How a modern intranet can transform your marketing department

Shiny demos don’t guarantee adoption.

You can buy a tool that looks amazing in a pitch meeting. Then watch it gather digital dust a few months later because it doesn’t actually work for your company.

Asking the right questions up front avoids that frustration and a ton of wasted budget. It helps you find a solution that supports both employee communication and engagement — and fits seamlessly within your tech ecosystem.

Doing some software shopping? To find the right employee communication app for your organization, here are the 10 questions you should be asking.

Choosing an employee communication app: A 10-question checklist

1. Will every employee actually use this?

Okay, so priority number one is finding an app that your employees will embrace. Because if a good chunk of your workforce fails to get on board with your new software tool, you’re not getting good ROI.

The right app is:

• Intuitive. Employees can pick it up and start using it without having to trawl through a manual first.
• Accessible. It should be easy for every employee to log in, even on older phones or with patchy internet connection.  
• Free from friction. Everything just works — whether that’s search functions, voice calling, or integrations with other tools.

When assessing an app, keep your least tech-savvy employee in mind. If you think they’d use (and maybe even actually grow to love) this app, you can be confident it’ll work for the rest of your team.

2. Does it work for frontline teams?

A major benefit of an employee communication app is that it’s available on smartphones. So you can land messages with your hardest-to-reach employees — those who don’t sit at a desk all day.

To find the best solution, look for tools that understand and accommodate the realities of frontline work, including:

• Shifts and staggered schedules. The best apps support both real-time and asynchronous communication so employees can check in at a time that works for them.
• Busy schedules. With search, personalization, critical reads, and bite-sized content, the best apps let you share vital information in a format that’s quick and easy to digest.
• Frontline access requirements. Deskless staff don’t always have a corporate email address or access to a shared portal. They should be able to log in easily from their smartphones.
• Frontline vs. desk-based experience. Don’t accept one experience for office-based staff and another for frontline employees. Your app should have the same features and functionality across both desktop and mobile apps.

Ultimately, any frontline communication app has to be mobile-first and secure but accessible on personal smartphones. It also needs to provide an exceptional digital employee experience across all devices.

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3. Can it replace multiple tools?

If you’re relying on a patchwork of communication tools, your staff are probably feeling the strain. They’re spending nearly 4 hours each week — and 1,200 clicks per day! — toggling between apps. Or bugging IT because they forgot one of many sets of login details (again!).

The best employee communication apps don’t exist in a silo. They streamline your comms tech stack by combining essentials — like real-time messaging via chat, company-wide updates on a news feed, and documents in a content hub.

The best of the best go even further. They act as an all-in-one employee experience app and intranet platform, with personalized content pathways, employee recognition, and easy access to other workplace systems.

Think about the tools you’re currently using and how many of them your shortlisted apps could replace. Because the fewer tools you use, the easier and more streamlined work becomes.

4. How easy is it to manage and govern?

The front-end of an app can work like a dream. But what’s going on behind the scenes? You need to look beyond the glossy exterior to the nuts and bolts of the admin experience.

When an app is complex to manage and govern, the comms team ends up calling on IT. This creates a bottleneck. And it leads to stale content, clunky processes, and frustrated employees.

To ensure the best user experience and continued engagement with your employee communication app, you need clear permissions and content controls. You also need tools that make it easy to add, update, and personalize communication content.

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5. Is it secure and compliant?

Security is another top consideration when choosing an employee communication or employee experience app. You want a solution that meets enterprise-grade security standards, with security built in, not bolted on.

So look for things like:

• End-to-end encryption, in transit and at rest
• Secondary biometric authentication
• Function fencing, so workers only have access to the tools and controls they need
• Automated user provisioning, so it’s easy to add, manage, and remove users as necessary

If you work in a particularly regulated industry, like healthcare, you should also look for compliance with industry-specific security laws.

But bear in mind: heavy-handed security can harm the user experience, pushing your employees toward makeshift solutions, like WhatsApp.

So it’s all about getting the right balance. A good software provider should help you find that balance, achieving the best possible security while also ensuring a simple and streamlined experience for users.

6. Does it support two-way communication?

Internal communication is most effective when it goes both ways. The C-suite and managers speak to employees. But employees have the opportunity to respond.

A good employee communication app gives your organization the tools it needs to maintain a dynamic conversation:

• Instant messaging tools, for 1-to-1 and group chat
• A news feed where employees can react with comments, emojis, and GIFs
• Employee surveys and quick-fire polls
• Video and voice calling
• Interactive live streaming

Choose tools that support two-way internal communication, and you give employees a voice. That means stronger workplace connections, better collaboration, and employees who feel seen and heard.

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7. How quickly can we launch?

Time-to-value is important. The right app should be quick to deploy and easy to scale across multiple teams.

If you’re considering building your own comms app, know that this often requires months (or even years) of developing, testing, and iteration. So buying a ready-to-go tool is often the quickest solution.

Today, prebuilt doesn’t mean compromising on the end result. You can incorporate custom branding and tailor app features and functionality to the needs of your organization. You get speed, scalability, and best-in-class technology.

Ask providers about timescales so you have a clear idea of the setup and launch process. Here at Blink, most of our clients go live within 6 to 12 weeks.

8. Will it integrate with our existing systems?

A great employee communication app isn’t just a one-stop shop for internal conversations. It can also act as a digital hub, reducing friction and making life easier for employees in the process.

That requires strong integrations with the existing software you use. And single sign-on technology to give employees access to that software from one unified dashboard.

