling apps
• Choosing the best apps for your frontline team

Ready to upgrade your frontline tech? Here are 31 apps every frontline team should know about in 2025.

Best intranet and HR apps for frontline workers

Keeping your frontline team connected and supported starts with the right tech. Intranet and HR apps put essential tools — from scheduling to documents to messaging — directly into every employee’s pocket. These apps make it easy for your workforce to stay informed, get work done, and feel part of the bigger picture.

#1. Blink

Blink’s employee app was built for frontline teams. It’s a mobile-first solution that offers the same features and functionality across both mobile and desktop versions. Within the app, you’ll find everything you need to manage internal communications, employee engagement, and HR tasks.

From the content hub to the news feed to instant messaging to live streaming, it’s easy for frontline employees to stay connected to the organization — and each other. Recognition and employee survey tools boost company culture and the employee experience. Digital forms replace paper processes. And automated employee journeys ensure everyone gets the right information at the right time.

Other benefits of Blink include its modern social experience, in-depth platform analytics, and integrations with a wide range of other workplace software. Use Blink as your employee intranet and you bring every employee into the company conversation — and boost productivity with the help of streamlined, digitized processes.

#2. flair

flair is a multi-purpose HR platform built on Salesforce. It supports everything from time tracking and payroll to recruitment and performance management. And whether you’ve got 10 employees or 10,000, flair promises to scale with you.

Via the flair app, frontline employees can clock in and out. They can request time off and see which co-workers are absent on any given day. They can also access core HR functions and documents on the go.

The platform integrates with over 4,000 tools, including Slack, Calendly, and LinkedIn. It’s also available on all devices — iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. And it’s refreshingly affordable compared to some of the bigger HR platforms.

#3. Workvivo

Workvivo is an intranet platform owned by Zoom. It supports internal communication, employee engagement, and recognition — and it comes with a user-friendly mobile app for frontline workers.

Translation capabilities are a particular strength. Getting comms out to a large multilingual workforce in their preferred languages is easy. Workvivo also acts as a digital hub, where frontline employees can access documents and resources.

Just bear in mind that some Workvivo features, like instant messaging, are classed as add-ons and come at an additional cost.

How do Workvivo and Blink compare? Take a look: Workvivo vs Blink

Best company culture and well-being apps for frontline workers

All too often, frontline employees feel disconnected from company culture. This can leave them feeling stressed and isolated — and makes it more likely that they’ll look for other jobs. Here are some frontline apps that bridge that gap and help you build a better frontline employee experience.

#4. Perkbox

60% of frontline workers feel underappreciated. So if you want an easy way to thank your deskless staff for the work they do, an app like Perkbox can help.

Perkbox is an employee benefits and rewards app that makes it easy for your frontline workforce to access the perks you provide as an employer. Employees earn Perkbox points, then choose their rewards from a marketplace of options.

There’s also a wellness library full of resources and a celebration hub, where managers and peers can give shout-outs for great performance.

#5. EngageWith

Recognition works best when it’s timely and personal. And this is something the EngageWith app is great at. In seconds, managers and employees can create recognition posts. Managers can also give out rewards, which employees can then redeem at an extensive range of popular vendors.

This frontline software also makes it easy for managers to send out pulse surveys, including eNPS surveys. You can gain insight into what employees are thinking, identify areas for improvement, and make meaningful changes to company culture.

#6. Reward Gateway

Reward Gateway is a heavyweight in the recognition and benefits space. Alongside discounts at major retailers, it offers flexible benefits, peer-to-peer recognition, and salary sacrifice options. Employees can save money on tech goods, cars, bikes, and childcare. They can also trade vacation allowance for cash.

With the Connect+ app, employees can access recognition and rewards from their smartphones. They can also respond to pulse surveys, access wellness resources, and keep up with company updates.

#7. Headspace

Working in a frontline role is stressful. In fact, 75% of frontline employees say they feel burnt out. A subscription to meditation app, Headspace, isn’t a silver bullet for stress — but it can help employees to decompress and develop stress-busting strategies they can use at work and at home. 

The app provides a huge range of guided meditations, mindfulness tools, and sleep resources. The sleep support, in particular, is a great feature for employees on the night shift. Paired with other improvements to frontline employee experience — like flexible working and employee recognition — Headspace can give frontline well-being a much-needed boost. 

Best learning and development apps for frontline workers

Frontline workers are more likely to give their all — and stay working for your company — when you invest in their development. You can make it easy for deskless staff to access training modules on the go, with the help of these learning and development apps.

#8. Udemy Business

If variety is what you need, Udemy Business has it covered. With instant access to over 30,000 expert-led courses, it’s one of the broadest learning platforms out there.

You can choose from ready-made certifications or tailor learning paths to fit employee roles. Popular course categories include business skills, wellness, leadership, AI, and tech — and you can also create onboarding training for new hires.

Thanks to a user-friendly mobile app, employees can access course content 24/7. They can also complete micro-learning courses, slotting L&D seamlessly into a busy workday.

#9. Kallidus Learn

Kallidus Learn is a user-friendly LMS and a regular on LMS industry award shortlists. Using Kallidus, it’s easy for employees to complete training and find development opportunities within your organization.

Using the app, learners can download course content to view offline. Their progress and results will be updated when they reconnect to the internet — great for teams who don’t always have a reliable internet connection during the work day.

And for your HR team, there are detailed analytics and reporting dashboards, so they can see where everyone is up to and track learning effectiveness, too.

#10. Prodigy EMS

Leave the dusty old PowerPoints where they belong and revamp your medical recertification needs using Prodigy EMS.

