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This post gives you five practical steps to connect and engage frontline employees using accessibility, personalization, manager activation, employee listening, and recognition. You’ll learn why each step matters, how it works in the real world, and specific ideas you can add to your frontline comms strategy.

Frontline and deskless employees are among the most difficult to connect with and engage. They’re often the last to see corporate updates – yet the first to feel the impact of operational change. They’re dispersed across sites, rarely seated at desks. They’re constantly juggling shift patterns, device constraints, and information overload. They also have a turnover rate that’s 1.6 times higher than that of office-based employees. 

With over 80% of the global workforce in deskless roles, we can’t afford to neglect this group of workers when it comes to connection and engagement. And yet, The Employee Experience Blueprint, a survey by Interact and Ragan, found that only 1% of communicators rated their tactics for reaching frontline workers as very effective. 

The good news is that incremental improvements in the frontline employee experience can drive real connection and engagement. In this post, we’ve put together five steps to get you started.

Step 1: Make access effortless and mobile-first 

Most frontline employees engage with your digital workplace as they’re on-the-go or between tasks. Optimizing your employee experience for mobile users ensures frontline and deskless workers can access what they need, when they need it, and never miss an important message.

How can organizations use accessible, mobile-first experiences to engage frontline employees? 

Ensure your comms and digital workplace content are easily scannable and in mobile-friendly formats. And make key information easy to find – when your enterprise communication software delivers essentials in seconds (not minutes), more frontline and deskless workers can see, understand, and act on your messaging.

What does mobile-optimized content look like? Think short paragraphs, strong headings, tappable CTAs, and formats that work on older devices or shaky connections. Utilize multiple channels so no one misses the signal: publish the update on your intranet app, send it out in a weekly digest, and reinforce with a digital signage update or a QR code in the break room. For recurring updates, structure matters – use a consistent layout so readers can find what’s new at a glance.

Tips to engage frontline employees with a mobile-first strategy 

  • Use a proven layout that works for on‑the‑go reading. Start with our Frontline newsletter template, which keeps one primary update above the fold, followed by two or three quick hits. 
  • Double up on channels for key comms. Frontline audiences may not see every message, so don’t just send out content once. Publish an update on your intranet, add a recap to your monthly newsletter, then post a shortened version to digital signage with a QR code that links to the full guidance.

Step 2: Target by role, location, and shift (not just department) 

The fastest way to get employees paying attention to your messaging? Make it relevant. When frontline comms are targeted to the realities of a site, a role, or a shift pattern, it’s the difference between “another corporate message” and “this helps me right now.”

How can targeting by role, location, and shift increase frontline and deskless engagement? 

Frontline contexts differ from corporate contexts, but there’s also a wide variety of frontline experiences: local regulations, equipment, and even lingo can be different for different workers. In the same way blasting the same update out company‑wide dilutes trust, targeting is what restores it. 

Build audiences with role + location + shift + certification status (e.g., a forklift update to certified operators on night shift), then reuse that audience next time. This is where modern enterprise communication software and your frontline comms app of choice should shine. 

How to use targeting to increase frontline engagement (without slowing you down) 

  • Templatize repeat scenarios. Create short, pre‑approved templates for safety alerts, outages, SOP changes, and quick wins. Pair each with a role/location audience and a default owner for questions.
  • Know when to segment. If a message requires more than two scrolls on a phone, splitting it by audience may help you cut down on length.
  • Build targeted roundups. Use your employee email newsletter to group multiple location‑specific updates. 
  • Check out our tips for comms that reach every frontline worker to be sure you’re following current best practices. 

Step 3: Turn managers into your most trusted channel 

For frontline employees, the most credible “channel” is often their supervisor. If your internal comms helps managers brief teams effectively, your messages travel farther and stick longer. Manager‑led huddles create space for questions, context, and “what this means for us” conversations that traditional comms can’t deliver. 

How can managers improve deskless and frontline engagement? 

Manager briefings turn broadcasts into conversations about individual impact. That’s where nuance, safety reminders, and customer scenarios get clarified. Give managers what they need to lead quick huddles, answer common questions, and reinforce what good looks like.

Managers can also impact frontline engagement through recognition. Deskless workers tend to be recognized on a company-wide level less often than desked workers. Training managers to practice more recognition – and giving them the right tools to do so – can have a major impact on engagement. 

Tips to activate managers so they can engage frontline employees 

  • Prep managers for big briefings. Give managers a quick guide to talking about your latest update with their teams – think one slide with three talking points and a few FAQs per major update. And don’t forget to make it mobile-friendly.

Step 4: Ask for feedback and measure what matters 

Feedback turns one‑way messages into a loop – people speak up, you act, and trust grows. When your frontline comms strategy includes quick feedback actions and outcome metrics, you can fix gaps fast and prove impact. 

How can we use employee feedback to improve deskless and frontline engagement? 

Frontline and deskless employees are more difficult to collect feedback from than the average desked worker. Traditional employee listening tactics (think annual surveys) are time-consuming, hard to complete on the go, and rarely optimized for mobile devices.  

On the other hand, short, frequent pulse surveys are a lower commitment of time and effort, making it much more likely for deskless employees to participate – and for you to . They also surface potential issues while there’s still time to fix them. This way, your team can act quickly and show employees their voices matter – a key engagement booster.

