How to create a tech stack to engage frontline workers
More than 80% of the global workforce is deskless. Construction, retail and manufacturing, even health care, all these frontline workers are impacted by the deskless challenge.
But it’s no longer a matter of do you have the right tools to support frontline, deskless workers – certainly you have already figured out your security, logins, and tablets – now the challenge is how to keep these frontline workers feeling connected and engaged with the company and company culture.
According to a Gallup poll, only 33% of deskless workers in the U.S. are engaged in their work, compared to 38% of office-based workers. But if deskless workers outnumber office-based workers, why are we not more focused on the importance of their employee experience?
Further, a report by WorkJam found that 60% of deskless workers said they feel disconnected from their company's head office, which negatively impacts their engagement.
It’s a group effort to truly and positively impact the employee experience for frontline workers. From internal communications to HR, the responsibility also lies on the IT manager to equip and support the team with the most innovative tools that can improve efficiency and communication.
1. Choose a communications tool that delivers real-time updates on the go.
For your frontline workers, it’s not enough to simply send emails. You should equip your team with a tool that can send push notifications to mobile devices and tablets.
For example, Ascension Health created a communication platform that consolidated their previously disjointed communication methods for frontline healthcare workers into a streamlined platform that saved time and and improved the employed experience.
2. Integrate video to deliver humanized distance communication.
Sometimes the spoken word is the best way to deliver an important message. And for the frontline worker, a video message might even be the more effective way because they can stream a message while still completing other tasks.
An integrated video management system, like the one included with LumApps, will allow you to upload light-weight videos that won’t bog down mobile devices and tablets of your frontline workers. Plus, you can control security by flagging videos as available for download or not.
3. Insist on a tool that integrates with your existing systems.
Your employee experience platform should integrate with your existing login capabilities, be it Microsoft, Google, active directory, or single sign on.
Not only will it reduce digital friction for those frontline workers who are logging in from a mobile device, but it will increase adoption. Gartner found that 8% of employee time is spent toggling between digital systems, which can lead employees to abandon the tools that cause more frustration than help in their daily work.
As an IT manager, you can help ease this tension by choosing tools that seamlessly integrate. There are integrations that will sync your logins so frontline workers can use their existing accounts, and other integrations that allow them to easily share content in platforms where they are spending a lot of time.
4. Remember that a “seamless” experience still requires backend planning.
As an IT manager, you may be responsible for helping your comms or HR teams navigate the backend of a robust communications system. You will want to have a say in the platform selection.
If you want to be “hands off” in the day-to-day management of the platform, choose a platform that offers no-code solutions to post content so anyone can post and manage content, no matter their technical experience.
LumApps offers a no-code solution that allows anyone to create customized campaigns and user journey flows, no matter their technical experience, to deliver personalized, timely communications. It’s built for a non techie to set up campaigns, but robust enough to include powerful integrations that connect your business and improve communication.
You can even use the LumApps platform to set up detailed campaigns that align with the flow of work (such as sending messaging during working hours only or onboarding new employees) and control when and where the messages go.
This allows you to meet employees where they are in their workday through multi-channel and multi-device delivery
5. Provide training and support
Not all employees may be equally comfortable using tech tools. You may need to provide training and support to ensure that everyone is able to use the tools effectively. This could include regular training sessions, user guides, or access to IT support.
Or you can create some training videos and store them in the video library so employees can reference the training on demand, without you needing to constantly present the same information. You can use the digital assistant to equip teams to ask common IT questions and self-serve their issue.
We would love to know more about your goals. How can we help?
