The open enrollment period is a set window of time that employees have to enroll in benefits or make changes to their plans. Unless they have a qualifying life event, employees must select their plans for the year during this timeframe.

Given how complex the process can be, open enrollment can be stressful and overwhelming for management and employees alike. Fortunately, a solid open enrollment communication plan can help streamline the process and boost open enrollment participation.

Take Open Enrollment employee participation to the next level with these must-have communications templates.

When employees miss the deadline, it creates more administrative work and can cause confusion and hinder productivity. To prevent these issues, it’s important to get the highest open enrollment participation possible —and the key to success is effective benefits communication.

We’ll be looking more in-depth at how companies can prepare for the upcoming open enrollment period. You’ll also find open enrollment communication templates that you can copy/paste from this article to help you get started on creating your very own open enrollment toolkit.

Why Open Enrollment Communication to Employees Matters

Although open enrollment is critical, there are a few obstacles for employees that can hurt participation and cause them to miss the deadline.

Here are a few common reasons why employees miss their open enrollment deadlines:

1. Confusing jargon
2. Lack of communication from their company
3. Poor understanding of the process

For frontline employees, open enrollment communication can be even more challenging. Workers who don’t have a company email address may not even receive the information they need to participate.

Employees care deeply about their benefits. A study by the American Institute of CPAs found that 80% of workers would choose a position with benefits over the same position that offered higher pay but no benefits.

Open enrollment communication matters because it enables employees to understand the process in a way that’s clear and accessible, which ultimately boosts participation.

When to Announce Open Enrollment?

The golden rule of any communications strategy – plan ahead. Employees need ample time to review educational materials and consult with family members in order to make informed decisions.

The 3 Best Open Enrollment Communication Templates

What does open enrollment communication actually look like? If you’re looking for sample open enrollment communication to employees, we’ve got two enrollment forms you can use when initiating the conversation.

The first open enrollment template is ideal if your communication with employees happens via email. The second open enrollment template is better suited for mobile communication platforms. Feel free to mix and match parts of both templates to create your own custom open enrollment announcement.

Open Enrollment Email to Employees Template 

Hi [employee name / team],

Welcome to the start of Open Enrollment! If you’re not sure what that means or what you need to do, don’t worry. We’ll walk you through essential steps and deadlines.

For [current year], we are maintaining [describe plan types] and have made the following changes: [describe plan changes].

This year’s enrollment period is [enrollment period dates]. This is the only period of time during the year when you can make changes to your benefits. Note that even if you choose to waive coverage, you must still complete the Open Enrollment process.

Please follow these next steps to complete the Open Enrollment process by [deadline].

1. Log into [employee benefits software] using your company email address
2. Follow enrollment instructions
3. Receive confirmation and logout

If you have any questions about the Open Enrollment process, please reply to this email or contact [email address].

Thank you,

Open Enrollment Letters to Employees Template for Mobile Platforms

First Day of Open Enrollment!

This year’s Open Enrollment period has officially started. This year’s period is  [enrollment period dates]. During this time, you’ll be able to make changes to your benefits plan for [current year].

During the Open Enrollment process, you can:

• Elect your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for your health care coverage
• Contribute to your Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Change your benefits beneficiaries and dependents
• Elect Long-term and Short-term Disability Insurance (LTD/STD)
• [other elements of enrollment process]

To get started, please click on [benefits software/section in platform].

For additional questions, please contact [name/email].

Communication Channels for Open Enrollment

How a company executes its open enrollment communication strategy is just as important as the information being delivered. Why? Because some communication channels are just more effective for open enrollment than others.

A 2020 report found that before the pandemic, the most common communication channels for open enrollment were:

1. Email (79%)
2. Internal websites (74%)
3. On-site meetings (60%)

Other channels included mailing print materials and placing signs in the workplace.

But when 80% of the global workforce consists of non-desk employees, these communication channels simply aren’t effective. Non-desk employees on the frontlines often don’t have access to company email, and they certainly do not work in front of a computer all day. And considering that many frontline workers are distributed across different locations, on-site meetings and signage aren’t reliable means of communication either.

The best channels for open enrollment communication:

• Are accessible to all employees, including non-desk workers
• Overcome language barriers
• Allow employees to ask questions 
• Are traceable: Meaning they help employers track which employees have received information

Adopting a mobile communication platform checks all of those boxes, especially since experts are predicting that mobile workers will be 60% of the total workforce by 2024. 

For frontline industries, a mobile platform like Beekeeper: 

• Centralizes open enrollment communication
• Sends timely reminders about open enrollment forms
• Translates messages into each user’s preferred language
• Offers employee surveys to track the effectiveness of your open enrollment communication strategy

5 Tips for Boosting Open Enrollment Communication

Sending an open enrollment announcement is the first step.

Here are 5 more open enrollment tips to help create your open enrollment toolkit and make your open enrollment communication strategy successful.

1. Offer Open Enrollment Communication Education

“I completely understand my ever-changing healthcare benefits” is likely not something you’ll hear from any employee. Let’s be honest, healthcare and insurance can be very confusing! Because of this, employees frequently avoid making changes during the open enrollment window. 

It’s an employer’s job to make sure employees have all the tools to make informed decisions by the deadline.

Plan and implement a benefits education program with offerings that suit your organization, such as:

• Seminars/webinars
• Personal consultations with experts
• One-on-one meetings with HR representatives

Ideally, you can repurpose these educational materials with minor tweaks as benefits change so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel twice a year.

Although it seems like more planning now, proper benefits education will save a lot of headaches down the road. These educational opportunities will demystify the process, make employees feel more confident in their decision-making, and boost open enrollment participation.

2. Initiate Open Enrollment Announcements about Potential Consequences

To get higher enrollment participation, employees need to understand what happens if they miss open enrollment. By communicating potential consequences, employees are more likely to take the deadline seriously. It’s not meant to be a scare tactic, it’s the reality of what could happen.

Potential consequences could include:

• Not receiving any benefits (if enrolling for the first time)
• Dependents being dropped or not added
• Lapses in coverage

All of these scenarios can have a significant financial impact on the employee.

In a nutshell, a company’s open enrollment communication strategy may be the only source of information employees receive, so it’s vital to arm them with plenty of information and support.

3. Use an Accessible Platform Designed for Open Enrollment Communication

We’ve discussed what to communicate, but what is the best distribution method? Email is widely used for benefits communication, even though it’s often ignored or doesn’t reach the entire workforce.

If employees aren’t using a computer, there’s a good chance they’re on their smartphones. Mobile communication and collaboration apps are a great way to reach your mobile team members with open enrollment information. 

With a mobile employee app, you can:

• Message your employees directly about benefits information
• Schedule automated enrollment reminders
• Send confirmation campaigns
• Automate workflows, to save time and energy

Is your benefits communication accessible to your non-desk employees? There are many more ways to improve employee benefits communication with a mobile workforce. For example, busy frontline employees will appreciate frequent open enrollment communication in bite-sized chunks they can read on the go.

4. Focus on Communication with Employees Who Don’t Open Benefits Messages

How can you boost participation numbers for Open Enrollment? Put extra effort into special communications channels and strategies to reach employees that continuously don’t open their benefits communication messages.

Often, the hardest part of the Open Enrollment process for employees is taking the first step. If employees don’t open the first few messages, they likely won’t see future reminders.

Employees might not be opening messages because they are intimidated by the Open Enrollment process and/or don’t know what it involves. One way to reach employees who aren’t opening messages about Open Enrollment is to send additional open enrollment resources to answer frequently asked questions such as:

• If I choose to waive coverage, do I still need to enroll?
• How can I find out my coverage and benefits?
• How can I change my healthcare plan and/or add dependents?

By reaching out to employees who are lagging behind in open enrollment participation, you can analyze your communication strategy and improve it for the future. For example, if employees aren’t opening messages because they’re not comfortable with the language being used, consider a delivery method that offers inline translation. 

5. Ask for Feedback on Your Open Enrollment Communication Strategy

The best way to boost enrollment participation is to simply ask employees:

• What information do they want?
• How do they like to receive it? 
• What will inspire them to take action?

They may prefer information being distributed in a different way than you’re providing. Or, they may have follow-up questions that can be addressed during feedback periods.

Employee surveys are a great way to clarify benefits options and the open enrollment process. And, with mobile employee communication apps, it has never been easier to get feedback directly from your essential mobile workforce.

Employee surveys demonstrate that you’re dedicated to making the process as convenient as possible, potentially reducing the number of employees that miss open enrollment.

Open Enrollment Communication At a Glance

At the end of the day, the goal of open enrollment communication is to enable employees to make informed decisions about their benefits. Here are a few additional Open Enrollment Tips for making that happen:

• Avoid jargon whenever possible or explain jargon with additional resources
• Remind employees that any changes to life circumstances may impact coverage choices
• Use visual as well as written methods for explaining open enrollment (charts, graphs, lists, etc.)
• Illustrate benefits choices and decisions with real-life examples
• Offer side-by-side comparisons between different plans

Although employees are responsible for managing their own benefits package, companies can go a long way in reducing confusion and boosting participation during the Open Enrollment period.

5 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Open Enrollment Communication

Open enrollment can be a complex and confusing process. If your employees come to you with one of these Open Enrollment Questions, we’ve got answers you can use to help them.

1. What is open enrollment and why is it important?

Open enrollment is the period of time during which individuals can enroll in or make changes to their health insurance coverage.

This period typically occurs once a year and is an essential opportunity for individuals to:

• Review their current coverage
• Assess their healthcare needs
• Make informed decisions about their insurance options

During open enrollment, individuals can choose to:

• Enroll in a new health insurance plan
• Make changes to their current plan
• Add or remove dependents from their coverage
• Switch between different plan options
• Review and update their personal information

Open enrollment is important because it provides individuals with the chance to ensure that they have the best possible healthcare coverage for their needs. It also allows them to take advantage of any changes or updates to healthcare laws and regulations that may affect their coverage.

Additionally, open enrollment is an opportunity for individuals to reassess their financial situation and determine how much they can afford to spend on healthcare. They can compare the costs and benefits of different plans, including premiums, deductibles, and copays, to determine which plan provides the best value for their needs and budget.

2. When does open enrollment typically take place?

Open enrollment typically takes place once a year during a specific period of time. The exact dates of open enrollment can vary depending on the type of insurance coverage and the state in which an individual resides. However, for most people, open enrollment for health insurance coverage typically occurs in the fall, usually between November and December.

