Every leader in an organization that has frontline workforce has likely experienced the 'frontline connection gap' - but what is it?
Jess DeVore
Published:
September 6, 2023
Last updated:
October 8, 2024
What we'll cover
This article is part of Blink’s “frontline first” series: content created specifically for leaders of deskless or distributed teams. We know that the job of frontline leadership is entirely different from managing ‘desk-based’ teams, so this is for you and your unique set of challenges.
Every leader in an organization that has frontline workforce has likely experienced the 'Frontline Connection Gap' - it's the root cause of thousands of wasted hours and measurable negative impact on key business metrics like retention and productivity.
But what exactly is this 'gap', and how do you know if your organization is one of the ones experiencing it? And if it turns out that you are, how do you go about closing it (and is it even worth the effort)? In this article, we'll explore all of those questions and give you some simple answers.
What is the Frontline Connection Gap?
In a nutshell, the Frontline Connection Gap is the failure to enable frontline workers to communicate with the same ease, scale and speed as desk-based workers.
If it sounds simple, that's because it is. Think about how the average desk-based worker gets to communicate at work:
Easy access to their co-workers via email, work apps such as Slack and video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Easy access to key information and updates via intranets and cloud-based drives
Easy access to key HR processes such as booking time off and downloading paystubs through tools such as Deel or Workday
Easy access to learning and development through dedicated Learning Management Systems
Easy access to other parts of the organization (including leadership) through shared directories
Easy access to feedback portals through tools such as CultureAmp or Peakon
There's more where this came from, but the key point is that desk-based workers have access to a wealth of people, processes and information within just a few clicks.
For deskless workers, the picture looks very different - let's look at those same areas again:
Limited access to co-workers beyond those in the same physical space, often leading to isolation
Limited access to key information, often still delivered through paper memos as many frontline workers don't have access to a company email address.
Limited access to key HR processes such as booking time off and arranging shifts, which often requires making phonecalls or messaging managers via text and WhatsApp. Processes such as claiming expenses often still involve using paper forms.
Limited access to learning and development, as access to computers is infrequent
Limited access to management and leadership, leading to disengagement
Limited ability to deliver feedback or whistleblow on critical problems
The stark difference in these two worlds all comes down to communications infrastructure (or lack thereof): without continuous access to computers and email addresses, frontline workers are in a world that desk-based workers haven't experienced in more than twenty years.
The impact of the Gap
The way to know if your organization has a Frontline Connection Gap is by seeing if anything 'disappears' into it.
For the best examples of this, look to what your Human Resources team are doing. Let's take Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a key case - these critical initiatives are often planned and tracked at board level, and in order for them to be effective they need to impact every single member of an organization. The roll-out of these will often work well for desk-based teams thanks to regular communications such as emails, chat groups, in-person Employee Resource Groups and video calls.
However, getting to the frontline is a different matter. Without reliable channels for communications, People leaders will often find that promoting DEI programs is restricted to a flyer on a noticeboard, curtailing awareness and participation from the very start. In other words, the DEI program has fallen into the Frontline Connection Gap.
So we see just how big a problem the Gap can be: company policies and programs might as well not exist, for all the frontline are able to engage with them. As a result, the impact of the Gap can be felt on almost any core business metric - for example:
Retention drops because frontline employee engagement is low
Recruitment faces challenges as the organization is unable to offer an ideal employee experience
Customer experience is impacted when employees are ill-informed and disengaged
Productivity drops through inefficiencies in processes such as filling empty shifts and inconsistent onboarding and training
Safety is put at risk through failures to communicate critical information at scale
Employee wellbeing suffers as a result of isolation and inability to access support
The list could go on - and it does. If any one of these key metrics looks different in the frontline part of your organization in comparison to the desk-based part, then the likelihood is that you have a Frontline Connection Gap to bridge.
How to close the Frontline Connection Gap
It's important at this point to remember that the Frontline Connection Gap is rarely caused through neglect or intention - in fact, many organizations have tried (and are still trying) to close it. The problem is that the strategies that they employ usually fail, and it's for one important reason: the kind of communications infrastructure that works for the desk-based will not work for the frontline.
A key example of this is using intranets. Many organizations find intranets to be a useful means of sharing information with their desk-based workers, and so attempt to roll these out to their frontline workers through a mobile-based approach. In theory, this should work: most frontline workers have access to a smartphone and are confident enough in using them to download an intranet app.
However, this strategy comes across a number of roadblocks:
Firstly, it requires frontline workers to remember a new login and password (IT teams often find themselves facing high volumes of password reset requests as a result).
Secondly, engagement with intranet apps will usually be disappointingly low - but the reason for this poor uptake will help you unlock the secret of successfully crossing the Frontline Connection Gap (keep reading to find out).
To close the Frontline Connection Gap, there are three simple principles to follow:
Go mobile. With smartphone adoption having reached a critical tipping point, this is a no-brainer.
Consolidate where you can. The more systems and apps you ask a frontline worker to instal, the more you dilute your success. If you're asking your frontline to download and login to separate systems for accessing paystubs, receiving communications, giving feedback and arranging shifts, you're adding friction with every step. Create a single point of access wherever you can.
Put daily value at the centre of your solution. This is the crucial secret behind adoption, and the last mile of closing the Frontline Connection Gap. Busy frontline workers need a reason to engage with HQ, and that's the problem with simply rolling out an intranet on mobile: there's little in it for a frontline worker, so even if they have an app in the palm of their hand, they'll rarely take time out to log in. Success lies in inverting this, by making sure that at the heart of your communications infrastructure are processes that the frontline always need - for example, access to shifts and paystubs. By placing value at the heart of your system, you get the consistent engagement you need to close the Gap (we call this 'Chips and Dip theory'.
Despite the seriousness of its impact, the Frontline Connection Gap is actually a relatively simple problem - which thankfully means relatively simple solutions. If you're ready to get started, check out some of the best solutions on the market over here.
This article is part of Blink’s “frontline first” series: content created specifically for leaders of deskless or distributed teams. We know that the job of frontline leadership is entirely different from managing ‘desk-based’ teams, so this is for you and your unique set of challenges.
Every leader in an organization that has frontline workforce has likely experienced the 'Frontline Connection Gap' - it's the root cause of thousands of wasted hours and measurable negative impact on key business metrics like retention and productivity.
But what exactly is this 'gap', and how do you know if your organization is one of the ones experiencing it? And if it turns out that you are, how do you go about closing it (and is it even worth the effort)? In this article, we'll explore all of those questions and give you some simple answers.
What is the Frontline Connection Gap?
In a nutshell, the Frontline Connection Gap is the failure to enable frontline workers to communicate with the same ease, scale and speed as desk-based workers.
