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Why employees are frustrated with your communications

Why employees are frustrated with your communications

by | Apr 30, 2019 | Employee Communication

There is a fundamental problem in today’s workplace communication methods. It has become such a problem, in fact, that 87% of employees think their leaders communicate ineffectively. Many organizations make use of email or team huddles to relay information to frontline employees, but in an age where mobile has taken over, these methods are rapidly becoming less and less effective. The result? Employees are becoming increasingly frustrated and left feeling both unmotivated and disconnected from headquarters.

How can organizations improve internal communication and motivate performance? We asked frontline employees working in retail and food service. Here’s what they had to say:

The next generation of employees has made it clear – there is a lack of communication in these environments. For employees working on the frontline, the biggest frustrations are the use of outdated communication channels and a growing information gap. Essentially, these employees are not getting the information they need, when they need it.

When organizations continue to use traditional ways to communicate with frontline employees, such as email and team huddles, information gets lost. The resulting information gap creates barriers to productivity, teamwork, and providing a great customer experience. Organizations can address employee frustrations by choosing an effective communication channel and creating more engaging content. We have two easy steps you can take to improve your workplace communications and deliver content that will excite your employees:

 

1. Choose an effective communication channel

Two of the most common communication channels in retail and foodservice environments are email and team huddles. However, 83% of frontline employees don’t have a corporate email address. For those that do have email, there is a small likelihood of that they open, read through and absorb all necessary information in a timely manner.

While huddles are a good way to get the team together, you are relying on managers to summarize communications from headquarters and prioritize what information needs to be passed on to associates. That can be a gamble.

83% of Millennials open texts within 90 seconds of receiving them, while email is only opened 17% of the time. To better engage frontline employees, organizations need to adapt and make use of communication channels that are most actively used today. Long email updates, bulletin board posts, and huddles no longer have the ability to drive outcomes.

 

2. Create engaging content

The employees we interviewed expressed frustration with the content they typically receive from head office. Today’s employees feel they’re either suffering from information overload and are stuck sifting through unengaging content, or they are missing key pieces of information. In addition, shorter attention spans make it more and more and more difficult to deliver information in a way employees can effectively consume it.

Organizations need to create content that is bite-sized and attention-grabbing. On average, Millennials read 60 words before they lose attention. It’s becoming increasingly important to craft thoughtful, meaningful, and engaging updates for employees – similarly to how you would when communicating with consumers.

 

Our solution to solving these workplace frustrations? Go mobile

Going mobile (think: mobile-first portals, internal social networks, mobile enterprise apps) can help you to better reach and engage frontline employees. Leveraging apps for engaging, educating, and rewarding non-desk employees can help lead to better knowledge rates, brand awareness, and execution on the frontline. After all, 60% of employees say mobile technology makes them more productive. Shifting your communication strategy to bring frontline employees from ‘last-to-know’ to ‘in-the-know’ will boost team engagement, collaboration, and performance across the business.

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How to engage and motivate your frontline employees

How to engage and motivate your frontline employees

by | Apr 30, 2019 | Employee Engagement, Employee Productivity

In North America, frontline retail and food service jobs are among the largest occupational groups, with more than 27 million workers. By 2025, Millennials will make up the vast majority (75%) of this workforce, with a majority working in retail, foodservice, and hospitality. Today, organizations are struggling to effectively engage and motivate their frontline teams, let alone communicate with them. On a mission to solve this problem and help brands excel at engaging with their frontline teams to drive performance, we went straight to the source, the next generation of employees, to find out what they value in the workplace. Here’s what they had to say:

After interviewing frontline Millennials and Gen Z, we discovered the next generation of employees are starving for more effective workplace communication. The needs were clear: Organizations must adapt their communication methods and strategies to better align with the modern workplace. Employees top three motivators at work? Establishing a clear team vision, providing recognition and rewards, and building a culture of transparency. Here are three steps you can take to start better engagement, drive team performance and satisfy the needs of your frontline workforce.

1. Establish a clear team vision

Frontline employees are your direct connection to customers and play a big role in providing an exceptional customer experience. Despite that, they can often feel disconnected from headquarters, reducing their capability to deliver on the brand promise with confidence and to feel that they’re effectively contributing to the team. Ensuring frontline workers are passionate about your brand vision and empowered to engage with customers is essential.

