3 Reasons Frontline Workers Experience a Communication Gap

Good communication is crucial to keeping employees aligned, engaged and up to date. But many frontline workers aren’t getting the relevant comms they deserve, leading them to feel disengaged and disempowered.

For our recent Frontline Gap report, we surveyed over 7,500 global frontline workers across multiple industries to understand how they really feel about the divide between desk and non-desk workers. We found that the majority of frontline workers crave better communication from leadership, with many feeling that company comms tools and strategies are designed for office-based employees rather than them.

What does this mean for your next internal comms strategy? Read on for three key takeaways about how the communication gap affects frontline workers, and download the full report to learn more.

1. Most organizations are bad at communicating with frontline workers

Just under half (42%) of global frontline workers say their company is bad at communicating with them. But when we dig into the results, we see an even starker picture: while almost one in five respondents in North and South America report their company leadership is “definitely” good at communication, this plummets to only 6% in EMEA – and a shocking 3% in APAC.

These poor communication strategies create a gap that important company updates struggle to cross, contributing to the growing culture gap and negatively impacting frontline workers’ sense of belonging. 

🌉 Bridging the gap

Frontline workers have different communication needs compared to office-based colleagues. They’re often on the go, spend less time on devices, and may not interact with another person for the majority of their day.

Ensure your comms strategy fits into everyone’s workflow – not just employees who are already at a desk – by adopting a mobile-first internal comms platform with rich-media content. This lets you bring critical communications to the frontline and engage workers with formats like livestreams, podcasts, and videos that help them feel connected to leadership and colleagues, wherever they are.

Learn how to build a winning internal communication strategy→

2. Irrelevant messaging makes frontline workers switch off

48% of global frontline workers say that most of their company’s communications seem irrelevant to them, rising to 58% in both NAMER and the UK.

So it’s no surprise that only 37% of global frontline workers “frequently” read company comms. Once again, LATAM leads the pack for engagement, with an impressive 57% making it a priority to stay up to date, while 39% of frontline workers in APAC say they “rarely or never” read communications – double the global figure of 19%.

🌉 Bridging the gap

Use an employee experience platform (EXP) to analyze and optimize your internal comms. With an industry-leading EXP like Workvivo, you can get reach and engagement insights for your content, enabling you to learn which topics and formats employees love, track usage behaviors to find (and address) trends, and compare data across teams to better understand different communication needs and preferences.

Discover 9 ways to measure employee engagement→

3. Two-way communication is vital

Despite these issues, our research reveals that frontline workers want relevant, open communications. More than half (58%) of global respondents would like to hear updates from their CEO, and 69% want to understand their company’s decisions better.

But they also want these communications to go both ways. Over a third (38%) of frontline workers have feedback they want to share with leadership but no good way to share it, while nearly a quarter say they’re rarely or never asked for their opinion on how work gets done.

🌉 Bridging the gap

Capture valuable feedback by using your EXP to launch surveys and gauge employee sentiment. Ask targeted questions to understand how frontline workers really feel about key issues and initiatives, then regularly review and act on feedback to show them you’re listening.

Get our tips for running impactful employee pulse surveys→

Take your frontline communications to the next level

Frontline workers want to engage, but poor communication makes it difficult or even impossible. Companies that continue to spam frontline workers with irrelevant comms without asking for their feedback or input risk losing their attention for good – and furthering their sense of disconnection.

Instead, organizations need to create tailored communication strategies that meet different users’ needs and preferences. This means using the right software and best practices to deliver relevant, engaging content in a way that fits into frontline employees’ everyday workflows and giving them an open channel to express their feedback so you can ensure their voices are heard.

Check out the Frontline Gap microsite to learn more.