If you’re a pre-hospital healthcare provider with employees who need to go through recertification, Prodigy EMS provides a specialist platform with both live and pre-recorded lesson content.

Employees benefit from up-to-date training delivered by expert instructors, using real patient videos, patient care reports, and interactive polls. Options are available for NREMT recertification, occupational health and safety, compliance, and best practices.

Lectures from pre-hospital conferences are also available on Prodigy, so as well as fulfilling key regulatory requirements, your team can keep up with the very latest research in their field.

#11. Cornerstone

Cornerstone is another learning platform with an excellent app for frontline workers. You can create efficient onboarding programs, compliance training, personalized upskilling courses, and immersive learning experiences, making use of AI-powered recommendations and analytics that reveal employee progress.

The app makes training accessible anytime, anywhere. Their learning is aligned to performance and career goals, so employees know where they’re headed — and they get content recommendations based on their department and role. 

Best driver apps for frontline workers

If you work in the transit sector, you know how hard it is to keep everyone on the same page. When frontline staff spend their days on the road, it’s easy for messages to get missed and for admin to build up. Here are some frontline worker apps that make life easier for your drivers — and the team back at HQ, too.

#12. DAS OnBoard by Trapeze

For public bus operators looking to improve driver-office communication, the DAS OnBoard bus driver app should be a first port of call.

An intuitive interface provides a direct line between drivers and HQ. There’s a single portal for all interactions — drivers can pick up messages, get in touch with the office, view their assigned routes, and notify the office if a service is running late.  

Via the self-service web portal, drivers can request vacation leave and swap shifts. They can also sign into work remotely. This means you can reduce unnecessary journeys to and from the depot, making big efficiency savings.

#13. OptimoRoute

OptimoRoute’s Driver App helps delivery and field service companies stay connected while drivers are on the road.

You can send optimized routes to your drivers in a single click. Drivers then get all the information they need in one place — order details, a schedule, and navigation. Need to update order info? That’s easy too.

Back at HQ, you can see where drivers are at any time, see how their routes are progressing, and be ready to respond to any customer requests in an instant.

#14. MileIQ

Simple but a massive time-saver, MileIQ helps employees log their mileage when driving for work. Instead of tracking miles manually, the app runs in the background of a driver’s phone, offering real-time mileage tracking and automatically calculating expenses.

Drivers simply tap to send a report to the admin team, who can then review and approve the drive, mileage, and expenses from one centralized dashboard. The app saves time on both ends of the process and reduces the risk of manual errors.

#15. PetrolPrices

PetrolPrices is a handy, free app for drivers in the UK. It displays the cost of fuel at nearby gas stations so drivers can navigate to the cheapest option.

If you pay actual expenses rather than mileage, employees will be less out of pocket while they wait for reimbursement and the business makes significant savings too.

Best apps for healthcare workers

Healthcare workers spend their days supporting patients. It’s busy, demanding, and (at times) emotionally draining work. Having the right software for healthcare teams can streamline operations, improve patient care, and relieve a little of that pressure on your frontline staff.

#16. Epocrates

Epocrates is used by over a million healthcare workers across the world for instant clinical decision support. It saves clinicians an average of 20 minutes every day.

The app provides a comprehensive library of drug information — including dosage, side effects, and harmful drug interactions. It helps healthcare providers identify superbugs in their patients’ communities and supports them to make more accurate prescribing decisions.

Healthcare employees can stay up to date on developments in medicine, with easy access to educational articles, videos, and podcasts, organized according to a user’s selected specialty. They can also improve efficiency with over 600 medical calculators, equations, and risk scores.

#17. Medscape

Next on our list of healthcare worker apps is Medscape, a company that has been bringing frontline healthcare professionals the latest medical news, clinical trial coverage, drug updates, and journal articles since 1995.

They also provide a range of useful clinical tools via the Medscape mobile app, which is available on both iOS and Android. Clinicians can make use of a reference guide, professional development resources, a drug interactions checker, and real-time transcription tools.

#18. VisualDX

VisualDX is designed for healthcare professionals working in dermatology. It provides a photographic library of a huge range of skin conditions — across patients of different ages, sexes, skin types, and skin colors — which healthcare employees can use for reference on the go.

During a patient consultation, healthcare providers can also take a picture of a skin condition, upload it to the system, and answer a few brief questions to get potential diagnoses. That means fewer unnecessary referrals and a better patient experience.

#19. Medesk

Another great app for healthcare providers, Medesk is software built for clinics and healthcare practices. It packs in a lot of features — online booking, electronic health records, telemedicine, scheduling, billing, task management, and reporting.

Everything is accessible from any device. So wherever a clinician happens to be, they can update records, check appointments, view lab results, and communicate with patients, without being tied to a desktop computer. They get to spend less time on admin and more time on patient care.

Best retail apps and hospitality apps for frontline workers

In retail and hospitality companies, there’s a lot to keep track of. Stock, orders, customer requests, team schedules. The right apps keep everything moving, giving frontline teams the tools they need to serve customers faster, stay in sync with their team, and cut out the manual tasks that slow things down. Here are some of the best.

#20. Lightspeed POS

Lightspeed isn’t just a point-of-sale (POS) system. It’s a full retail and restaurant toolkit built with frontline teams in mind. A clean, intuitive inventory interface makes it easy for staff to check stock in-store, online, or across multiple locations in seconds.

Retail teams can take payments using a smartphone, while managers can view real-time sales reports and insights, and keep track of team performance.

In restaurants, servers can access menu and allergen information and take customer orders, using their smartphones. The app then links to a kitchen display system, replacing paper tickets with a streamlined digital solution.