Our tip: Ask your employees what your brand means to them. Gather feedback and ideas on how you can make your vision come to life – empowering employees to take part and contribute to the bigger picture.

2. Provide feedback and recognition

Frontline employees have extremely valuable insights on customer experience, consumer preferences, and have a lot of great ideas to share with the team. 51% of Millennials want their managers to better listen to and value their ideas, so why are there not more effective feedback systems in place? Today, employees want feedback frequently so they can quickly and continuously improve. They don’t want to wait until quarterly, or even monthly meetings to hear what they can do better.

Our tip: Today’s employees are looking for guidance in their failures, but are also looking to be recognized and rewarded for their successes. Nothing motivates or engages an employee more than being recognized in the workplace – whether it be a compliment at the end of a shift, or providing an extra vacation day.

3. Build a culture of transparency

In many cases, store associates or restaurant staff are given a task or a snippet of information, without understanding where it is coming from or its underlying purpose. The next generation of employees are looking to see the full picture – they want to be kept in the loop with company news, sales objectives, targets, and performance data. They want to understand what the team is working towards – and how letting a customer know about the latest promotion fits into that.

Our tip: Create team-based challenges to provide context around your current promotions and customer initiatives. Ensure transparency by sharing progress and results with employees along the way, helping everyone feel a part of the team and motivated to achieve business results.

Knowing what your frontline employees value is a critical step in your journey towards building high performing teams. Recognizing that your workforce is increasingly becoming made up of Millennials and Gen Z, and adapting your communication strategy to meet their needs is the first step in getting there.

Interested in learning more? Check out our report, ‘How Mobile Technology is Transforming Workplace Performance’ here.

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Closing the customer experience gap in telecoms

Closing the customer experience gap in telecoms

by | Apr 30, 2019 | Employee Engagement, Operations, Retail

Last week, I had the privilege to chair the first day of the CX Exchange for Telecoms event in London. This event brings together a forward-thinking group of customer experience practitioners and suppliers who are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the customer experience in telecommunications.

One of the major themes coming from the event was the opportunities artificial intelligence and machine learning are bringing to transform the industry. It was encouraging to hear how a number of organizations are ramping up digital transformation strategies within their customer experience organizations, to give themselves a chance to become the CX leaders of the future.

It is clear this transformation is not easy today, nor will it be for the foreseeable future.  We are all a product of our history – grappling with legacy systems, entrenched organizational structures and the inertia of day-to-day tactical execution. However, organizations who are chained to these forces will be ultimately be destroyed by them.

Future CX leaders will find a way to bridge what Deloitte has called the ‘Gap in Performance Potential’ – the disconnect between the speed at which technology is creating opportunity and an organizations ability to adopt it.  Telecoms companies, along with all organizations that want to compete in the CX landscape need to build innovation as a core competence in their business.

At its heart, this is about the future culture of customer-centric businesses and how this culture permeates every outpost that interacts with customers.  We know that to win a customer’s loyalty we need to engage with them on an emotional level, but this requires employees to be emotionally engaged with the organization. You cannot force people to consistently deliver great customer experiences, but you can inspire them to.

We believe that the future lies in leveraging technology to amplify the potential and the impact of people on the frontline: the last mile of team performance. At Nudge, we believe focusing on closing this last mile and enabling frontline teams will be at the heart of improving team performance and, ultimately, customer experience.

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Key learnings from Dx3: Canada’s retail innovation conference

Key learnings from Dx3: Canada’s retail innovation conference

by | Apr 26, 2019 | Operations, Retail

Last week, the Nudge Team attended Dx3, Canada’s leading retail innovation conference. We were honored to have the opportunity to join many of Canada’s most respected brands to share a conversation about the future of workplace performance in the retail industry. While we were there, we gathered some powerful insights through a survey that we wanted to share.

A common theme, fear, and opportunity that continues to arise in all of our conversations across Canada is the dramatic shift in the workforce demographics, and how this impacts performance variability.