If it sounds simple, that's because it is. Think about how the average desk-based worker gets to communicate at work:
Easy access to their co-workers via email, work apps such as Slack and video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Easy access to key information and updates via intranets and cloud-based drives
Easy access to key HR processes such as booking time off and downloading paystubs through tools such as Deel or Workday
Easy access to learning and development through dedicated Learning Management Systems
Easy access to other parts of the organization (including leadership) through shared directories
Easy access to feedback portals through tools such as CultureAmp or Peakon
There's more where this came from, but the key point is that desk-based workers have access to a wealth of people, processes and information within just a few clicks.
For deskless workers, the picture looks very different - let's look at those same areas again:
Limited access to co-workers beyond those in the same physical space, often leading to isolation
Limited access to key information, often still delivered through paper memos as many frontline workers don't have access to a company email address.
Limited access to key HR processes such as booking time off and arranging shifts, which often requires making phonecalls or messaging managers via text and WhatsApp. Processes such as claiming expenses often still involve using paper forms.
Limited access to learning and development, as access to computers is infrequent
Limited access to management and leadership, leading to disengagement
Limited ability to deliver feedback or whistleblow on critical problems
The stark difference in these two worlds all comes down to communications infrastructure (or lack thereof): without continuous access to computers and email addresses, frontline workers are in a world that desk-based workers haven't experienced in more than twenty years.
The impact of the Gap
The way to know if your organization has a Frontline Connection Gap is by seeing if anything 'disappears' into it.
For the best examples of this, look to what your Human Resources team are doing. Let's take Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a key case - these critical initiatives are often planned and tracked at board level, and in order for them to be effective they need to impact every single member of an organization. The roll-out of these will often work well for desk-based teams thanks to regular communications such as emails, chat groups, in-person Employee Resource Groups and video calls.
However, getting to the frontline is a different matter. Without reliable channels for communications, People leaders will often find that promoting DEI programs is restricted to a flyer on a noticeboard, curtailing awareness and participation from the very start. In other words, the DEI program has fallen into the Frontline Connection Gap.
So we see just how big a problem the Gap can be: company policies and programs might as well not exist, for all the frontline are able to engage with them. As a result, the impact of the Gap can be felt on almost any core business metric - for example:
Retention drops because frontline employee engagement is low
Recruitment faces challenges as the organization is unable to offer an ideal employee experience
Customer experience is impacted when employees are ill-informed and disengaged
Productivity drops through inefficiencies in processes such as filling empty shifts and inconsistent onboarding and training
Safety is put at risk through failures to communicate critical information at scale
Employee wellbeing suffers as a result of isolation and inability to access support
The list could go on - and it does. If any one of these key metrics looks different in the frontline part of your organization in comparison to the desk-based part, then the likelihood is that you have a Frontline Connection Gap to bridge.
How to close the Frontline Connection Gap
It's important at this point to remember that the Frontline Connection Gap is rarely caused through neglect or intention - in fact, many organizations have tried (and are still trying) to close it. The problem is that the strategies that they employ usually fail, and it's for one important reason: the kind of communications infrastructure that works for the desk-based will not work for the frontline.
A key example of this is using intranets. Many organizations find intranets to be a useful means of sharing information with their desk-based workers, and so attempt to roll these out to their frontline workers through a mobile-based approach. In theory, this should work: most frontline workers have access to a smartphone and are confident enough in using them to download an intranet app.
However, this strategy comes across a number of roadblocks:
Firstly, it requires frontline workers to remember a new login and password (IT teams often find themselves facing high volumes of password reset requests as a result).
Secondly, engagement with intranet apps will usually be disappointingly low - but the reason for this poor uptake will help you unlock the secret of successfully crossing the Frontline Connection Gap (keep reading to find out).
To close the Frontline Connection Gap, there are three simple principles to follow:
Go mobile. With smartphone adoption having reached a critical tipping point, this is a no-brainer.
Consolidate where you can. The more systems and apps you ask a frontline worker to instal, the more you dilute your success. If you're asking your frontline to download and login to separate systems for accessing paystubs, receiving communications, giving feedback and arranging shifts, you're adding friction with every step. Create a single point of access wherever you can.
Put daily value at the centre of your solution. This is the crucial secret behind adoption, and the last mile of closing the Frontline Connection Gap. Busy frontline workers need a reason to engage with HQ, and that's the problem with simply rolling out an intranet on mobile: there's little in it for a frontline worker, so even if they have an app in the palm of their hand, they'll rarely take time out to log in. Success lies in inverting this, by making sure that at the heart of your communications infrastructure are processes that the frontline always need - for example, access to shifts and paystubs. By placing value at the heart of your system, you get the consistent engagement you need to close the Gap (we call this 'Chips and Dip theory'.
Despite the seriousness of its impact, the Frontline Connection Gap is actually a relatively simple problem - which thankfully means relatively simple solutions. If you're ready to get started, check out some of the best solutions on the market over here.
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In theory, everyone loves employee empowerment. Empowered employees are more productive and engaged, more likely to trust senior leadership and more likely to approach situations. What’s not to like?
Equally, that initial process of letting go can be hard – and that’s nothing to be ashamed about. Employee empowerment is a relatively recent philosophy, and many of us will have progressed our careers with a top-down approach to workplace management.
With the huge rise in remote and hybrid work, this approach is crumbling. As many workplaces are set to remain remote, and many others are losing employees in droves due to lack of career progression and low pay, it’s not a viable long term strategy.
Your managers can add huge amounts of value to your business in the projects they oversee and the bonds they build with their teams. Micromanagement is wasting them as a resource.
Staff empowerment involves trading some control over various aspects of your work environment for higher productivity and greater job satisfaction. Here’s how to embrace letting go in return for these tempting performance gains.
“Employee empowerment is a management philosophy that emphasizes the importance of giving employees the autonomy, resources and support they need to act independently and be held accountable for the decisions they make.”
“Autonomy, resources and support” encompasses a range of things here, and could include:
Offering employees freedom over where they work (e.g. remote or hybrid working arrangements).
Offering employees freedom over how they work by building managerial trust and avoiding micromanagement.
Providing resources for skills development and career progression
Structuring your organization in a way that allows employees some say in how it’s run, for example employee voice initiatives and shareholder schemes.
Employee empowerment, engagement, and satisfaction…what’s the difference?
Employee engagement is the strength of the mental and emotional connection employees feel toward the work they do, their teams and their organization.
Employee satisfaction is a measure of how happy an employee is in their role, and with their place of work in general.
Employee empowerment is providing the resources and support needed for your employees to act independently.
If you’re the type for metaphors (don’t blame you, they’re super useful!), consider employee satisfaction and employee empowerment as two key building blocks for employee engagement.
High employee engagement is the ultimate goal – companies with engaged employees are 21% more profitable than companies that aren’t. Workplace satisfaction and empowering employees with control over how they work are essential contributors to this.
The benefits of empowerment in the workplace
Your workforce is more flexible
Empowered workforces can work across locations and time zones, innovate more, and find solutions to problems quicker. That’s a real asset across your business – you can create better products, offer a vastly improved CX and build watertight internal processes.