For individuals who receive health insurance coverage through their employer, the open enrollment period generally takes place in the fall. Employees can review and update their coverage options, including health, dental, and vision insurance. They can also enroll or make changes to their flexible spending accounts (FSAs) or health savings accounts (HSAs).

It is important to note that missing the open enrollment period can result in limited or no options for making changes to your coverage until the next open enrollment period. 

3. How do I access the open enrollment materials and information?

One of the first places to look for open enrollment materials and information is your employer’s HR department. Many employers provide their employees with detailed information about their coverage options, including brochures, videos, and other materials. Your HR representative can also answer any questions you may have about the enrollment process or your coverage options.

Another helpful resource for open enrollment materials and information is healthcare.gov, which provides information about health insurance coverage, including details about the open enrollment process. You can use it to compare different health insurance plans, estimate your costs, and find answers to frequently asked questions.

4. What documents or information do I need during open enrollment?

During open enrollment, you will need several important documents and pieces of information in order to make informed decisions about your health insurance coverage. Here are some of the key items you should have on hand:

• Current insurance policy information: This includes your policy number, coverage details, and any important documents related to your current coverage.
• Personal information: This includes your name, date of birth, Social Security number, and any other personal information required for enrollment.
• Income information: You will need to provide information about your income in order to determine if you qualify for any subsidies or tax credits. This may include your tax returns, pay stubs, or other income documentation.
• Health information: You will need to provide information about any pre-existing conditions, current medications, and any upcoming medical procedures or treatments.
• Family information: If you are enrolling family members in your health insurance plan, you will need their personal and health information as well.
• Plan options: It is important to have a clear understanding of the different health insurance plans available to you, including their benefits, costs, and coverage options.

5. Can I make changes to my benefit selections outside of the open enrollment period?

Typically, open enrollment is the only time of year when you can make changes to your benefit selections. However, there are some circumstances where you may be able to make changes outside of the open enrollment period.

One of the most common reasons for making changes outside of open enrollment is if you experience a qualifying life event. These events can include things like getting married or divorced, having a baby, or losing your job. In these cases, you may be able to make changes to your benefit selections to reflect your new circumstances.

Another reason you might be able to make changes outside of open enrollment is if you experience a significant change in your employment status. For example, if you switch from part-time to full-time employment, you may be eligible for different benefits than you had before.

In some cases, your employer may also offer a mid-year enrollment period, which allows you to make changes to your benefit selections outside of the open enrollment period. However, this is not common, and you should check with your employer to see if this is an option.

Download Ultimate Open Enrollment Communication Kit.

The post How to Boost Open Enrollment Announcement Participation Through Better Communication appeared first on Beekeeper.

Doing so not only boosts productivity but ensures that essential workers remain safe, even during a crisis.

Want more tips on retaining your essential workforce during a labor shortage? Discover the real reasons why your frontline workers are quitting.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw how essential workers risked their own safety and well-being to keep our infrastructure functioning. From doctors and nurses to farmers, manufacturers, and delivery drivers, essential workers allowed other critical businesses to stay open and operational.

While frontline organizations recognized the importance of essential workers communication technology, there is still a lot that can be done to improve how frontline teams communicate.

In this article, we’ll be looking at:

• The link between key workers communication technology and team productivity
• Different types of communication tools for essential workers
• Factors to consider when choosing essential workers communication technology

Let’s dive in.

How Essential Workers Communication Technology Boosts Team Productivity

At Beekeeper, we work with many frontline organizations that employ essential workers. We surveyed our extensive pool of frontline workers and managers to find out what were their main motivators and stressors.

We found that staffing shortages were a common stressor for both frontline workers and managers. For workers, keeping their families healthy and safe was a top priority. And when we dug deeper into what made frontline employees the most engaged and productive, the answers pointed to one need: better communication.

Here are 9 ways key workers communication technology boosts productivity:

1. Improved Coordination and Collaboration

Essential workers often spend the majority of their shifts on their feet and on the go. That’s why traditional communication methods like email and bulletin boards simply aren’t efficient for essential workers. Mobile communication tools like Beekeeper helps frontline employees connect with their managers and colleagues to coordinate and collaborate in real-time.

2. Enabling Remote Work and Access to Information

Giving essential employees access to information when they’re off-shift makes it more likely that they will be prepared and more productive during their shifts. For example, giving mobile access to pre-shift information allows employees to review the information ahead of time and gives them the peace of mind that they can refer back to it at any moment.

3. Enhancing Team Productivity and Problem Solving

Roadblocks, delays, and interruptions can have disastrous consequences for essential work. Efficient, on-the-spot problem-solving means that issues are less likely to escalate and slow down productivity. The right essential workers communication technology empowers frontline employees to search for information to solve problems on their own or reach out to their managers or colleagues for assistance.

4. Increased Efficiency and Time Savings

Communicating at the workplace can be time-consuming, especially for frontline and remote workers. With tools that digitize processes and paperwork, and allow for real-time communication, frontline businesses can save time during every part of the employee life cycle. Onboarding, training, and daily operations become more efficient when workers have the tools to communicate effectively.

5. Streamlining Scheduling and Shift Management

One of the most important pieces of information for essential workers is knowing when their shift starts and ends, as well as any last-minute changes that affect when they come into work. Workplace technology that allows essential workers to check those details anywhere and anytime makes teams more informed and less stressed. 

6. Automating Administrative Tasks and Documentation

By automating workflows using essential workers technology, frontline organizations can free up time for workers and managers to focus on more valuable tasks. Automating processes like payroll, onboarding, shift scheduling, and safety checks can go a long way toward increasing team productivity.

7. Minimizing Errors and Delays in Communication

For teams with essential workers, miscommunication can delay or even halt production. Improving overall team communication with frontline tools like Beekeeper can minimize potential errors and delays. Workers can report issues before they escalate and cause delays, while managers can receive feedback on better operational strategies to prevent miscommunication.

8. Enhanced Safety and Risk Management

Regular safety training is an important part of managing risk in the workplace and empowering essential workers to take proper safety precautions. From safety training during the onboarding process to ongoing safety training and frequent updates on the latest policies and best practices, the right communication tools can enhance overall safety for essential workers.

9. Facilitating feedback and Continuous Improvement

Many times, frontline organizations neglect their most valuable source of information on continuous improvement: their workforce. Communication tools like Beekeeper that have survey and poll capabilities allow managers to gather, analyze, and act on worker feedback on a regular basis.

Types of Essential Workers Communication Tools (+Examples!)

Let’s break down the types of tools you might consider for connecting essential workers.

Instant Messaging and Video Conferencing

Here are three of the most widely known and used tools for instant messaging and video conferencing, as well as the pros and cons of each for essential workers:

Whatsapp

Pros:

• One of the most popular instant messaging apps worldwide
• Most of your essential workers are familiar with it 

Cons:

• Does not provide adequate data privacy
• Lack of chat organization features leads to disjointed communication
• Chat groups are not scalable for large organizations

Zoom

Pros:

• Scalable for small, medium, and large organizations
• Easy and intuitive to use
• Range of web conferencing options, including screen sharing, recording, and private/group chat boxes

Cons:

• Mobile version not as intuitive and easy to use 
• Best for desk-based employees with computer access (not the reality for most essential workers)
• Requires a strong internet connection (that essential workers often don’t have in remote locations)

Pro Tip: Beekeeper offers a Zoom integration to create a more holistic approach to essential workers communication technology!

Microsoft Teams

Pros:

• Integrates multiple Microsoft tools all in one place
• Comes at no additional cost if the company already has a Microsoft license
• Strong file search, backup, and collaboration features

Cons:

• High number of collaboration tools can get overwhelming and confusing
• Works best on desktop and laptop computers, not mobile devices
• Like Zoom, requires constant internet connectivity, which might not be possible for essential workers in remote locations

Digital Task Management and Training

Let’s look at some task management and training tools and some of the advantages of using these tools for essential workers:

monday.com 

• Ideal for tracking multiple, complex projects from idea to completion
• Task management boards give a clear view of each step in the project timeline
• File sharing and communication tools that fit a broad range of industries

MobieTrain (which integrates with Beekeeper!)

• Mobile-focused microlearning allows frontline workers to learn new skills in small, manageable doses
• Gamified approach makes learning fun, engaging, and approachable
• Learning layout is specifically designed for essential and frontline workers

Beekeeper

• Includes both task management and training features in one, centralized communication hub
• Task management features are designed for optimizing shift scheduling for frontline workers
• Offers mobile training tool integrations – both for onboarding new employees and offering continuing education for existing workers

Mobile Apps and Wearable Devices

For essential workers that spend their workday on their feet, mobile and wearable devices have several benefits, including:

• Real-time communication 
• Location tracking
• Monitoring hours and activity to prevent burnout

Mobile and wearable devices can also improve safety for essential workers with:

• Immediate access to critical safety information
• Opportunities for on-the-spot incident reporting
• Last-minute safety updates for emergencies

Here are some examples of wearable devices for essential workers:

• Orion Onyx, a sleek, circular device that enables voice AI workflow support and push-to-talk voice messages over cellular and wireless networks
• Webex & Glass Enterprise Edition, a partnership between Google Glass and Cisco to enable wearers to communicate hands-free with voice, hand gestures, and head movements
• RealWear, a voice-operated assisted-reality headset solution that helps frontline workers use Zoom services 

Things to Consider when Choosing The Right Communication Technology

With so many options available for communication technology, how do you know which one is right for your essential workers? At Beekeeper, we’ve helped many essential businesses make the transition from traditional methods of communication to digital tools. 

We’ve found that there are three main factors that determine whether a communication platform is a good fit for a frontline organization:

1. Compatibility with Existing Systems

For almost all frontline organizations, there are legacy systems, processes, and tools already in place that make up an existing communication strategy. That strategy may not be ideal but there are usually parts that are familiar and functional.

Evaluating the existing communication tools and habits of your workforce might provide insight into which new tools would be the easiest to adopt. For example, organizations that are already in the Microsoft ecosystem might consider upgrading to Microsoft Teams, while those who are used to conferencing on Zoom might benefit from RealWear headsets. 

2. User-Friendliness and Accessibility

Essential workers already have a lot on their plate. Adapting to a new communication strategy and set of tools should cause additional stress and work for your essential employees. 

Easy app onboarding with a user-friendly interface, especially when it’s compatible with existing systems, makes it more likely that your workforce will start and continue to invest in new communication technology.

Pro Tip: Communication tools that are primarily geared towards desk-based workers might not be as user-friendly and accessible to essential workers.