When you integrate an app into your digital ecosystem, employees can use it to tackle tasks like:

• Swapping shifts with coworkers
• Checking their paystubs
• Clicking a news feed post to go straight to online compliance training
• Completing a safety report on the go
• Submitting a time-off request
• Viewing customer details via your CRM

The result? Your employee communication app becomes a comprehensive employee intranet. A place where staff can catch up with the latest company news — of course.

But also a place where they can learn, receive recognition, give feedback, and access all the tools they need to do their jobs well.

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9. Can we measure impact and ROI?

To get the most from your mobile-first employee app, you need to know what’s working and what isn’t. And to do that, you need analytics.

Find out what analytics and reporting features come with your shortlisted apps. Consider the internal comms metrics they allow you to track.

And expect more than just the basics. A good app won’t just provide data on platform usage and message read rates.

It’ll show you how internal comms KPIs relate to employee engagement, sentiment, and turnover. It’ll allow you to segment data by team, department, and manager. And it’ll present data in a way that’s super easy to understand and act on.

Clear analytics help you improve internal communications. They also help prove the value of employee communication to leadership, so you can justify continued investment in comms strategy and tech.

10. Does it feel human?

The final question to ask before choosing an employee communication app. Does this app feel familiar and fun? Or is it cold and corporate?

Employees are more likely to use your app when it offers the same consumer-grade experience they enjoy on apps away from work. If it lets them communicate in ways they’re used to (and in ways they enjoy).

Operational updates are important. But your app should also make space for informal, authentic connection. Tools like video stories, coworker communities, voice and video calling, live streaming, and employee-generated content make that possible.

Give people a modern social experience, where they can show up as their real selves, and engagement is sure to follow.

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The right employee app makes all the difference

Choosing an employee communication or employee experience app isn’t just about features or fancy demos. It’s about finding a tool your team will actually use — one that fits your workflow, feels intuitive, and makes work more connected, engaging, and human.

Ask the right questions up front. Consider the full scope of the app — the more functions it performs, the more value it brings to your team. Look beyond shiny user interfaces to the day-to-day employee experience.

When you do, you don’t just add another tool to your tech collection.

You get a solution that supports company culture, employee productivity, engagement, and retention. You build a space where employees can easily access the information they need and the connection they crave.

What do the words leadership visibility mean to you?

Is it a lone wolf standing at the top of a hill raised up above the masses or is the usual visual that pops into your mind more nuanced?

Leadership usually conjures up thoughts of the very pinnacle of corporate hierarchies. The CEO, and his or her c-suite.

Those who run the company or who are tasked with running it.

Then there are leaders who are less symbolic and more down to earth leaders like team managers and supervisors. The everyday people managers.

What about their visibility? They also need to be seen and heard but also available to see and hear from their people that they’re tasked with looking after.

That, for me, is at the heart of leadership visibility.

What does leadership visibility equate to?

The accountability and responsibility for a group of people and their ability to have a positive experience during the time they are affiliated with your organization.

Visibility equates to being both visible so people can see leaders and also accessible so employees can gain access to interact with leaders in a meaningful way.

In a 2019 Salesforce research report it was found that when employees feel heard they are over four times more likely to feel empowered to perform to the best of their abilities.

To give it their all or exercise that discretionary effort that can make the difference between good and excellent. Of course, it matters how this is done and informality can create a more comfortable environment for both leaders and their people to interact.

What does leadership visibility look like?

For example, if you organize a breakfast session where a leader makes themselves available for 45 minutes and you provide breakfast treats and hot beverages, that could be deemed as a formal gathering.

I have organized a few such sessions and found, in some cases, that there was a level of reluctance to participate. Why should this be? I would say it was cultural as well as the event type.

A breakfast session cannot, in of itself, change a culture or create a welcoming one that provides a safe environment where employees want to be seen, listened to, and heard by their leaders.

That willingness to have conversations with leaders is key.

The role of culture

If an organisation’s culture doesn’t permit or encourage connections with leaders or where they are cordoned off, no amount of breakfast sessions, walk the floors or town hall Q&As will fix this.

In this instance, the toxicity would need to be addressed before any activities could successfully come to fruition. So, it’s less a case of visibility and more a case of authentic visibility.

An approach that aligns visibility programmes with an organisation’s culture. If your managers are having regular conversations with their teams as part of business-as-usual activities, then you’re halfway into the journey of engaging employees through visible leadership.

Managers are key to making unconcealed leadership a success.

The persona of a visible leader

What do accessible leaders look like?

They are personality-driven and offer a heady combination of charisma, capability, intelligence, and social skills that culminates in a person who makes others feel at ease, relaxed, empowered and emboldened to have their say.

Not to say that quiet leaders cannot elicit the same reaction.

It’s less about being extroverted and more about being confident in one’s own skin to give others the assurance that they can do the same without fear of retaliation in response to the sharing of candid views.

Mutual respect is crucial which again is largely driven by culture .

If everyone knows they are in an environment that actively promotes transparency, then leaders can be authentically visible and encourage employees to respond positively to this visibility without viewing this access with suspicion.

Ian Gordon has worked in the US healthcare space for close to 30 years and has held executive roles in several large payer and provider organizations — most recently, as President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring.

Throughout his career, he has also led large frontline organizations and created environments where employees thrived, and customers were highly satisfied. As a result of his experiences, few people can speak to the healthcare frontline engagement challenge as well as Ian.  

Blink and Ian sat down together for a February 2023 webinar, discussing topics including company culture, senior leadership engagement, digital transformation, and the opportunity to boost engagement, loyalty, and retention with frontline employees. 

