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Choosing a new internal communication platform is one of those decisions that feels simple — right up until it isn’t.

Because once it’s live, there’s no quiet rollback. No easy undo. If adoption stalls, messages get missed, or employees revert to workarounds, you’re stuck fixing the fallout — not just the tool.

Most teams start this process for the same reasons: a legacy intranet no one uses, too many disconnected comms tools, and a growing sense that important messages just aren’t landing. You want fewer channels, clearer communication, and a platform employees actually trust.

The problem? Every internal communication platform promises the same thing in a demo.

So how do you tell the difference between software that looks good — and a platform that actually works in the real world?

That’s what this guide is for.

Below are seven signs you’ve found an internal communication platform that won’t create more noise, more work, or more clean-up later — but will quietly become the backbone of how your organization communicates.

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Signs you’ve found the right internal communication platform

1. It reaches every employee (not just desk workers)

Features to look for: Mobile-first design; a user-friendly mobile employee app; the same features and functionality on both mobile and desktop sites

The best internal comms platforms are mobile-first by design. So what does that mean?

Instead of cramming desktop intranet software onto a small smartphone screen, developers work in reverse. They start by creating an exceptional mobile experience, then scale up.

The result? The same user experience and functionality across all devices. And an internal communication platform that’s accessible to everyone — frontline, remote, hybrid, and office-based teams.

There’s no need for shared logins, VPN gymnastics, or insecure workarounds. You don’t need to maintain different channels of communication for different segments of the workforce.

So keeping everyone on the same page, aligned behind company goals, and connected to each other gets a lot easier.   

✅ Blink

At Blink, mobile-first design is a pillar of our approach. From the very beginning, our platform was designed as a mobile internal communication app. Frontline employees weren’t an afterthought — they were the starting point.

With a mobile and desktop version — both equally feature-rich and functional — Blink improves frontline comms and streamlines internal communications across your whole organization.

2. It brings chat, content, and knowledge together

Features to look for: Real-time messaging tools, a content hub, and a news feed

One of the biggest problems with inherited comms stacks is fragmentation. Chat lives in one tool. Real-time updates in another. Policies are housed somewhere else entirely.

Employees are stuck on a digital scavenger hunt, piecing together information across platforms, tabs, and inboxes. And it’s exhausting.

The right employee experience platform brings everything together. Conversations, company updates, and essential updates all live in one place, as part of a single, coherent experience.

That way, an announcement doesn’t just tell employees what is changing. It links directly to a policy, form, or guide so it’s easy to take action. 

✅ Blink

With Blink, everything is accessible from one intuitive dashboard.

Employees can head to the company news feed for company updates, send an instant message to their manager using real-time chat tools, and access the content hub to view policies and FAQs. They can even hop on a video or voice call when text communication just won’t cut it.

They can do all this without switching platforms and without logging in repeatedly. So teams get a connected, friction-free user experience.

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3. It makes information easy to find (and trust)

Features to look for: User-friendly content management tools; strong search functionality

“Is this the latest version?”

If you hear that question a lot, your internal communication platform isn’t doing its job.

When employees have to hunt for information — or second guess whether what they’ve found is accurate — it wastes time and erodes trust. And when people stop trusting your systems? They stop using them.

When choosing a new platform, look for a clearly structured resource library. A place where employees can find all the documents and resources they need to do their jobs well.

To ensure this space is useful and always up-to-date, you should also look for strong search functions, defined content ownership, and user-friendly content management tools.

✅ Blink

Blink’s content hub acts as a single source of truth. It’s built to house policies, handbooks, standard operating procedures, digital forms — all in one structured, searchable place.

With content management tools, it’s easy to keep hub content updated and relevant. And because Blink is a mobile-first platform, employees can access resources on the go, whenever and wherever they need them.

4. It supports two-way communication

Features to look for: An interactive news feed; employee surveys and polls; consumer-grade chat tools; other real-time collaboration tools

Internal communication isn’t a broadcast — or at least, it shouldn’t be.

If a shortlisted platform only allows leadership to push messages out, without letting employees respond, it’s a big red flag. Because two-way employee communication is essential for a strong culture and employee engagement.

The best platforms support top-down, bottom-up, and peer-to-peer communication. They do this with features like surveys, chat tools, a social media-style news feed, and spaces for employee-generated content.

✅ Blink

Blink is built for conversation. Features like news feed comments and emoji reactions invite participation, while audience targeting ensures spaces never get too noisy. You can create an internal creator culture with the help of moderation and content approval tools — and gather employee feedback using polls and surveys.

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5. It’s secure without being a headache

Features to look for: End-to-end encryption; automated user management; a streamlined login process

Platform security is non-negotiable — particularly when employees are accessing internal communication tools on their own devices. But it’s all about finding the right balance.

If security makes a platform clunky, slow, or frustrating, employees will stop using it. Worse, they’ll find workarounds — WhatsApp groups, personal email, spaces with zero comms team oversight.

The right internal communication software offers enterprise-grade security without killing usability. That includes end-to-end encryption, clear admin controls, and automated user management.

✅ Blink

Blink is secure by design. IT teams get the controls and compliance they need, while employees get an experience that feels intuitive and enjoyable.

Blink also provides secure digital access to other workplace systems. With deep integrations and single sign-on, employees can access all workplace software — without taking risky shortcuts or resorting to shadow IT.

6. It doesn’t just push messages — it helps build culture

Features to look for: Employee recognition tools; co-worker communities; social media-style content tools

If a platform feels cold, corporate, or transactional, it won’t do much for company culture. Today’s dispersed employees are craving recognition, real stories, and moments of connection.

So the right platform makes space for appreciation and informal moments. It acts as a hub for employee experience and employee engagement. It feels less like a corporate noticeboard and more like the apps your employees already enjoy using away from work.

The best internal communication platforms act as a digital water cooler, bringing people together and creating a sense of belonging.   

✅ Blink

Blink makes culture visible. It has all the consumer-grade tools you need to build company culture and improve employee engagement.

Recognition tools weave appreciation into every day. Stories (short-form video reels) capture authentic moments. Communities are a space for employees to connect over shared roles and interests. And the news feed, packed with multi-media content, brings it all together.

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7. It proves its value with real data

Features to look for: Analytics tools; data segmentation; user-friendly reports

Is your internal comms strategy a success? What should you be doing to improve employee communications? When answering these questions, you shouldn’t have to rely on gut feeling.   

The right platform gives you data you can act on and it doesn’t distract you with vanity metrics. It lets you track key internal comms metrics like these:

• Platform usage rates
• Content performance
• Employee sentiment
• Employee advocacy score

✅ Blink

Blink’s analytics and easy-to-action reports show you what’s working and why. You can segment insights by team or location, identify disengaged teams, and identify your best-performing content.

You also have the data you need to demonstrate comms ROI and find ways to make internal comms an even more effective part of your organization.

The right platform = comms without the chaos

The best internal communication platforms bring clarity and connection, while cutting friction and noise. They make it easier for everyone to do their jobs — and feel part of something bigger.

Use the signs we’ve outlined above to guide your decision. Find a solution that ticks all the boxes, and you’ll see a difference from the moment you launch.  

Adoption that comes naturally. Fewer messages missed. Employees who know exactly where to go for information. And internal communications that make a much bigger impact on employee behaviors and organizational goals.   

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Anytime a good employee leaves your company, you’re bound to feel sad. You may also start to get nervous. 

While it’s upsetting to see them go, it’s normal: many employees leave a company each year. 

But how do you differentiate a typical turnover from a severe turnover problem? 

That’s where calculating your employee retention rate comes in. 

What is employee retention rate?

Retention rate is a ratio of the total current employees and the employees at a previous point in time in the same positions at your company. You can calculate it annually or quarterly. 

It provides a snapshot of how satisfied your employees are at your company. 

A high retention rate indicates your employees enjoy the work they’re doing, fit in with your culture, and receive fair pay. 

Conversely, a low retention rate means that one or more of those elements are less than ideal. Since retention rate is inversely related to employee turnover rate, low retention means high turnover. 

Knowing your employee retention rate’s status, you can evaluate and adjust your employee retention strategies. When your employee retention rate improves, you know your retention efforts are paying off. 

Measuring employee retention rate

To find your organization’s employee retention rate, you need data on the total number of employees with your organization at the beginning of a period and the number of employees who remain at the end. From there, you can quickly calculate your retention rate. 