Your workforce is more productive
Employees who feel trusted are more likely to get more done in the same space of time. This is partly because it’s easier to feel driven when you have autonomy over your work, and partly because micromanagement is a major time drain. Free your colleagues from this over-hierarchical hellscape and they’ll be more willing to go the extra mile.
Your workforce trusts leadership more
Trust is a two-way street. You’ll find that if employees are trusted to manage their workloads and have a say in how your business is run, they trust senior leadership to make mutually beneficial decisions as a result.
Research by the Great Place to Work Institute and Fortune suggests that trust between managers and employees is the main factor in the world’s best workplaces. Workplaces with the most mutual trust beat the average annualized returns of the S&P 500 by a factor of three.
How to empower employees in the workplace
Employee empowerment isn’t a bandaid that you can tack onto your existing workplace to make it better. It needs to be woven into the fibers of your company culture.
Bad news: this takes time and effort.
Good news: this investment will absolutely pay off in the long term. Creating new management practices, investing in new ways of working, sharing feedback regularly and creating a culture of recognition all help you maximize the value you get from employee empowerment as a business.
Feedback: give it and receive it
The more feedback you give on performance, the more you empower your employees to work dynamically, creatively and independently.
The more feedback employees share with you about the workplace, the more your workplace can meet their needs – and the more likely they are to stay.
Recognition: little and often is key
Did you know that a simple ‘thank you’ just once per month to your employees doubles employee engagement, halves the risk of them leaving and triples the likelihood of them sticking with you in the long term?
By all means celebrate the big milestones, but don’t forget to create a supportive, encouraging atmosphere day to day as well. Self belief is empowering – let your employees know that they’re doing a good job and watch performance improve.
Career development: make sure employees are working towards something
Career development motivates employees to act independently. Why take the risks that come with autonomy and decision-making responsibilities if there’s no payout?
In a recent survey 63% of workers cited lack of career opportunities as a reason why they left their position – the joint most popular response alongside ‘poor pay’. To create an empowered workforce motivated to stick around for the long-term, take a look at your career progression structure. What could be improved? Or, if you haven’t got any formalized structures in place, how could you design them to support the needs of your workforce?
Communication: two-way, not one-way
Watching your employees’ every move makes your workforce resentful and erodes trust. Instead of monitoring behavior, start thinking about how you can facilitate meaningful two-way communication between managers and employees.
As well as the right software – employee apps, instant messengers and project management software are all useful here – take a look at shifting your concerns away from regulating behavior and more towards focusing on results.
Responsibilities: avoid making things too top heavy
The classic scenario: managers are expected to maintain a huge degree of control over their teams, resulting in time pressures, delays and a lack of feedback for frontline teams.
By sharing responsibilities across employees and teams, you reduce this pressure drastically and encourage employee autonomy. You also avoid gradual erosion of trust and performance stagnation, as you empower your managers to spend time with their teams and invest time in employee development.
Barriers to employee empowerment and how to overcome them
Stuck on building a naturally empowering workplace? Check these common barriers to employee empowerment.
Your remote employees can’t communicate
To empower employees in a remote environment, your communications strategy needs to be stronger than it’s ever been.
If performance is suffering and deadlines are being missed due to confusion, invest in remote employee communication tools and make sure your managers are checking in at least daily.
Fear of position loss
If your employees are increasingly autonomous, what’s in store for middle to lower management positions?
Ease your managers’ concerns about this by communicating new expectations for different roles. If they know that employee empowerment is as much about reinvesting their time in meaningful work as empowering the workforce, they’re significantly more likely to get on board.
Lack of clear goals
“Be empowered” won’t cut it. To maximize returns on your employee empowerment strategy, you’ll need to be specific about what these goals look like. This could include:
Employees handling specific tasks on their own
Employees contributing regularly to strategic discussions
Employees shaping their workplace via employee voice initiatives
Employee empowerment in different industries
Not all industries work in the same way. What empowers employees in one industry might be impossible in another. Your healthcare workers might not be able to work remotely, for example, or there may be a particularly rigid professional hierarchy in place that you need to work around.
No matter your sector or organizational structure, there are ways to empower your employees. If flexible working is difficult, or there are real limits on the responsibilities you can share, try focusing on:
Employee voice initiatives like surveys and focus groups
Career progression – if your industry is hierarchical, work with it!
Recognition – a little ‘thank you’ never goes awry
Employee empowerment resources
There’s no such thing as being “too nerdy” about the wellbeing, productivity and performance of your employees. If you’re up for a bit of further reading, take a look at these resources.
And, don’t forget to check out our Frontline of the Future podcast! Listen here.
Employee empowerment examples
Need some real-world empowerment inspiration? Take a look at how these three businesses encourage their employees to reach their full potential.
Timpsons
British service retailer Timpsons is a renowned example of what happens when you trust your employees.
The business’s ‘upside down management’ philosophy was borne of owner John Timpson’s realization that “the only way to provide truly great customer service is to trust our customer-facing colleagues with the freedom to serve customers the way they know best.”
Timpsons’ frontline team members are encouraged to do whatever they can to provide a brilliant customer experience, including changing prices, rejigging displays and paying up to £500 to settle a complaint – without having to justify themselves to anyone senior.
John Lewis
If you’re looking for the ultimate employee empowerment strategy, look no further than employee ownership. Your employees become shareholders in your business, and get a share of annual profits and a say in how the business is run.
It’s definitely a commitment, but UK department store John Lewis makes it work. According to recent figures, 84% of John Lewis retail partners recommend John Lewis as a great place to work and 86% of customers feel valued when they shop with John Lewis outlets. Positioning their workforce as partners rather than employees drives empowerment; the retailer regularly tops ‘best workplace’ polls as a result.
Google
It’s no surprise that worldwide innovation leader Google expects the best from its employees. To facilitate this, Google invests a lot in building a creative work environment where employees are empowered to develop new skills at every turn.
Google Cafes encourage employees to build connections across the business, whilst the Google Moderator management tool draws a wider audience into meetings with a range of interactive features.
Google also allows its engineers to spend 20% of their working week on projects that interest them but show no immediate promise of paying dividends. Employees have the chance to develop new skills and work with their interests, whilst Google keeps ahead of the pack on long-term innovation.
Employee empowerment: final thoughts
As how we work continues to change, employee empowerment is becoming essential. Your teams need to be flexible, adaptable and engaged if you want to remain competitive – particularly right now, as open vacancies soar and workforces are asked to do more with less.
Employee empowerment will look different in different workforces. For example, you might not be able to offer flexible working, but you can still allow employees control over their processes and a say in how the workplace is run. Or, you might have strict protocols that need to be followed, but be able to offer some degree of time and location flexibility.
Whatever staff empowerment means for you, encouraging meaningful communication between managers and employees, setting clear expectations and building a culture of mutual trust is essential to success.
Blink is an employee app that enables two-way conversations, builds trust and empowers employees as a result. Get your free demo today!
Gamification = a better employee experience, right?
Gamification sounds like an easy win for employee experience — sprinkle in some points, add a leaderboard, boom: engagement. Right?