Wherever you put it to use, Lightspeed POS helps you stay up to date with industry trends, streamline your operations, and increase revenue.

#21. Backbar

Backbar puts inventory, stock ordering, and drink costing all in one place. You can import your products in a couple of clicks. Then, thanks to POS integration, you get automatic inventory updates and can view stock levels in real-time.

The app supports the team with orders, invoices, and cost tracking. You can even use it to place orders with your distributor. Backbar also gives you a comprehensive overview of sales, the cost of goods sold, and your profitability per item, helping you make better stock decisions going forward.

#22. WineRatings+

Does your bar, hotel, or restaurant have a wine list? If you don’t have a professional sommelier, you can help your customers find the right vintage using WineRatings+ by Wine Spectator.

The app works as a research, buying, and everyday reference tool. Use the wine news, reviews, and recommendations to work out your next purchases, or make use of the extensive database to read tasting notes.

To help your staff find the right info, you can also make lists of your favorites. Why not upload your current wine list and help staff field customer demands for recommendations and food pairings?  

#23. ALICE

Part hotel management software, part employee productivity and communication app, ALICE boosts productivity across your hotel business. With functionality available for all teams, including front of house, housekeeping, maintenance, and concierge services, ALICE is a platform for your entire organization.

Staff can queue tasks straight to ALICE, rather than relying on pen, paper, or radios to relay guest requests. Housekeeping staff are automatically assigned rooms. Concierge staff can view saved guest preferences to make personalized recommendations.

The app supports optimized task assignment, real-time comms channels, and easy integration with your hotel’s property management system, so you can improve productivity and guest satisfaction.

Best construction, field worker, and facilities management apps for frontline workers

On-site or working across multiple facilities, frontline teams in construction and facilities management don’t have easy access to a desktop computer. So they need user-friendly apps that give them instant access to schedules, job details, and safety information. Here are a couple of frontline apps that tick all the boxes.  

#24. Site Diary

Site Diary is a digital version of traditional site diaries, journals, and construction reports. It allows field workers to make updates on their projects from their smartphone or mobile device, even without an internet connection.

This information is then synchronized across all accounts in real time. So everyone knows what’s happening when, and the office is kept in the loop about new developments. It’s also possible to create, assign, and monitor tasks from any location.

#25. AkitaBox

AkitaBox is a modern frontline tool for facilities teams that want to manage everything, from inspections to work orders to asset tracking — all in one polished system.

Floor plans help you visualize facilities. They show the location of every single asset — as well as the connections that link these assets together. AkitaBox also provides a central repository for any documentation relating to your buildings.

When it comes to maintenance, you can assign, track, and complete service requests and preventative maintenance schedules from any location. Then, use the app to communicate about maintenance activities to ensure everyone is up to speed.

For the business, that means less downtime, fewer emergencies, better compliance, and clearer decision-making thanks to live data.

#26. Jobber

Jobber is all about keeping field-based teams productive and self-sufficient. It handles quotes, scheduling, invoicing, and customer/job information, all via mobile. So employees in the field don’t need to call HQ for an update. They can simply check the app to manage their work on the go.

Employees can clock in and out via the app. Managers can issue job checklists to ensure the same standard of service for all customers — and send push notifications to give workers real-time updates. It’s also easy to track worker productivity and performance. 

#27. Clockshark

Clockshark is a time tracking tool built for field and construction teams. Your team can clock in and out with a tap, recording the time sheet data you need for payroll and job costing.

But Clockshark doesn’t just support your team with time sheets. Employees can view job info on the app. They can view assigned tasks and directions to the job site. Meanwhile, your admin team can manage employee schedules via a simple drag-and-drop interface and keep a close eye on labor costs with detailed reports.

Best shift worker apps and team scheduling apps

For shift-based teams, staff want clarity on when they’re working — and confidence they’ll get paid correctly, on time, every time. Managers want frontline tools that make it easy to build schedules, track hours, and process payroll without endless admin. If you’re still using manual or paper-based tools, here are some apps that will streamline the scheduling and payment process for everyone.

#28. Connecteam

Connecteam is a flexible workforce management app. It provides tools for employee time tracking, digital forms and checklists that take paper processes digital, and a training and knowledge hub that supports compliance.

This app is also excellent at employee scheduling. Admins can create and share employee schedules. They can view employee availability and preferred working hours before automatically scheduling shifts. Employees can then accept or reject the shifts, swap shifts, and receive automatic shift reminders via the Connecteam app.

#29. 7Shifts

If you run a bar or restaurant, 7Shifts makes staff scheduling super accessible. There’s a simple drag-and-drop schedule builder for managers, and a native mobile app for employees to check in and view their schedule.

A mobile-first approach makes it easy to reach your staff whilst they’re on the job. And, because 7Shifts is specifically designed for restaurants, it integrates with a range of other industry software, including GoTab, Qu, Rezku, and Restaurant Manager.

#30. Clockify

Clockify is super simple. It’s a start/stop time tracking app which anyone can download for free — no company subscription required.

You can track your time via browser extension, desktop app, and iOS and Android apps, so the software can be used by anyone in your business. Whether your contractors need help calculating their billable hours or you want to improve productivity, Clockify is a fantastic first step.

#31. DailyPay

DailyPay is an app that gives shift workers greater control over their finances. Rather than waiting for a monthly payday, they can access pay early — transferring, spending, or saving as they earn.

The app connects directly with payroll systems, allowing staff to cash out hours they’ve already worked whenever they need, reducing financial stress and boosting retention. For employers, it’s a way to support financial well-being without disrupting payroll processes.