3. Data Security and Privacy

Frontline businesses can’t afford to take risks when it comes to data privacy. As personal data becomes ever more profitable, organizations have to take steps to ensure that their workplace tools are safe and secure.

One of the most reliable ways to know if communications technology offers adequate data security is to check whether it’s GDPR compliant. Created by the EU, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the strongest global privacy law in effect today.

Some messaging apps like Whatsapp are not GDPR compliant, making them less safe to use as workforce communication platforms. Beekeeper, on the other hand, is already GDPR compliant and offers a secure platform that protects client data. (Check out Beekeper’s journey to GDPR compliance.)

Essential Workers Communication Technology: Key Takeaways

Having the right communication technology for essential workers is, well, essential.

It boosts productivity by:

• Improving how quickly and efficiently workers can collaborate and problem solve
• Providing remote access to information like shift schedules, process documentation, and safety procedures
• Automating administrative tasks to free up time for more valuable work
• Minimizes miscommunication
• Strengthens and accelerates the feedback and continuous improvement cycle

There are different types of communication tools, including:

• Mobile apps
• Instant messaging
• Video conferencing
• Task management
• Training 
• Wearable devices 

The best essential workers communication technology offers mobile access, compatibility with existing systems, user-friendliness, and data security. 

Ready to improve key workers communication at your company? Download our ultimate guide to frontline success below

The post 9 Ways Essential Workers Communication Technology Boosts Productivity appeared first on Beekeeper.

Company communication apps are the single most effective way to connect every person in an organization—from frontline workers to the C-Suite and streamline conversations for a more productive workforce.

Need to tighten up your internal communications at your business? Discover how to get the most from your apps for team communication here.

Here’s why connection and alignment of every single worker are essential in today’s world:

• Workforces are more spread out than ever before
• Company culture is most effective when everyone is a part of it
• Productivity is highest with transparency
• 80% of the global workforce are frontline workers and are often left out of communication

Communication is intricately connected to the bottom line. When business leaders use mobile-first employee app internal communication, they create a forum of open communication, with avenues for employee insights and feedback that can inform business strategies for better outcomes. 

What Are Apps for Internal Communication?

A team communication app is a workforce solution that brings everyone together in one place for effective communication across an entire organization. It is a mobile app that connects workers to each other and their employers. A communication app empowers workers by giving them a way to receive company information, provide feedback, and communicate with their colleagues and managers. A communication application is also a way to automate and streamline workflows. 

 A team communication app is:

• On mobile devices, so everyone can access them where and when they need
• Hosted on a secure cloud platform so all data is protected
• One of the biggest secrets of employee engagement!

Often, companies have numerous communication channels, like:

• Chats
• Websites
• Internal intranet
• Payroll and scheduling
• Video and audio chat and messaging
• Blog posts
• Email, news, bulletin boards

The beauty of apps for team communication is that they can consolidate and streamline communication from all of the multiple channels into one robust mobile platform.

Why Use a Internal Communication App?

For millions of people, the nature of work has changed. The notion of the office is changing. It’s no longer a place where workers spend 40 hours a week. More and more, employees are either remote or working a hybrid job, splitting their time between working from home and the office. 

In fact, 58% of people now have the option to work remotely either part or full-time. 

But this figure just covers workers in more traditional jobs that require a desk and computer. And they’re actually in the minority. 

80% of the world’s workforce are frontline workers. They are most often mobile, meaning they don’t sit at a desk or use a computer or have company email. And they’re almost always left out of digital communication. In fact, most companies still use those antiquated break room bulletin boards to reach these teams. 

Workforces, both frontline, and traditional desk workers are more dispersed than ever before. Which makes communication extra tricky. Many companies have come to rely on video conferencing programs to hold meetings. But this still doesn’t take frontline workers into account. 

Staff communication apps are the most effective way to reach everyone in an organization. 

Having a mobile-first communication solution levels the playing field and invites every single worker into the same space with equal access to the same information. It aligns organizations by being able to reach every single person at the same time. 

What To Look For In A Internal Communication App

These days, there are a lot of options for effective internal communications tools, and deciding which one to use can be an overwhelming process. 

Let’s start with this pro tip: Stay away from apps used for social communication, like WhatsApp. It’s a great platform for sending messages to friends and family, but it lacks the security and regulatory compliance capabilities that are required for workplace communication. Workers should use a company-issued app for communicating at work.

Internal communication apps designated for business will have built-in security measures. For example, Beekeeper has achieved ISO 27001 certification, adhering to rigorous international data security standards. 

This is especially important when a company has a BYOD (bring your own device) policy and frontline workers use their personal smartphones for employee communication apps. 

The best apps for communication at work will also have these qualities:

Workflow Integrations

A true team communication app will be used for a lot more than communication. HR will use it to streamline onboarding and will store all of the necessary forms on the platform. Managers will create and track shift schedules on the app. Workers will be able to complete open enrollment from their mobile devices. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

That means an internal communications strategy should be able to integrate with other internal communications software and systems different departments might use, like Microsoft Azure, ADP, and Workday. Workflow integrations through one centralized communication platform make life easier for your workforce by enabling an easy single sign-on rather than the headache of having to toggle between different apps. 

Ease Of Use

To get maximum buy-in for an internal communications strategy, a workplace app should be intuitive. That means workers should be able to easily download, sign on, and be up and running in minutes. They should be able to easily navigate the features without many (or any) instructions. 

If an app is convoluted and it’s too difficult for workers to find what they need, workers will become frustrated and choose not to use it at all. And for a communication app to be most effective, companies need to get a high adoption rate.

Video And Audio Chat

While not a necessary element for a communication tool, video and audio chat options can offer a nice alternative to just messaging, especially when workforces see one another less and less in person. Sometimes it’s just good to connect voice to voice, face to face. Find a workplace app that offers video and audio chat features, or use a tool that can integrate with programs like Slack which has voice and video call and conferencing features. 

Collaboration Tools

A team communication app is SO much more than sending messages. It should be a hub of information exchange, where teammates can come together and collaborate no matter where they’re based.

A team app shouldn’t be a stagnant space. It should be buzzing with energy and excitement and ideas. When people have the ability to come together to accomplish tasks and work towards goals, it sparks creativity and triggers a surge of innovation. It also builds friendships and fosters a feeling of belonging at work. It’s no surprise that collaboration is a key ingredient for employee engagement.

Onboarding And Support

20% of hires leave a job within the first 45 days, so onboarding is a critical period of time for both the employee and the company. With a team communication app, the onboarding process – which is usually long and tedious – can be swift and automated. Workers can complete all of their paperwork from their mobile device and HR can track their progress from the app’s company dashboard. This cuts down on onboarding time and allows the employee to become a productive member of the team sooner!

Discover how RWH Management customized Beekeeper’s team communication app to create a unique experience for frontline workers and built a solid company culture!

5 Benefits Of Implementing An Internal Communications Platform

The ability to have instant contact with anyone—and everyone—in your organization is a huge boon for businesses. But a team communication app does so much more than that. 

Here are 5 of the top benefits companies gain when they implement a communication application.

1) Team Alignment and Unified Culture

80% of the world’s workforce hold frontline positions in their companies. But as companies began to digitally transform their operations, they invested more money in communication technology that was designed for desk-based workers. 

Fast forward to what’s available today. With mobile-first employee apps, entire organizations can connect on one single platform. Leaders can align their workforce to the same messaging, at the same time. 

Why is this important? Because companies that have a unified organization with everyone aligned to the same messaging, mission, and values ensures that everyone is working towards the same goal which drives better business outcomes.

Gathering everyone together on one communication app is the best way to build a unified organization and culture. (Can you believe that 41% of people don’t really get what their company stands for?) A team app should be lit up with accolades, a hub of feedback and back and forth, and a place where everyone is included. 

2) Transparent Communication 

There used to be a clear divide between what information executives knew and what they shared with workers. One SHRM survey showed that companies lost an average of $62.4 million due to poor communication between companies and their staff. 

When leaders openly share information with their employees, it builds a sense of trust. It also sets the stage for workers to feel comfortable sharing their feedback and insights. And that open back and forth is when communication really hits its stride. 

A team communication app is the infrastructure that companies need to share information. Whether it’s information about financial performance, executive teams, company goals, or keeping employees informed during a global pandemic, workers want—and deserve—to be kept in the loop.

Transparency:

• Builds trust
• Builds a stronger, more unified culture
• Boosts engagement
• Makes employees feel valued
• Reduces turnover
• Lets employees know the importance of their role and what goals they’re working towards

And a team communication app is the most direct, immediate way to foster that culture of transparency. 

3) Higher Employee Engagement

We can’t ever say enough about employee engagement. It’s probably the single most important element in a company’s success. And companies with greater engagement can have up to a 43% higher retention rate. When employees are engaged in where they work and what they do, they are more productive and will go above and beyond for themselves and their teams. 

With a mobile employee app, everyone is included. Frontline workers who were once left out of communication are now connected and a part of the conversation. It’s invigorating and gives employees a sense of purpose and belonging. Walking into a new job with an app in their hand and their colleagues personally welcoming them means workers are engaged from day one.   

Managers can also use the app’s dashboard to keep a close eye on internal communication trends in their company and know when they have to adjust communication strategies to boost it. They can see overall engagement as well as individual employees based on app usage. 

Got a team communication app but need some pro tips on how to boost engagement? Read this article on 20 Best Practices for Cultivating Frontline Employee Engagement.

4) Real-Time Communication

There’s no time like the present! For too long, frontline teams were the last ones to receive information due to antiquated project management tools, like those old-school bulletin boards or in-person meetings. But for a long time that was the only way to reach this mobile workforce. 

Now, there’s no excuse to not have frontline workers receiving real-time communication along with their desk-based counterparts. With a team app, messages are instantaneous. That makes a huge difference for frontline organizations.

Benefits of real-time communication:

• Saves time
• Saves money
• Creates a safer workplace
• Improves customer service

5) A More Collaborative Workforce

With their two-way capabilities, team apps double as project management tools. Dispersed teams can communicate and work together via mobile devices from any location.

A team communication app fosters collaboration by:

• Enabling the sharing of documents, videos, and images
• Real-time messaging and feedback
• Multi-channel communication
• Surveys

With the ability to collaborate, workers are suddenly part of a team rather than working independently. (And there’s another ingredient for boosting engagement!) Frontline workers can ask real-time questions to resolve internal communication issues, swap shifts, share advice, and tips, and work together on projects. It builds unity and camaraderie and leads to greater productivity and innovation.