Not so fast. When gamification is all gimmick and no grounding, it doesn’t inspire employee motivation. It just causes irritation. But when it’s rooted in human connection, meaningful progress, and the way employees actually work? That’s where the magic happens.
Ready to level up your workplace gamification strategies and really move the dial on employee experience? Let’s explore how.
Why gamification works
At its core, gamification taps into what makes work feel energizing — progress, recognition, and a little bit of healthy competition.
Traditionally, it takes game elements we see in customer experience, social media, and other aspects of our personal lives — like point scoring, badges, leader boards, challenges, and levels — and applies them to workplace activities.
Done right, gamification makes routine tasks more engaging and builds momentum around key goals or behaviors. By celebrating wins, making progress visible, and providing social validation, it helps to drive employee engagement.
In fact, 90% of employees say gamification makes them more productive at work. So how exactly does it work? Time for a little neuroscience.
Gamification fires up the brain’s reward system. When we make progress towards a goal or receive recognition, our brains release dopamine — the “happy hormone.”
We feel good. So we’re more likely to repeat the behavior that gave us that dopamine hit.
This is why Duolingo’s streak counter keeps millions of users practicing languages (and now chess!). It’s why Fitbit’s step goals push people to walk just that bit further. And it’s why many organizations have jumped on the gamification bandwagon.
That same psychology is what makes micro-moments of progress on modern intranet apps — think quick reactions, streaks, and bite-sized challenges — so sticky for today’s workforce.
The best programs boost employee productivity and satisfaction with regular dopamine hits throughout the day. But gamification schemes aren’t always successful.
Without a set purpose and complementary employee experience strategy, gamification can end up feeling like a gimmick and the fun quickly fades from the experience.
When “fun” feels fake: Where gamification falls down
Gamification can boost everything in the employee lifecycle, from the onboarding experience to performance management — but only when it’s done with empathy and intention.
Not every challenge, badge, or leaderboard adds value to the employee journey. In fact, when gamification is rolled into internal comms without empathy or intention, it can easily backfire.
Here’s where gamification can go wrong:
Meaningless badges. If employees don’t understand what a badge represents — or if a badge doesn’t feel connected to real progress — it’s just another notification to ignore. Badges should feel earned and reflect achievements that matter to employees and your organization.
Forced competitions. Friendly competition can feel motivating. But forcing it on people who are already stressed and stretched too thin? It becomes a source of pressure, not playfulness.
Public shame for low performers. A leaderboard that constantly highlights the team’s “losers” is a quick way to erode morale. Not everyone wants their performance broadcast across the company.
Praise for only some personalities. Games skewed to extroverts or competitive types leave large segments of your workforce disengaged. Everybody should have the chance to win points and prizes.
Focus on company goals. Gamification can achieve big things for your business. Think better employee retention and improved cultural experience! But make corporate KPIs your only focus and employees see games for what they are — another performance metric, not a genuine engagement tool.
Time to reboot your gamification strategy? Let’s look at what employees really want.
Time to level up with smarter gamification strategies
Great workplace gamification isn’t about tricking people into working harder. It’s about making progress visible, recognition effortless, and participation feel natural — without the noise of points-for-the-sake-of-points.
Strategic gamification gives employees organic recognition and reward within their everyday workflow. Here’s how to improve employee experience by weaving gamification through your workday.
Figure out what you want to achieve
Gamification only works when it’s solving the right problem. Too often, organizations roll out leaderboards or points systems hoping to fix issues that need a very different kind of intervention.
For example, if your people are disengaged because they’re burnt out, they don’t need a competition. They’re more likely to need better workload balance and well-being support.
Start by asking: What’s the real challenge here? And work to fix root causes first.
Then, layer gamified digital experiences that are linked to real business goals and employee needs. When you set clear, measurable outcomes, gamification is more likely to have the desired employee experience results.
Celebrate micro-wins
Not every victory deserves a burst of confetti and a standing ovation. But every small success deserves something.
Those micro-wins are the secret sauce — tiny jolts of momentum that keep people moving forward without the corporate fanfare. And celebrating these moments in the flow of work creates a steady rhythm of employee recognition.
Aim for something like this:
Daily. Quick kudos or emoji reactions when small tasks are completed.
Weekly. Shoutouts for team collaboration or creative problem-solving.
Monthly. Digital badges or spotlight features for outstanding contributions.
The dopamine boost from these mini celebrations is real. And it adds up. By regularly highlighting micro-wins, you embed organic gamification into your company culture and start building a great place to work from the inside out.
Harness the power of peer recognition
If workplace gamification had a co-op mode, it’d be peer recognition.
Badges and leaderboards are nice to have. But a simple high-five from a co-worker can provide a much more meaningful motivation boost. That’s because public peer recognition is visible, instant, and social — everything good gamification should be.
So give employees the internal communication channels they need to award kudos, nominate co-workers for a reward, or add their congratulations to a recognition post.
These organic moments of appreciation are great for company culture. They work wonders for the motivation of both those receiving recognition and those dishing it out.
And an added bonus? When recognition happens in the moment — not buried in a quarterly award ceremony — it becomes a natural part of how your workplace culture works, not a box to tick.
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Launch news feed challenges
Your intranet platform isn’t just a noticeboard. It can be an employee’s go-to place for connection, interaction, and fun. But only if you venture beyond the standard corporate memo.
Add a few game mechanics to everyday moments throughout the employee journey. Set regular news feed challenges that create friendly competition and a sense of shared achievement. Some ideas?
Run a caption challenge tied to a weekly theme
Invite people to share short day-in-the-life clips or “work hacks”
Let teams submit photos of wins, then vote for the standout moment
These micro-challenges use the same principles as gamification — visible progress, social validation, and small rewards that keep people coming back for more.
Make it interactive
Gamification thrives on interactivity — it’s the difference between reading instructions and actually picking up the controller. You can bring that same energy into your employee communications by designing moments where people see change and impact in real time.
Here are a few ideas:
Pulse surveys and polls. Let people click and vote. Show engagement survey results instantly or follow up with a summary of employee feedback and a plan of action to show cause and effect. Mix and match employee surveys with pulse survey tools to minimize survey fatigue and better enable 360 feedback.
Progress bars. Add visual progress indicators — for training modules, or even as an online video story plays. Also, share employee data that others will care about. For example, 82% of you have completed cyber-security training this week — can we get to 100%?
Countdown timers. Create excitement for live events or new initiatives with a countdown. The ticking timer creates buzz, curiosity, and a sense of employee satisfaction when the new content drops.
Keep it authentic
If there’s one golden rule of gamification, it’s this — never fake the fun.
Nothing tanks engagement faster than games that feel mandatory, corporate, or designed to squeeze a little more output from already-stretched teams. Employees can spot the difference between something genuinely built to improve employee experience and something built with the company’s bottom line as a priority.
People join in when games are fun and playful. So keep things human. Make participation voluntary. And, most of all, keep things simple.