Choosing the best apps for your frontline team

So how do you decide which frontline tools to use? When choosing technology for frontline employees, keep the following must-haves in mind:

• Mobile-first technology. Just because software comes with a mobile app doesn’t mean that it was designed with a mobile-first mindset. Mobile-first tools don’t try to squeeze complex desktop software onto a teeny smartphone screen. Instead, they prioritize the mobile experience. They’re designed to be fast, responsive, and offer the same features and functionality across all devices.
  
  
• An intuitive experience. The apps you use in the workplace are competing with the consumer-grade apps employees use at home — think WhatsApp and TikTok. So the frontline apps you choose should offer the same intuitive, friction-free user experience. With a clean interface and simple navigation, they should be easy for employees to pick up and use, with very little training necessary. Use app demos to see how shortlisted software works in real life. And look for apps that can demonstrate high usage and adoption rates — this indicates that employees find them easy and enjoyable to use.
  
  
• A streamlined tech stack. Too many apps create confusion, not clarity. Workers are left to juggle multiple logins and learn different interfaces. So when choosing frontline apps, look for all-in-one tools that fulfil as many functions as possible. Also, look for tools that integrate with the other workplace software you use. You can then make all tools available from one centralized dashboard. Employees can access everything in just a couple of taps, and the organization gets maximum ROI from its software investments.

Tick these basics off your list before you dive into tool specifics, and you’ll find frontline apps that work for your whole organization.

Empower your frontline with the best mobile-first tools

There’s no shortage of apps for frontline teams. 

The best tools help you take paper processes digital. They streamline communication between the frontline and HQ. They transform the frontline employee experience. This spells big benefits for employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

Pick a tool like Blink, and you can create a digital hub. A place where employees can chat with co-workers, share their opinions, complete HR tasks, and feel part of company culture. A place where they can access all workplace resources and software from a single, user-friendly dashboard.

Blink integrates with many of the frontline apps on this list — and it’s available in both mobile and desktop versions. So you can bring your organization together and put everything employees need right at their fingertips.

Blink. And transform the frontline experience with a modern, mobile-first app.  

It’s time for another Life at Blink feature! This week, we’re shining the spotlight on Maggie MacKay-Dunn, our Senior Customer Success Manager based at the London office. Maggie works closely with clients to ensure they get the most out of Blink’s platform, driving success across the board.

Curious about her journey and what makes Blink a great place to work? Read on to find out more about Maggie’s role and her experience with us!

How long have you been at Blink? 

I’ve been at Blink since July 2020 — 4 years and 3 months to be exact. I started in the Customer Success team — in fact, I was CS employee #1 after Florence Hunter. It was just the two of us for a while before we began expanding the CS team. Initially, we oversaw a combination of Customer Success and Implementation, but as the company grew, we separated the departments and expanded both teams.

What initially attracted you to join Blink?

I’m originally from Vancouver, Canada, and I relocated to London in 2018. After some time, I discovered Blink and thought the product was really great — but honestly, meeting the people at Blink was one of the best parts too.

I love that the platform empowers frontline workers through innovative technology. Having worked in frontline roles in hospitality myself, and with both my parents being frontline workers — my dad was a police officer, and my mom was a nurse for many years — this mission really resonated with me.

Blink’s fast-paced company culture, which values both employees and customers, also influenced my decision to join. When I started, I believe I was employee #25, so the company was still quite small back then.

What's a project you are proud of from your time at Blink?

There are so many! Since I work closely with customers, I can really see the impact Blink has on their organizations.

I love collaborating on key initiatives, whether it’s improving employee survey response rates, communicating a new campaign or strategy, helping with management communication, or optimizing processes. My favorite part is definitely working on projects, building strong relationships with customers, and being able to measure their success and demonstrate the value Blink brings.

Another great aspect is meeting people in person, attending launches, and seeing customers’ faces light up when they realize how Blink can make their jobs easier — it’s like a lightbulb moment.

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

Innovative, collaborative and passionate.

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

I look forward to seeing Blink’s continued role in transforming workplace culture through better communication tools and enhancing employee happiness and engagement on a large scale. I’m really passionate about recognizing good work across organizations and highlighting those small stories that might otherwise go unnoticed without an app like Blink. Even if something small happens at one site, you can post it on the feed and have more than ten thousand people see it. It makes employees feel valued and engaged.

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

Yes! The launch of advanced employee intelligence was a major milestone and a gamechanger for our customers. It also made a huge impact within customer success, allowing us to gain insights into how the workforce is using Blink. 

This deeper level of understanding helps teams make better decisions and improvements across all areas of the organization. It allows us to identify specific areas to boost engagement, share tips or trends on how to communicate more effectively with employees, and ultimately understand how employees are interacting with the platform.

This knowledge is key to optimizing the experience and creating a more supportive and productive work environment.

Why do you work for Blink?

I think I strongly align with Blink’s mission, and I’m passionate about helping people. I believe Blink fosters a positive environment and a mission-driven culture, which makes it feel like a meaningful place to work.

‍

The Winter 2025 product release highlights Blink's latest innovations — some already live and others rolling out over the next quarter. Missed our Autumn 2024 release? Check it out here!

At Blink, our employee experience platform is always evolving to keep pace with the ever-changing needs of organizations and their teams.

In line with our dedication to creating exceptional employee experiences — whether on the frontline or in the front office — we’re excited to introduce our latest product features, built to transform how employees connect with their organizations and each other.

From enabling easy communication with in-app calling and live streaming, to powering better outcomes through enhanced data intelligence, these powerful new features are designed to support a connected, engaged, and uplifted workplace.