We all know that workforce demographics are changing, with Millennials now moving into managerial positions and Gen Z entering the workforce. With these younger employees come new techniques, opportunities, and technologies for internal communications, a critical ingredient for driving performance with this generation. Workplace communications have had to adapt, and now becoming mobile first, interactive, and concise. The effectiveness of mediums such as emails, newsletters, and posters is declining, while the prevalence of BYOD policies and mobile platforms increasing.

So, how are today’s retailers stacking up when it comes to communicating with their frontline teams, and how does this impact the performance of their team?

We wanted to find out, so at Dx3 we conducted a survey asking retailers about the current state of internal communications. Here’s what we found:

 

Email is no longer enough

Diagram

When asked how their company typically communicates with frontline employees, 78% of respondents reported using email. While this may seem like a strong argument for using email, keep in mind that 83% of frontline employees do not have access to a company email address, meaning most of these emails are going to managers, not every store associate. To support that, 62% of respondents who used email, used it alongside another channel, such as speaking directly to managers or using an intranet system. The need to use complementary channels in addition to email suggests that email cannot be a standalone solution for effectively reaching frontline employees. 

Pie Chart

Diagram

A majority of respondents reported that they receive feedback from employees through in-person interactions (63%) or through email (56%). While sourcing ideas from employees are key to employee engagement and driving optimized performance, the current methods of an in-person discussion are not an effective method to collect useful data that can be easily shared with corporate decision makers.

If the feedback comes in person (for example, an associate telling a manager during their break) there is a chance that the manager will forget to pass the idea along or forget the idea altogether during their busy day. In the case of email, there is a high chance of the email getting lost or unread in the large volume of emails that managers receive regularly. Additionally, both these methods are not easily peer validated, making it hard to receive second opinions or spark additional recommendations from other coworkers.

 

BYOD policies aren’t yet universal

Pie Chart

A Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy outlines whether or not employees can use their personal mobile devices at work, as well as the capacity in which they may use them. Over 40% of the retailers we surveyed either didn’t have a policy in place or were not sure. Considering that, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, employees believe that mobile technology makes them more productive, there is definitely room for mobile to be used more effectively in the retail space.

 

Mobile technology could be used more

Diagram

56% of our respondents stated that they use mobile for general company communications, and 44% use it for company updates (over a third of those messages are simply email on mobile devices). Despite a majority of respondents using mobile in the workplace, fewer than 15% use it in the most engaging capacity: for providing and sourcing feedback. These are two of the more interactive uses of mobile communications, as they allow frontline employees to receive recognition and/or advice promptly and directly, as well as provide a channel to have their voices to be heard by their supervisors.

Interestingly enough, 80% of those without a BYOD policy still reported using mobile for work-related activities. Employees are using their mobile devices at work without even being told to do so. Leveraging these existing behaviors by using mobile for communications, training, and recognition can have a powerful impact on the bottom line.

PIe Chart Stat

 

Retailers need help connecting with employees

When retailers were asked what they believe their companies needed to improve on most, employee engagement and recognition came out on top

Employee Engagement Diagram

Of the six areas of improvement, employee engagement and recognition were the top two. In a large company with employees dispersed across thousands of locations, it can be difficult to keep the frontline enthusiastic about their work, as well as recognize each individual for their accomplishments. Mobile technology can provide the perfect channel to reach each employee directly, by sending messages straight to their smartphones. It comes as no surprise that engagement and recognition need the most improvement when fewer than 15% of retailers are using the most effective method for carrying out these initiatives.

As retailers move forward to adapt to the working styles of the next generation of employees, it is important for them to move away from passive and unengaging channels like email or posters, to interactive and mobile-first platforms, such as enterprise mobile apps. At Dx3, it was clear that retail is becoming more innovative externally, as seen through the changing and digitally enhanced in-store experience. Isn’t it time for the retail industry to do the same internally, by embrace digital innovation and using powerful technologies for internal operations?

 

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8 BYOD benefits for organizations with frontline staff

8 BYOD benefits for organizations with frontline staff

by | Apr 25, 2019 | Employee Communication, Employee Engagement, Employee Productivity

Consumer expectations are making their way into the workplace in fascinating ways and the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement is a prevalent example. Fifty-nine percent of organizations already allow employees to use their personal devices for work, and another 13% plan to implement a BYOD policy within the year. Though many enterprise companies have implemented BYOD into their organizations, how are those with deskless workforces—retail, hospitality, and foodservice—responding to the new demands of technology and how does a BYOD policy help their business succeed?