When your gamified moments feel natural — fitting with the flow of everyday work — they make the biggest difference to employee experience.
Our POV? Real engagement, not artificial rewards = employee experience results
Gamification doesn’t need to be flashy. It doesn’t need a complicated leaderboard or digital trophies. Instead, the best gamification feels purposeful and playful — and fits seamlessly within your workflow.
At Blink, we’ve seen how intuitive, mobile-first design turns everyday actions into effortless bursts of engagement. Quick reactions become micro-rewards. Employee surveys act like mini-challenges. Stories feel like new levels unlocking. When these moments are woven naturally into the workday, they spark real connection — without a single gimmicky badge in sight.
And when you base your gamification strategies around social interaction, connection and community become a reward in themselves. It stops being about badges and points, and starts being about people — meaning a more organic and meaningful employee experience.
On the hunt for the perfect comms solution for your organization?
Whether you’re looking for a tech to engage a frontline workforce or a modern intranet that puts your organization’s knowledge at your fingertips, we’re comparing techs that can take your internal communication to the next level.
Today we look at Interact vs. Blink to see which is right for you.
Interact vs. Blink — quick facts
Blink and Interact are modern internal communication solutions suited for enterprise and small organizations. Their intuitive user experience and mobile applications lend themselves to a frontline workforce.
However, Interact is mainly an intranet replacement with various social employee engagement features. It is an older solution, and some feel that its features are a little old-fashioned. That includes an inclination towards top-down communications and static intranet pages.
In contrast, Blink packages an intranet with chat, micro-apps, and interactive content management to create an open, engaging digital experience. The priority is on encouraging all employees to participate in discussions and voice their contributions.
How they’re similar
Mobile-focused
Blink is designed with the mobile frontline worker in mind. That means you can reach everything you’d expect to have access to as a desk worker straight from your phone. The features and design flow seamlessly, no matter the screen size, to unite your organization with one application.
Similarly, Interact also caters to companies with a significant number of frontline workers. The intranet software is fully responsive and works on both iOS and Android.
Targeted posts
Both internal employee communication tools recognize that the most effective messages are tailored.
Interact uses “personas” you can define based on qualities you set. More than just dividing workers by role, you can segment your messages based on the training they’ve already received, location, and more.
Blink also allows you to target posts based on certain teams and work functions. The live feed of employee posts, company communications, and important real-time notifications are 100% customizable for each individual.
People directory
Both Blink and Interact make it easy to discover and contact any other member in your organization, breaking down communication barriers.
Blink’s People Directory consists of each team member's photographs, role, time zone, and location.
Interact’s directory adds a bit more content to this directory with customizable bios, interests, and expertise.
How they’re different
Many features set each communication management software apart. Let’s take a look:
SMS
Interact adds multichannel broadcasts that include the option to send a text to employees. One reviewer notes how “beneficial a feature like this would be during a pandemic.”
Although Blink can push notifications to each user’s phone, there is no out-of-the-box feature that allows SMS texting.
Chat
When comparing Interact vs. Blink, one large difference is Blink’s native chat function. Users can start secure group or one-on-one chats. Document-sharing and emoji capabilities also mean your employees have the tools to get their message across, no matter the subject.
In contrast, Interact only has a tagging function to start conversations and, more often than not, will need to integrate with third-party chat platforms.
Digital signage
The Interact software includes built-in digital signage capabilities. That gives your team the ability to display updates, company news, and other useful information in break rooms, conference rooms — anywhere with a screen.
Blink does not offer a feature to create and display digital signage natively in the app but can be configured with integration to serve this purpose.
Micro-apps
Blink offers deep integration with thousands of apps, acting as your one-stop solution to digital workplace technology. Blink also lets you build out integrations for any app you need through customizable micro-apps.
When comparing the customization of Interact vs. Blink, you are slightly more limited with the latter. Although it also offers several integrations, the Interact intranet does not offer a way for users to add ample features themselves.
Extranet
Interact offers additional extranet services that provide a communication platform for business partners. External parties can access FAQs, product pages, blogs, answer surveys, and more through a simple login page.
Blink’s product offering is more narrowly focused on internal communications, so if your team is not looking for an extranet solution, a platform with features solely designed for internal teams may serve you better.
Feed page
Blink’s feed page provides an engaging, personalized experience that enables a sense of connectedness and omnidirectional communication.
When comparing Interact vs. Blink’s newsfeed, Interact’s is more focused on activity updates. For example, when a document is updated or a user joins a new group.
Although users can like and comment, the social aspect is not as prominent. The platform’s forum allows more back-and-forth conversations but does not encourage frequent participation.
Ease of use
Blink takes most of the burden of onboarding and IT off your hands, making it an ideal solution for enterprise companies and lean teams alike. The features are intuitive, requiring little to no training, and once you’re onboarded, Blink handles all the behind-the-scenes IT to keep your hands free.
On the other hand, learning to use Interact’s intranet does take a bit more time. User reviews say, “Its functionality is difficult to administer and labor-intensive. It is also not very intuitive.”
One feature that is consistently said to be difficult to use is its forms. “Forms are a great feature to have, but we've found them cumbersome to create and maintain.”
Interact vs. Blink — pricing
Blink offers four levels of paid service based on company size, while Interact’s pricing structure is a bit more opaque. They offer individualized pricing based on your organization’s exact requirements, so you’ll have to request a quote to see how much it may be for you.
Here’s a look at Blink’s pricing:
Essential: $3.40 per person, per month
Business: Price on application
Enterprise: Price on application
Enterprise Plus: Price on application
Interact vs. Blink — final thoughts
If you’re looking for a comprehensive, modern intranet with social features, want to maintain a more traditional communication structure, and have the resources to spend a little more time learning how to use the product in the backend, Interact may be the right choice for you.
However, if you want an intranet with engaging, intuitive features that refresh your internal communications with open dialogue, and you want to be able to fully customize your solution’s features, Blink may be your go-to.
Determine if Blink is the right solution for you by booking a demo. Try it free for 14 days.
New employee journey maps can take time to develop. But when adding more smiley faces isn’t enough, how do you get an employee journey map to work better for your organization?
The concept of employee experience maps has been gaining traction as a way to boost employee engagement and improve your onboarding process.
The template follows a pretty straightforward path from hiring, through training, and eventually exiting, but it’s the way you use these maps that makes them valuable.
You know your workers will have training at a particular stage, but how helpful is it? Do you see an increase in turnover at any stage? These are the types of questions your employee journey maps should help you answer.
Why use an employee journey map?
An employee journey map can be a helpful tool for improving the employee lifecycle. This concept visualizes the entire employee experience through your organization, from onboarding until their last day.
There are a few different ways to name each stage of the journey, but every employee experience map follows the same basic flow:
Recruitment and hiring
Onboarding
Engaging and training
Development
Progress and performance
Exit or offboarding
These employee journey touchpoints describe the main stages a worker might be at within the company.
You can track the average time it takes to complete each step, assign different training and feedback for different stages, and look for patterns within your journey maps.