#1. Voice and video calling: Power real-time, in-app collaboration

​​We’re excited to announce the addition of native 1:1 video and voice calling within Blink, making it even easier for employees to connect, collaborate, and deliver real-time results for your business.

This new feature will include:

• Streamlined communication: Enables seamless 1:1 video and voice calls directly from individual chats or colleague profiles on mobile.
• Built for international teams: Ideal for organizations with global workforces who need quick and reliable access to colleagues.
• Future-proof design: Will launch on mobile, with plans to extend to desktop and explore group calling capabilities.
• Flexible add-on: Available as an optional feature priced based on users, ensuring scalability for any organization.

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#2. Live streaming: Go live with all employees at once

Bring your live events to life on Blink! Our new live streaming feature lets you promote and host events directly in the Feed, fostering real-time engagement and interaction.

Here’s what you can do:

• Stream seamlessly via Vimeo or YouTube, with full support for Vimeo interactions on Blink.
• Share streams from other platforms using Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) for an additional cost.
• Engage your audience as they comment and interact during your event.

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#3. Advanced employee intelligence: Unlock organizational insights

Discover what drives your organization with Advanced Employee Intelligence — an upgraded analytics suite that goes beyond the basics to tackle turnover, engagement, and productivity. These actionable insights, available as a paid add-on feature, will empower you to address challenges proactively and foster a thriving workplace.

Transform your data into a powerful driver of organizational success with four core pillars of insights:

• Activation: Ensure every employee is connected and engaged with activation metrics by team and role, plus gamified nudges to boost adoption.
• Communication: Maximize the impact of your messages with heat maps and deep-dive analysis into communication effectiveness by category, media, and more.
• Engagement: Track and improve satisfaction with tools like engagement leaderboards and influencer metrics that spotlight key communicators.
• Productivity: Streamline workflows by analyzing app usage, tool access, and shift management to reduce friction and optimize efficiency.

#4. Journeys 2.0: Engage employees before day one

Make a lasting first impression with Blink’s new Journeys for preboarding! This enhancement to our Journeys feature allows managers to kick off onboarding before an employee’s first day, creating a standout employee experience right from the offer stage.

Here’s what’s new:

• Include line managers in the journey for a seamless, supportive experience.
• Use enhanced start-date triggers to send tailored communications ahead of the first day.
• Deliver a bespoke preboarding journey that sets the stage for success.

#5. Image-first feed: Curate the content experience

We’ve made the Feed even better with a new posting experience designed for high-quality, highly curated content that stands out and visually engages users.

Here’s what’s new:

• Choose your layout: Opt for the classic look or an enhanced layout that puts your images front and center.
• Audience-first review: See how your post will appear to your audience before you post.
• Simple to use: The curation and review steps are seamlessly built into the posting process.

#6. Self-service SSO: Simplify access to third-party systems

Our new self-service SSO feature streamlines user access to key third-party systems directly through Blink, reducing the need for multiple logins and improving overall security. This feature makes it easier than ever to connect Blink with the tools your teams rely on.

Key takeaways include:

• Enhanced user experience: Simplify workflows by allowing users to access essential systems without remembering multiple passwords, driving better uptake and ease of use.
• Flexible configuration: Administrators can set up and manage SAML 2.0 Single Sign-On directly from the Blink Admin dashboard, enabling seamless integration with your Service Provider.

#7. Polls as Stories: Boost engagement with a visual integration

Take your Polls to the next level by sharing them through Stories, including our new image-first Polls feature, to maximize visibility and participation. This integration helps make employee feedback and interaction more accessible and engaging than ever.

Here’s what you can do now:

• Increase engagement: Promote Polls in Stories to capture attention and encourage more responses from your teams.
• Visual appeal: Leverage image-first Polls to create a dynamic and engaging experience, driving curiosity and interaction.

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#8. Chat and channel moderation: Maintain a professional communication environment

Administrators now have greater control over chats and channels with new moderation capabilities, including the ability to hide certain types of content when necessary. These tools empower admins to foster a safe, engaging, and well-managed communication space for everyone.

With this feature, you’ll gain:

• Improved oversight: Maintain a positive and professional environment by managing and moderating conversations directly within chats and channels.
• Content management: Use the “hide” feature to remove inappropriate or irrelevant content, ensuring discussions stay on track.

#9. Dark mode: A new way to experience Blink

Enjoy a more comfortable and visually striking interface with our new dark mode feature, now available via a simple toggle in your settings. This update adds a touch of personalization and comfort to your everyday platform experience.

With dark mode:

• Improved comfort: Reduce eye strain during late-night use or in low-light environments with a sleek, dark interface.
• Personalized experience: Give users the flexibility to choose between Light and Dark modes based on their preferences.

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Coming soon

Get excited for updates to the Hub experience, moderation enhancements, and in-app events management!

Bring your consumer-grade employee experience to life

As we kick off a new year of workplace evolution, our mission remains unchanged: to deliver tools that strengthen connections, boost productivity, and ensure every employee enjoys a seamless and exceptional experience — no matter their role or location.

These latest product enhancements reflect our commitment to helping organizations supercharge their employee experience as we step into 2025.

Blink and Workday. Better together.

Employees power your business, but many are often left behind when it comes to workplace tools and technology.

That’s where Blink and Workday come in.

With the industry’s most comprehensive integration between Workday and any employee experience platform, Blink extends Workday’s powerful capabilities to all employees — whether they’re desk-based, remote, or on the frontline. This unmatched integration ensures every employee can access what they need, when they need it — driving engagement, boosting productivity, and helping organizations unlock the full potential of their Workday investment.