Listen to the full webinar conversation ‘Why Engaging With Frontline Healthcare Workers Makes Both Dollars and Sense’ here or keep reading for the main discussion points. 

Speakers: 

• Ian Gordon, Former President of Administrative Operations at Elara Caring 
• Marcy Paterson, Head of Solutions Consulting, Blink 

How would you summarize the frontline engagement challenge organizations face in 2023? 

The first point to make is that frontline disengagement is not a new challenge. What is new, however, is how this challenge has risen to the top of the Executives’ problem list — and I think there are four main reasons why:

• Unprecedented disruption to the workforce 
• Employee burnout and generational differences between older participants in the workforce, Millennials, and Gen Z: the rise of the “gig” mentality and younger workers’ drive for work/life balance 
• Changing societal demographics and the desire for people to live independently and “age in place” 
• And, crucially, the huge competition for workers. Employers have had to significantly increase compensation and offer more flexibility, which drives up the cost structure 

What’s essential now is that we develop a more acute understanding of the implications of dissatisfaction among frontline employees: how it leads to employee turnover and what that means to our companies. 

Because, if we’re honest, what we've tried in the past hasn't worked to create significant levels of employee satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty. 

Frontline workers feel under-appreciated and under-supported and, as a result, that makes them less loyal and more likely to look for the next opportunity. You might have their hands on the job for now, but you haven’t got their hearts. 

What are the impacts of disengagement? 

I call it the quadruple miss. When frontline employees are disengaged, this has an: 

• Impact on patients who experience high caregiver turnover and inconsistency of care; they simply don’t get the comfort they are looking for when aging in place 
• Impact on patients’ families who step up to fill the gaps caused by interrupted care and must meet and re-brief caregivers on a regular basis. This can hurt them in their own personal and/or professional lives 
• Impact on frontline workers who are the ones confronted by the family’s frustration. And, in instances of high attrition, new incoming frontline workers feel responsible for the family’s frustration, and they become frustrated as well
• Impact on the company who suffers in terms of resources spent on recruiting and training a revolving door of employees. Plus, the cost of reputational damage and lost annual revenue 

Attrition is a huge issue, and a lot of money is being spent on recruitment to address those challenges. But is it a long-term losing proposition? 

I use the analogy of a leaky bucket because turnover at the rates we’re seeing now — as high as 70% in some companies — has organizations in a panic. They need to bring on so many new frontline employees; they’re recruiting, hiring, and training teams, spending money on advertising, and investing in higher salaries.  

And yet, they still can’t keep up with demand.  

I saw a survey recently that claimed 85% of home health agencies had turned away business because they didn’t have the staff and almost 60% said they did this "consistently". 

Long-term, this attrition issue becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; if you use recruitment as your primary solution to a retention issue, you will never fix the root cause. 

If recruitment isn’t the solution, what is? What have you seen work? 

I think that leadership needs to acknowledge their contribution to the problem. As leaders, we are responsible for creating a supportive environment and we need to acknowledge that we’ve helped create the employee dissatisfaction and engagement problem we have today. 

Then, you need to spend time with and listen to your frontline.  

This needs to be managed authentically; it’s often not a frequently occurring event and so employees don’t feel comfortable openly and honestly engaging with executive leadership. Leaders go in with more of a (potentially scripted) corporate message, ready to tell the frontline what the corporation wants them to hear rather than what they really need to hear. That’s not going to move the dial for employees and encourage them to become more engaged. 

Healthcare employee surveys are a step in the right direction. They are valuable and give you data at a point in time that you can trend. But what I’ve seen happen is that people spend more time debating the validity and accuracy of the survey. If you torture the numbers long enough, they’ll confess to anything, and people get caught up in that.  

What we’re talking about here is bi-directional communication — who do you think should be responsible for that? 

I think the answer is the same in every company: you need to find someone who has the energy, passion, and is empowered enough to lead the initiatives. That person could be the project lead, but preferably it’s someone from the frontline or with frontline experience. The frontline needs to have that relationship with management all the way up and be comfortable to share their concerns.  

Communicating issues is a team effort. It starts with the CEO and runs the full way through to the frontline. Everybody has to own it. 

Is there an opportunity to better engage that first line manager and leverage them? 

The first line manager might just be the hardest worked and most undervalued level of management in any company. They have passion and commitment and do everything they can, but if you look at the amount of administrative work that’s burdened on top of them — in addition to what they should be doing already — it’s tremendous. They barely have any time to try to manage their teams.  

And yet we do need to engage them. They are the closest to the frontline and so if you’re not getting everything you need from the frontline or hearing what you need to hear, these are the people who know them best. Often, they’ve done the job; they’ve experienced the challenges first-hand. 

But before we can engage them, we need to make sure that they’re okay. We need to understand what’s helping them be engaged or causing them to be disengaged in their jobs. It’s impossible to ask somebody to help drive engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty when they don’t feel those things to the company themselves. 

You mention the administrative burden. The same digital transformation that desk-based workers get is yet to reach the frontline. How have you tried to alleviate that? 

You need to understand the experience of having to perform repetitive mundane tasks. You need to go through that process yourself to discover what a horrible use of their time it is and why it’s no surprise that it doesn’t excite them each morning.  

Then, you can look at how technology can be leveraged to simplify these tasks. It’s about taking away the administrative tasks that aren’t exciting, aren’t adding value, or aren’t rewarding for the employee so that people can be more satisfied and engaged.  