An employee journey map can help with engagement as you can better address the needs and concerns a worker will have by knowing where they stand in the organization.
Making the most of this tool will help you actually get some use from it.
How to make a better employee experience journey map
Don’t worry. Not all good employee experience journey maps lead to Manchester. They just have to lead to happier workers.
Whether you already use an employee journey map template or are just starting to look into the idea, there are some steps you can take to make your maps work better.
They are the following:
Create different maps for different roles. The map for a frontline manager will look different from a warehouse worker, with different training and onboarding for each position. Depending on your organization, you may need a few maps or a few dozen.
Analyze your employee journey maps and look for patterns. Do many employees have trouble at the same part of the training? That may become more obvious when you compare maps and visualize the issue at hand.
The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows an average tenure of 4.1 years, and 22% of workers had been with their current employer for a year or less.
Looking up industry-specific numbers can help you further pinpoint areas to focus on when planning out your journey maps.
Time feedback to the stage in the journey your employee is at. Look for onboarding feedback while the process is still fresh in their mind.
Provide appropriate feedback to your employees as well. Let them know how they’ve improved after training, or likewise what they could concentrate a bit more on.
Remember, journey maps are a tool that can help predict how an employee’s experience will look, but it’s not set in stone. There can be unexpected events that change their journey map.
Like a global pandemic that reduced working hours by 17.3% in 2020. Most of us are still trying to get back on track after that one.
Make sure your organization learns from the tool. These aren’t coloring book pages for employees to fill in while HR processes their paperwork. Learn from them.
Did you know only 12% of employees strongly agree their company did a good job at onboarding?
Using an employee journey map, you can analyze your new hires at this stage and see why they might feel that way.
Wrapping up — Making employee journey maps better for your workers
Employee journey mapping is one of those tools with lots of potential. It can help you improve different processes in your organization, increase employee engagement, and create an easy-to-follow workflow for various roles.
Or you can spend an entire quarter making everyone fill these in and then promptly lose them in a subfolder that was last opened three years ago.
Just keep in mind that creating an employee journey map is the first step. You also need to make it easy to access for employees and have them provide feedback.
76% of workers say they enjoy working collaboratively. But workplace collaboration isn’t just good for team members. It’s also good for your organization.
That’s because, when your teams are pulling in the same direction, there’s less wasted effort, greater productivity, and better business results.
These days, collaboration is a little more complicated than it used to be. Many employees work remotely or on a hybrid schedule. There are also hard-to-reach frontline employees to consider.
In 2024, organizations are having to be more intentional about employee collaboration — and they’re turning to tech tools to bring dispersed teams together.
Collaboration in the workplace may be changing. But it’s still as important as ever. Here, we take a look at the benefits of workplace collaboration, along with the role tech can play in creating a collaborative ecosystem.
What does collaboration look like in the workplace?
Workplace collaboration involves team members working together to achieve a common goal. It relies on empathy, active listening, conflict resolution, and accountability.
But it’s not just about team members working together on a big project. Or giving the standard monthly update on company developments. Collaboration is much, much more than that.
The most collaborative organizations make collaboration part of their company culture. It’s a mindset of openness and transparency. A place where all employees engage in effective communication and are ready and willing to help one another.
Employee collaboration might mean liaising with engineering, marketing, and sales teams to launch a ground-breaking new product. Or simply helping your co-worker get the photocopier working again.
In any form, collaboration is about sharing information and knowledge. About willingly offering support. And about combining employee strengths to get the best results each and every day.
Nowadays, there’s another key element to collaboration in the workplace — technology. In the wake of remote working and higher employee expectations with regard to tech, collaboration has gone digital.
Organizations use digital tools to facilitate employee collaboration even when teams don’t work face-to-face. They use tech, like project management software, employee apps, and real-time communication tools.
This is helping to maintain collaboration among desk-based teams, at home and in the office. It’s also supporting dispersed frontline workers to collaborate at work, too.
Collaboration is good for business. It ensures that your employees, like cogs in a well-oiled machine, are all working together. There’s more momentum and less friction. So you find it easier to achieve organizational goals.
Collaboration within teams helps those teams to function more effectively. Cross-functional collaboration is important too. Team-working across different departments helps to remove workplace silos and get all teams on the same page.
Workplace collaboration is also good for employee motivation and morale.
With easy and effective communication, the workplace becomes a happier place to be. And when employees operate as a team, helping each other to achieve tasks, the workplace becomes more caring and supportive.
Collaboration clearly makes a difference to employees. A 2022 Corel report into team-working revealed that:
41% of employees have left their job or would consider leaving their job due to poor collaboration at work
64% of employees say that poor collaboration costs them at least three hours per week in productivity
78% of employees say that leadership could be doing more to promote collaboration within the organization
Collaboration ties in with employee engagement, the employee experience, productivity, and employee retention, making it a really crucial component of any workplace.
8 benefits of collaboration in the workplace
Let’s take a closer look at what workplace collaboration can do for your employees and organization. Here’s what you can expect when your employees routinely collaborate with one another.
Improved employee engagement
Employees who feel they belong within an organization are 5.3 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. And employees who get enough information to do their job well are 2.8 times more likely to be engaged.
Workplace collaboration brings employees together. It gives them need-to-know information, and aligns everyone behind company goals.
This creates a sense of community and purpose, which fuels employee engagement. Collaboration leads employees to feel more satisfied in their work and more loyal to your company.
Increased efficiency
When teams collaborate, they share information. Teams pool resources and people power. Employees who work together closely can share workloads and responsibilities.This enables teams to complete tasks more quickly. It also reduces the chance of duplicated work.
This efficiency frees up time in the workday. It helps managers to make workloads more manageable, while creating the time and employee headspace for even more creativity and collaboration.
Knowledge sharing
Imagine a company that fails to share its collective knowledge effectively.
Teams spend their time researching topics that other teams understand in depth. Employees repeat the same mistakes because there’s no one sharing their hard-earned insights. You fail to establish best practices. And employees are in a constant state of catch-up.
Now imagine the opposite. A company where knowledge is shared seamlessly between co-workers, teams, and departments. There’s no gatekeeper and collective knowledge is easy for everyone to access.
The latter scenario makes for a more successful organization. It helps you build a more knowledgeable workforce. And it saves a heap of time — because your people aren’t separately pursuing the same lines of research.
Stronger relationships
Good employee collaboration relies on strong workplace relationships. And it helps to develop them, too.
When teams collaborate, they communicate regularly. They work together towards a shared goal. They also develop trust and mutual respect as they share ideas and rely on each other’s support.
By developing these strong relationships, your organization gets better at collaboration going forward. You create a culture of psychological safety, where people feel comfortable speaking up about their ideas, mistakes, and concerns.
Strong workplace connections also improve the employee experience. With Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2024 report revealing that 20% of employees experience a lot of loneliness at work, nurturing workplace relationships has never been more important.