Together, Blink and Workday bridge the employee experience gap, offering the entire workforce seamless, one-click access via their smartphones to the tools and information they need.

Let’s take a closer look at how Blink and Workday work hand in hand to revolutionize the employee experience, creating a more connected and engaged workforce.

Blink and Workday: How it works

Blink is a mobile-first employee experience platform that serves as a digital front door for your organization, giving employees access to all the software you use in just a few clicks.

If you’re already a Workday customer, you benefit from our pre-built, out-of-the-box integration. This means we can take Workday user data into Blink and automatically create user accounts.

Employees can download the Blink app from Android or Apple app stores and use their email or phone number to access.

Through single sign-on (SSO), employees can access third-party apps — like Workday — by simply clicking on the relevant icon. Users can also click on deep links that take them straight to specific Workday functions, like payslips or an address update form.

When you partner with Blink and Workday, you make Workday accessible to all of your employees.

Blink and Workday: The benefits

Here’s what you can expect when you use Blink and Workday together.

#1. Improving adoption of Workday (and other third-party tools)

Persuading employees to download multiple workplace apps is a challenge. But with Blink, there’s just one app to download.

The Blink app acts as a centralized hub. With SSO, employees can access all workplace software — including tools like Workday, SharePoint, and ServiceNow — from Blink. Employees don’t have multiple passwords to remember or reset.

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This explains why Blink customers enjoy a 5x improvement on adoption of third-party tools. Pair Blink with Workday and you’ll get much more value from your Workday subscription.

#2. Easy identity management

Frontline workers don’t tend to have a corporate email address or device. So these employees are often left behind when it comes to workplace tech tools like Workday.

But with Blink, it’s easy to get hard-to-reach deskless employees onto your systems. That’s because Blink serves as your identity provider.

Deep integration between Workday and Blink allows the transfer of rich employee data to Blink systems. Then, Blink verifies user identities, making it simpler than ever to activate employees.

#3. Streamlining the frontline workforce experience

Together, Blink and Workday makes it easy for frontline workers to access all the tools and resources they need, at a time and place that suits them. This makes workers more efficient and effective.

Via Blink, employees can access Workday Skills Cloud, view pay and benefits, pick up shifts, complete employee surveys, submit paperwork, and report safety concerns.

Putting these tools in the hands of frontline workers means you squeeze all possible value from them. You also make life easier for your frontline workforce — so much easier that Blink users give the app a 9/10 ease rating.

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#4. Improving employee communication

Blink takes internal comms beyond the office noticeboard and word-of-mouth messaging. An intuitive news feed gives every employee instant access to up-to-date internal communications, tailored to them.

Admins can use the news feed to highlight Workday-related tasks. You might like to communicate available shifts, signpost training resources, or prompt staff to book their vacation time. You can add links to your posts, directing users to the appropriate place on the Workday app.

Blink’s wide range of employee communication tools supports your workforce in other ways, too. They find it easy to chat with supervisors, coworkers, and leadership. So they feel more connected to your organization and the people within it.

#5. Accessing comprehensive data

When you use Blink and Workday together, you get access to rich analytics and survey data relating to your employees, all via a user-friendly dashboard.

This data reveals how employees are using your workplace tools. It gives you a deeper understanding of employee engagement and staff turnover. It can even help with workforce planning.

Drill down into this data to identify strategic areas for improvement — identifying operational weaknesses and issues with employee experience.

#6. Closing the digital divide

A majority of workers feel disconnected from their organization — and many feel they lack the tools they need to do their jobs effectively.

By improving the digital employee experience, with a combination of Blink and Workday, you close the digital divide. You give all employees equal access to workplace tools and bring them into the company conversation.

This helps to improve employee engagement and satisfaction. It also leads to better staff retention. Blink customers experience a 26% reduction in employee turnover.

Make Workday work harder for your full organization with Blink

Blink helps leading organizations bring Workday to deskless employees. We provide the most comprehensive and effective Workday integration in the industry, which makes for easy setup and a seamless user experience.

Blink also provides a host of other tools to improve employee communications and engagement. These include our news feed, employee surveys, recognition, digital forms, and communities.

Blink. And supercharge your Workday instance.

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.

‘As leaders, we should be measuring engagement in everything we do’ 

– Simon White, VP People at Blink

Frontline leaders have long been searching for the most effective way to engage their deskless workforce. From Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Learning & Development initiatives, to intranets and Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs), they've tried a variety of approaches with varying levels of success.

This has led to a Frontline Gap, an issue that many organizations, especially those with deskless employees, face. It is a void where initiatives fail to have their intended impact due to a lack of engagement from workers. 

To bridge this gap, employers must look beyond traditional methods such as ERGs and ESNs, and instead focus on using employee engagement surveys to connect directly with the needs of their deskless staff.

Frontline workers are looking for a faster, more efficient, and more useful way to do their jobs, while leaders want to bridge the Frontline Gap and connect with their deskless staff. To be able to achieve these goals, employee engagement surveys can help employers achieve direct conversations with frontline workers and understand the needs of their employees.

By taking a proactive approach to employee engagement and using pulse surveys to directly and regularly connect with deskless employees, organizations can begin to close the Frontline Gap, identify engagement challenges and create a more productive, cohesive, and engaged workforce.

Employee engagement surveys can provide valuable insights into how employees feel about their work environment, job satisfaction, team dynamics and so much more. In this guide, we'll take a brief look at why frontline leaders should conduct employee engagement surveys as a regular practice, before diving into our step-by-step guide on how to conduct your first employee engagement survey the right way.