How to calculate employee retention rate

Find how many employees left your company in a period. Subtract that number from your total headcount at the start of the period. Divide the remaining number of employees by the initial headcount. The result should be a decimal. Multiply that number by 100 to find the retention rate in percentage.

Here’s what that looks like in the employee retention formula: 

For example, let’s say you want to calculate your annual retention rate.

You started the year with 56 employees and ended with 50 employees. Here’s how you can find the retention rate: 

56 - 6 = 50

50/56 = 0.8928

0.89 x 100 = 89

So in this scenario, the retention rate is 89%

Employee retention rate vs. employee turnover rate

Whenever we talk about staff retention rate, it’s also common to hear staff turnover rate. We use them interchangeably because they’re two sides of the same coin. 

While retention rate measures how many people stayed, turnover is the measure of how many people left. 

Similarly, you might be confused about attrition rate and employee churn rate. They are just other names for turnover rate.  

How to calculate employee turnover rate

You can do so by:

1. Sum the total employees at the beginning and end of the time interval.
2. Divide by two to get the average number of employees. 
3. Divide the total number of separations for a given time by the average number of employees.

For monthly turnover, you will work with this:

Suppose a company begins the month with 32 employees. Four employees leave, and six new employees join. So the company ends the month with 34 employees. 

The average number of employees is: 

(32+34)/2 = 33

Next, we find the turnover:

4/33 = 0.1212

Multiplying by 100, the turnover rate is 12%.

What is a good employee retention rate?

A good employee retention rate varies from industry to industry. 

Retail and restaurants tend to have lower industry average retention rates than other sectors, while government and federal sectors have the highest retention rates.

The overall market and economy also affect your retention rate. During times of high uncertainty or in a strong talent market, retention may decrease for every industry. For example, turnover in 2020 was 57.3%, making it 20% higher than the previous year. 

According to Built In, average retention rates range from 70-90%. 

Following this logic, a good retention rate is somewhere above 75%. But for frontline organizations that deal with restaurant and retail, a retention rate above 50% is also decent. 

Final thoughts: how to find your employee retention rate

Calculating your employee retention is an important metric while running your business. It can tell you a lot about how your employees feel at your company. 

The same is true for turnover rate as that lets you know where the fault lies.

Use both metrics to get a complete picture of your business and employ retention strategies to keep your top talent around. 

If you’re looking for a new way to keep your employees engaged, Blink is an all-in-one employee communications app that can help you stay connected to your employees and boost retention. 

9 ways to boost employee engagement in manufacturing organizations

The manufacturing industry has an engagement problem. Just 25% of manufacturing employees are engaged at work, making it one of the least engaged occupations in the US.

Employee engagement is the extent to which workers feel satisfied with their jobs and are aligned with organizational values. It also influences how able and willing they are to give 100% to their work. 

So the stat above is worrying. But it also presents an untapped opportunity for forward-thinking firms.

When you improve employee engagement, you create a stronger connection between employee and organization. This leads to better retention, productivity, and business results.

With Deloitte’s 2024 Manufacturing Industry Outlook listing skilled staff shortages as one of the industry’s primary challenges over the coming year, there’s never been a better time to put an employee engagement strategy into action.

Take a look at our ideas for manufacturing employee engagement to swim against the tide, attract additional employees and motivate the ones you already have.  

The importance of employee engagement in manufacturing

It is without question that employee engagement is important to every organization in every industry.

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Engagement has a direct impact on talent acquisition and retention. Staff are less likely to take time off sick and productivity sees a 14% uptick. Happier, more satisfied staff produce better, more cost-effective results for your company.

But in manufacturing, employee engagement can help you to overcome a range of industry-specific challenges. There’s a link between manufacturing employee engagement and all of the following:

• Quality management – engaged employees care more about company goals – they’re more likely to spot and report quality issues
• Safety and risk management – engaged employees pay more attention to the critical comms sent out, which can often include safety and risk management documents. Engaged employees also hold themselves accountable for their impact on the team and work environment, which will lead them to paying more attention to health and safety. 
• Customer experience – there’s a link between employee experience (EX) and customer experience CX) – engaged employees manufacture better products and provide a better service
• Business results – when quality, safety, and CX improve, you improve overall business results – costs go down, sales go up

Key factors influencing employee engagement in manufacturing

If you want to improve the manufacturing employee experience at your organization, you need a strategy. This plan sets out how every part of your company – not just your HR team – is going to work together to improve engagement.

Your strategy should also consider the key factors that affect employee engagement in the manufacturing workplace.  

Communication

Internal communication within a manufacturing organization can be tricky. 

To start, the majority of manufacturing frontline employees don’t have business emails. This creates an initial barrier to cross —of how to even communicate with these workers. 

Then you have teams in the office and on the factory floor, plus a variety of login, language, and time constraints. To give updates on safety protocols and equipment issues, and to share company culture, you need communication channels that deliver the right information to every employee.

The physical work environment

Your workplace should be a safe and comfortable environment for employees. Equipment and protocols have to support the physical wellbeing of workers. And staff need easy-access communication channels so they can report hazards and safety concerns.

Training and development  

Training and development are key in a fast-changing sector like manufacturing. So employees can deliver products to the expected standard. And so you can retain more of your workers by giving them new challenges and a clear career path.

Manufacturing employees are often responsible for repetitive tasks. And it can be hard for them to see how their work fits into the bigger picture. Workplace leaders bring meaning to employee work by recognizing their efforts and sharing company goals and values.  

9 ways to improve employee engagement in manufacturing

Looking to improve employee engagement at your manufacturing firm? The following ideas will help you enhance the employee experience and reap business rewards.

1. Invest in technology

AI, automation, robotics – manufacturing tech is coming on leaps and bounds. But technology doesn’t just improve manufacturing processes. You can use it to boost employee engagement, too.

An employee app like Blink supports easy communication across your organization. As a mobile-first solution, available via smartphone, you can put mandatory reads, new safety protocols, and essential company updates at the fingertips of every employee.

You also bring together the tech tools your teams already use. With next-level integration capabilities, Blink puts information and resources in one easy-access location. You provide a friction-free, user-friendly interface that your employees enjoy using.

Technology streamlines work – and keeps employees in the loop. Just be sure to choose tools suited to both frontline and desk-based workers, and accessible for those with a company email or without. In doing so, you create an equitable working environment and raise the engagement bar for everyone.

2. Open communication

In workplaces that prioritize honesty, personal openness, and mutual respect, workers are 80% more likely to report high emotional wellbeing. Open communication helps keep employees happy.

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You can put the rumor mill out of action and adopt a more open communication style by letting information move freely between all members of your organization:

• Leaders keep employees in the loop, sharing key updates and supporting workers to understand the bigger picture.
• Managers have an open-door policy and regularly connect with their employees, offering feedback, updates, and – crucially – listening to what they have to say, too.
• Workers are encouraged to contribute – they collaborate with each other and feel comfortable raising issues and ideas with decision-makers

So how do you make this kind of communication a reality within your manufacturing organization?

Firstly, you need the right communication channels. These should be suited to your way of working and link every member of the workforce. In a large, modern workplace, a noticeboard crammed with paper memos simply won’t cut it.

Secondly, leaders need to leave egos at the door. Open communication means sometimes hearing things you don’t want to hear. Remember that negative feedback is often more valuable than good as it highlights areas for improvement. And encourage managers to lead by example.

Lastly, bear in mind that open communication can be taught. So train employees in information sharing, active listening, empathy, and teamwork. Teach them which communication channels are the most appropriate – and how often they should be using them. 

3. Translation capabilities

Most manufacturing organizations have a diverse, multinational workforce. And many frontline employees don’t speak English as a first language. So if you’re not already translating company comms, this is a really easy way to boost employee engagement across the board.

Resources, information, and internal communication should be available in the languages your workforce speaks. That way everyone receives the same message and enjoys equal access to information. This also eliminates the bottleneck that managers create, having to be the translator themselves and spending their hours on managing the communication channels that their employees don’t have access to.

For example,The Blink app supports over 100 languages. Contributors can translate posts and resources at the click of a button, making all of your content accessible to everyone on your team, regardless of the language they prefer to use.

With effective, accurate translation, you get everyone on the same page – and include everyone in your company culture.

4. Recognition programs

Recognition makes employees feel valued. When you appreciate and reward employees who go above and beyond, you motivate them and inspire other employees to follow suit.