Better decision-making
When you make decisions as part of a team, you leverage the knowledge, perspective, and experience of each team member. You involve the people who are directly affected by the decision — and those who are responsible for implementing it.
Making decisions as part of a team means assumptions are challenged and everyone has a sense of buy-in. You make informed and balanced decisions that are more likely to garner company-wide support.
For example, in a recent webinar, we heard from the team at the Capital District Transport Authority (CDTA) in New York. They realized they needed new tech to improve internal communication at the organization.
When deciding on the right tech solution, they took a cross-functional approach. They involved communications, IT, and HR teams, along with leadership. They also consulted the workers who’d be using the new tech.
By collaborating in this way, the CDTA was able to choose a modern intranet that met everyone’s needs and enjoyed excellent levels of adoption.
Enhanced problem-solving
We all know the proverb. “Two heads are better than one.” And when it comes to problem-solving, you’re much more likely to come up with creative and effective solutions when working as part of a team.
Collaboration brings people with different viewpoints together. This diversity helps teams to approach a problem from multiple angles — and come up with a variety of potential solutions.
It also minimizes blind spots. Because there are people with lots of different perspectives involved, it’s less likely that some element of the problem or its solution is overlooked.
Stronger employee development
The practice of collaboration helps to develop employee soft skills, like decision-making, problem-solving, communication, conflict resolution, and creative thinking
When you have a culture of knowledge sharing, co-workers can also learn from one another. They can pick up new skills and information from the people they work with. Employees are organically coached by more experienced members of the team.
This informal learning can take place within teams and across departments. Successful cross-departmental collaboration enables workers to get a better understanding of different areas of the business.
Boosted productivity
As we’ve already seen, good teamwork is linked to:
All of these things support workplace productivity. Employees have access to the resources, skills, knowledge, and relationships that help them perform at their best.
Collaboration also improves accountability. When employees are involved in planning, decision-making, and problem-solving, they’re more motivated to work hard and make a success of the initiative or project.
The role of technology in workplace collaboration
It used to be that collaboration could take place informally in the office.
Co-workers could share ideas as they made coffee in the break room. Or as they walked to the elevator together. There were plenty of face-to-face meetings where people could work together to solve problems and make decisions.
But things have changed. In recent years, technology has played a much bigger role in team working.
Firstly, thanks to the pandemic, remote working became much more widespread. While some organizations are encouraging people back to the office, a sizable proportion of employees still spend part of their working week working remotely.
In the UK, figures for 2024 show that 40% of workers spend at least some time working from home. In the US, 41% of employees whose jobs can be done remotely work a hybrid schedule.
Secondly, employee expectations around workplace tech have increased. With intuitive tech at home making life easier and more convenient, employees now expect the same digital experiences in the workplace. This goes for frontline employees, too.
Frontline employees — working shifts, in isolation, or on a busy shop floor — haven’t always had the same opportunities for teamwork as their desk-based peers. But with organizations now focusing on frontline employee engagement and retention, this is something that employers are looking to rectify.
To involve all employees in workplace collaboration — no matter their location or schedules — we have to be intentional. We also have to use the right technology.
Here are a few tools that support collaboration in the modern, digital workplace.
Real-time communication tools
When teams are working away from the office, real-time communication tools are an employee collaboration essential. You need a way for co-workers to communicate seamlessly, sharing information as if face to face.
We know that many deskless workers conduct conversations on personal apps. But this type of shadow IT poses security risks. It also fails to enhance collaboration and employee engagement as successfully as a dedicated communication tool, run with the oversight of your managers.
So providing employees with messaging and video conferencing tools is a must. You need software that facilitates 1:1, group, and company-wide chat.
Project management software
Projects have lots of moving parts. And — particularly for non-office-based teams — it can be hard to visualize project tasks and progress without project management software.
This type of software acts as a centralized platform for planning and executing projects. It keeps all files, discussions, and tasks in the same place, ensuring nothing gets lost and everyone is aware of their responsibilities.
Project management software is particularly useful for remote and hybrid teams. But it can still come in useful for purely office-based teams.
Streamlined communication, workflow automation features, file organization, task visibility, and real-time updates are useful for teams wherever they may be working.
Employee apps
For employees who don’t spend their day at a desk, an employee app is another vital workplace collaboration tool.
As Ian Gordon of Elara Caring said to us in an interview:
“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.”
Apps, like Blink, fit Gordon’s description. They’re intuitive to use and available on employee smartphones. They also make it quick and easy for employees to complete tasks, whether that’s sending a message to a co-worker, checking the latest policy documents, or filling in a safety report.
Employee apps support collaboration for time-poor frontline workers. They help them build connections with co-workers, share their frontline insights, and keep up to date with company news, improving the employee experience in the process.
A resource hub
Whether it’s on your company intranet or an employee app, a digital resource hub is another useful tech tool for employee collaboration.
A resource hub allows co-workers to share files and work together on them. It also acts as an internal knowledge base.
Here, employees can find best practices, company policies, and FAQs. If they have the appropriate permissions, they can also add their own insights to the hub, tagging documents so employees can find them easily.
AI and automation
AI and automation tools are also playing a role in employee collaboration. They’re providing time savings that give team members more opportunities for collaboration. And they’re supporting collaboration in other ways, too.
Companies are using this tech to automatically tag resource hub documents so users can find what they’re looking for more easily. AI is producing better resource hub search results.
AI is also supporting employees in their use of data. With automated data analysis and predictive analysis, AI is giving employees a sound basis for their collaborative problem-solving and decision-making efforts.
Some organizations are also using AI to facilitate communication between different departments. For example, technical teams are using it to translate complicated documents for non-technical co-workers.
This is helping to close the communication gap between departments and ensure that everyone has the information they need to collaborate effectively.
In summary
Workplace collaboration has changed dramatically over the past decade. But it’s still a key indicator of business success.
Collaboration supports workplace productivity, communication, and business results. It leads to better problem-solving and decision-making.
It also supports your employee retention and engagement efforts by making your workplace an open and supportive place to be, improving the employee experience.
Face-to-face collaboration is trickier than it used to be. But with the right tech solutions, you can champion collaboration in your organization, no matter where your employees spend their work days.
Blink has everything you need to bring collaboration to your desk-based, remote-working, and frontline employees. Our mobile-first employee app provides:
Real-time communication via 1:1 and group chats, plus the company news feed
A resource hub, where employees can access company documents and forms
Deep integrations with the project management tools you already use
AI support that supports better workplace communication
Is your internal comms tech stack bursting at the seams?
Technology should make work easier. The right internal communications tech has the power to transform the employee experience and get everyone pulling in the same direction.
But when your internal comms tech stack is bursting with tools — all pinging, updating, and overlapping — things get messy.
With different tools for communication, collaboration, engagement, and more, employees get a fragmented digital experience.
And for the IT team behind the scenes? It’s a constant juggling act of integrations, logins, security, support tickets, and updates — plus eye-watering costs for all those subscriptions.
Of course, each one of those digital tools serves a purpose. But used together, they can create friction, silos, and a digital employee experience that doesn’t live up to expectations.
