Bridging the Communication Gap between Frontline Employees

More than 124 billion business emails are sent each day, yet those emails reach only a fraction of the workplace. Most non-desk workers are completely out of the loop when it comes to internal electronic communications.

Half of the non-desk employees surveyed by Staffbase reported that communication helps them to perform their job. Yet, 85% of those same employees said the communication they receive on the job is not enough.

It’s hardly surprising these employees aren’t getting enough information, as they’re often severely underserved by technology at work. A mere 1% of the $300 billion in annual software venture funding goes to solutions that serve frontline workers. The result is that 83 percent of non-desk workers have no corporate email address, while 45 percent have no access to the company intranet at work.

Gain more valuable input

Non-desk workers are the people making products, delivering services, and interacting with customers. These workers have a huge impact on customer service and product quality. They are also the first ones to recognize a breakdown in either service or production. Yet these employees are typically limited in ways to report problems — or improvements — to management.

The continuous improvement mobile app from Rever, the leading frontline workforce empowerment solution for industrial companies, allows frontline workers to quickly and easily capture their ideas and share them with management. The app also guides employees through the process of testing and implementing ideas. Given that most workers today bring their smartphone to work, it no longer makes business sense to exclude this massive percentage of workers from the most rapid form of internal communication.

Connect with non-desk workers

In fact, that’s another area where Rever seeks to help. The Rever platform serves as a powerful communications tool, looping in previously disconnected workers. By investing in solutions that seek input from non-desk workers, managers demonstrate that they value these team members for the skilled insight they can provide. This has huge implications.

Recent research from Gallup found that communication is a central factor in driving employee engagement. Managers who employed a combination of face-to-face, phone, and electronic communication were the most successful in engaging employees.

The same report also found that employees crave the freedom to explore new ideas, experiment and new challenges to investigate. Employees are increasingly turning to jobs where they can find meaning in their work. When employees feel that they provide valuable input to their organization, they’re more strongly engaged in their work and less likely to seek employment elsewhere.

And when managers have access to a tool that helps them balance employee input, automatically assigning contributed ideas to managers based on their availability so as to avoid overloading any one individual, everyone benefits from frontline innovation.

Looking to harness the powerful input provided by your non-desk workers? Ask for a demo of the Rever solution today.