Internal communication mistakes are eye-wateringly expensive. According to estimates, they cost US companies up to $1.2 trillion every year. Mistakes lead to lost business, missed deadlines, and lower employee productivity.
In frontline organizations, communication mistakes are often more pronounced — because it’s notoriously hard to reach employees who are on-the-go, working away from the office in demanding, hands-on roles.
Here, we look at how to avoid six common frontline communication mistakes, improving frontline comms in the process.
This is what we’re going to cover:
- The frontline employee communication challenge
- The link between communication and retention
- How to avoid six common frontline communication mistakes
- Frontline employee communication: essential considerations
- Frontline employee communications FAQs
The frontline employee communication challenge
Reaching your frontline employees with internal communications has never been easy. Unlike desk-based workers, they often spend work days on their feet, away from a computer and sometimes their coworkers.
Communication over a traditional intranet or via email is, therefore, unlikely to be effective. Frontline workers don’t always have a good Wi-Fi connection or access to an appropriate device. So it can be hard for them to perform basic tasks — like finding and downloading a policy document or an email attachment.
Varying shift patterns make it hard for comms teams to reach employees with real-time updates. And — unless you’re tailoring your content to frontline worker needs — the volume of information can easily feel overwhelming. Employees then end up missing critical messages.
For too long, frontline employee communication has been an afterthought. Organizations haven’t always had the strategy or technology they need to make frontline comms effective.
But now, with a renewed focus on employee engagement and retention — and with more tech tools on offer than ever before — many organizations are rethinking how they communicate with their frontline staff.
The link between communication and retention
In frontline industries, there continue to be high levels of staff churn. In transportation, annual turnover stands at 56.7%. In hospitality, the figure stands at 73.8%. This compares to a national average of 13%.
One of the primary culprits behind these sky-high stats? Internal communication mistakes. 61% of employees considering switching jobs cite poor internal communication as a factor.
Good internal communication keeps employees in the loop. It helps them understand company values and goals. Effective communication channels support frontline employees to connect with coworkers and feel part of company culture.
Being empowered to do a good job. Strong workplace relationships. Feeling part of something bigger. These things boost frontline employee engagement and encourage loyalty.
But with just 40% of frontline employees saying they have a strong sense of connection to their direct leader and 43% saying they have a strong sense of connection to their organization, it’s clear that frontline companies have work to do.
How to avoid 6 common frontline communication mistakes
Good frontline communication can be transformative for your organization. Here are the mistakes you need to avoid to keep your frontline workers informed and engaged.
Mistake #1: Sticking to the same ineffective frontline communication channels
Many frontline organizations still use paper methods of communication. They send out a newsletter or put memos up on an already crowded noticeboard.
These messages are easy to miss. The information can be outdated by the time it’s distributed. And communication only goes one way — there are limited opportunities for employee interaction.
Email is equally ineffective for frontline workers who don’t always have a corporate email address. And word-of-mouth messaging and phone calls are time-consuming for frontline managers.
Many workers are turning to the tech tools they use in their personal lives to bridge the communication gap. 55% of workers say that WhatsApp is their primary workplace communication tool.
But shadow IT platforms, like WhatsApp, are flawed, too. There are huge compliance and data security issues associated with shadow IT. It also lies outside the control of your comms team so there’s zero oversight.
Making do with internal communication channels like these makes it hard for your comms team to communicate key messages. It also harms the frontline employee experience.
How to solve it:
Move beyond this patchwork approach to frontline communication. Unify your messaging with the help of internal communication channels that frontline workers can access easily.
A reliable way to reach employees is via an employee app, which employees can access on their smartphones. Here, you can bring together all strands of workplace communication and provide social-media-style tools that employees will enjoy using.
Common features include a dynamic company news feed, secure chat, and a content hub packed with essential policies and guides.
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This app becomes a go-to hub of communication and a single source of truth. Employees know they can use the app to quickly and easily find the information they need.
Mistake #2: Your frontline communication tech isn’t mobile-first
A frontline connection gap exists in almost every frontline organization. And it can make frontline employees feel like second-class citizens.
49% of frontline workers say that there are two separate cultures at play within their company: “one for the frontline and one for everyone else.” This unfairness can lead to division and disengagement. And too often, internal communication mistakes — and poor tech choices — are to blame.