Overwhelmed by your tech stack? There’s a better way.
Let’s explore how to consolidate your tools without compromise — and why a single, mobile employee app can simplify your stack, save your budget, and elevate the experience for everyone.
The current state of internal comms tech: A tool for every need
Internal communication teams wear a lot of hats. They’re responsible for amplifying company culture, keeping track of employee sentiment, sharing essential company updates, and boosting employee engagement.
To tick all those boxes, many organizations end up with a patchwork of internal communications platforms. A survey tool here. A chat app there. A weakness in one tool is fixed by bringing another software solution into the mix.
In any given organization, there are often separate tools for:
Real-time chat and collaboration
Social media-style engagement
Critical communications
Employee surveys and feedback
Employee training
Virtual meetings and town halls
AI content support
Employee journeys
Peer recognition
Task management
Before you know it, these tools are fighting for employee attention. They’re adding to the noise and making it harder for comms teams to cut through with vital messages. Maintaining multiple, overlapping solutions is also costly — and it creates a real headache for CIOs and IT teams.
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The CIO’s challenge: Complexity, cost, and employee fatigue
If you’re managing a complicated internal comms tech stack, you’re probably experiencing one, if not all, of the following challenges.
IT burden
Managing integrations, security, compliance, and maintenance for multiple tools puts a strain on your IT team. Help desk tickets mount up because users struggle to learn each new platform and remember all those login details. For companies with high employee turnover rates, onboarding and offboarding staff across different platforms takes up a huge amount of time.
Cost overload
A bloated internal comms tech stack eats into your budget. When different tools cover similar ground, you pay multiple times for the same features, many of which aren’t even used by your comms team or employees. Costs mount up, draining resources that could be better used elsewhere.
Employee disengagement
App overload kills engagement. Employees bounce between platforms. They miss messages. Some tune out completely. You get poor usage and adoption rates — and a tech ROI that simply doesn’t add up. Despite (on paper) covering all the bases, your internal communication tools don’t provide the seamless digital experience employees have come to expect.
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The solution: An all-in-one employee app
With new and improved internal comms tech tools on the market, it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t need to make do with a hotchpotch of platforms, each fulfilling a slightly different internal comms function.
Instead, you can consolidate all internal communications andworkplace tech into one software solution. And you can do this without compromising on security, functionality, or the employee experience.
With a unified employee app, you have one platform, one login, and one powerful digital workplace for all your internal communication needs. Here’s what consolidation can do for your organization.
One hub for all communications
The best employee communications apps bring all comms under one digital roof. So everyone can stop toggling between tabs!
Employees can access a news feed, instant messaging, alerts, surveys, and videos from the same dashboard. Comms teams can unify their messaging across integrated communication channels. IT teams have just one comms platform to manage and maintain.
Streamlined integrations with existing enterprise tools
The right employee app acts as a hub for all workplace tech. It offers seamless integrations with tools like Workday, ServiceNow, and Microsoft 365.
Your team doesn’t need to spend time creating and customizing integrations from scratch. And with one command center, it’s easy to maintain, secure, and scale your tech ecosystem.
Improved user adoption and engagement
Fewer internal communication tools means less friction and high levels of user adoption. What’s more, with single sign-on (SSO) and deep integrations, users can access all workplace tools via one central, user-friendly dashboard.
Everything from HRIS tools to L&D programs to pay stubs is right at employee fingertips. So adoption of other workplace tech improves too. And — if you pick a mobile-first solution — you improve uptake among frontline employees, which means better comms engagement across your entire workforce.
Reduced costs and complexity
By eliminating redundant software and establishing a single employee app you reduce costs and complexity. Your budget goes further — and your IT team is less stretched, so they can focus on value-add activities instead of tackling endless support tickets.
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Why Blink? The all-in-one employee app
Blink was built as an all-in-one workplace solution — everything your workforce needs in one intuitive platform designed for easy use on mobile devices.
Wondering whether our employee app is the answer to a sprawling internal comms tech stack? Take a look at what Blink can bring to your organization.
Real-time chat and collaboration
Blink makes a great alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams, particularly if your organization has a lot of frontline workers. As a mobile-first solution, Blink gives all employees easy mobile access to secure chat and collaboration tools via both desktop and smartphone apps.
Social-style news feed and engagement
Workplace from Meta will soon be defunct. But your workforce can still enjoy an engaging social-media-style experience with Blink. You get a news feed and other modern social features, like Stories, Communities, live streaming, and user profiles.
Mobile alerts and push notifications
Say goodbye to a tangled web of email and SMS communication (which most employees ignore anyway). With Blink, you can use mobile-first alerts and push notifications to share critical updates with your workforce.
Surveys and pulse checks
Surveys and polls are another built-in Blink feature, so you don’t need a third-party tool to find out what your workforce is thinking and feeling. Your comms team can seek regular feedback from employees and view survey data alongside platform usage stats.
Video and live updates
Blink offers integration with Zoom. But you can also use native tools for video and live updates. Users can video call from within chat. Leaders can use the live stream feature to host company-wide meetings from the news feed, giving employees the option to comment and interact during the event.
AI-powered content
Another big benefit of Blink is its built-in AI functionality. Users don’t have to switch between ChatGPT and your employee communications platform. Instead, they can keep their data safe and sound by getting Blink to create, improve, or summarize content, right within the feed.
A wide range of integrations
Blink’s App Marketplace contains integrations with many of the most popular workplace tools. You can set up integrations with your learning and development, project management, CRM, payroll, HR software, employee scheduling, time tracking, and more. One app, one seamless experience: Get one-click access to what you need, when you need it.
Easy identity management
Another way Blink eases the load of your IT team is with user management tools. Rather than using another external identity management provider like Okta, you can use Blink to automate user administration, assigning permissions based on groups, job roles, location, and more. You can use single sign-on right in the app, reducing the number of accounts and login details you’re responsible for.
Rock-solid security
Blink can handle authentication, including secondary biometric authentication, for you. You can also fence particular functions, controlling the areas that workers can access in integrated tools. Blink gives you everything you need to keep company data safe on employee devices.
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Simplify, save, and strengthen employee experience with an employee app
Lately, the internal comms text stack has become a little… unwieldy. In many organizations, a complex network of tools is harming the employee experience, complicating internal communications, and stretching IT teams to the limit.
But with the help of an employee app, you can fix all that.
Employees get a dynamic digital workplace, where they can access multi-media company news and time-sensitive critical updates. It’s easier than ever for them to connect with co-workers, launch video calls, and respond to surveys.
Your internal comms team has tools to share information and gather feedback on employee experience. They can unify their messaging and keep a close watch on employee engagement figures across all workplace software.
And last but by no means least, an employee app brings benefits for your IT team too. Streamlining your tech stack reduces tickets and software maintenance tasks. It frees up your budget while bringing comms clarity to your entire organization.
Blink. And create a streamlined digital experience for every worker and every team.
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