So when an employee hits a professional or personal milestone, when someone highlights a safety issue before it becomes a hazard, or when a team consistently meets their targets, give them the public recognition they deserve. And encourage co-workers to praise one another, too.

You can give recognition in company meetings, on the blog, or in the newsletter. Or ensure you reach every member of staff with recognition updates by using a digital solution like Blink.

With Blink’s recognition feature, you can post instant, personalized messages to highlight staff achievements. You add a recognition post to the company news feed and start building recognition into your company culture in just a few clicks.

Praise goes a long way. But you may also like to consider perks and prizes. Gift vouchers, an extra paid day’s leave, or a catered team lunch can all incentivize your teams. For manufacturing firm, JFE Shoji Power, sweepstake competition prizes helped them to fill overtime shifts.  

But before you put a reward program into place, survey your staff. Find out what they really want in terms of recognition and reward. That way your recognition program stands to make the most impact.

5. Opportunities for advancement

It’s not just your office-based team who are keen to advance in their careers. 70% of frontline employees have applied for advancement opportunities. But this group doesn’t always get the resources or support they need to move up the career ladder.

When you’re looking to improve employee engagement in a manufacturing organization, allowing all employees to learn and advance within their roles is crucial. It gives employees something to work towards and feel excited about. And it makes them much more invested in doing a good job.

There are lots of things you can do to support career growth.

• Map out clear career goals with employees, offering training and mentor support to help them achieve them
• Give workers more responsibility during the standard work day, encouraging them to take ownership and make decisions where appropriate
• Cross-train and rotate jobs to bring variety to an employee’s workplace experience
• Ensure everyone is aware of training and career opportunities within your organization, highlighting typical career pathways and the perks of promotion

6. Regular, two-way feedback

As we mentioned earlier, open communication is an important part of employee engagement. You can facilitate this type of interaction by providing regular opportunities for two-way feedback.

Regular 1-to-1s between employees and managers help to maintain open lines of communication. These meetings are an opportunity to align goals, resolve conflicts, and identify areas for development.

Crucially, employees get the chance to raise queries and issues, too. They can provide insight into the manufacturing employee experience and any challenges they’re currently facing.

Just remember, this type of interaction needs to take place regularly, not just once or twice a year. To build trusting, open relationships, you need to build this type of communication into every single week.

That means managers spending time on the factory floor, seeing for themselves what excites, challenges, and frustrates workers. It means creating impromptu feedback opportunities. And it means using digital solutions to make feedback and communication easy, even when managers and workers aren’t based in the same location.

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7. Create a safe environment

The manufacturing industry in the US has some of the highest rates of occupational injury and illness. But you don’t get high rates of manufacturing employee engagement unless staff feel safe at work.

When employees feel safe:

• They can focus on their work
• They feel a greater sense of morale
• They feel valued and supported
• They trust in workplace leadership

Prioritize workplace safety and you also create a virtuous circle. Safe environments lead to better employee engagement. And engaged employees help to improve workplace safety going forward. There are 70% fewer safety incidents in the most engaged workplace environments than there are in the least.

Leaders and managers should regularly reassess the safety performance of equipment and protective wear. Careful plant design can help to mitigate safety risks, while clear risk assessment and safety protocols help workers identify and rectify issues before they lead to a safety incident.

But workplace safety isn’t just about having the right equipment and protocols. It’s about fostering a company culture with safety at its core.

To do this, you need psychological safety in addition to physical safety. This is where people feel safe voicing their opinions because they’re not worried about being judged, blamed, or punished.

Give employees a sense of psychological safety – and the right communication tools – and they’ll be more likely to report safety issues. Digital tools, rather than pen and paper methods, help safety information to travel both ways, reaching decision-makers and factory floor workers quickly.

8. Invest in training and onboarding

Manufacturing processes are prone to change. Employees need to keep their knowledge of tech and equipment, as well as their skills, up-to-date. This helps to create a safe environment for everyone working on the manufacturing team. And it boosts employee engagement, too.

Research from 2023 reveals that:

• 71% of manufacturing employees say that training and development is important to them in their work life
• 35% say they aren’t getting the quality of training and development they expect
• 28% said they would leave their employer soon because of poor training and skills development

Onboarding is not to be overlooked either. When new hires start working for a company, there’s lots to learn. Safety protocols. How to use equipment. Company values. Who they can turn to for feedback and support.  

Some organizations, lacking manpower, don’t put enough time and effort into onboarding. But this is where you lay the foundations of employee experience. And it can make or break an employee’s engagement with your firm.  

You can maximize onboarding benefits without spreading their staff too thin, with the help of a digital onboarding process.

Employees access guides, rules, and resources via the company portal. They can refer back to resources as and when they need them. It’s also easy for your teams to update resources with the most up-to-date information.

Managers and co-workers can then supplement this online learning with face-to-face input ensuring a positive experience for new employees.

9. Implement employee surveys

You can never really be sure how your staff are feeling unless you ask. So before you implement an employee engagement strategy for your manufacturing organization, it makes sense to conduct surveys.

As well as listening to employee concerns during manager 1-to-1s, surveys allow employees to give feedback on specific aspects of their role and on what they feel could be better within the organization.

Follow up with a regular schedule of surveys and you build a complete picture of the employee experience:

• Annual surveys give you insight into employee engagement progress
• Quick and easy pulse surveys give you an up-to-the-minute snapshot of employee sentiment
• Lifecycle surveys help you understand the challenges facing employees at each stage in their journey

To get feedback from as many employees as possible, you need to communicate openly. Tell employees about the insights your surveys have uncovered. And share your plan for acting upon their feedback as well as any results.

By engaging employees in every stage of the feedback process, they’re much more likely to respond next time you send out a survey request.  

You’ve read the tips. Now get some real-life inspiration! Aggregate Industries has already put these employee engagement tips into action. Find out how this manufacturing firm improved digital engagement across their frontline with Blink. Watch the webinar now.

In conclusion

In manufacturing, employee engagement can be transformational. When you improve the employee experience, you improve product quality, workplace safety, and customer service. You also find it easier to attract and retain staff in a tough labor market.

In an engaged workplace, information flows between all members of your workforce. Work is more meaningful thanks to clear company values and a sense of the bigger picture. Employees are empowered to do their best work, every day.

Getting to this point may feel like a challenge, particularly if you haven’t given much thought to employee engagement up to this point. But it’s a lot easier to make engagement improvements when you harness the power of technology.

With the help of a mobile-first employee app, you connect every employee, from your HQ office to the factory floor, regardless of their access to a company email or not. You can conduct surveys, give recognition, and provide easy-access training resources. You can translate information into a variety of languages.

Get an employee app on your team and you’ll find it easy to reach and engage every member of staff, whatever their preferred language and whatever their role.

Digital tools are transforming the way organizations build and sustain employee engagement. Platforms like Blink, Workvivo, Staffbase, and Reward Gateway are helping teams stay connected, improve communication, and bring company culture to life — wherever employees work.

But with so many employee engagement tools on the market, choosing the right one can be tricky. The wrong platform can waste time, hurt adoption, and even reduce engagement.

Getting it right matters. Companies with highly engaged teams are more productive and see up to 23% higher profitability. The best employee engagement software goes beyond simple communication — it connects people, recognizes great work, and supports a shared sense of purpose.

Every organization is different. The tools that work for a remote or office-based workforce may not suit a frontline team. That’s why it’s important to align your engagement goals with the right platform.

You’ll find software built for:

• Frontline employees — mobile-first apps like Blink that keep workers connected on the go
  
  
• Remote teams — tools such as Asana and Slack that combine communication and project management
  
  
• Office-based teams — platforms like Culture Amp and OfficeVibe that measure engagement and feedback
  

And others that specialize in areas such as:

• Communication and collaboration
• Feedback and performance
• Wellbeing and productivity
• Rewards and recognition
  

Choosing the right solution depends on your people and your priorities — because engagement software only works when it works for everyone.

For frontline organizations, this is especially true. Most engagement platforms are still built with desk-based employees in mind. Only 1 in 10 frontline workers says they have access to the tools and technology they need to connect and advance at work — even though they make up 82% of the global workforce.

Without easy access to company updates, communication, and recognition, frontline employees can quickly feel disconnected and undervalued.

That’s why your employee engagement solution needs to work for all employees — wherever and however they work.

In the next section, we’ll look at the best employee engagement software for 2026 — from all-in-one employee apps like Blink to specialized tools for communication, wellbeing, and recognition.