Best Internal Communication Platforms

Ready to start reviewing employee communications software to see which one might be right for your company? Here are some of the most popular ones on the market today.

*It’s worth noting that while some internal communications tools are great on their own, they are often better together. Most of the products out there, with the exception of Beekeeper, are still designed as primarily project management tools for desk-based workers. But the good news? Most of these other employee apps can easily integrate with Beekeeper to create a powerhouse collaboration platform and create the best communication apps for companies. 

Beekeeper

Beekeeper is a robust, mobile-first communication and collaboration platform that has full integration capabilities and a 90% activation rate. It is designed for entire organizations, giving everyone the ability to connect from the device of their choice. But it’s mobile-first approach is geared towards the inclusion of frontline workers who can have all of their apps (i.e. payroll information) under the Beekeeper banner for an easy, single sign-on. All people, processes, documents, and systems are in one centralized place which ultimately streamlines the frontline experience, cuts down on time searching for information, and boosts employee productivity. 

Slack

Slack has had a huge surge in users these past couple of years. This popular employee communications software caters to remote workers but has a good mobile interface. Users can organize their work by channels, which organizes chats and documents into a “searchable archive.” and enhances collaboration capabilities. Check out the Beekeeper + Slack integration.

Rocket.chat

Rocket.Chat is not necessarily focused on frontline teams, but it does offer different communication channels, team chat options, and internal communications software integrations so workers can connect and collaborate. Rocket.Chat also offers an omnichannel customer service platform so teams can communicate with users through internal communication platforms like Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and voice messaging.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular internal communications tools. With one-on-one and group chats, video conferencing, and voice communication, it is a well-rounded communication platform that enables workforces to collaborate from anywhere. Primarily designed for desk-based workers, Microsoft Teams integrates with platforms like Beekeeper in order to facilitate frontline communication as well. 

Google Workspace

Google Workspace is an expansion of Google’s tried-and-true lineup of products (Gmail, Meetup, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, etc.) It’s a familiar user interface that many people are used to in their personal lives. But Workspace is packaged specifically for businesses (including company email addresses) so it brings everyone together in an environment dedicated to collaboration. Also, while not specifically designed for frontline workers, Google definitely has a mobile-friendly suite of products.

Communication challenges are a primary cause of poor performance for companies. But with mobile-first, internal communications software that takes every worker into account, companies can flip the script and realize the benefits of having everyone in their organization connected—like happier workers and higher revenues.

Want more templates and tools for tracking communication within your organization? Download the Internal Communications Toolkit by filling out the form below.

The post What To Look For In A Internal Communication App appeared first on Beekeeper.

Diagnosing and improving workplace  communication can be complex and tricky. But it’s not impossible. We’ll be looking at:

• How poor communication negatively impacts your organization
• The basics of effective workplace communication and why it matters
• Common workplace challenges to communication
• How organizations can start overcoming communications challenges

Let’s dive in.

How Poor Communication Affects Your Organization

First, let’s define what poor communication looks like in the workplace.

Poor communication occurs when there is a mismatch between what is meant, said, and heard.

Poor communication causes a ripple effect across many areas of operations, leading to:

Lower Levels of Employee Engagement

Poor communication can make employees feel disconnected from their colleagues, team, and management. They may have more difficulty understanding and meeting expectations, hitting targets, and knowing when their work is valued. As a result, they may become less motivated to get their best work done.

Higher Stress

While seamless communication can go a long way towards creating a stable work environment, poor communication can cause stress that takes a toll on your workforce. Miscommunication can often lead to delays and extra work that causes employees to feel stressed and burnt out. 

Customer Service Challenges

Poor communication doesn’t just affect employee morale. It changes the customer service experience, too. Customer-facing employees may not have all the information they need to deliver quality customer service. Plus, customers can tell the difference between a motivated employee and one that is stressed and disengaged.

Less Collaboration

Good communication facilitates collaboration between colleagues and teams, leading to more effective collaboration. Employees who have more opportunities to collaborate can solve problems more efficiently. That means fires get put out faster, systems improve, and productivity increases.

Why Is Effective Team Communication Important?

While team communication refers to the exchange of information and ideas within a team or organization, effective team communication means that exchange is working towards a common goal while minimizing roadblocks, delays, and miscommunication. 

Solving communication challenges and creating an effective team Communication Plan can benefit your organization in several ways.

Boosts Employee Engagement

Employee engagement reflects the relationship employees have with the organization they work for. When employees have access to clear and convenient lines of communication, they are far more likely to feel connected to the work they’re doing. Effective team communication not only helps workers become better problem solvers, it also creates a culture of recognition that makes employees feel valued and appreciated.

Maintains Mental Health and Wellbeing

Poor communication can make employees feel undervalued and disconnected from their colleagues. With many workplaces transforming into a remote or hybrid model post-pandemic, high levels of connectivity are more important than ever. And for frontline teams distributed across multiple locations, effective communication is the lifeblood of operations. Lack of open communication, feedback, and recognition can negatively impact employee mental health and create a stressed out, disengaged workforce.

Creates Opportunities for Innovation

Effective team communication fosters open dialogue on an individual, team, and organizational level. Employees can give and receive feedback, problem solve, and feel like their contributions make a difference. This not only breaks down hierarchies and encourages bottom-up communication, but it also builds a transparent work culture where innovation is possible and welcome. Encouraging employees to share their ideas helps organizations innovate and make better decisions.

The Basics Of Effective Communication

Let’s dive a little deeper into what exactly makes communication effective. Here are 5 characteristics of an effective communication strategy:

1) Open Lines of Communication

When communication lines in an organization area open, employees at every level can reach and receive feedback from their colleagues and managers easily and in a timely manner. Mobile communication tools like Beekeeper, for example, enable real-time communication that maintains an open dialogue between frontline workers, allowing distributed teams to stay connected despite being spread out across different locations.

2) Active Listening

Active listening in the workplace goes beyond simply hearing employee feedback. It means showing employees that an organization values what they say and that their contributions make a difference. Active listening can take place on a one-on-one level, between manager and employee, for example. But active listening can also be built into an organization’s communication strategy. Feedback systems like surveys, polls, and reports signal to employees that their voices are being heard.

3) Meaningfulness 

In the workplace, meaningful communication is:

• Personalized for each employee
• Empathetic to individual needs/circumstances
• Supportive and actionable 

In other words, meaningful communication makes employees feel like the organization cares about them as human beings.

4) Gather & Analyze Feedback

Collecting, analyzing, and acting on employee feedback are key to understanding the needs of your workforce and seeing that those needs are being met. Organizations that check in with their employees on a regular basis are more likely to foster open communication and positive workplace culture. Feedback loops like surveys, polls and in-person check-ins can unearth roadblocks that are preventing employees from doing their best work. Using digital communication tools that collect feedback from employees helps managers focus on analyzing results and implementing changes.

5) Engagement

Communication strategies build engagement when they focus on improving the relationship between an organization and its employees. This means giving employees reasons and incentives to invest their time and effort into doing their best work. Recognition, continual training, and convenient access to communication tools are all ways companies can build engagement. This not only creates a workplace where employees are more likely to enjoy their job, but it also encourages workers to seek opportunities to go above and beyond.

3 Common Challenges with Workplace Communication 

Creating an effective communication strategy might look great on paper. But what happens when it falls short in practice? Here are 7 communication challenges to look out for:

1) Finding The Right Communication Tools

Internal communication refers to how employees share information with each other. That “how” usually involves a tool, or set of tools, that enable the process of sharing. But not all communication tools fit the needs of every organization. In fact, implementing the wrong communication tools can have a negative effect on all aspects of an organization’s productivity.

One of the main communication challenges is finding tools that reflect the reality of how employees go about their work day. For example, traditional communication tools like email and bulletin boards aren’t as effective as mobile tools in frontline organizations. That’s because frontline workers don’t have time to sit down and check their email, and many spend their day on-site instead of near a central office or break room. Mobile tools, on the other hand, allow frontline workers to stay informed on a real-time basis, even when they are serving customers, on the factory floor, or moving between job sites.

2) Information Silos 

Information silos create communication challenges because they limit the amount of information that’s available to employees. They also limit convenient and timely access to company updates. 

Information silos can:

• Decrease communication 
• Discourage or limit collaboration
• Make employees less equipped to excel at their work
• Slow down cross-team problem solving

Most of the time, organizations don’t intentionally silo information in an effort to keep their employees in the dark. It’s usually the legacy systems and paper-based processes that prevent equal access to news and documentation. It could take the form of an employee manual in the form of a binder stashed in an HR file cabinet. Or a newsletter that delivers updates weeks after its content is relevant.

3) Language and Location Barriers

Many organizations employ a diverse, multilingual, and distributed workforce. Yet their communication tools often fail to bridge language and location barriers. 

For example, companies may deliver messaging in English to a non-English-speaking workforce, forcing employees to use Google Translate. This slows down communication, increases the possibility of miscommunication, and may even discourage workers from staying informed. Compare that to a tool like Beekeeper, which has an Inline Translation feature that automatically translates messaging into an employee’s preferred language:

Teams that are distributed across different locations also face communication challenges. While office workers may simply connect with co-workers by walking down the hallway, non-desk and frontline workers may not have opportunities for regular in-person interactions. For those employees, tools that enable real-time communication are essential for keeping distributed teams connected.

Overcoming Workplace Communications Challenges

First, let’s address how organizations can tackle the 3 challenges outlined above by finding the right communication tools and using them to create an effective communication strategy. Choosing the right tools can go a long way toward fixing, or mitigating the effects of many communication challenges.

1) Evaluate Existing Communication Systems

Evaluating existing tools and how they’re being used can give valuable insight into any gaps that need to be addressed.

Also, by evaluating existing systems, organizations can leverage what’s already working. Jumping from one communication system and set of tools to another can be overwhelming for employees, so keeping some familiar aspects can create a sense of continuity.

2) Encourage Bottom-Up Communication

Mapping out communication flow can also reveal whether your organization follows a top-down or bottom-up approach. In a top-down approach, information gets passed down from leadership to employees, but rarely the other way around. This usually means that employees receive updates from management but don’t have as much opportunity to communicate with leadership. 