If you can do that, then the quality of their work will go up and human errors will go down.  

That’s what Blink really brings to the table. Using Blink, we were able to simplify our internal communication. We also gave frontline workers the tools to create communities, have single sign-on, and one place for information (versus the 5 or 10 that many nurses experience).  

I’ve yet to meet a clinician or caregiver who got into this line of work to be on a computer all day. If we can reduce this non-cognitive load, then we can give them back the time they need to improve patient care. 

How do you look to create a return on investment from these programs? Where have you seen that return and how have you been able to qualify it? 

Administrative savings are easy to qualify. You know the jobs that people do, and if you can eliminate tasks and enable them to get more done in less time, then it's easy to say I need fewer people, or the same number of people can take on more work. 

But the investment you need to make won’t pay for itself with administrative savings alone. That’s when you look to the impact on turnover — loyalty, satisfaction, and engagement — to make frontline workers more productive.  

And when turnover declines, then that's tremendous because of the amount of savings that can be reaped from reducing the spend that companies have poured into their HR: recruiting, hiring, and training.  

If you can redeploy those training resources to the frontline instead, giving them the skills and capabilities to enhance their service, then that can be a differentiator in the marketplace. It is also a good reason for your frontline to feel appreciated and invested in. 

What are the pitfalls you’ve seen in organizations embarking on initiatives like this? 

One would be rushing head-first into a solution before you truly understand the problem. You need to take the time to learn what’s important to different people in different positions. 

Then there’s having a lack of clear direction or rapidly changing direction. It’s better to follow through on fewer, more meaningful activities. When employees don’t see the follow through, they become numb to the activities and disengage at another level.  

And lastly, talking at employees instead of with employees. 

How important is it to create a simplified experience specifically for the frontline? 

Many organizations are comfortable with solutions for tethered employees — those who are in the office or working at a desk all the time, with access to a community of help. 

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

You may be doing it while you're in front of a patient or, in the in the case of home health, while in between patients. Either way, you haven’t got a lot of time, and so having hub-based access to all-inclusive and easy-to-navigate information can really be a benefit to employees. 

As leaders, the question we need to ask ourselves is this. Are more worried about playing it safe and trying to protect our jobs, at least in the short term, or are we willing to do what’s right for our employees and our customers: ensuring we create an environment where customers can be satisfied and employees can feel trusted, respected, and appreciated? 

Blink. And your frontline workers feel connected. 

Blink is the world’s best app for frontline workers, proven to lower frontline attrition by up to 26% and increase frontline employee engagement. 

Learn more by booking a demo today.

13 ways to quickly improve internal communications

Internal communications joins the dots. It connects every member of an organization and helps keep everyone up to speed. But it’s not without its challenges.

Comms leaders have to quiet the noise while amplifying key messages. They need to share updates consistently. And find tech tools that make communication engaging for employees. 

In frontline organizations, there are additional communication challenges to tackle.

Frontline teams often work disparately. Employees can’t rely on in-person meetings for the latest updates. Nor do they have access to a desktop computer or even a company email address.

Finding reliable ways to reach these employees – that go beyond a messy noticeboard – is vital for business success.

With these challenges in mind, we’re going to look at the ways comms leaders can quickly and effectively improve internal communications. Let’s dive right in.

Why is it important to improve your internal comms?

Poor internal communication harms your business and its bottom line. When leaders, teams, and individuals fail to communicate well, every area of operations is affected.

Poor communication also has an effect on employees. Staff want to feel part of the organization they work for, and the first step to achieving that is keeping them in the loop.  

Ultimately, when you improve internal communication, you:

• Boost workplace trust. Over 40% of workers say that poor communication is reducing the trust they have in leadership and their teams. This is making them more stressed and less loyal to their organization.
  
  
• Engage employees. Informed employees are 2.8 times more likely to be engaged. Employee engagement is linked to higher productivity, profitability, and employee retention rates.
  
  
• Get better at what you do. When you improve internal communication, you improve decision-making, teamwork, and collaboration. Everyone pulls in the same direction, which spells bigger and better business results.

The benefit of good internal communication in frontline organizations is even more pronounced.

Safety concerns. Equipment failures. Product or service updates. A shift you need to cover. Inclement weather. These critical communications need to travel between frontline staff and managers quickly and reliably. It’s how you limit downtime and ensure the very best customer service.

But if your communication culture, communication skills, or communication tools are lacking, you’ll find it hard to connect the various teams that make up your organization.

13 ideas to quickly improve internal communication

With so much to be gained from good internal communications, time is of the essence. Every day you continue doing things the old way, you’re missing out.

So here are some internal communication ideas that you can put in place quickly, for maximum impact. Weave these ideas into your internal communication strategy and start making improvements right away.

1. Start with the leadership team

Leaders set the tone of an organization. So if your leadership team isn’t sold on your bid to improve internal communication, your employees won’t be either.

It’s up to leaders to drive comms throughout the company. It’s also on them to engage with comms. That way, employees see that your internal communication channels are a valued resource for people at all levels – and they’re much more likely to engage with them, too.

To prove to your workforce that it isn’t one rule for them – and another for their managers – get the leadership team on board right at the start. Involve leaders in the launch of your internal communications plan and encourage them to be positive promoters of it.

2. Ask questions & launch surveys

To avoid time-consuming missteps, get employee insight early on in the process. Employee input informs your strategy and improves your chances of getting things right the first time.

You can get input by asking informal questions and launching surveys. Find out what employees want from internal communications – and what aspects of current comms they struggle with.