Let’s take a closer look.

Best employee engagement app for frontline organizations

Frontline employees are the backbone of many industries — from transportation and retail to healthcare and hospitality. But engaging this workforce comes with unique challenges. Many frontline employees don’t have regular access to company systems, email, or desktop devices, making it harder for them to stay informed and connected.

That’s why mobile-first employee engagement software has become essential. The best platforms for frontline teams combine communication, recognition, and real-time updates in one easy-to-use app.

These tools close the gap between head office and the field, helping every employee — regardless of location — feel included in company culture.

Below are some of the best employee engagement tools for frontline workers in 2026, starting with Blink, a leading all-in-one platform designed specifically for deskless and distributed teams.

Best employee engagement software for frontline workers

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Blink

When it comes to engaging a dispersed, frontline workforce, few tools match what Blink delivers.

Blink is a mobile-first employee engagement platform built to help organizations connect with every worker — whether they’re in the field, on the factory floor, or on the move. Used by teams across industries such as transport, healthcare, logistics, and construction, Blink turns everyday communication into connection.

Employees can easily chat with colleagues, access company updates, view schedules, and complete essential tasks all in one place. The result: better communication, stronger engagement, and a more unified culture.

Managers benefit, too. Blink’s analytics dashboard helps leaders track engagement and performance trends, identify communication gaps, and celebrate wins through built-in recognition tools.

Key features include:

• All-in-one communication: Peer-to-peer chat, team groups, and company-wide updates keep everyone aligned.
  
  
• Employee recognition: Built-in recognition features highlight great work and reinforce culture.
  
  
• Engagement surveys: Pulse surveys provide quick, actionable insights into morale and satisfaction.
  
  
• Analytics and insights: Track usage, engagement, and content performance to inform strategy.
  
  
• Seamless integrations: Connect scheduling, HR, and project management tools for a single digital workspace.
  
  
• Mobile-first design: Works on any smartphone — no corporate email required.

With Blink, your entire workforce can access the same tools and information, creating a seamless digital experience that keeps everyone connected, informed, and motivated.

Capterra score: 4.6 (114 reviews)

Pricing: Available upon request

Request a demo today to see how Blink can transform engagement across your frontline teams.

Best employee engagement software for desk-based remote workers

If you're looking for employee engagement software platforms suited to desk-based remote workers, here are some excellent options.

Google Chat

Google Chat is a communication platform that includes features like video and voice calls, and group chat. It's a great option for workplace communication and it's free to use.

As you’d expect, this tool integrates with the rest of the Google suite, including Google Calendar, Drive, Groups, and Gmail. But it lacks some of the advanced features you tend to get with paid tools.

Reviews from Capterra note that Google Chat is easy to use. It also provides good collaboration tools. However, the interface can be frustrating, message delivery can be an issue, and notifications can be challenging to navigate.

Capterra score: 4.5 (2,302 reviews)

Pricing: Monthly pricing for Google Chat for business starts at $6 per user.

Discord

Discord is a chat app designed for gamers. But it’s recently been used for workplace communication, too. It includes features like voice and video chat, so you can easily connect and communicate with colleagues.

You can use Discord for free, making it a basic but cost-effective tool for internal communications, especially in a remote working environment.

Capterra score: 4.7 (434 reviews)

Pricing: Many of Discord’s features are free to use. For businesses that want to invest in extra perks, Discord’s premium tier, “Nitro,” is available for $99 per year.  

Asana

Asana is a popular project management tool that can also be used for employee engagement. With Asana, you can easily create and assign tasks, track task progress, and set team priorities. You can also use Asana to create custom projects for easy employee collaboration.

Asana makes a great option for remote teams, in part because it offers a mobile app for easy access to tasks and progress data. This helps to ensure that employees are working cohesively and effectively wherever they’re based.

Reviews from Capterra note that while Asana offers a clean, intuitive, and integrated interface, notifications are often missed, automatic opt-in to email notifications can be annoying, and the different projects and access features can be confusing.

Capterra score: 4.5 (12,648 reviews)

Pricing: Monthly pricing for Asana starts at a basic free plan. A business plan costs $24.99 per user per month when billed annually.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a cloud-based collaboration and project management tool and it’s a good option for those looking to improve remote employee engagement.

Key features include task assignments and statuses, alerts, and a task toolbar. But while ClickUp does well in terms of task management, it doesn’t offer a full range of employee engagement tools.

This platform lacks features relating to real-time communication, employee recognition, and social interaction. So you’re likely to need additional software.

Capterra score: 4.6 (4,135 reviews)

Pricing: ClickUp offers a free version. Monthly pricing for a Business plan costs $12 per user per month.

WorkTango

WorkTango is an employee experience platform with a number of solutions for employee engagement. It provides tools like employee surveys, real-time analytics, rewards, and recognition.

You can also see how your engagement scores rank against other WorkTango customers to get a better sense of how you’re doing.

On Capterra, users say that anonymous feedback and anonymous employee chat allow for truly honest conversations. Clients also praise recognition features. However, some users would like better reporting tools and easier platform navigation. 

Capterra score: 4.9 (144 reviews)

Pricing: Pricing is available on request.

Leapsome

Leapsome is a good employee engagement tool for goal setting and employee development.

It’s designed to support organizations to create high-performing teams. You can use Leapsome to track and collaborate on goals, run 360-degree reviews, and create personalized learning pathways.

With lots of tools for remote teams, Leapsome helps maintain employee progress even when employees aren’t in the office. The software also offers video conferencing tools, which make it easy to collaborate on agendas and align action plans.

Capterra score: 4.7 (62 reviews)

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

Slack

Slack is a great productivity tool for remote office workers. It helps you to organize teams and their work, with the help of channels, huddles, and a workflow builder.

However, it's worth noting that Slack doesn't provide much in the way of scheduling, performance tracking, or survey features. If these tools are essential to your organization, you’ll need to use Slack plus another employee engagement platform.

Reviews from Capterra note that Slack’s user interface is easy to use. They like channel and plugin features. They also appreciate having all work conversations in one place.

However, reviews also note that it can be a confusing platform to use, with lots of channels across different teams. Adoption can also be difficult if people are not familiar with the software.

Capterra score: 4.7 (23,231 reviews)

Pricing: For multiple employees, monthly pricing for Slack starts at $6.67 per user.

Best employee engagement software for desk-based office workers

Now, let’s take a look at the tech tools best suited to office worker engagement.

OfficeVibe

OfficeVibe is a “people-first” employee experience platform, with a number of employee engagement features designed for the office.

It helps employers to assess and improve employee engagement levels with robust measurement tools. It also provides an app so you can track progress on the go if needed.

Reviews from Capterra note that OfficeVibe is an innovative tool that helps organizations better understand employee happiness. The company also provides strong customer service.

However, managers complain that survey questions can’t be customized and that insights don’t go deep enough. They also say that the Slack integration doesn’t work too well and that setup can be confusing.

Capterra score: 4.6 (51 reviews)

Pricing: Monthly pricing for OfficeVibe ranges from a free version to a $5 per user Pro Plan.

SurveyMonkey

By using employee satisfaction survey tools like SurveyMonkey, you can collect regular feedback from employees on their engagement levels. This real-time feedback can help you to identify problem areas and take steps to improve employee engagement in your organization.

As well as survey templates, SurveyMonkey offers reporting and analytics features that help you spot data trends and insights. It also uses AI to reveal employee sentiment.

Capterra score: 4.6 (9,991 reviews)

Pricing: For over three users, monthly pricing for SurveyMonkey starts at $31.83 per user.

Doodle

Employee polls are a quick and easy way to collect anonymous feedback from employees on a range of topics. You can use employee poll tools from Doodle to gather feedback on everything from engagement levels to job satisfaction.

But Doodle does more than polls. It also provides meeting, video conferencing, and scheduling tools. You can even poll meeting attendees to find a time that works for everyone and improve attendance.

Capterra score: 4.6 (1785 reviews)

Pricing: Monthly pricing for Doodle Professional starts at $6.95 per user.

Monday.com

Monday.com is a project management tool that can also be used for employee engagement.

With Monday.com, you can create and assign tasks, track progress, and more. You can also use it to create performance tracking templates for employees. This can help you to identify areas where employees need improvement and take steps to address them.