With a bottom-up approach, however, employees have an equal opportunity to access, contribute, and respond to the information they receive. This can:

• Give employees a sense of empowerment and ownership
• Improve morale and motivation
• Initiate problem-solving and crowdsource solutions
• Encourage innovation
• Improve the customer service experience

3) Make Communication Easy

Once you’ve looked at how information flows within your organization, consider mapping how an employee communicates during their work day and ask:

• What communication tools do they reach for most?
• How often do they check company updates?
• Do they reach out for more information/clarification?
• Are they giving feedback?

Ultimately, is it easy for an employee to communicate, check company updates, reach out for more information, and offer feedback? If not, how can you make it so? If workers are using Google Translate to better understand instructions from their managers, maybe your communication tool needs translation capabilities. If your workers aren’t seeking out information, have you made it easy for them to do so? Maybe they need mobile tools that let them get in touch with their supervisor and get real-time feedback.

Workplace Communication Tips To Help You Succeed

Here are 6 more tips for overcoming workplace challenges to communication:   

1. Make The Communication Process As Smooth As Possible 

What makes the communication process smooth, whether it’s a one-on-one interaction between an employee and manager or team discussion? Smooth communication happens when raising concerns, giving feedback, or asking questions is efficient and straightforward. That way, employees can focus on the what of communication, not the how.

To make communication more smooth, consider minimizing the number of steps and tools involved. For example, having a centralized communication platform means employees don’t have to spend extra time jumping from one app or tool to another. In the long run, this not only saves time but also reduces opportunities for miscommunication.

2. Have A Standard Communication Process In Place 

Chances are, employees have a few common ways they communicate based on their role. They might:

• Reach out to their managers with questions
• Report to a supervisor about daily/weekly/monthly progress
• Raise concerns about workplace safety
• Give feedback on how to improve their work environment

Having a standard process for each of those scenarios and making that process clear to employees will make company-wide communication more consistent.

3. Understand Your Multigenerational Workforce

Being aware of the different age demographics your workforce falls into, and how that plays a role in their adoption of new technology, can help you find systems to better serve their communication needs.

For example, there are differences in how adults under the age of 30 vs. those over 65 adopt and use technology. Pew Research found that 96% of those ages 18-29 own a smartphone compared to 61% of those over 65. But while older generations are less likely to be smartphone users and early adopters of new technology, that gap has decreased significantly from a decade ago.

Understanding the generational breakdown of your workforce informs which communication tools and technology might receive the highest adoption rates and quickest rollout.

4. Encourage Two-Way Communication

Two-way communication enables employees at any level to communicate and receive feedback. Let’s say a frontline employee working on the factory floor raises a safety concern to their supervisor. That supervisor not only receives the feedback but communicates acknowledgement and next steps to the employee and team. Compare that to a one-way communication approach, where employees would only receive information from management without having a convenient way to communicate back.

Two-way communication can boost employee engagement, help facilitate more efficient problem solving, and ultimately increase productivity.

5. Implement The Right Software/Tools 

Many times, implementing the right tools does the heavy lifting when it comes to overcoming workplace challenges to communication. In fact, many communication challenges stem from a lack of tools that match the needs of an organization’s workforce.

For example, frontline organizations often adopt traditional communication tools that are designed to cater to the needs of office workers. But the communication process in an office looks completely different than the one on the frontlines. While office workers might benefit from frequent email and in-person interactions, a more distributed workforce would be better suited to a mobile communication tool like Beekeeper.

6. Make Knowledge Accessible To Everyone 

Finally, one of the best ways to overcome workplace challenges to communication is to make company documentation easily accessible to all employees. Often, documentation exists in the form of a paper binder that lives in corporate HQ and only sees the light of day during an employee’s orientation week. If that employee needs to refer back to a specific company policy, they aren’t likely to seek that information out. But if documentation is easily accessible on a mobile app, for example, that employee has the information they need at their fingertips. They are more empowered to seek out information when they need it and solve problems on the spot.

Workplace Communication Challenges: A Quick Recap

Let’s go over the main points of how poor communication affects your organization, common communication challenges, and tips for overcoming them.

Poor communication negatively affects:

• Engagement
• Employee mental health 
• Customer service experience
• Collaboration potential

When workplace communication is effective, employees:

• Participate in an open dialogue with colleagues and management
• Know that their organization is actively listening to their needs and feedback
• Give regular feedback and see that it’s making a difference
• Stay engaged and motivated to improve their workplace

 Common communications challenges are:

• Lack of tools that match employee needs
• Information silos that prevent equal and easy access to news/documentation
• Language and location barriers 

Steps organizations can take to overcome challenges to communication include:

• Evaluating gaps in existing communication systems and tools
• Encouraging a bottom-up communication approach
• Making communication easy and convenient for all employees

Download our Ultimate Internal Communications Toolkit to boost internal communication with your team!

The post Overcoming Workplace Challenges to Communication  appeared first on Beekeeper.

Get the ultimate toolkit our customers are using every day to connect with their entire workforce.

Internal communication plays a critical role in a company’s success—it directly affects the bottom line of a business. But how do you know if you’re implementing the right strategy or using the right communication tools? It’s important to assess whether or not you’re implementing internal communications best practices for your business.

That’s where KPIs for internal communications come in. KPIs, or key performance indicators, are quantifiable values that can deliver internal communication metrics and tell you what’s working—and what’s not—for your business. 

What Can Measuring KPIs for Communications Reveal?

To truly know if your internal communications strategy is making an impact on your business it’s necessary to identify the main indicators to help you gauge success. Tracking those indicators, or communication KPIs individually can reveal what parts of your strategy are working, and what is not.

They also:

• Give you hard data: Having a number to track over time is the best way to tell you if your business strategies are working and give you detailed communication metrics and insights. Analytics enable you to make informed, data-driven decisions that are best for your business based on actual numbers.
• Let you know if everyone is on the same page. Internal communication should align all workers to the same goal and to one another. Measuring communication KPIswill let you know where there are gaps in order to unite every worker and accomplish the mission of the company in the most effective, productive way.
• Reveal if you’re on the path to achieving your goals. The purpose behind tracking KPIs is to measure internal communications strategies against the goals you’re trying to achieve. It’s important to assess whether or not you’re implementing internal communications best practices that are aligned with and progressing your organization towards your overall objective.

The Best Method to Track Internal Communication Metrics

Now that we’ve established the importance of measuring and tracking KPIs for communications, let’s discuss the best way to evaluate its effectiveness—with an internal communications app. There are many ways to measure the victories and shortcomings of your strategy using this technology.

While it may seem tricky to identify the best internal communication KPIs, there are many ways to measure the victories or shortcomings of your strategy using a communication app.

Before you begin, remember to get your benchmarks. As you begin to list out your KPI internal communication plan, get a benchmark for each metric you’ll be tracking. This will give you your starting numbers to reference along the way in order to track your progress.

Pro tip: Find an internal communications app with an analytics dashboard that delivers real-time, accurate numbers to effectively measure your KPIs.

Here are 10 internal communication KPIs and a strategy for tracking them with an internal communications app.

10 Communication KPIs

1. Employee App Adoption Rates

You’ve rolled out your internal communication app in your quest to become a digital workplace. Great! The first communication KPI you should start to track is the adoption rate—how many employees have downloaded the app and are actively engaged online. Track your employee directory to see who’s online, or use your analytics dashboard.

It’s always good to have a plan for your digital communication rollout, but if your adoption rates are low you can make adjustments to your strategy as you go to boost those numbers. The more workers are engaged online the more successful your internal communications strategy will be.

2. Performance and Productivity

Workforce productivity can be measured by estimating the time and money saved when knowledge is made more accessible over a workforce app. Increased accessibility to information gives every employee the tools to meet, and even exceed performance goals.

For example, in retail, when employees are aligned with the broader business goals, they are consistent with their sales strategy and push the right products and promotions. This is effective team communication in action. In turn, having an internal communications platform in place to streamline these processes translates into a better ability to provide a positive customer experience.

3. Employee Engagement 

Employee engagement is one of the most important indicators for almost any business strategy. An actively engaged employee is generally a happier one who works harder because they respect the organization, their manager, and their colleagues. 

An internal communications app equipped with a powerful analytics dashboard delivers specific engagement statistics for the overall workforce, teams, and individual employees. 

Internal communication platforms can help to assess engagement through social marketing KPIs such as likes, comments, and shares. Additionally, you can gauge the number and quality of interactions between employees with an internal communications app. 

4. Employee Feedback

An internal communications app facilitates two-way communications and creates a channel for employees to give feedback to the organization. Use the employee survey feature to track employee feedback.

Feedback is one way to keep your finger on the pulse of engagement. Increase employee feedback numbers by:

• Allowing employees to answer anonymously
• Asking the right questions that engage employees
• Using a gamification approach

Finally, when you review survey responses always share those results with your entire staff and take action based on those results. You’ll drive higher online engagement when employees know you’re listening and that their input makes a difference.

5. Retention and Turnover

One of the best indicators of a healthy company that’s on track to reach its goals is employee retention. Turnover is disruptive, costly, and creates delays in reaching business objectives.

Tracking retention can let you know the effectiveness of your internal communications strategy. 

Here’s how:

• Effective communication enables clear directions so employees can do their jobs effectively and are subsequently more engaged. Lack of information leads to a disconnect and a short employee lifecycle.
• Less than 30% of employees feel heard by their direct managers. Poor manager-employee communication is one of the top reasons employees leave their jobs for another.
• A good internal communications strategy is one that includes employee recognition. That makes employees feel valued which is a key to job longevity. 

On average, replacing an employee costs 16-20% of their annual pay. If your turnover numbers are high, do an intensive review of how you’re communicating with employees. And remember: good communication begins during onboarding!

Pro tip: Measure KPIs during a specific event, like at the launch of a communication campaign, to see how your communication strategy is being received.

6. Online Interaction and Viewership

One of the easiest ways to see if workers are actually using your internal communications app is by simply checking the number of views and confirmation campaigns with read receipts. Post something new, whether it’s about a new brand the store is carrying or a new security system, and look at how many people actually read it.

Similar to number of views, open rates and the number of clicks on embedded links you receive can easily be determined. Internal communications platforms are useful tools to find out how many employees are receiving important company information and actively participating in the communication.

7. Customer Satisfaction and Sales

If your internal communications are working as they’re supposed to, that will be reflected in external numbers, like sales and profit. Simply put, giving employees information to do their jobs to the best of their ability will enable and encourage them to create a superior customer experience. 