Not all employee apps are created equal. And unless you choose a mobile-first solution, designed around the needs of mobile users, you’re likely to run into one (or all) of the following problems:
- Your app offers an inferior user experience. It doesn’t support the features and functionality that your desk-based employees enjoy on the desktop version.
- Your app is difficult for employees to access, either because it uses long-winded login methods or because it requires a corporate email address.
- Employees don’t like using your app, either because it has a complicated interface or because it’s one of many digital tools they’re expected to use during the workday.
Problems like these create a two-tier system, with office-based employees getting better access to internal comms than their frontline coworkers. They also cause friction for employees, which means they’re much less likely to use the app.
How to solve it:
When choosing technology for frontline employees, get input from a wide range of stakeholders — including your frontline staff. They can tell you what features and functionality they’d like to see in an employee app.
Supplement this input with an understanding of best practice. The best apps for frontline workers provide the following as standard:
- A mobile-first solution. This ensures the platform experience is equitable, with the same features and functionality available on both mobile and desktop versions of the software.
- A user-friendly interface. To ensure high levels of app adoption, it should be easy for frontline employees to learn and use the platform.
- Strong integrations. So frontline workers can access all workplace tech — not just your communication channels — from one dashboard.
Single sign-on technology. So employees only have to remember one set of login details to access all the tech tools they need.
Mistake #3: An HQ-centric approach to comms content
With the right technology, you can finally reach the frontline employees in your organization. But you can’t simply serve up the same content you’ve always delivered.
Long-winded corporate content is a no-no for busy frontline teams. You’re unlikely to engage them if you ask them to download a PDF policy document or scroll through long paragraphs of text. Remember: they’re consuming content on a small smartphone screen.
Likewise, if most of the content they see is geared toward office-based employees, frontline workers are likely to lose interest. Scrolling through lots of irrelevant information to reach frontline-specific content is a headache your frontline really doesn’t need.
How to solve it:
Long-winded, text-based comms are out. Short, snappy, visual content is in.
Think of the kinds of messages that work well on social media platforms. Here, attention-grabbing headlines, multimedia posts, Stories, and straight-to-the-point text convey a lot of information very quickly and effectively.
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This is ideal for busy frontline workers who don’t have time to scroll through reams of text-heavy content. They get need-to-know information in bite-size form.
Personalization is also key. A home care worker doesn’t need to know about the faulty photocopier in the office. But elderly care updates? New incident reporting procedures? The latest shift availability? That’s all really useful and engaging stuff.
Segment your audience so frontline workers only see information that relates to them, their location, role, and team.
Mistake #4: Too many corporate updates, not enough community
Your office employees can congratulate their coworkers on a successful sales pitch face-to-face. They can share ideas with a teammate on the way to lunch. Or chat about the latest binge-worthy series with their buddies while brewing a coffee in the office kitchen.
But it’s different for the frontline. Frontline workers don’t get the same opportunity for coworker camaraderie as their desk-based peers. There are few options for collaboration and only 30% feel seen and valued by their organization.
Corporate updates are an essential part of employee communications. But you can’t stop there. Failing to focus on community across your communication channels leaves frontline workers feeling isolated from company culture — and each other.
How to solve it:
Becoming a connected organization is about more than passing news from HQ to the frontline. Effective communication goes both ways and — with the right tech tools — you can build a shared sense of culture and purpose.
To bring every member of staff into the conversation, ensure your platform supports employee interactions. Can they leave comments on news feed posts? React with emojis? Post their own content?
Also, look to launch the following:
- Fun, informal posts. Create polls, launch content challenges, and post event videos. This fun content encourages interaction and helps frontline employees to feel part of company culture.
- Shared interest groups. Communities are a great way to bring frontline employees together. They can find coworkers who share their interests and hobbies, and build meaningful workplace relationships.
- Regular recognition. Organizations that make recognition an everyday part of the employee experience improve retention, employee engagement, and a sense of belonging. So encourage managers and coworkers to regularly create employee recognition posts.
- Group chat. Create group chats for each frontline team and location. When employees can easily connect with their coworkers, collaboration and connection improve.
Mistake #5: Communication is one-way
Top-down communications are important. You need to keep employees in the loop about company updates, safety announcements, and schedules. But if communication only flows one way, engagement will suffer.
Two-way internal communication shows employees you value them and their input. It demonstrates trust, which then gets repaid. You also get insights that drive smarter business decisions.
Frontline workers interact with customers. They can spot supply chain bottlenecks and operational inefficiencies. They know which policies are causing frontline frustration — long before the C-suite does.