On Capterra, Monday.com users say that the platform’s project management tools are excellent. But others complain that the backend of the platform is complicated and involves a steep learning curve.

Capterra score: 4.6 (4,816 reviews)

Pricing: For more than two employees, monthly pricing for Monday.com starts at $8 per user per month.

Culture Amp

Culture Amp’s employee engagement platform provides over 40 science-backed survey templates. You can use these surveys to find out how employees feel about engagement, belonging, inclusion, and more.

The platform also uses AI-powered insights to summarize employee engagement findings, supporting your business to make data-backed decisions.

Reviews from Capterra say that Culture Amp has a user-friendly user interface. They also praise the platform’s ready-to-go survey templates.

But users don’t like having to rely on the Culture Amp support team to update some parts of the platform. They also say that — while survey features are strong — features like the objective and key results (OKR) module aren’t as well-developed. 

Capterra score: 4.7 (137 reviews)

Pricing: Pricing is available on request.

A few more employee engagement software tools

The following tools specialize in one area of employee engagement. As such, they make a great add-on to your chosen staff engagement tool.

At Blink, our App Marketplace integrates all the tools you need to manage your employee engagement in one place. If we don't already integrate with your app, just ask!

Kudos

Kudos is an add-on app that allows employees to give and receive recognition in real time. With Kudos, you can create a culture of recognition where employees feel appreciated for their hard work.

Capterra score: 4.8 (1,084 reviews)

Pricing: Monthly pricing for Kudos starts at $3.25 per user.

Friday

Friday is an app that makes it easy to give employees recognition for a job well done. With Friday, you can give employees badges, points, and rewards to show your appreciation.

Capterra score: 5 (1 review)

Pricing: Friday has a free version. Monthly pricing goes up to $100+ for company plans.

Bonusly

Bonusly is another dedicated employee recognition tool. Bonusly supports peer recognition, allowing employees to give each other bonuses in the form of points that can be redeemed for rewards. By using Bonusly, you can create a culture of appreciation and recognition throughout your workforce.

Capterra score: 4.8 (1,586 reviews)

Pricing: Monthly pricing options for Bonusly starts at $2.70 per user.

Limeade Wellbeing

Employee wellbeing programs, like those on offer from Limeade, go hand in hand with employee engagement programs. Because when employees feel healthier, happier, and less stressed, they have the headspace they need to engage with their work.

Limeade provides customized employee wellness programs. These programs encourage participation and deliver essential wellbeing resources via one handy tool.

With this tool, you can also listen and respond to your workforce in real time through anonymous surveys, polls, and quizzes. All that’s really missing from this system is strong employee communication tools.

Capterra score: 0.0 (Zero reviews)

Pricing: Pricing is available on request.

WeThrive

WeThrive is an employee engagement tool designed to support the mental health of desk-based workers. With this platform, you can create surveys to assess employee wellbeing and then take action to improve it.

WeThrive analytics allow you to segment survey results by team, tenure, location, department, and manager. This makes it easy to identify the root causes of poor wellbeing and identify areas for improvement.

Capterra score: 4.7 (37 reviews)

Pricing: Pricing is available on request.

Reward Gateway

Reward Gateway is an employee engagement solution that offers employee discounts, employee rewards and recognition, and tools for employee communications.

This combined platform is a great tool for office-based employers looking to boost employee recognition, with features such as discounts and rewards accessible in one place.

Reviews from Capterra note that Reward Gateway is flexible and easy to use. But it can be glitchy, with reporting features sometimes not running properly and some features failing to run as smoothly as others.

Capterra score: 4.5 (319 reviews)

Pricing: Monthly pricing for Reward Gateway starts at $10.19 per user.

Weekdone

For structured goal setting, Weekdone is an excellent choice. It’s a top-rated OKR platform that allows you to track weekly plans and progress, provide feedback, and get everyone pulling in the same direction.

OKR software can also be used to ensure that remote employees have clear objectives, with performance reviews and goal tracking. 

Capterra score: 4.5 (61 reviews)

Pricing: For more than three employees, monthly pricing for Weekdone is $8 per user.

Awardco

Awardco is another bonus tool that makes recognizing and rewarding people easier and more effective.

With Awardco, employers can set up reward and recognition programs that their employees can access from any device. You can tailor incentives to your teams, ensuring the prizes on offer act as real motivation.

This tool is a good option for office-based companies of all sizes looking to increase employee satisfaction and engage with their workforce to boost productivity.

Capterra score: 4.9 (4,560 reviews)

Pricing: Pricing for Awardco ranges from $2,500 to $4,000 per year.

QuizBreaker

QuizBreaker is a virtual team-building tool. It works well for both office-based and dispersed teams, bringing a bit of gamification to the work day.

Key features of QuizBreaker include:

• a scheduled icebreaker quiz that helps employees get to know each other better
• escape games and 1,000+ trivia quizzes for fun team-building events
• employee profiles that reveal work style, unique strengths, and fun facts
• pulse surveys to help you get regular feedback from employees

QuizBreaker isn’t an all-in-one employee engagement tool. But this platform helps teams to bond and brings a little fun to your workplace culture.  

Capterra score: Not found in Capterra database.
‍Pricing: Monthly pricing for QuizBreaker starts at $3 per user.

Motivosity

Motivosity is employee recognition software that makes it easy for managers to give recognition and rewards.

Motivosity’s “Thanks Matters” card is an innovative way of rewarding employees. Like Bonusly, you assign points for great performance. These points directly translate into cash, which employees can access via a special Visa debit card.

They can choose from hundreds of reward options. You can even add your own gifts such as branded swag or lunch with the CEO. Employees can also choose to forgo cash rewards in order to make charitable donations.

Capterra score: 4.8 (1,053 reviews)

Pricing: Pricing is available on request.

Key employee engagement software features to prioritize in 2026

When choosing the right employee engagement software for your organization, focus on the features that will help you overcome your biggest engagement challenges. The right combination of tools can improve communication, morale, and productivity across every level of your workforce.

Channels and chats

Communication is the foundation of engagement. Real-time chat features — including group channels, private messages, and announcements — ensure employees stay in the loop and can collaborate quickly, wherever they work.

Surveys, polls, and content analytics

Platforms with built-in surveys, polls, and analytics help you measure engagement levels, gather employee sentiment, and identify emerging issues before they become major problems. This data ensures every employee has a voice and helps leaders take action with confidence.

Employee recognition

Recognition tools — such as kudos, badges, or points systems — make it easy to celebrate achievements and highlight great work. This simple feature goes a long way toward strengthening motivation, morale, and a sense of belonging.

Analytics and dashboards

For organizations managing distributed or frontline teams, analytics functions are essential. They allow you to measure engagement, retention, and satisfaction while uncovering insights into how employees interact with leadership and one another. These insights drive continuous improvement in your employee experience strategy.

A main feed or hub

A centralized hub — or main company feed — brings all updates, videos, documents, and announcements together in one place. This consolidation creates a single source of truth, keeping employees informed and aligned with your company’s goals.

At Blink, our frontline employee app brings all of these features together. With tools for chat, recognition, surveys, analytics, and communication, Blink helps you overcome common engagement challenges and connect every employee — from the frontline to the office.

The business benefits of digital employee engagement tools

Digital engagement tools require an upfront investment — both financially and in time. But the return on that investment is substantial. The right software encourages participation, builds connection, and creates a culture employees want to be part of.

Below are the five key business benefits of using digital employee engagement software.

#1. Reduce employee turnover and save on recruitment costs

When engagement goes up, turnover goes down. Highly engaged business units experience 51% lower employee turnover, and companies with strong engagement see 23% higher overall profitability.

Engaged employees are more likely to stay with your organization, reducing the cost of recruitment and training. According to SHRM, hiring a new employee can cost three to four times the position’s salary, making engagement one of the most effective retention strategies available.

Digital tools strengthen this connection by amplifying company culture and ensuring all employees can participate fully — leading to a happier, more loyal workforce.

#2. Strengthen company culture through digital engagement platforms

In today’s competitive labor market, salary alone isn’t enough to retain top talent. Engaged employees are motivated by purpose, belonging, and appreciation.

The 2024 O.C. Tanner Global Culture Report found that strong company culture rests on six pillars:

1. Purpose
   
   
2. Opportunity
   
   
3. Success
   
   
4. Appreciation
   
   
5. Wellbeing
   
   
6. Leadership
   
   

Digital engagement tools help reinforce these pillars by improving communication, supporting growth, and enabling public recognition. The right platform makes culture tangible — connecting leadership, values, and everyday work.