Start sharing more information with your teams, such as:

• Sales goals
• Company vision and purpose
• Employee recognition
• Stock availability
• Customer success stories

8. Collaboration and Innovation

Team collaboration is a key indicator that your internal communication strategy is flourishing. Set collaboration goals and track the journey using analytics accessible via your internal communications app.

Companies excel when they stay ahead of the trend. Cultivate a successful company culture of creativity, diversity, and transparency by encouraging employees to share ideas and solutions. Determine the volume of quality ideas that can improve your organization and track them over the internal communications app.

9. Scheduling Conflicts

Scheduling is a notorious headache in industries with large, dispersed workforces. with frequent adjustments. 

If your internal communications app includes team schedules, they can easily be viewed by employees that work different shifts across an organization and locations. A reduction in scheduling conflicts is a sign that employees are utilizing the internal communications app, and that your internal communications strategy is working.

10. Employee Profiles

Not only can employee profiles showcase their skills and interests, they can also list schedule preferences, professional goals, etc. Measure the completeness of each profile and how often they are updated to monitor engagement.

Putting an effective internal communication strategy in place is essential to keeping a company profitable and operating smoothly. Just as important is identifying the key indicators of success, setting goals, and tracking those internal communication KPI numbers.

Use an internal communications app to measure employee engagement and performance early, often, and in consistent intervals. Track these 10 KPIs for communications and watch your company thrive!

Download The Ultimate Internal Communications Toolkit for all our best templates and tools to track your communication efforts!

Most Frequently Asked Questions

The post Top 10 KPIs for Communications  appeared first on Beekeeper.

And what happened to that person? They got a promotion. 

OK, probably not. There wasn’t a lot of middle management on the savannah. But that “workplace” and yours probably had some similarities, including that staff communication is key to success. 

The way to create a more productive workforce is to ease obstacles to effective communication. One of the best ways to do that is to employ a digital workforce platform that supports better communication for frontline employees.

Communication and Engagement: Why It Matters

What motivates frontline workers to do their best work? Getting a paycheck? Losing their jobs?

At Beekeeper, we asked and found that frontline workers are motivated by:

1. A job well done and on time
2. Positive feedback from managers and customers
3. Knowing why and when changes happen.

What ties all of these together is that frontline workers want to be engaged with their work and the company they’re working for. 

P.S. Download our Frontline Trends Report for more insight into what the frontline experience will look like in 2022.

The problem is, very few workers are fully engaged. 

A Gallup study showed that only 36% of workers in America are “actively engaged.” A full 15% of workers consider themselves actively unengaged, leaving around 50% somewhere in the middle. 

One of the main causes of disengagement is poor communication. This can take many forms, including: 

• Lack of awareness regarding policies and processes
• Lack of context regarding changes and updates
• Inability to practice effective collaboration
• Lack of access to managers 
• Lack of ability to communicate with people outside the immediate team/shift 

Poor communication isolates employees from each other and from the company they work for. When they don’t know why something is happening, they understandably don’t really care what is happening. They don’t feel like part of an organization.

Employees who can’t communicate with each other can’t collaborate. They can’t troubleshoot. They can’t go over problems large and small. They can’t ask for help accessing information, and they can’t share ideas. 

This isn’t just a hypothesis. Nearly half of “communications-laggard” companies think that their employees are disengaged. And let’s be honest: those numbers are a little low. Self-reporting often produces skewed results. Very few organizations with poor communication have engaged employees.

So how do you improve staff communication? Let’s take a deeper dive.

Identify the Obstacles to Effective Staff Communication

Here’s the thing about staff communication: it has to be more than an initiative or slogan. It can’t be fixed just by wanting it to be better.

Commitment to staff communication starts by recognizing what’s getting in the way of it. Here are some common obstacles for frontline workers:

• No centralized way to communicate. Most frontline workers don’t have access to a portal or company intranet and very few have a company email account. This means they frequently miss messages, don’t get updates, and never know when it is someone’s birthday. 
• Too many apps. To circumvent this, employees use a lot of disparate apps. Our Frontline Trends Report showed that 57% of frontline employees are using WhatsApp or another SMS system. They also have multiple apps for things like requesting days off or changing their schedule. Not only is this messy and frustrating, it’s also really not great from a security front. And the 43% that aren’t using SMS might not have a way to communicate with each other at all. That means they are isolated from everyone except who they see face-to-face.

Use Technology to Create Connections

The right technology can foster stronger connections in the workplace and make for more effective collaboration.

For the frontline, this means a frontline success system that allows employees to send information in real-time and access important information in one, centralized place.

Really, the best way to think about this platform is not as a piece of technology, but as a new work nucleus. It isn’t replacing the office for frontline workers—they were never there in the first place. Instead, it’s creating the mobile, agile, user-friendly tool they never had. 

How the New Nucleus Fosters Collaboration

Think of it like this. Imagine there is a company with a central office in Centralia, IL, and stores across the country. The people in Centralia make important business decisions. They want to de-emphasize the selling of gadgets and upsell widgets. Normally, this would filter to regional managers, then to store managers, and maybe shift leaders. Sell more widgets! Why? Who knows. How? Shoulder shrug emoji. Ask Centralia—well, no, you can’t do that. 

But with the right communication platform, everything changes.

1. Context from the Top: The central office can send out an internal communications video explaining why we now care more about widgets. Employees can watch this video on their phones from anywhere in the world to understand the context around the change. 
2. Information for Managers: With a digital workforce platform, managers can easily access more information about widgets—the details, how to sell them, pricing strategies, etc. If employees can also access that information, they don’t have to keep asking the manager basic questions. Instead, managers and employees can spend their time collaborating to implement the widget plan in the best way possible.
3. Employee-to-Employee Communication: The store in Poughkeepsie has a customer who wants to know if widgets make a good gift for high schoolers. The employees are stumped—they can’t find that information anywhere. So they blast out a question on the messaging app. Turns out someone in Pismo had a customer buy it for their aunt, and the aunt loved it. But so did their aunt’s 15-year-old-daughter, and here’s why. That’s cross-country collaboration without Centralia needing to be involved. 

When you create a new hub for communication, you make it working together easier than ever before. 

Find the Best Digital Workplace Platform for Staff Communication

Beekeeper is an innovative frontline success system designed for frontline workers. It unifies your tech stack and makes it easy to integrate your favorite apps. It allows for one-way and multi-lateral communication, letting teams collaborate no matter where they are. It frees up managers from the mundane and lets them actually work with their teams.

At Beekeeper, we take the oldest principles—communication creates collaboration — and makes them work for the modern frontline workplace.

Download our Frontline Future of Work eBook to see how Beekeeper helps you stay ahead of the curve, or request a demo to get started today.

The post Improving Staff Communication: The Right Tech Removes Roadblocks to Collaboration appeared first on Beekeeper.

Socialize is a buzzword. Ideate is a buzzword. Half the acronyms you see online are just abbreviated buzzwords. But on the frontline, communication isn’t something that sounds good—it’s the lifeblood of business. 

Good communication is how plans created in the boardroom get implemented in the real world. Communication is how teams collaborate, how managers delegate, and how individual employees feel empowered to make better decisions. Ultimately, better communication means better products and services, which means a healthier bottom line. 

Employee communication best practices ensure that managers can manage, workers can work, and plans become reality. It might not be buzzy, but good communication on the frontline is more important than ever. 

The Power of Communication on the Frontline

Good workplace communication is more than someone in a position of authority saying words and someone else hearing them. That’s not communication; that’s more of a Zen koan: what happens if a manager speaks and no one listens?

To be powerful, communication has to convey intention, action, empathy, and meaning. It has to be delivered in a way that is relevant and accessible, and it has to be fully understood by the recipient. Endless memos and unexplained directives aren’t communication. They’re just words. 

Communication should be:

• Clear
• Direct
• Relevant 
• Engaging
• Two-way

Excellent frontline employee communication achieves three overlapping and mutually reinforcing objectives. 

1. Promote Engagement. Our research has shown that only 31% of employees feel engaged by their work. This is partly because they have no context around changes, and don’t feel like they’re part of the larger organization. Clear, consistent communication gives employees more understanding, structure, and motivation and creates opportunities for engagement.
   
2. Increase Efficiency. Poor communication causes delays, misunderstandings, and mistakes, and means employees don’t have the tools they need to do their best work. Ensuring employees have the information they need removes roadblocks and improves both individual and organizational efficiency.

3. Boost productivity. Informed, engaged, and confident employees are more productive. When frontline employees are kept in the loop, they do better work. 

Ultimately, frontline employee best practices are about helping employees make the right decisions and perform at their best.

Frontline Employee Communication Best Practices for Business Leaders

Good corporate communication doesn’t happen by accident. Employee communication best practices help frontline businesses create meaningful strategies that set teams up for success. 

Set a Goal

Too many communication plans are ad hoc. A strong communication strategy must start with a goal and work backwards from there. 

Ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish. This can include:

• Increasing retention
• Promoting internal recruiting and referrals
• Generating feedback from employees
• Automating wasteful processes
• Freeing up managers’ time 

Identifying your goal is essential for developing a communication strategy that works.

Go Multichannel

Videos. Chat. Documentation. Digital town halls. Powerpoints. Message board blasts. Memes. There are a lot of ways to communicate. Which one is best for you? Chances are, the answer is all of them.

Depending on the message, audience, and company culture, different formats can be used for different types of communication. Don’t be afraid to embrace what works best in any given situation—even if it means changing the way it’s always been done. Communication that is rigid becomes communication that is ignored. 

Shift to Video

While video isn’t the right medium for all messages or audiences, it’s a powerful one for many. After 72 hours, the average person retains 95% of what they saw in a video while they retain only 10% of what they have read. That’s why having videos for onboarding, ongoing training, policy changes, and more can make a big difference. 

But not all videos are equal. The best videos for frontline employee communication are:

• Short (no more than 6 minutes)
• Accompanied by visual elements such as whiteboarding and graphics
• Augmented by quizzes 

Incorporating video messaging in your communication strategy expands your ability to connect to employees and have a lasting impact.

Invite Feedback

Communication can’t be a one-way street. Frontline employees must have ways to communicate with managers and executives. After all, they’re the ones who see how decisions made in the boardroom impact day-to-day operations and can offer fresh, on-the-ground perspectives. 

Inviting feedback doesn’t mean VPs need to have an open-door policy. It can come in the form of surveys, digital suggestion boxes, and message boards. It can include official channels of communication and less formal ones. 

Two-way communication helps employees feel heard, valued, and part of something bigger than themselves. It also gives leaders real insight into what it is like on the frontlines. That can fuel meaningful change for everyone.