With Blink’s super-app, you can launch surveys that reach your whole workforce. A user-friendly interface makes it easy for employees to respond. And a clear dashboard helps you to draw conclusions from their answers.

Surveys help you make informed internal communication decisions. But there’s another benefit, too. By involving employees in this part of the process, you set an important precedent.

You show employees that you value their input – and that their voices are heard. This raises trust in the process. It also helps employees see what they stand to gain by engaging with internal communications going forward. 

3. Streamline your communication channels

Well-established companies often have history with lots of different internal communication tools. In frontline organizations, there tends to be a mix of tech solutions and old-school communication channels – like posters and notice boards.

If you’ve inherited a complicated system of communication channels, it’s worth stepping back and assessing their impact on company communication.  

Is a noticeboard crammed with memos an efficient and reliable way to communicate with your teams? Are multiple communication channels helping you to clarify the message – or are they muddying it?

Less is usually more. So streamlining your comms channels is a great way to improve internal communication. Employees are much more likely to engage with a single source of reliable info.  

That’s exactly what happened at Domino’s. The pizza delivery company was using word of mouth, posters, and WhatsApp groups to communicate with its frontline. But by switching to Blink, Domino’s put all internal communication in one place and now everyone gets the same need-to-know updates.

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4. Personalize your comms

Think of all the marketing emails that land in your inbox every day. The ones that personalize their message stand out. They’re much more likely to resonate. The rest is like white noise. It becomes very easy to ignore stuff that doesn’t feel relevant to you. 

The same goes for company comms. When you make your message more relevant to your audience, they sit up and take notice. When employees are inundated with comms that have nothing to do with their role, they tend to start ignoring the noise - and before you know it even the most relevant and critical messages are missed. 

You can quickly make a change by segmenting your audience. Divide your organization by department, team, location, and stage in the employee life cycle.

Then, craft personalized comms. And only send mass communications when they really are relevant to the whole organization. Intentional, personalized communication is much harder to ignore.

5. Run company-wide stand ups

A standup meeting is a short but regular opportunity for teams to share progress and identify blockers. It’s a way to get everyone on the same page and clarify what they should be doing.

A company-wide standup is the easiest way to communicate your current priorities and action plan to everyone. But you can also run stand ups within teams, departments, or locations.

Of course, if you’re a frontline organization, getting everyone together for this type of meeting isn’t always practical. Employees work different shifts and in different locations, or maybe even work on the road.

But don’t dismiss the idea of company stand ups outright. Create stand ups for different shift swaps, or locations, or smaller groups of people. And for the times you can’t be together in real life, tech can help.

Employees can join a meeting via video conference. Or you can record your company-wide stand ups and post them as video content to your primary internal communication channel.

6. Implement an employee app

In today’s technological world, you can find incredible tools designed to improve internal communication, fast.

An employee app is a great example. It works well because you meet employees where they already spend their time – on their smartphones. And because it incorporates features that employees are familiar with, like instant messaging, group chats, and a newsfeed.

Take Stagecoach, a UK-based bus company. When Stagecoach implemented an employee app, 84% of their workforce started using it within just one week. Because they chose a communication tool that employees could use intuitively, they got better and faster uptake.

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An employee app also streamlines your employee communications because employees can access everything via a single, user-friendly interface. And it provides channels for both top-down and bottom-up comms. Anyone can read and share information.

Blink’s employee app ticks all these boxes. Designed for frontline organizations, it helps bridge the gap between your frontline and desk-based teams. 

7. Reward & recognize your employees

Another way to quickly improve internal communication is by rewarding and recognizing employees. Shout out those employees who hit their goals or reach a personal milestone. Highlight the times when a member of staff goes above and beyond.

A culture of recognition helps to build engagement. It also boosts morale and encourages other employees to do their best work.

Using internal communication channels in this positive way encourages employees to communicate more frequently, too. When an employee feels acknowledged, they’re more likely to acknowledge others, share successes, and communicate constructively with peers.

You can put the wheels in motion by encouraging managers to send regular messages of acknowledgment. But to amplify the effect, go further. 

Build recognition into your internal comms strategy by using Blink’s recognition feature. Via the app, you can send messages of public praise with the power to inspire everyone.

8. Conduct regular 121 meetings 

If your managers only run 121 meetings with employees once or twice a year, this is an area ripe for improvement.

A lot can happen over the space of a year or six months. Internal communication might be missed or misinterpreted. Regular 121s are an opportunity to realign goals and understanding.

Regular 121s help you to:

• Build a personal connection with employees
• Address concerns in real-time
• Improve employee engagement

It also makes the act of discussion and feedback more familiar. Employees get used to sitting down and sharing their work experiences with managers. So managers are much more likely to get candid (and therefore useful) insight from their staff.  

Advise your managers on how often they should conduct 121s. Monthly, bi-weekly, or even weekly sessions create an open feedback loop.

Also, remember that a public communication forum can never replace 121s. While employees are often happy to share some ideas publicly, they also need the opportunity to share their thoughts privately and confidentially.

9. Encourage content creation

Leave content creation to management and you run into two key problems:

1. Your internal communication is unengaging because there’s lots of top-down communication but not enough bottom-up or peer-to-peer communication.

2. Managers find it hard to balance content creation alongside their usual workload. This means more managerial stress and/or less quality content.

There’s a quick and easy solution. Give everyone a turn at content creation. Use guidelines and templates if you think they’re needed. Then, let employees start threads, post blogs, upload videos, and recognize their peers.

In doing so, you strengthen your company network. Employees build new relationships. They find people with whom they have things in common. They chat about non-work-related topics.