#3. Improve internal communication with employee engagement software

Two-way communication is critical for engagement. Modern tools help you deliver the right message to the right people — whether through audience segmentation, targeted updates, or role-based notifications.

These platforms also make it easier to track the effectiveness of communication. With built-in analytics, you can see how employees interact with content and refine your messaging to increase engagement and clarity across the organization.

#4. Use analytics to understand and improve employee engagement

Feedback is the backbone of a strong employee engagement strategy. Without it, leaders can’t identify what’s working or where improvements are needed.

Employee engagement software with advanced reporting provides actionable insights. You can see how satisfied employees are, how frequently they engage with company updates, and where there are communication or experience gaps.

With Blink, for example, you can access detailed data on engagement, satisfaction, and retention — helping you identify frontline challenges early and respond faster.

#5. Boost productivity with connected employee engagement platforms

Disconnected tools slow teams down. Employees lose valuable time switching between apps, searching for information, and handling repetitive admin tasks.

A unified engagement platform streamlines these processes. By digitizing workflows, automating basic tasks, and connecting every workplace app in one place, you free up employees to focus on meaningful, high-impact work.

Blink’s connected platform helps teams stay organized and productive — from digitized HR processes to mobile-friendly task management — improving both individual and organizational performance.

“Dear Employee, your GTK forms are now Available in the YTG portal, Please fill them by Thu so they can be processed by MONDAY. Thank you!!!!”  

Internal messages like these are liable to confuse your audience.

Grammar mistakes, inconsistent capitalization, and workplace jargon make internal communications confusing. A lack of personalization and an ill-defined tone of voice make it unengaging.

The result? Your audience doesn’t understand your message — or chooses to ignore it because it holds no interest.

We know that ineffective communication costs businesses up to $15,000 per employee per year. So consistent, effective, and engaging communication has to be the standard.

An internal communication style guide helps your communicators post content that ticks all these boxes. Let’s look at what a style guide is — and how to create one — so you can ensure clear employee communication and a positive employer brand image.

What is a business communication style guide?

A business communication style guide is a document that details the content and writing standards you want internal communicators to stick to.

It includes rules on things like grammar, formatting, writing style, word choice, and tone of voice. It offers guidance on how to make content more interesting, relevant, and easy to digest. It may also provide information on how to create and format multimedia content.

Your internal communicators can refer to these standards whenever they create content, ensuring that everything is kept consistent, no matter who is writing or posting.

This makes your internal messages easier for employees to understand. It also supports your internal communication strategy. Because when employees are used to receiving clear and relevant messages, they’re much less likely to switch off from employee communications.

A style guide keeps everyone on the same page at all times. And it embeds a shared understanding of internal content creation throughout your company.

How to write your internal communication style guide: a template

Internal messages should be as concise as possible. The same goes for your internal communication style guide.

Nobody in your company wants to spend hours reading through a list of rules before they publish an internal communication message. So don’t be tempted to write reams.

It may help to look at style guide examples and templates — like the one we’ve included here — as inspiration. There’s broad consensus on what good internal messaging looks like. So most style guides contain a lot of the same information.

However, you will need to add company-specific guidance relating to your brand personality, tone of voice, and any particular language you want to use or avoid.

With all that in mind, here are the basic components you’ll need to include in your workplace communication style guide, along with some tips.

Introduction

The first section of a style guide is the introduction. It explains the basics of the guide, like how to use it, why it’s important, and what it includes.

The VA.gov style guide hits on all these points. It provides a straightforward experience for everyone, regardless of whether they’re viewing the guide for the first or tenth time.

To ensure people can use your guide as a reference, create a list of contents and use linked subheadings. That way, users can jump straight to the information they need.

A few internal communication principles

A good business communication style guide doesn’t just cover specific rules for workers to follow. It also shares the underlying internal communication principles behind those rules.

With knowledge of these principles, content creators can make the right editorial call, even in situations the guidelines don’t cover.

Here are some of the golden rules to include for content creators in your internal communication style guide.

Stick to the four Cs: Internal communication should be correct, clear, concise, and conversational. So fact check each piece of content. Ensure your primary message shines through. Say what you want to say in as few words as possible. And write in a way that reflects how real people talk to one another — using everyday words and phrases.

Understand your audience: Plan your content before you start writing. As you form an outline, ask yourself:

• What are the key things you want to convey?
• Who is this message for?
• What will the target audience want to know?
• What is their likely state of mind when consuming the content?

This will help you write cohesive content that gets to the point and answers employee questions.

Be clear and helpful: Break down complex messages into simple, bite-size chunks. Put the most important piece of information at the start of your content. Also, break up paragraphs and sentences to make them more digestible for readers.

Make it human: It’s much easier to connect with individual people than with an inanimate organization. So use words like “we” instead of your company name. And use the word “you” to talk to employees directly.

X Blink is looking for employees who want to volunteer with a local charity.

✓ We’re looking for employees who want to volunteer with a local charity.

X Employees can get involved by clicking this link.

✓ You can get involved by clicking this link.

Write inclusively: Only refer to a person’s disability, age, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation if it’s relevant to the context of your content.

Grammar and punctuation

The third part of your internal communication style guide is all about the mechanics of writing.

Of course, you can’t cover every single grammar rule here. But you can give guidance regarding the most common grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Here are some ideas.

Ampersands: Don’t use ampersands (&), whether in titles, subtitles or the body of a message. Use the full word “and”.

Commas: Don’t forget to add the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma), in lists of three or more items.

X In his award speech, Tom Cruise mentioned his parents, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese.

✓ In his award speech, Tom Cruise mentioned his parents, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

Contractions: Contractions make your writing feel less formal. So use them in all your internal communications.

X We will have more news for you soon.

✓ We’ll have more news for you soon.

Be careful with common contraction errors. Writers often confuse “its” with “it’s”.

“Its” is used to show possession:

• The HR team has its away day on Monday.

“It’s” represents the phrase “it is”:

• It’s the HR team away day on Monday.

Also, avoid non-standard contractions like “should’ve” and “would’ve”.

Exclamation marks: Some writers are prone to using lots of exclamation marks. This can come across as overly informal or a little aggressive. However, the occasional exclamation mark can make a message seem more friendly. Be clear on whether and where you want communicators to use them.

Accuracy and spelling: Ensure that your content is free from errors. Use a spell-checker to catch mistakes you might have overlooked. And proofread everything before submitting it for publication or distribution.

Style and formatting

Style and formatting are all about how you want communicators to use language — and how you want them to present their message on the page.

Acronyms and abbreviations: These can cause confusion, particularly for new employees. So try to avoid them. When absolutely necessary, write the full version of the acronym or abbreviation the first time it appears in a piece of text.

For example:

• The customer experience (CX) team achieved their target this quarter.

Then use the acronym or abbreviation throughout the rest of the text.

In some cases, when an acronym or abbreviation is commonly used in the English language, you don’t need to spell the full word out.

Some examples: Mr, Ms, Ph.D

Capitalization: Use sentence case capitalization for page titles, subheadings, text links, and buttons.

X The Ultimate Internal Communication Style Guide

✓ The ultimate internal communication style guide

Remember that proper nouns (names of specific people, places, or organizations) are always capitalized, wherever they appear. And ALL CAPS should be avoided at all costs. They make a reader feel like you’re shouting at them. 

Dates and times: Dates are displayed differently in different countries. To avoid any confusion, write dates in their full format.

X 11/12/2026

✓ November 12, 2026

Don’t abbreviate days of the week or months of the year. For example, write “Monday” not “Mon” and “January” not “Jan”.  Also, write noon and midnight, rather than 12:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m.

Bullet lists: Bullet lists make content easier to scan and understand. If there are three or more concepts in a sentence, try putting them in a bullet list instead.

When writing bullet lists:

• Capitalize the first letter of each bullet point
• Keep each list item short (no more than one or two lines)
• Use a parallel structure (start each point in the same way —for example, with a verb or a noun)

Links: The links you include in your content should feel natural and intuitive. They should show readers where to click and where the link will take them.

When creating links:

• Use descriptive language
• Hyperlink the most relevant text
• Avoid making the hyperlinked text too long

Headings and subheadings: Use headers and subheads to organize your content. This breaks text up and makes it easier to read.