Why employee engagement surveys are important

The solution to bridging the Frontline Gap lies in approaching frontline engagement as something that is earned, rather than simply expecting it from employees. Instead of relying on traditional methods such as ERGs and ESNs to increase engagement, employers must focus on creating an environment where workers feel truly valued and respected.

The first step towards this lies within employee engagement surveys.

Employee engagement surveys are an important tool for frontline leaders to measure engagement and understand the feelings of their deskless employees. While ERGs and ESNs can provide a good foundation for engagement, taking proactive steps to directly connect with your team is essential in order to create a productive and cohesive environment.

As businesses today are operating in an increasingly competitive hiring market, salaries and benefits are becoming more expensive and difficult to manage. With no visibility into what is going right or wrong, employers are left in the dark as to why their staff turnover rate is on the rise and morale is low.

This lack of insight into employee engagement can lead to disengaged employees, decreased productivity, and high turnover rates, alongside a weaker Employer Value Proposition (EVP) as talent is lost. 

Employee engagement surveys can help employers gain the insights they need to effectively measure and address employee satisfaction, team dynamics, and much more. Collecting and actioning this feedback is one of the key employee engagement drivers, and is considered an employee engagement best practice.

So, how exactly can employee surveys support your workforce and drive success in your goals?

Enable

By regularly understanding what they need, leaders can better enable their workforce to succeed. Engagement surveys can help identify key areas that employees are struggling in and provide valuable feedback to address these issues.

One of the main pain points for organizations, especially those with deskless employees, is the lack of resources and support needed to ensure their workforce can work effectively. Without the necessary engagement tools, communication channels and access to information needed to do their job efficiently, deskless workers are often left feeling frustrated and under-valued.

Frequent employee surveys help employers find out what their employees need to do their jobs better. It also helps the employer know if their employees feel respected and valued. The information gained helps them ensure they have the tools and resources needed for workers to do their job well, so that companies can keep a good reputation and meet their hiring targets.

Understand

It can also be hard to collect data from the frontline, as depending on the industry and environment they work in, traditional methods such as paper surveys or iPads may not be practical. For example, if they are working outdoors or in an extreme environment where digital devices cannot operate, it can be difficult to get real time feedback from them.

Additionally, it's crucial to have something that's easy to use, in every frontline worker's pocket. By giving managers what they need to measure employee engagement and continuously improve the employee experience, employee surveys can fill this gap and directly benefit the organization.

One of the most prominent pain points faced by organizations is a lack of understanding of what engaged employees need to be successful, especially in the frontline. Leaders that are out of touch with their workforce can cause real issues, including low morale, decreased productivity and high turnover rates.

To truly understand what engaged employees require, employers must conduct employee engagement surveys, aiding them in identifying key pain points and areas that need improvement.

Engage

Another key objective of employee pulse surveys is to improve and measure employee engagement. It is crucial to engage employees in order to create a positive and productive workplace. Employee engagement surveys measure levels of employee satisfaction, and identify the strengths and weaknesses of policies, programs, goals and objectives within an organization.

By understanding where leadership or productivity are weaker, employers can effectively engage their workers through real-time critical information and structured interventions tailored to improve engagement.

This is a pain leaders are facing: the frontline isn't sharing feedback because they don't want to. Gaining the engagement of the frontline by first earning their trust is key to boosting future engagement levels and increasing employee retention.

 How to successfully conduct an employee engagement survey

As we have looked at above, conducting employee engagement surveys can encourage employees to speak up, give them a voice, and help employers to create a more productive environment.

If you're planning to conduct an employee engagement survey, keep this in mind.

The purpose of an employee engagement survey is not to measure employee engagement, it's to improve it.

Employee engagement surveys should not be done out of curiosity or to "check in" with your employees, they take too much time to be done this way.

Simply having an employee survey is not enough - the way in which you conduct your surveys can make all the difference between success and failure.

LeadershipIQ surveyed over 3,000 HR executives to see "how good" their employee engagement survey was, and only 22% said they were getting good results.

So how can you conduct employee surveys so they are actually meaningful? Looking at industry leaders, we see the following behaviors taking place to launch successful surveys:

1. Get rid of annual surveys

Gone are the days of the bog-standard annual engagement survey that provides little useful information, leaving employees disengaged and uninterested.

Instead of a singular survey at one point in the year, organizations should instead be taking a more agile approach to employee engagement surveys by conducting regular pulse surveys with smaller sample sizes.

If you already have an annual survey procedure in place, the first thing you should do is look at your current process and consider whether some parts of it can be scaled back or done more frequently.

2. Define a clear, attainable goal

You'll have to really think about what information you want to get out of this survey, sometimes it's not just a simple case of finding out how your frontline employees are feeling. This is an opportunity to encourage your team to share feedback on every aspect of their role, your role, and even the CEO's right at the top.

For example, if you have a low retention rate that you want to try and improve, what questions need to be asked? What data will help you put together a plan?

Your employee engagement survey questions should be strategically planned in a way that shows the leadership team genuinely cares about their frontline workers and how their careers can be developed. This should be made visible from the start to the end of your survey.

3. Plan ahead

Once you've figured out what information you wish to gain from your survey, it's time to plan ahead and get everything into place. Here are some of the main points you should consider when you're ready to plan your survey:

• Have you got the right technologies in place to be able to conduct your survey?
• What do you really want to find out?
• Do you need to align with CIO or get buy-in?
• When is the right time to conduct your survey? You'll need to give your employees an adequate amount of time to finish it.
• Are you targeting all of your employees or just a specific group?

4. Let the frontline know! 

Once your survey is ready to go, you need to get the message out there.