Communicate in a Language Employees Understand

The monolingual frontline workforce is increasingly rare. Whether your workforce is in one town, spread out across the country, or scattered around the world, you need to communicate in the language that is most comfortable for each employee. With inline translation tools, it’s not just possible, it’s easy.

To make a true impact, translation should happen across the board, including in surveys, announcements, and chats. That’s how you create universal engagement and make everyone feel like part of the team.

Unify Apps

Unifying applications into one hub makes it easy for employees and managers to use multiple apps as efficiently as possible. Digital workforce software integration saves time and effort while increasing security and maximizing the value of your communication tools.

Go Mobile

Your workers aren’t sitting behind desks. They’re on the floor, in the field, on the road. They aren’t glued to a laptop or checking email all day. That’s why going mobile is one of the most important employee communication practices for frontline workers. With a mobile-friendly frontline operating system, communication is just a tap away.

The Value of Starting off Right

Employee communication best practices should start the moment a new employee joins the team. 

Onboarding should ensure frontline workers:

• Understand all the policies and processes
• Have awareness of the products or services they’ll be responsible for
• Know how to use all equipment safely and effectively
• Are aware of the why of their job, not just the how
• Know where to find answers to questions

Employees who don’t have this basis of knowledge struggle and can affect the efficiency and productivity of operations as a whole. In fact, teams with effective onboarding procedures experience 70% greater productivity than those that don’t.

An onboarding process built on employee communication best practices sets the stage for better performance, longer retention, and stronger teams. 

Communication Meets People Where They Are

Communication has to be more than words. To truly communicate, your ideas have to reach the people you intend to reach, both literally and metaphorically. Beekeeper helps you do just that. 

Beekeeper’s innovative frontline operating system offers the tools and capabilities you need to put frontline employee communication best practices into action. Developed specifically for frontline-majority businesses, Beekeeper goes beyond buzz to transform how frontline teams connect, learn, and grow.

There’s nothing new about the need for true communication for frontline workers. But with Beekeeper, you can take an old idea and make it work for the modern workforce. 

Check out our Frontline Worker Technology Report to go deep on the digital revolution that’s transforming the frontline workforce, or talk to one of our experts to learn more about what Beekeeper can do for you.

The post The Frontline Employee Communication Best Practices Every Business Leader Should Know appeared first on Beekeeper.

In 2023, businesses will continue to operate through an unpredictable environment by staying laser-focused on efficiencies, digital technologies, and connected communications.

Want to learn how to keep frontline workers engaged in 2023? Download our Frontline Trends Report for more expert insight.

What will set businesses apart in the next year will be listening to what their employees want most. Which is why we asked them!

Beekeeper’s first-ever Frontline Survey asked frontline workers and their managers what they want at work, what’s stressing them out, and what will really motivate them going forward. Our findings give first-hand insight into how internal communications teams should approach frontline communications in the next year.

Now, let’s dig into the top internal communication trends for 2023!

What Is Internal Communication?

At its core, internal communication refers to how people in an organization share information with each other. Traditional forms of employee communications in frontline-majority industries like hospitality, manufacturing, construction, and retail often are limited to top-down, one-way exchanges of information. Think of bulletin boards and posters in the breakroom.

But relying on paper-based, top-down communication methods simply don’t work well if you’re trying to reach the 80% of the global workforce that doesn’t work behind a desk. Issues around traceability, delivery confirmation, and message comprehension are rampant with these traditional employee communications channels for frontline employees. 

It’s also impossible to accurately measure how many employees stopped and read the flier you posted two weeks ago on the company bulletin board. At the same time, it can be challenging to ensure that employees who speak other languages understand the company messaging you’re putting out. 

Most importantly, employing a traditional communication strategy like bulletin boards, paystub memos, and company newsletters doesn’t allow you to listen to your frontline employees. Open feedback loops lead to stronger products, teams, and better customer service. 

The challenges around running a business in our new normal have accelerated the digital revolution that was already happening in the internal communications field. Frontline workers who were often left out of corporate communications are now being given mobile-friendly solutions. 

This digitization of the non-desk workforce is also playing a key role in the post-pandemic recovery. 

With that in mind, here are our top internal communication trends for frontline industries that you need to know in 2023. 

1. Top Internal Employee Communications Trends in 2023: Choosing Mobile Is Choosing Your Frontline

Frontline workers – like line managers, customer service representatives, store clerks, delivery drivers, etc. – are essential for any business. Yet, these employees are regularly left out of the loop when receiving important company information.

Why? Because their companies have been slow to adopt mobile collaboration tools that best suit their needs.

In a challenging labor market, businesses can’t afford to keep their frontline employees in the dark. 

Mobile communication and collaboration tools:

• Keep employees updated on important company news
• Provide instant access to critical job-related materials
• Give employees an open channel to provide feedback
• Connect employees with their co-workers for a more positive employee experience

A Harvard Business Review survey found that 86% of the respondents said that frontline workers need better technology and about 72% saw increased productivity by prioritizing their frontline workers.

Today, employees are doing a lot more with a lot less. When it comes to effective internal communications, digital tools can ensure employees remain productive, engaged, and connected.

One study found that adopting digital tools leads to:

• 67% increase in productivity
• 53% increase in employee engagement
• 43% revenue growth as a direct result

Mobile technology in the workplace has been one of the top employee communication trends for a while. But in 2023, businesses will officially be behind if they are not reaching, connecting, and engaging their frontline workforce in a way that works for them.

2. Empowering Team Leads To Tackle Frontline Stressors

Frontline managers are the anchor between your business and a productive frontline workforce. Not only are they responsible for keeping the trains running on time across frontline operations, but they also play an essential role in employee engagement.

According to our survey, 60% of frontline team leads believe a friendly and open work culture is key to retention. But, for frontliners, having clear goals, targets, and context is essential for their workplace happiness.

So, while culture and retention are important, they aren’t exactly top of mind for employees at this moment. Frontline leaders need to be aware of this disconnect.

Staffing is also a big topic. Understaffing was revealed to be one of the biggest pain points for frontline workers.

In 2023, it will be critical to empower frontline team leads to:

• Adequately staff their teams
• Achieve more with limited resources by working efficiently
• Give clearer context around change at work

This means internal communicators need to equip managers with the right tools to address their frontline employees’ most pressing needs. Mobile communication platforms, shift scheduling software, and employee feedback channels are great places to start.

3. Sparking Next-Level Engagement With Visual Content

Frontline workers are busy. Given the labor shortage, many employees are doing more than one job at any given time. Which means they need to be able to consume bite-sized pieces of information quickly.

A recent study revealed that 67% of employees are better at completing tasks when communicated by video or text with images. And, businesses could save $1,200 or more in productivity per employee per year just by using more visuals in workplace communications.

In 2023, one of the key employee communication trends will be focused on optimizing and automating internal processes to get the most out of every present employee. This makes it the best time to ramp up visual internal comms efforts, like:

• Using more leadership videos for company-wide messages
• Uploading pictures to identify a maintenance repair request
• Sharing infographics for more complex communications

Check out how the Watergate Hotel uses Beekeeper to share instant safety notifications using visual content!

Visual content creates an engaging employee experience for employees constantly on the go. Remember to get creative as you plan your internal communication strategy for 2023.

4. Prioritizing Mental Health and Wellbeing

Frontline workers are at high risk of burnout. Especially as employees continue to leave the workplace in droves, leaving others to pick up the slack.

45% of American adults report increased anxiety and depression due to the pandemic – and 83% of U.S. workers are suffering from work-related stress.

In the hospitality industry alone, one in five employees has permanently left the service industry.

Mental health and employee well-being have been priorities for organizations for some time. And now is not the time to let off the gas.

In 2023, internal communicators need to highlight mental health messages to frontline workers by:

• Fostering a corporate culture that genuinely believes in putting the mental well-being of its workers first
• Creating awareness of mental health best practices employees can put into play
• Getting employee feedback – and listening to it

5. Scheduling Is More Important Than It May Seem

A recent survey by our partners at UKG found that for frontline workers, scheduling was a top retention factor. When employees like their schedule – or its flexibility – they’re more engaged and productive.

As the practice of working multiple jobs continues to rise, hourly employees are juggling work, life, and sometimes gig work or a second job. So, they need to access their work schedules early and have the ability to swap or pick up extra shifts quickly — like an app that shows them when they work.

Our survey uncovered a strong desire from frontliners to have more say over their work schedules – particularly when it comes to hours. Not everyone needs the option of remote work, but they do need a way to:

• Get advanced notice of their schedules
• Communicate with co-workers to switch shifts
• Get instant shift change approval from their managers

With the right internal communications teams channel, shift scheduling can be an easy, automated process that makes your employees’ lives easier.

6. Automation Creates A Competitive Advantage In A Tough Labor Market

Automation is transforming every aspect of the workplace – even effective internal communications. By automating internal comms in 2023, businesses will ensure frontliners have everything they need when they need it.

Here are some examples of how tools like Beekeeper can automate internal communications:

• Streamline reoccurring workflows like payroll notifications, daily checklist alerts, and sending “on/off duty notification” to employees at shift start and end
• Set up Task Chatbots so frontline workers can easily create new tasks for their teammates or update the status of their own tasks using Beekeeper Chat
• Distribute employee feedback surveys with automatic reminders
• Send automatic notifications of shift schedule changes or company news alerts to the right employees at the most convenient time
• Make employee onboarding seamless with assigned tasks and on-demand learning

Automating internal communications at scale saves employees time and energy. But it also creates a consistent employee experience that businesses need to stay competitive in a challenging labor market.

7. Frontliners Want Training – And They Want It On The Go

Despite hectic schedules and heavy workloads, frontline workers are not shy in asking for more training opportunities. In fact, our survey found that a top motivating factor for frontliners is learning something new.

A recent study by Axonify uncovers some interesting stats around frontline training:

• Half of frontline employee respondents have taken on new tasks due to the pandemic
• 52% weren’t provided with the training they needed to take on these new responsibilities
• 84% said they’d prefer to access training from their personal device

In 2023, internal communicators should ensure employee training and development opportunities are communicated broadly and frequently. And, it’s important not to minimize frontliners’ needs for on-the-go access to training materials.

With a mobile communication channel, businesses can:

• Send specific training notices to targeted employee groups
• Track open and read rates for compliance purposes
• Deliver training materials that can be accessed right on an employee’s mobile device

8. Peer-to-Peer Communication is Essential to Frontline Collaboration

Lateral, or peer-to-peer, communication is critical to building a connected, engaged, and satisfied frontline workforce.