Paragraphs and sentences: Keep the majority of your sentences and paragraphs short. Long blocks of text can be overwhelming for a reader, particularly if they’re reading content on a small mobile device screen. 

Here’s a quick rule of thumb:

• No more than 25 words in a sentence
• No more than three sentences in a paragraph

Numbers, weights, and measures: Write numbers one to nine as words. Write numbers 10, 11, 12, and so on as numerals. Write out fractions as words, using hyphens. For example, two-thirds or three-quarters.

Decide whether to write out or abbreviate weights, measures, and currencies. For example, decide between:

• % and percent
• kg and kilograms
• € and euros

Vocabulary: Highlight the correct form of commonly misspelled or incorrectly formatted words — particularly those your organization uses regularly. Ensure that your company name, company locations, and hyphenated words are written the same way across all content. 

Context-specific formatting: Perhaps news feed posts shouldn’t exceed a specified word count. Or you don’t want communicators to use emojis in emails. Explain any style and formatting rules related to the internal communication channels you use.

Writing voice and tone

This is where your business communication style guide is likely to feature lots of unique content. It’s all about the brand personality you convey — and how you make employees feel.

Start by thinking about your brand personality and values. Then, imagine your brand as a person.

Ask yourself how that person would speak and the kind of words they’d use. Perhaps their speech is polished and motivational. Or maybe they prefer to talk informally, throwing in the odd joke.

In this part of your internal communication style guide, describe what your brand personality is and isn’t. Also, give written examples that show communicators how to convey this personality across internal communications.

But remember that — while brand voice is a fixed thing — your tone can vary.

You may like to adapt your tone according to each communication channel and message format — or for different audience segments. If this is the case, give examples of how to adjust the tone for different scenarios.

Beyond the specifics of your brand voice and tone, there are a few foundations of good internal communication to keep in mind.

Use active voice: Using active voice instead of passive voice makes your employee communication more engaging and energetic.

X The training day was delivered by Amy.  

✓ Amy delivered the training day.

Be open and transparent: Transparent communication builds trust. This contributes to a positive company culture. So when creating internal communications, use a tone that is approachable and honest. Be as open as possible, particularly where mistakes have been made.

Also, invite employee feedback to respond to your communications. In doing so, you establish two-way communication, giving employees a voice and discovering useful perspectives.

Be respectful: As we mentioned earlier, inclusive language is essential for internal comms. Ensure you speak to all employees as equals. Don’t patronize and don’t highlight company hierarchy unnecessarily.

Be direct and to the point: Your employees want to learn the most important details of your message as quickly as possible. Keep your copy short without missing key information. Also, include a clear call to action so employees know what to do next.

Keep it positive: We’re not saying you should gloss over bad news. But where possible, use a positive tone when writing internal messages. Avoid cynicism and sarcasm.

Write with a conversational tone: Make text easy to understand by writing in Plain English. Pick short, simple words over long, complicated ones.

It can help to read your writing out loud. If you wouldn’t use particular words or sentence structures when talking to someone face-to-face, try editing your copy to make it more conversational.

For example:

X  Blink is a software solution for frontline-centric organizations.

✓ Blink is an employee app for companies with a big frontline workforce.

Multimedia content

Text may be the foundation of internal communications. But multimedia content is incredibly engaging for employees. 

If you regularly create content like videos, images, infographics, or audio, tell your team how this media should be presented. Here are some of the things you might like to cover.

Branding: If graphics and videos need to feature the company logo, company colors, or specific fonts, tell creators how you want them to incorporate your branding. Also, give guidance on whether stock photography is acceptable.

Quality and formats: Detail the minimum resolution of images, the maximum file size of multimedia content, the required quality of audio, and preferred file formats.

Accessibility: Give instructions on alt tags, contrasting color palettes, and any video caption requirements to ensure your multimedia content is accessible to all employees.

A final note on creating your internal communication style guide

An internal communication style guide acts as a reference. Your communicators can use it to improve your internal communication, making it more consistent, engaging, and effective.

Many of the guidelines in an internal communication style guide cover best practices. These can be applied to almost any organization. But you need to adapt your guide so it reflects your branding, your tone of voice, and the needs of your employees.

It can help to treat your guide as a work in progress. Once you have a guide in place, you can add to it. Any time you see an error or an inconsistency in your internal communications, update your style guide to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

We hope this template speeds up the creation of your internal communication guide. Good luck with your first draft!

Read more: 11 engaging ideas for your internal communication plan

Employee experience in 2025: trends to watch

Employee experience (EX) has been a trending topic across workplaces for a few years now. Originating as what seemed like a corporate buzzword quickly became a large-scale strategy for major employers across the globe. 

In 2023, we saw a different story. For employers, there were strikes. There were debates about a return to the office. The Great Reshuffle was replaced by the Great Gloom – an epidemic of unhappy workers.

And according to Forrester, the EX outlook for 2024 remains gloomy:

“Two key metrics dropped between 2022 and 2023 globally: Employee engagement fell from 41% to 37%, while culture energy fell from 63% to 59%[...]We predict that 2024 will see continued decline, with employee engagement dipping to 34%.”

These percentages are likely lower for frontline employees. 

That’s because frontline workers often miss out on the employee engagement boosts available to their office-based counterparts. We’re talking connection and development opportunities, tech tools, and regular recognition.

The key issue now is what employers plan to do about it. Employee experience remains an important focus for any forward-thinking business. That’s because when employees are happy and engaged, your business benefits from:

• Better staff retention and talent acquisition
• Improved productivity and performance
• Higher rates of customer satisfaction
• Improved employee wellbeing and attendance

This all impacts a company’s bottom line. Organizations with the best employee experience can achieve nearly three times the financial returns on assets when compared to those with the worst.

So how are companies planning to engage and retain employees in 2024? And what EX patterns are already emerging? Here are the employee trends set to impact the future of employee experience over the coming year and beyond. 

Top 5 EX trends to look out for in 2025

The growth of AI in the workplace

First on our list of employee experience trends is artificial intelligence (AI).

AI was a hot topic in 2023. As generative AI – like ChatGPT and Bard – marched onto the scene, lots of people got their first, hands-on experience with the technology.

Many businesses are already on board. 55% of respondents to a McKinsey survey said that their organizations were using AI in 2023. And more than two-thirds expect their organizations to increase AI investment over the next three years.

AI isn’t going anywhere. So in 2024, we predict that more companies will harness its potential for both business and employee experience transformation. Here’s how.

Streamlining workflows

AI is helping to streamline workflows. Which is good news for organizations – and for frontline employees.

Tech takes care of repetitive and monotonous tasks. It reduces frontline friction, so employees can perform tasks more easily. Workers get to spend more time on customer care and on activities that demand a higher level of expertise.

For instance, in retail, AI is predicting increased footfall. This gives shop floor staff time to prepare the store and provide a better service.

In healthcare, AI can help to reduce waiting times, which means happier patients and frontline healthcare staff.

And in manufacturing, real-time AI insight into equipment status allows workers to make repairs before machines break down entirely, making their job easier.

In 2024, more businesses will use AI to improve processes and streamline the work of their frontline teams.

Internal communications

AI is also playing an important role in internal communications. Leaders are using AI to perform tasks like these:

• supporting DEI by highlighting bias in real-time, as employees type a message
• identifying employees who haven’t received recognition in a while
• helping employees find relevant resources on the company portal

Some organizations are also using AI chatbots to support the employee experience. Bots provide 24/7 assistance to employees, guiding them through company systems and helping them complete HR self-service tasks.

This spells satisfying experiences for employees where their queries are answered quickly – and a lighter workload for your People Team.

HR

HR teams are using AI to hone recruiting, onboarding, and training processes. They’re making these EX touchstones more effective and streamlined.

AI is helping to:

• remove bias from the recruitment process
• predict the needs of new hires
• highlight training resources relevant to a chosen career pathway

This means People Teams get more time to focus on value-add employee experience activities. And employees feel more engaged with your organization, right from the very beginning of their journey.

But a word of warning. Getting the right AI balance will be key. Employees are happy to deal with AI for some HR functions. But AI in its current form lacks emotional intelligence. A real, human touch is still needed if you want to achieve the very best EX.