Reiterate the importance of the survey to your frontline staff and how it can positively affect their role at work and the environment in which they work. It's a way to show them they are going to be heard and listened to (you need to actually follow through as well, but more on that later).

Communications leaders should be well briefed in plenty of time and should be tasked with sending out reminders to all who are involved in taking the survey.

One way you can reiterate the importance of your employee engagement survey is to release it with a message from the CEO, or another senior leader. 

5. Act and restart

Once you've received your survey results, you need to come up with a plan stating how you plan to act on your responses. This is a key aspect you can't shy away from.

This is also another chance to acknowledge employee contribution and shows that the right people have seen the results and will take action. Below is a recent example from John J. Herman, CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.

He acknowledges and thanks staff for taking the time to do the survey, reiterates their feedback is important, and lays out in clear bullet points what their next action points are. You can view the full message here.

This should be an ongoing effort and you should keep your frontline workers informed of your processes and decision making, as a way of letting them know you are serious about improving your workplace.

If you fail to truly act on the feedback they have taken the time to give you, you risk devaluing future surveys and decreasing response rates.

You should repeat your survey at regular points throughout the year, to see if the employees are satisfied with the measures you have taken and tweak different aspects of your strategies to raise levels of employee engagement.

Considerations for conducting your first employee engagement survey

Plan

As we highlighted above, surveys should not be done out of curiosity, you need a real plan.

So when you're thinking about surveying employees take the below into account:

Who's your audience?: Whether it's teams or departments, segment your stakeholders into groups.

What do you want to measure?: What do you need to find out to improve the employee experience? Set goals, and measurable KPIs.

What are you asking?: Once you know what to measure, what questions do you need to ask to get actionable insights?

What type of survey?: Once you have your audience and goals, what type of survey are you going to run? There are different types such as, benefit surveys to measure how satisfied your frontline is with their benefits and rewards or you could even run onboarding surveys for new hires to see how well they’ve been introduced to the business.

What format?: How will the survey be received? Via email, via an app? What format will the questions be? Multiple choice or free text? Take into consideration your audience and goals and use these to guide the format you choose.

Timing: When's the best time to send your survey to your audience? How long will you leave the survey open for? How many follow up emails will you send to those that don't respond?

There's a lot that goes into planning an employee survey, but you need to do this to set you up for the best chance of it being a success. 

Platform

Do you have a way to easily and efficiently collect and analyze data? Depending on your organization you'll need to make sure you use a platform that meets your requirements.

Think about who you are going to survey, are they desk based or deskless? Do they work from home? Are they on the frontline? Do you need the survey to work on desktop and mobile?

For example, our employee survey feature is used by organizations whose employees are on the frontline, this puts more importance on the mobile functionality of our survey feature to allow for quick and easy responses wherever employees are.

If your employees feel disengaged from their colleagues and management team it's time to introduce a platform that can meet your team's needs whatever their job role. 

Trust

Employee surveys are a great opportunity to establish trust with your employees that you will listen and understand their feedback, as well as make an effort to act on how they are feeling.

But, they also pose a risk of doing the opposite if you don't do them properly.

A recent campaign undertaken by Blink found that 50% of employees wanted to leave their current position as they didn't feel like management took their complaints seriously. One third didn’t even think their organization would act on their feedback.

This again highlights why employee surveys shouldn't be done out of curiosity. If you run the survey, get the results, and don't act. What do you think will happen to the figure above?

But, if you act and communicate changes made off the back of feedback, not only could these go a long way with improving employee engagement, but build a lot of trust with your employees. 

From an employee perspective, it will also be important if the survey is anonymous. This in turn will increase trust and eagerness to take part in the survey. Anonymity is important if you want to get real honest feedback from staff, they will feel more comfortable sharing the truth if they know it won’t come back to haunt them.

Communication

Raise awareness around your survey going live! Involve your communications leader in using as many formats as possible to get the message to the frontline. 

This could involve emails, printed posters, and using an employee engagement mobile app.

These communication points need to explain the importance of taking part in the survey and why employee feedback is so important to improving the work culture.

Content

When you're planning out your employee engagement questionnaire, don't be afraid to ask difficult questions. You need to ensure you're set up to get the most out of it.

For example, Facebook found that simply asking employees how long they intend to stay was more than twice as accurate at foretelling their future turnover than machine-learning forecasts.

What's even more telling is that they found when people don’t participate in their two annual surveys they are 2.6 times more likely to leave in the next six months.

The content within your survey needs to be clear, concise, and engaging. There's no need to overcomplicate your questions or try to hide behind big words. Ask the questions in a way that will get a truthful response.

How Blink employee surveys can help you meet your goals

Most employee survey tools are designed for desk-based workers, not the frontline - Blink's Employee Surveys make it easy for you and your teams to quickly and easily conduct employee surveys.

We make it easy for frontline organizations to get the data that matters.

Triple your response rate

Get your survey seen and responded to in an app designed for everyday frontline use. Instantly transition away from paper surveys to having surveys appear seamlessly on every frontline team member’s device.

This gets rid of friction caused by having to use other platforms, with different passwords and make it easier for staff to respond as everything is in one place. From paystubs to scheduling and even critical documents - your surveys are in an app that gets opened an average of seven times a day.

Launch in 90 seconds

Ask questions fast, get answers faster. Our mobile app makes creating and sending surveys easy. From selecting your audience to selecting questions you’ll be done in minutes.

Science-backed questions

We offer a set of science backed Qs which are great if leaders don't know what to ask, you also get the option to add in your own. 

Get action-ready insights

Easy-to-use reports to make impactful decisions. Merge this with Frontline Intelligence - together with engagement stats and you’ll have an overall view of the health of your organization.

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