This type of water cooler chat may seem irrelevant to your business objectives. But trust us when we say it’s hugely important to the quality of communication that takes place within your organization.

This is particularly true in frontline firms where workers don’t always get the opportunity for informal chats with co-workers.

When employees build trusting relationships with co-workers, they don’t just find it easier to chat about their latest vacation or the boxset they’re currently binging. They find it easier to communicate and collaborate on workplace topics, too.

10. Take a data-driven approach to internal communications

How do you measure the success of an internal communications initiative? You need reliable, accessible data you can track over time.

This is another reason why having the right communication tech is vital. Pick communication tools with analytics built in and it’s easy to view and act upon insights.

You can see which type of content your employees do and don’t interact with. You can see which posts get the most comments and likes. This helps you to hone your internal communication going forward.

Similarly, analytics functions help you to see the bigger impact that your communication strategy is having. Perhaps it’s helping you to reduce staff turnover or increase staff satisfaction.

When you have access to the data, it’s easy to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of internal communication improvements. You’ll also find it easier to make informed, targeted changes that make your initiative even more successful.

11. Be consistent

Good internal communication is all about consistency. You can’t promise employees a weekly update or a monthly webinar and then fail to deliver.

They’ll stop seeing your communication as reliable and trustworthy – and they’ll stop checking in for new content. This is the point at which the wheels fall off your strategy and you have a much harder job pushing that new initiative uphill. 

To show employees that your new internal communication strategy is here to stay, make sure it’s sustainable.

At the outset, you may like to err on the side of caution, only committing to a content schedule you know is manageable for the people delivering it. You can always add more items to your content calendar once it’s up and running.

Also, as we mentioned earlier, enlisting the support of employees in content creation helps to create an internal communications ecosystem that doesn’t rely on a handful of time-stretched managers. With all hands on deck, it’s much easier to create and post content consistently.

12. Be transparent

Internal communication is most successful when communication is transparent. That means:

• Including everyone in communications
• Creating an open connection between leadership and employees
• Clearly communicating business changes and decision-making processes
• Acknowledging both successes and mistakes

Transparent communication is important because it helps to build trust between all members of your organization. It prevents secondary channels of communication – in the form of rumors and speculation – from emerging. And it helps to boost employee engagement. 

If you don’t already have a culture of open communication, getting there is likely to take time. You need to develop communication skills throughout your organization and set new norms of behavior.

However, one of the things you can do to improve internal communication quickly is to involve employees in your internal communication strategy. Be open about the changes you’re trying to implement – and why.

When employees feel like part of the process, they’re much more likely to feel invested in its outcome.  

13. Report back on changes you are making

So you’re planning to make big changes to the way you communicate internally. Don’t forget to involve employees from the beginning and throughout the process.

After launching employee surveys and conducting 121s, communicate your findings. Let workers know what you’ve learned, what changes you plan to make, and what you hope to gain.

This shows that you’re committed to transparent communication, not just paying lip service. And that you’re putting employees at the center of decision-making.

Take this tack and employee engagement, morale, trust, and the success of your internal communication strategy all stand to benefit.

Final thoughts

Improving internal communications takes time and strategy. It’s a long-term commitment. But there are quick wins to be had.

Gather insights. Involve all members of your organization. Find the right tools. Start fostering a culture of open, honest communication, right now, today.

By doing so, you’ll create change in the here and now. And lay the groundwork for future internal comms improvements, too.

It’s well worth the investment, particularly for frontline organizations. With strong internal communication, you build teams who are more connected, informed, and engaged - which leads to widespread benefits for your employees, customers, and business.

Want to make internal communication a priority for 2024? Then put internal comms in the palm of every employee with Blink’s employee app.

Our mobile-first app supports two-way communication, critical messages, employee recognition, and workforce surveys. It also integrates with the business tools you already use. So employees can access all resources from one user-friendly interface.

Accessed via mobile or desktop and with speedy, sky-high adoption rates, Blink provides a quick and easy way to improve your internal communications in 2024.

Searching high and low for the perfect employee to fill a complicated role can be difficult. It stresses you out if you’re already short-staffed and in a rush to get more hands as quickly as possible.  

Of course, it would be preferable not to worry about hiring at all. Retaining employees you already have can be a lot simpler than constantly hiring. And it can benefit your business too. 

While you’re probably familiar with some of the benefits of employee retention, there are several hidden advantages of employee retention that you may not have considered. 

If you’re ready to get motivated to kick your retention efforts into high gear and retain your top talent, keep reading and learn some of the lesser-known benefits of staff retention.

Why employee retention is important

Employee retention is important because it can improve the productivity of an organization.

Organizations with high employee retention profit from increased employee engagement, higher employee morale, more experienced employees, and lower employee turnover costs.

That’s why 91% of Human Resources leaders are concerned about employee turnover in the near future. 

Besides the revenue, companies with a lower turnover rate can spend time on their employees, build a cohesive company culture, and achieve innovations that outperform their high-churn counterparts. 

Employee retention’s effect extends beyond your annual revenue or quarterly performance reports — it improves each day for your workers, managers, and customers. 

In short, it’s hard to overstate the importance of effective employee retention strategies as they can impact just about every aspect of your business, including revenue, service, and company culture. 

1. More quality hires

Hiring typically increases when employees leave your company. So it should decrease as your retention goes up. 

The hidden benefit of high retention is that you can allocate more resources to the time-consuming job of sourcing new hires. You can be more selective in finding candidates with relevant experience and perfect cultural fit instead of rushing to fill a vacancy.