Education

As a whole, organizations are more optimistic and curious about AI than they were five years ago. But there’s a disconnect between leaders and frontline employees. According to a BCG survey:

• Leaders are more optimistic than frontline employees about AI (62% vs 42%)
• Leaders are more likely than frontline workers to say they’ve received training to improve skills and stay relevant (44% vs 14%)
• Leaders use generative AI more regularly than frontline workers (80% vs 20%)
• Regular generative AI users are more optimistic than non-users about the technology (62% vs 36%)

Frontline workers are worried about AI eroding or stealing their jobs, so we anticipate AI education being an important part of the puzzle in 2024. Leaders will have to explain the value of this tech to employees and how they plan to use it going forward.

Top tip: Check out this research from the American Psychological Association. Employees are more likely to worry about AI when they don’t feel valued at work. So developing other areas of employee experience – like recognition – can help smooth your journey toward AI adoption.

Adopting EX technology

Every digital interaction a worker has at your company forms part of their digital employee experience (DEX). But workplace tech often falls short.

It fails to mirror the seamless digital experiences people get in their lives away from work. It’s also often inaccessible to any worker who doesn’t sit behind a desk.

However, in 2024, it feels like things are changing.

Updating technology

52% of employees believe that software related to their employee experience is dated and difficult to use. And 52% of frontline employees say they would leave their jobs over poor tech tools.

Employers are taking note. In response to employee tech frustrations, companies are upgrading from old company intranets to modern, mobile-first solutions.

They’re using employee apps, like Blink, that help organizations create connected company ecosystems that include every member of the workforce.

Available via a smartphone app, Blink doesn’t rely on email addresses or a complicated login process. It’s a secure, streamlined platform that puts company comms, tools, and resources in the same accessible place.

And because mobile-first apps like Blink are similar to the digital tools employees already use at home, they’re intuitive. Any team member can pick up an app and use it instantly.

Streamlining technology

We now know that too many tools hamper the employee experience. Rather than switching between different platforms, employees prefer to use the fewest number of programs to achieve their goals.

So this year, companies are battling tech bloat and looking for tools that perform multiple functions. They’re also implementing tools that meet the needs of various departments – like HR, IT, and comms teams – bringing all EX essentials under the same roof.

This streamlined approach will reduce the need for multiple employee logins. Instead, tools will be increasingly integrated and easy to use.

Personalizing the experience

Employees are getting personalized experiences away from work. Movie recommendations on Netflix. The annual listening roundup from Spotify. A shopping list from their supermarket app.  

We know that a personalized approach drives customer loyalty. So could this be the year employers apply the same logic to their employee experience?

Personalized internal comms

Good internal communication is essential to EX. It fosters trust between employees and leadership. It also makes your workforce more engaged, connected, and aligned.

The best internal comms are reliable and consistent. They’re also personalized to each employee, based on their location, department, role, or tenure.

Comms leaders are increasingly using personalization as a way to get their message heard. They’re doing this with the help of tech that allows them to segment employees more effectively. 

This means employees no longer receive irrelevant memos. They don’t get distracted or overwhelmed by internal communications that don’t apply to them.

Instead, they receive tailored messages that resonate – and that encourage sustained engagement with comms going forward.

Personalized tech

As you’ve probably gathered, tech and AI are a common thread throughout these employee experience trends. They’re integral to the progress being made in the sector.

As well as using AI to segment your workforce and target internal communications more effectively, you can use tech to create personalized digital experiences.

For example, employees can reconfigure their company dashboard, prioritizing the features most relevant to their work. Some companies are using tools that go a step further, using AI to personalize portals automatically.

Personalized learning and career pathways

L&D and career advancement are still top priorities for frontline employees in 2024. But one size never fits all. So we expect more organizations to develop personalized learning and career pathways for their employees.

It’s about making learning accessible and engaging for each individual. Leaders will make micro-learning, mentorship, coaching, on-the-job learning, and online courses available to all employees.

It’s also about making learning relevant to each individual career path. Tech tools – once again – stand at the forefront of this shift. L&D leaders are using them to identify and benchmark skills related to each role. And then recommend relevant learning materials and assessments.

Employees want to be heard

Companies that only engage in top-down communication will stick out like a sore thumb in 2024. Listening and open communication are now cornerstones of good employee experience management.

Employees want to feel heard because it helps them to feel valued. And employers stand to benefit, too. 

When you give employees a voice – and listen to what they have to say – you gain valuable insight into what your workforce wants. You then make better EX decisions. But this is only possible when you allow information to travel in all directions – top-down, bottom-up and peer-to-peer. 

Manager training

Good company-wide communication relies on an open company culture. But it seems there’s disagreement over how well organizations are doing. 

According to Leapsome’s Workforce Trends Report, 97% of HR leaders say that they have a good feedback culture. But only 13% of remote employees agree. What’s more, a third of all employees don’t feel they can talk to HR.

This is perhaps why organizations are putting greater focus on manager development. Managers help set the culture. But listening and open communication don’t always come naturally. 

With training, managers can gain the active listening and empathy skills they need to encourage collaborative communication. They also learn to embrace rather than shy away from employee feedback.

Surveys & feedback

In a bid to make EX strategies more effective, we expect organizations to spend more time in 2024 gathering the opinions of employees.

They’ll be finding out what matters to their workers. And what workers think of EX as it currently stands. 

Companies will develop a regular schedule of feedback requests and surveys. Annual surveys to track progress over time – and pulse surveys to get an up-to-the-minute snapshot of their organization.

Personalization comes into play here too. By personalizing surveys to different departments, teams, and employee journeys, organizations get better feedback engagement and more accurate results.

But simply filling out a survey isn’t enough to make employees feel heard. Currently, it’s a hollow exercise for a worrying proportion of organizations.

According to O.C. Tanner’s Global Culture Report, only 58% of organizations take action to improve after receiving employee feedback.

So to get the most employee satisfaction and retention benefits from your surveys, always incorporate the following actions: 

• Acknowledging and thanking employees for feedback
• Sharing survey results
• Communicating how you plan to use employee feedback to improve EX

Giving everyone a voice

When it comes to being heard, some employees seem to have a louder voice than others. Usually, it’s those closer to the heart of operations – employees based at HQ who get regular contact with managers and leaders.

However, as organizations strive to improve EX for all employees, they’re looking to include everyone in the conversation. This means frontline as well as desk-based teams.

Leaders increasingly understand the importance of spending time with frontline workers – either digitally or in person. It’s a way to grasp the realities, successes, and challenges of their roles.

We predict more of this in 2024, as well as a push for more inclusive decision-making.

With the right communication tools, accessible to everyone, head office can pose questions and present problems to all employees. They can get input from all members of the workforce and craft better, more effective solutions.

Data-driven decision-making

As we’ve seen, companies are using tech solutions to supercharge their EX. In the process, they’re gathering a ton of valuable data that they can use to inform their future efforts.

Data-driven decision-making is the last of our employee experience trends. And it seems it’s becoming par for the course. Organizations are routinely asking their employees:

• Are you engaged with your team?
• Are you happy with management? Leadership?
• Are you satisfied with your experience at work?

Companies are using data from staff surveys to better identify employee experience issues. But they’re also getting a sense of the bigger picture by setting employee sentiment data alongside statistics on staff retention and productivity.

With the help of segmentation, they’re able to understand these figures at a granular level – by location, by department, by manager. This is allowing leaders to make more targeted and effective EX interventions.

But to harness the potential of data-driven decisions, you need the right tech tools. You need readily available, real-time data. You also need data that is well-presented and easy to digest so management can pivot EX strategies effectively.

Blink analytics lets you see positive and negative team relationships at a glance. It shows you the data associated with each individual post on the company newsfeed. And it has all of the features you need to filter and benchmark data with ease.

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What’s your EX plan for 2025?

2023 was a tough year. But the future of employee experience remains bright and exciting.

In 2024, we expect to see a real internal comms culture shift. Organizations are finding ways to amplify unheard frontline voices. They’re also making real efforts to act upon what they hear – and to involve everyone in the conversation.

AI and tech are a powerful force that we can use to improve EX. They make work easier and more enjoyable for employees while helping leaders create personalized and engaging experiences at every point in the employee journey.

And finally, thanks to both employee listening initiatives and great AI and tech tools, employers are getting better access to perspective-changing data. This is allowing them to drive informed and effective EX transformation.

So what are your EX plans for 2024?

Incorporate these employee trends into your EX strategy and you’ll get ahead of the competition. You’ll develop an employee-centric approach that drives better retention, productivity, and profits.

Check out a preview of Blink here to see how our frontline employee super-app can help transform employee experience.