The retail, hospitality, and foodservice industries are enduring a massive shift in workforce composition. With millennials taking over a third of the US workforce and set to make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025, companies are adapting to a massive demographic shift. Digitally native millennials and Gen Z have non-traditional preferences when it comes to communicating, learning, collaborating, and getting things done. By equipping current and future generations with the right tools they need to gain access to information, frontline staff are able to deliver a better customer experience, which improves brand profitability and the overall employee experience.

It doesn’t stop there, here are 8 benefits of BYOD that will help your organization succeed:

1. Alignment with existing behaviors

Let’s face it, employees are already using their mobile devices at work, whether it’s on break or on the job. It’s happening anyway, so let’s shift the thinking to the opportunities for productivity and output. A study from the Pew Research Center found that 77% of employees use their phones at work regardless of employer policies. Also, 20% of staff use social media to get information that helps them solve work-related problems. Having a BYOD policy helps businesses align with behaviors to engage, educate, and communicate with frontline staff while staying compliant with labor laws and regulations.

2. Increase trust

Without knowing or understanding company policy, employees are faced with ambiguity and a sense of sneaking around when using personal devices at work. These behaviors can cause trust issues between managers and associates creating a negative environment for both employees and customers. Having a clear BYOD policy that is accessible to all frontline staff, creates a culture of trust, transparency, and a clear understanding between managers and staff on mobile use in the workplace.

3. Save on costs

This one’s easy. Workplace technology is associated with rising expenditures, but BYOD actually helps save money on hardware and support. Allowing employees to use their own devices, decreases the cost of buying and replacing technology for frontline staff.

When you consider the multitude of research linking BYOD policies with increased employee satisfaction, you can also factor in cost savings associated with retaining talent.

4. Recruit top talent

Unemployment is low and there’s heated competition for talent. In this job market, companies are having to adapt their workplace cultures to attract and retain top talent. With millennials and Gen Z soon to occupy the majority of the workforce, and 93% of millennials stating that technology is key when choosing a future workplace, it’s crucial that employers invest in technology to deliver an exceptional employee experience. BYOD helps to keep staff technology costs low, while also creating an adaptable work environment for shifting employee expectations.  

5. Improve efficiency and security

Associates are already using public-facing apps, such as WhatsApp and Facebook, for various workplace activities, such as organizing shift changes, asking work-related questions, and creating personal connections with their peers. These conversations are important for smooth day to day operations and the employer has an opportunity to formalize the framework with a BYOD policy.

Conversely, unregulated usage of public-facing apps for work-related tasks can open up the risk of security breaches. A BYOD policy helps companies build a compliant, regulated and well-managed mobile program, reducing the risk of security breaches.

6. Increase employee productivity

The average BYOD user saves 58 minutes a day by using their personal devices at work, which gives them more time to learn, grow, and execute a great customer experience. Having access to product and promotional information in real-time as well as digital schedules and training programs, helps frontline associates be more productive, engaged, and committed to customer satisfaction.

7. Provide better customer service

Though 83% of shoppers think they know more about products than frontline associates, 79% still think that associates are a key part of a good customer experience. Allowing frontline associates to use personal devices for work-related tasks, influences their behaviors towards business goals, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and ultimately increased sales. BYOD policies empower frontline associates to perform better, which in turn creates better employee and customer experiences.

8. Increase employee engagement

Engaged employees are more motivated, productive, and committed to the brands they work for. Having a good BYOD policy in your organization increases employee engagement by building trust and breaking down communication barriers. It also helps brands to effectively create an employee experience that engages frontline staff to, in turn, deliver a better customer experience.

With the number of smartphone users estimated at 2.5 billion worldwide by next year, mobile technology will continue to transform the workplace. Getting ahead and implementing a BYOD policy not only helps to recruit and retain top talent but also positively impacts operating expenses and the employee experience. BYOD isn’t the future of workplace technology, it’s the current reality and it’s important now more than ever to bring it to the frontline.

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