So, how are some employees communicating with their co-workers?

Frontline managers reported that besides Beekeeper, they also:

• 80% use email
• 59% use WhatsApp or SMS for work
• 33% use other communication tools such as Slack or Teams
• 29% use an employee portal or intranet
• 25% use social media sites (like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat)
• 20% use an online learning app/e-learning solution
• 22% use a separate app for paystubs
• 17% use paper fliers or mail
• 15% request time off via a separate app
• 11% use an app to track tasks/checklists

Our study also revealed that even with Beekeeper, more than half of frontline teams are using unsecured messaging apps for work-related conversations. This is a significant risk to the company.

One of the easiest ways to implement secure peer-to-peer communication is through company-approved chat channels, like Beekeeper. Chats are essential because workers need to collaborate and communicate with their peers on their own schedules.

That’s why chats are great tools to:

• Discuss shift scheduling changes
• Get operational updates
• Ask quick questions (and receive fast answers)
• Check-in on co-workers
• Stay connected to company news
• Make people feel part of the team

9. Direct Communication from Leadership Is Essential

Leadership messages were a hot topic in 2021. Employees craved transparent, trustworthy communication from the top – especially during these chaotic, uncertain times.

Take Life Time Inc. as an example. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the health club needed a quick way to keep active and furloughed employees up to date. The team used Beekeeper to share video updates directly from their leadership team. Employee feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and one video received 25,000 views out of an employee base of 26,000!

In 2023, direct leadership messages will continue to be a highly valued communication tool that builds connection and trust with frontline staff. When planning out your leadership communication strategy for the year, remember to focus on:

• Alignment with company goals, objectives, and mission
• Open and honest information
• Engaging and personalized messaging
• Easy-to-use channel distribution with all types of employees in mind

And, don’t forget how important it is to encourage feedback. Then act on it! An honest dialogue between frontline employees and your leadership team will ensure employees feel heard and connected.   

Also, keep in mind what communication channels are most suitable for your audiences. Frontline employees who want more context likely won’t have access to a company email address. So, an enterprise-wide leadership email will miss them completely. But, a post to all employees on your mobile collaboration and productivity platform will keep everyone on the same page in real time.

Direct leadership messages have significant power when it comes to connecting with your workforce. And 2023 will be the year companies ensure top-down communications are reaching and engaging with their most essential workforce.

The Landscape Of Internal Comms In 2023

There is no question that internal communications teams will play a vital role for every business in 2023. Especially for companies that want to retain their frontline talent.

And, while businesses continue to do more with less, digital internal communications tools are now mission-critical to the success of frontline-majority businesses. Mobile communication channels connect frontline workers with the information they need to know to do their best job. They also make it easier to distribute important messages around mental health, training, and scheduling – all of which will stay top of mind in 2023 and beyond.

Want more insight into internal communication trends that are shaping the future of work for frontline employees? Fill out the form below to download our 2023 Frontline Trends Report today!

Most Frequently Asked Questions

The post 9 Internal Communication Trends Impacting Frontline Workers In 2023 appeared first on Beekeeper.

At Beekeeper’s Frontline Future 2021 virtual summit, Customer Success Manager, Ronni Louie sat down screen-to-screen with Dan Fordyce, Hudson’s Regional Vice President of Operations. 

Click here to download the Hudson case study

Fordyce shared insights from the company’s digital enablement journey with Beekeeper. Here are some of the highlights from the session. 

Staying Connected with Employees Across North America

With over 1,000 store locations in airports, commuter hubs, landmarks, and tourist destinations across the United States and Canada, Hudson is one of the most well-known travel retail brands. The company operates travel convenience, specialty retail, duty-free, and food and beverage destinations, with a global brand portfolio including Dunkin’, FAO Schwarz, Coach, and more.

As the company continues to expand, staying connected with workers across North America is more important than ever. In 2018, Hudson started using Beekeeper. “It certainly seemed like a great opportunity to leverage a tool such as Beekeeper to really enhance our employee engagement.”

– Dan Fordyce, Hudson’s Regional Vice President of Operations

The company uses Beekeeper for: 

• Employee recognition programs
• Schedule sharing
• Real-time travel and weather alerts
• Training teams on product knowledge and launches
• Peer-to-peer communication and collaboration
• Staying up-to-date with important company initiatives and programs

An important part of the mobile collaboration tool has been creating a channel for peer-to-peer communication in addition to its location-specific channels. 

“We have an Employee Voice Stream which is open to all of our employees in North America and all day long we see our employees posting things. Employees use Beekeeper to share valuable information and celebrate our success together.” 

Providing Better Customer Service with Product Knowledge Sharing

Hudson carries a wide variety of products, including food, beverages, books, newspapers, magazines, accessories, electronics, and more. There’s a lot of information store associates need to know.

Our internal research has shown that on average, frontline workers spend three hours a week just searching for information. With a centralized communication platform, information is immediately accessible.

Beekeeper helps the company share product knowledge and product launch information, enabling employees to access information when they need it. Empowering employees with knowledge allows them to deliver stronger customer service, and turns them into “product experts,” “experience makers,” and “customer service stars.”

Beekeeper creates a fully connected workforce that’s reachable in real-time at Hudson. And that’s never been more important than now, as the company recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have leveraged Beekeeper to celebrate the return of our employees to work, the reopening of many of our stores, and opening of new stores that we continued to build even throughout the pandemic,” Fordyce said.

As for Beekeeper and Hudson, “It’s been just an extraordinary journey since that pilot in 2018.”

Watch the replay of Hudson’s session to learn more and get exclusive access to all Frontline Future 2021 content!

The post How Hudson Connects 80+ Retail Locations with Beekeeper appeared first on Beekeeper.

Download our Frontline Worker Technology Report to learn more about trends shaping the future of frontline work.

Here’s a typical scenario for an hourly employee:

• They don’t have a company email address or can’t access email during their shift
• They don’t have access to important documentation and company updates while they’re working

The opposite is true for most, if not all, desk-bound workers. 

Here’s the good news: hourly workers can be as informed, engaged, and connected as desk-bound workers. 

We’ll be looking at the top five ways organizations can leverage technology to build a non-desk workforce that’s happy, engaged, and ultimately more productive.

Tip #1: Adopt a Mobile Communication Platform

According to the State of Employee Communications Report 2021, organizations with effective employee communication reported much higher engagement levels than communication-laggard organizations. 

The report found that 48% of communication-laggard organizations believed they did not have high engagement levels.

There is a strong case for improving engagement by improving internal communication. But how can organizations improve internal communication for non-desk workers, who might not benefit from traditional communication methods like email or intranets?

Adopting a mobile communication platform like Beekeeper gives non-desk workers the opportunity to:

• Receive company updates in real-time
• Access important information via digital document library
• Communicate with colleagues and managers in one, centralized app

While many frontline workers might not have a company email address or the ability to sit down in front of a computer, almost all employees have a mobile device.

By giving non-desk workers more opportunities to stay connected, companies can increase overall engagement across their workforce.

Tip #2: Prioritize Recognition

Receiving recognition for a job well done is one of the most important factors in employee happiness and engagement. 

One study found that employees who believed they were recognized were 2.7x more likely to be highly engaged.   

In an in-person or virtual office setting, managers can recognize employees with a “job well done.” But what about non-desk workers, who are often physically separated from managers or even colleagues?

For non-desk workers, recognition programs that utilize employee-preferred communication channels have the greatest chance of success. Think about how your non-desk workforce receives information. With a mobile platform, managers can:

• Give public shout-outs to top performers 
• Recognize when an employee went above and beyond
• Celebrate individuals, teams, or the entire company

Tip #3: Make Scheduling Stress Free

According to a study of 1,500 deskless workers in the US, scheduling is one of the biggest causes of stress and dissatisfaction. Workers feel they are often pressured to take shifts they don’t want and believe that asking for a scheduling change would be viewed negatively by a manager.

72% of deskless employees reported that their employers contacted them about scheduling issues off-hours on their personal channels.

This can signal that companies:

• Don’t respect an employee’s work/life boundaries
• Expect employees to always put the needs of their company ahead of their own well-being

Last-minute scheduling changes happen. But making the scheduling process as stress-free as possible for employees can dramatically increase worker satisfaction and improve performance.

The first step is moving all communication about scheduling to a centralized company app. That way, employees know that they can access shift information and make changes on one platform that doesn’t interfere with their personal channels. 

Adopting a mobile platform also:

• Allows deskless workers to see scheduling updates in real time
• Makes swapping shifts easier
• Gives workers more autonomy in seeing and reacting to scheduling 

Tip #4: Ask For (And Act On) Employee Feedback

Can you really measure employee happiness and engagement?

To a certain extent, you can. Communication apps that collect employee feedback can help companies gage where their team members stand. Questions like…

• Do you feel engaged at work?
• Are there any tools/resources you’re missing?
• Would any processes be improved by a different approach?

…can all paint the larger picture of employee satisfaction. More targeted surveys can measure how well certain teams understand company messaging, for example. 

The most important part of employee surveys? Analyzing and acting on the results. When employees see that their input is valued and makes a difference, they’re more likely to continue giving feedback.

Tip #5: Prioritize Employee Health

While most office-bound workers were able to work from home during the pandemic, many deskless employees were on the frontlines. They had to show up in person and as many as 65% had to go to work sick because they couldn’t afford to miss getting paid.

The pandemic shone a light on how companies could do better in terms of acknowledging and prioritizing the health of deskless employees.

For example, 39% of deskless workers prefer having a flexible schedule to getting a higher salary. 

Companies can make flexible work schedules a reality, or support employee health in other ways like:

• Offer paid sick leave
• Regularly check in with employees via direct messaging or one-on-one calls
• Normalize healthy work/life balance at the leadership level
• Give managers the tools to recognize signs that an employee is struggling

The TLDR on Keeping Frontline Employees Happy

Hourly workers are constantly on the move and their needs are often very different from desk-bound employees. Keeping frontline employees happy starts with recognizing which internal communication strategy makes them the most connected and engaged.

By choosing a mobile communication platform, companies can:

• Make employees feel valued
• Analyze and act on feedback
• Prioritize health and well-being

Need more tips on selecting the right technology tools for your frontline workforce? Download our report below. 

The post Employee Retention | 5 Tips for Keeping Frontline Employees Happy appeared first on Beekeeper.