The Shift - September 28th 2023

Missed The Shift in your last week? Recap on what was covered in Blink’s fortnightly update for frontline leaders on September 28th, 2023 — and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss another edition.

The risks and rewards of digital employee experience

Employers who neglect the digital employee experience (DEX) open their company up to a great deal of risk. That’s according to Ivanti’s recently published 2023 DEX report.

Poor DEX doesn’t just lead to low levels of staff satisfaction and high levels of attrition, it also makes your company more susceptible to a cyber attack.

This is because:

• Employees faced with clunky security protocols sometimes seek an unsecured workaround
• Bad DEX causes stress — and stressed employees are more likely to ignore cybersecurity rules in a bid to get work done quickly
• Threats slip through the net more easily when organizations use a complicated patchwork of digital tools

Good DEX helps to ensure cybersecurity compliance. Employees should have access to a streamlined selection of user-friendly digital tools. These tools need to offer rock-solid security without getting in the way of the work that needs to be done.

When considering DEX and cybersecurity, you also have to take into account the needs of your frontline workers and the realities of their everyday.

Your deskless teams should get access to the same cyber training and updates that are available to their office-based coworkers. And leaders should take a step back to consider how the digital employee experience looks and feels for the frontline.

Do distributed employees have to log in and out of multiple systems throughout the day? Are they met with dead ends and lost resources when they’re already time-poor and seeking answers?

Take the stress and the friction out of the frontline DEX and you’ll take a big step forward in terms of cybersecurity protection — and employee satisfaction and retention to boot.

After all, digital experience is becoming more and more important to employees. 64% of leaders expect younger employees to consider leaving a business if their digital experience needs are not met, as one Australian report found. “The CIO is essentially becoming a Chief Talent Officer too” explains Dave Donatelli, CEO of the company behind the report.

How to create digital engagement in deskless teams

On Tuesday 26th September we held another The Shift LIVE: Ask Me Anything event, this time on the topic of digital engagement and Internal Comms in frontline organizations. Missed the live session? Catch up on-demand whenever you want right here.

Our panel — Suzie Robinson, Intranet and Internal Comms Consultant, Zach Hausauer, Director of Communications and Culture at Elara Caring, and Simon White, VP People at Blink — shared their insights into what works and what doesn’t for deskless digital engagement.

Our biggest take-home was the need for audience-centricity; that Internal Comms and People leaders need to think about the who, what, and how of their employee communications. Who is your target audience? What is the mix of demographics within that group? How do these people prefer to absorb information? Asking these questions will help hone your IC strategy and make your comms engaging and memorable for every staff member.

‘The Shift LIVE: Ask Me Anything on creating digital engagement in deskless organizations’ is available to watch now. Blink’s next webinar will take place on 18th October, so watch this space!

The benefits that deliver for frontline workers

L&D programs and employee resource groups (ERGs) work wonders for employee career progression and engagement. But are these benefits reaching all of your employees?

Frontline and hourly employees can’t always take time away from work to access these opportunities, as discussed in a recent Fortune.com article. This creates a two-tier system, where office-based staff find it easier to move up the career ladder while frontline workers remain static in the same roles, year after year.

If frontline engagement and retention at your organization isn’t where you want it to be, check that all employees get equal access to your benefits. Enlist the help of first-line managers to spread the word too, explaining the impact that L&D and ERG programs can have on a frontline employee’s career development.

You could also create benefits targeted at your frontline workforce; Deloitte recommends personalizing benefits and offering choices. Perhaps your deskless staff would like a better way of swapping shifts so they can manage responsibilities at home, for example?

You need staff surveys, good internal communication, and an understanding of how staff access the benefits on offer if your benefits package is to boost engagement and retention across the board.

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