Metrics are also crucial for improving experiences and engagement. Over time, tracking the right metrics shows whether internal comms is moving the needle for frontline employees – not just generating clicks. 

Tips to gather frontline and deskless feedback for better engagement 

  • Make surveys short, mobile, and predictable. Send them at a consistent time (e.g., Fridays after last shift) and keep responses thumb‑simple (think Likert scales, star ratings, or yes/no answer options, with comments optional).
  • Ask the right questions. Get our 15 favorite pulse survey questions to ask employees here. 
  • Act and report back. After gathering feedback, post a short “You said…We did” update within a reasonable timeframe. This builds trust and increases future participation. 
  • Use the tools at your disposal. You can also use workplace tech to accurately gauge frontline sentiment without asking a single question. Today’s best employee experience platforms offer AI detection of emerging themes and sentiment shifts that you may not have noticed otherwise.
  • Track metrics that matter. Alongside participation rates, monitor speed‑to‑action, search success, recall (“What’s changing Monday?”), and self‑service resolution. For a practical KPI framework your leadership will understand, start with these eight key metrics for frontline comms. 

Step 5: Boost frontline recognition 

Enabling and carrying out visible, specific recognition for your frontline and deskless workers builds pride, showcases good practice, and makes your digital workplace a representation of every employee. When frontline employees are recognized, they feel a greater sense of belonging and purpose, and more motivation to do their best work. Together, all of this builds strong engagement. 

How can we use recognition to improve deskless and frontline engagement? 

Recognition works best when it’s timely, tied to values, and easy to engage with – and this is especially true for frontline workers. Short leader videos, photo stories from the floor, and “shift shout‑outs” spark comments and reactions (signals that your enterprise communication software can track as cultural health indicators).  

Being recognized is only half of the puzzle. The act of recognizing coworkers creates a tighter bond with colleagues and sense of belonging for the person practicing recognition as well. To make this possible for frontline and deskless workers, you need to make recognition easy – whether it’s from a retail location, manufacturing floor, or hospital wing.  

Tips to create a culture of recognition that boosts frontline engagement 

  • Train new hires on recognition from the start. Make using recognition part of your onboarding or orientation process – demonstrate how to use your recognition tool and provide real examples of shoutouts on workplace social. 
  • Mix individual and team spotlights. Balance “hero moments” with location‑level wins to boost belonging across shifts. 
  • Tie recognition to your values. Have employees tag each recognition moment with one of your values. This helps connect both the recognition giver and receiver to your organizational culture. 
  • Show the result. Encourage leaders and managers to link recognition to outcomes. Link a safety shout‑out to incident trends or customer kudos to NPS. Proof beats platitudes and shows just how valuable employee contributions are.

FAQ: Engaging and connecting frontline and deskless employees 

What’s the best way to connect frontline employees who don’t use email? 
Publish essentials in a mobile‑first format on your Frontline comms app, support with digital signage for quick glances, and use QR codes or short URLs to link to details. Keep copy scannable with a single, clear CTA.

What’s the fastest way to engage deskless teams across multiple locations? 
Target internal comms by role, location, and shift, then back it up with manager‑led huddles. Use guided briefings and one‑pagers managers can deliver in two minutes and follow with feedback action to capture questions. Good frontline comms feel localized and timely, not generic or HQ‑only. 

What internal comms formats work best to connect with frontline employees? 
For engaging frontline comms, try short-and-sweet posts with one primary update, scannable and tailored email newsletters, 60–90‑second vertical videos, step‑through visuals, and huddle‑friendly one‑pagers. 

What should a frontline newsletter include to improve engagement? 
To improve frontline employee engagement, an email newsletter should have one primary update, two-to-three quick hits, a brief recognition spotlight, and a simple path to ask questions. Keep it mobile‑first with short paragraphs, bold headings, and action‑oriented CTAs. 

Which metrics actually prove frontline comms are working? 
Focus on outcomes: mobile reach/usage, search success on the platform, message recall, speed to action after communications, self‑service resolution for common questions, and visibility/engagement with recognition posts. Get our practical breakdown of frontline metrics here.  

How do we prevent message overload for deskless teams? 
Bundle non‑urgent items into a predictable roundup, target by role/location/shift, and reserve push alerts for critical operations. This keeps frontline comms high‑signal without drowning people in noise. 

What features should you look for in an employee experience platform to improve frontline engagement? 
To boost frontline and deskless employee engagement, look for a platform that unifies mobile‑first internal comms, role/location/shift targeting, powerful search across content and knowledge, and actionable analytics in one centralized place. It should integrate with your enterprise communication software stack (e.g., knowledge, HRIS and IT systems), support social‑style recognition and two‑way feedback, and provide templates and workflows that create seamless experiences for frontline employees.

Why is an employee app essential for frontline workers? 
An employee mobile app delivers targeted, shift‑friendly updates and on‑the‑floor knowledge directly to frontline employees who aren’t on email or desktops. It enables quick pulse surveys and lightweight recognition, works reliably on a variety of devices (including low‑bandwidth scenarios), and feeds results into analytics so internal comms can prove and improve impact. 

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