The candidates you hire this way are more likely to stick around and better fit your organization, which further improves your retention rate. 

Ultimately, more employees staying means more business growth and more new positions. You can focus your hiring efforts on adding to the team rather than replacing previous talent. 

2. Better employee training

Hiring new employees takes up a significant portion of your company’s HR budget and time. It’s estimated that replacing an employee costs anywhere from 50% to 200% of their annual salary. 

Retaining just one extra employee means thousands of dollars saved you can use in other areas. 

One often-neglected management area is training, with 78% of workers saying they want more training. By saving on hiring, you can spend on training. 

With more time for training, your employees will be happier, more skilled, and even more likely to stay with your organization. 

3. Improved customer relationships

Most of your return customers and clients don’t think of your business as a logo or physical store. They think of the person with whom they interacted. Your employees are the face of your business, from frontline workers up to account managers. 

Your customers rely on your employee’s knowledge of their needs and history with the company to deliver the highest level of service. So when an employee leaves, the relationships they built with your customer base leave with them. 

A PWC report found that 80% of Americans think a knowledgeable staff is the most important element to customer satisfaction, along with speed and convenience. They also pay more for things when they experience a positive customer experience. 

The benefits of employee retention reach beyond your current staff and bottom line and impact the customer experience. A high employee retention rate ultimately improves your clients’ and customers’ perception of your business.

4. Faster progress

While onboarding and formal training programs are essential for satisfied, efficient employees, these resources are hardly the only way employees learn on the job. 

One of the most valuable sources of guidance and information is your current employees. Studies show that 91% of employees with a workplace mentor are happy with their jobs. 

By retaining most of your employees, you get:

• Strong relationships between your employees that impact their performance
• Employees who possess in-depth knowledge in their fields
• Great mentors who have the technical skills and know little-known tricks in the field to help the newcomers

You benefit from the perks of high employee retention: Employees have a wealth of team members to turn to when they have a question or need advice. This turns your newest employees into your best employees.

Also, when turnover is low, you keep the work environment of cultural cohesion and the know-how of experienced employees. This results in less stress and high productivity. 

Final thoughts: 4 hidden benefits of employee retention you should know

Why retain employees? The answer is clear. 

The benefits of employee retention are wide-reaching for your entire organization. Employees, management, and customers all reap the benefits of employee retention.  

Employees benefit from greater satisfaction, higher productivity, and better support on the job. Employers can enjoy greater profit and less uncertainty. And your customers can rely on consistently high-quality and personalized customer service. 

These benefits are well worth the expense of managing incentives like healthcare, training, and work-life balance. 

If you’re ready to improve your employee retention, an all-in-one employee communication tool like Blink can maximize your organization’s initiatives.

“I kind of feel that 60 is the new 40,” says Ciarán McKinney, 61-year old manager at Age & Opportunity. Workplace communication skills are shifting as the workforce is slowly shifting as baby boomers continue working past the traditional retirement age.

The trend is mirrored on the other end, too. The teen employment rate in 2021 is the highest it has been in the last 10 years. These new workers are the first generation Z members to enter the workforce, and many are starting as frontline workers.

What does this mean for you?

Generational differences in the workplace affect many industries, but frontline workers are usually the most diverse. Over 33% of frontline workers are over 50, and the low barrier to entry means many frontline workers are among the youngest workers.

Your workforce demographic is more diverse than ever. You have employees belonging to multiple generations with different internal communication styles working together. To get the most out of them, you need to manage them effectively.

Managing a multigenerational workforce takes practice and understanding. You need to understand generational differences in the workplace and approach each generation in a way that suits them. 

Generation breakdown – understanding the differences

If you’ve read the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, you might remember Atticus Finch's advice:

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Taking Atticus’s advice to heart, you should remember that while you can define a generation by a few key events and common traits, you must view the person as an individual first. 

To find common ground with different generations, let’s understand the environment they grew up in.  

Baby boomers

Commonly called baby boomers, the generation born between 1946-1964 represents close to 40 million members of the American workforce. 

For most of their work-life, they either communicated face-to-face or used emails and phone calls. They might be known as the tech-averse generation, but 52% of baby boomers own a tablet.

Generation X

Generation X includes those born between 1965-1980. It is the second-largest generation in the American workforce (53 million active workers).

They were also the first generation that saw both parents in the workforce as normal. This might have made many Gen Xers independent and self-reliant. 

Millennials

Millennials, sometimes referred to as Generation Y, were born between 1981-1996. With 56 million millennials in the American workforce, they are the largest generation at work today. This is true in the UK as well, where roughly 50% of the workforce consists of millennials.

Millennials grew up surrounded by technology. The internet and mobile phones became common during their childhood. 

The best way to communicate with them is usually by texting. On average, millennials spend 48 minutes a day texting, higher than any other group surveyed. 

But try to avoid phone calls as 75% of millennials find them time-consuming. 

Generation Z

The newest addition to the workforce, Gen Z, was born between 1997-2012. They represent a small but growing group. 

Gen Z is best known for its passionate beliefs around diversity, climate change, and a desire to change the world.

Here’s what Casey Winch, CEO of Tallo, has to say about that:

“If you’re in the business of recruiting Gen Z, you need a diversity and inclusion strategy, and you need it now.”

Gen Zers came into a world with widespread access to technology. You can call them digital natives. They are likely to possess excellent tech skills and communicate using text messages, instant messaging, and social media. 