Without easy, two-way communication, leadership is left in the dark on issues that impact productivity, customer experience, and employee retention.
How to solve it:
Don’t settle for a digital bulletin board. Make your employee app a hive of interactivity by encouraging employees to join the conversation. Here’s how:
- Surveys. Launch regular employee surveys to gauge employee sentiment on everything from policy changes to break room design to internal communication strategy.
- Forms. Make it easy for employees to report safety concerns or suggest improvements using easy-access digital forms.
- Real-time chat. Give frontline workers a direct line to managers and coworkers with 1-to-1 chat functions.
- Interactive content. Craft content that encourages employee input: pose questions in news feed posts, create flash polls, or run a leadership Q&A.
By giving frontline employees a voice, you create a more engaged, informed, and empowered workforce — one that actively contributes to company success.
Mistake #6: You don’t act on insights from employees and app analytics
If you’ve already rectified the other mistakes on this list, you’re now actively listening to employees and gathering a ton of useful internal communication data through your employee app.
But collecting feedback and analytics is only half the battle — it’s what you do with that information that really counts.
Failing to act on employee insights weakens trust in the feedback process. When employees don’t see changes based on their input, they become disengaged and less likely to participate in future surveys or discussions.
Ignoring app analytics is equally costly. Unless you segment and analyze the data, you risk making internal comms decisions based on assumptions, not facts. This means missed opportunities to optimize content, improve reach, and create messages that resonate with employees.
The result? Internal communications stagnate, employee engagement declines, and your strategy fails to keep up with the evolving needs and expectations of your frontline employees.
How to solve it:
- Close the feedback loop. Every time you launch an employee survey or embark on a listening tour, tell employees about your findings and thank them for their contributions. Let them know what you plan to do next and keep them posted on any changes and improvements you make.
- Make proper use of analytics. Use app analytics to track internal communication KPIs. Look at metrics like platform adoption rate, leadership visibility, profile completion, and the number of responses, likes, and reactions your messages receive. Also, segment the data so you get a real sense of how frontline employees are using your internal communication tools. Then, make improvements based on your findings to make your internal communication platform work even better for frontline teams.
Frontline employee communication: essential considerations
Internal communication mistakes are costly. But can avoid them by remembering these guiding principles for frontline comms:
- Think mobile-first. Frontline workers spend all, or most, of their time away from a desk. They need communication systems that move with them.
- Provide short, engaging content. Busy frontline employees need information in an easy-to-digest format. So make like a social media marketer with succinct, visual, and highly engaging messages.
- Connection, not just communication. Build an online company community by encouraging employee interaction and coworker conversations.
- Commit to iteration. Continually evaluate your communication strategy and encourage regular feedback from your frontline employees. Then, make meaningful changes based on data, not instincts.
Is your frontline communication falling short?
You only avoid the communication mistakes we’ve looked at in this article if you have the right internal comms tech on your team. That’s where Blink comes in.
Blink is an employee app that offers the same great experience for frontline and desk-based employees.
With secure, single sign-on technology, a user-friendly interface, and deep integrations, it acts as a digital hub. It gives frontline employees access to the information, tools, and connection they need day to day — all via their smartphones.
Blink. And connect your frontline employees like never before.
Frontline employee communications FAQs
How do employers communicate with the frontline?
It’s not always easy for employers to communicate with hard-to-reach frontline employees. Paper memos and phone calls from managers are ineffective and unreliable methods of communication.
The best way for employers to communicate with today’s modern frontline workforce is via a mobile-first internal communications platform, available via smartphone.
With this type of tool, leaders and managers can share essential updates, seek employee feedback, and facilitate coworker connection.
How do you empower employees on the frontline?
Empowering frontline employees begins with providing them with the tools, resources, and information they need to do their jobs more effectively.
This can mean investing in a secure platform for communication and information sharing, treating them with respect and recognition for their work, or even just involving them in decision-making processes.
By empowering frontline employees, organizations ensure that their frontline teams remain productive, engaged, and loyal.
Why should one always communicate with the staff on the frontline?
Leaders must communicate with the frontline staff to ensure that everyone is on the same page, engaged, and clear on what needs to be done. Effective communication can help to make sure tasks are completed correctly and efficiently while providing a platform for feedback and discussion.
By taking steps to keep in touch with their frontline employees, leaders can improve morale, strengthen relationships with their workforce, and, ultimately, drive retention.