Effective communication in a multi-generational workforce

Working with a multigenerational workforce doesn’t have to mean struggling to balance everyone’s needs. You can use the range of experiences from different age groups as an advantage.

Some companies have done this effectively.

Pair different generations together intentionally

You can get higher productivity by mixing older and younger generations as teams. It increases the productivity of both older and younger employees. 

Riva Precision Jewelry went for this when it faced a skilled labor shortage. It hired young workers who lacked skills and paired them with experienced employees. 

This addressed their labor shortage and made both groups happy. Older workers were compensated for their time teaching, and the newer employees gained experience in the industry.

Offer flexibility to older employees

One way companies have stayed engaged with older workers is by offering them a flexible schedule. This can even include working at multiple locations.

Companies like Home Depot and CVS have started implementing snowbird programs that allow older workers to transfer to a warmer store during the winter months. These workers tend to defer retirement since they can fit work into their schedules easily.

“A good number of our pharmacy customers are going to be mature customers, and as part of our focus on diversity, we want a workforce that reflects our customer base,” according to David Casey, CVS’s vice president for workforce strategies. 

Find a way to provide coaching to younger workers

The nursing field has struggled with an ageing workforce and retaining new workers. Baptist Health Lexington was no exception.

Managers at the hospital struggled to find time to meet with staff about career concerns, but millennials longed for career mentorship. They hired an on-call career counsellor and saw an 11% decrease in turnover.

The return on investment (ROI) and worker satisfaction encouraged Baptist Health Lexington to keep the change.

Workplace communication skills for every generation

We’ve seen how some frontline companies are crafting policies for a multigenerational workforce, but finding solutions for your workers might take time. There are some general ideas you should keep in mind when managing generational differences in the workplace for your frontline staff.

Keep things conversational, not corporate

Keep the team communication distributed over communication channels by complexity and importance. 

If you’re praising someone, do it over the phone. Guiding someone, opt for face to face. 

This is especially important as companies adapt to more text-based communication for frontline workers. You can easily approach a coworker in the break room, but a casual conversation on the company's texting app takes practice.

In general, you want a reason to message someone. If you see a coworker you need to speak with commented on a company post, try to initiate a conversation. 

Understand that people might take more time to respond to your feedback than you are used to. Some generations are more sensitive about respecting their free time and may wait to reply until they are at work again.  

Prioritize flexibility

Jacquelynn Wolff, a Boston resident, received an offer for her dream job. But it was in New York. She didn’t want to leave, so she discussed it with her employer who agreed on remote work. 

“It lowered my stress levels instantly. I’m able to work better for my team, too, because I don’t have to worry about adjusting to a new city or a long commute.” 

She isn’t alone. Workers worldwide are asking for a flexible work environment. 

About half of the global workforce would consider quitting a job if workplace flexibility ends after the pandemic. 

But work flexibility might mean different things for different generations. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Work-life balance varies from person to person.

Ask your employees. Survey them and find what they prefer. 

Include everyone and adapt your feedback style 

Frontline employees tend to work away from the office. You can’t give feedback to them using a thumbs up or facepalm (not that you should do that with office employees either). 

So what’s the best way to congratulate them on a job well done or correct their errors?

That varies with each generation.

"Older generations tend to be more linear and traditional, while younger generations are looser and more spontaneous around time and place," says consulting CEO Tammy Erickson.

Younger generations grew up with likes and shares of social media. They like frequent attention. Sixty-six percent of Gen Z preferred feedback every few weeks. 

You can send a shout-out tweet to a millennial and Gen Zer. They may love it. Baby boomers and Gen Xers might not share this response.

Older generations tend to prefer face-to-face meetings. Suggest improvements in one-to-one meetings and congratulate them in front of their colleagues for maximum effect. 

Ask your employees how they prefer to learn about their performance. Not every millennial has a Twitter account, and not all baby boomers enjoy phone calls.

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6 tips to improve your workplace communication skills to engage every generation

With that in mind, let’s end with a few tips that will enhance multi-generational communication for everyone. 

1. Ask! Survey for group feedback and keep track of what each individual prefers. You may find your workers follow a similar pattern to their generation, or they may surprise you.
    
2. Use a multidimensional approach to communications and try to reuse content to suit as many people as possible.
   
   For example, if most of your workforce prefers in-person meetings but others learn better on their own time, record videos of in-person announcements to reshare later.
   
3. Pass the tools of internal communications to your employees. Employee-generated content is compelling. You can add personality, create meaningful connections, and put a face to the dry policy updates.
   
4. Have a central repository like Blink that can mix rich content like videos and images with conversations and calls. Keeping everything in one, mobile-friendly place makes it easier to reach others and communicate the way that works best for everyone.
   
5. Keep channels open for constant feedback about what could be improved. Don’t assume a few changes at the end of the year will be ok going forward. Remind employees to approach you about possible improvements when they can, and make sure you’re available.
   
6. Make it human. Let your employees see you at home, record videos on your way in, accept things that are a little messy for the sake of authenticity. Likewise, don’t expect perfection from your employees. 

Final thoughts: workplace communication skills for every generation in the workplace

With so many generations at work, you will see generational differences in the workplace. It’s essential to understand and acknowledge them. 

Let your frontline employees define themselves. A millennial can excel at soft skills, and a baby boomer can adapt to newer technologies. Effective communication grows from an environment that is open and adaptable.

Offer flexibility and show your workers that you are invested in their continuing careers. Adopt communication tools that cater to all generations and make it easier for everyone to be heard. 

Focus on what’s similar instead of different to keep moving forward as a successful frontline team.