Bridging the gap: How targeted communication and reinforcement empower the frontline workforce

The backbone of numerous industries, from retail and healthcare to manufacturing and hospitality, lies with the frontline workforce. These are the essential individuals who interact directly with customers, are engaged in the production and delivery of goods and services and are almost always working away from a traditional desk setup. These deskless or frontline team members are crucial to business success, but they frequently face unique communication challenges in the workplace that their desk-based counterparts simply do not.

A communication gap exists—but it’s one that can be bridged. Let’s explore how a purpose-built solution can help connect the dots.

The communication gap on the frontline

A significant disconnect exists between frontline employees and the rest of the organization, partly due to a lack of adequate communication and collaboration solutions. Unlike office workers who can easily access company information via email or traditional intranets, frontline teams often have limited access to computers or work in areas with unreliable internet connectivity. This inherent difference in work environments means traditional communication methods are often impractical or simply unavailable to them.

Outdated internal communication channels cause massive problems

Cascading information through a hierarchy from headquarters to regional DMs to store managers or posting updates on breakroom bulletin boards is a recipe for a game of “broken telephone” where no one wins. Outdated communication causes delays or missed information, making it impossible for critical updates, company news, or policy changes to be shared quickly and reliably. But frontline workers need to stay informed and on the same page to do their jobs effectively. Without timely and accurate access to information, productivity and the bottom line suffer, stress grows and morale drops.

Two-way communication is vital but often limited

A lack of easy-to-access channels for two-way communication means frontline employees, who are often the first to spot areas for improvement and gather crucial customer insights, may feel unable to share feedback or voice concerns back to leadership. This absence of a direct line can leave teams feeling unsupported and disconnected from broader organizational goals.

The challenge is compounded by the fact that frontline workers often face an overload of messages from various departments (Comms, HR, Operations, Marketing, etc.) without a central gatekeeping ability, making it difficult to discern critical information from noise. Companies also struggle with limited access to their internal communications metrics to determine whether information is actually consumed and understood by the frontline.

Axonify Communications: A purpose-built solution

Axonify Communications provides a centralized communication platform that solves the challenges of reaching, engaging, informing and connecting with frontline employees.

Communications that meet the frontline where they are

Axonify Communications meets frontline employees where they are—whether it’s on the floor, in the kitchen or in a warehouse—and delivers messages directly to them through internet-enabled devices, ensuring the most impactful messages reach every employee in the flow of work.

By delivering communication to match frontline realities, Axonify addresses the challenge of frontline workers being away from desks and breaks down traditional communication channels. Axonify segments communications so that the right people get the information, avoiding the information overload issue by allowing messages to be targeted to specific roles or departments. This tailored messaging ensures that the right people are doing the right things and shows employees that their contributions are valued, which is crucial for increasing engagement.

A variety of communication methods to get the job done

Internal communications strategies aren’t one-size-fits-all endeavors. Different types of information require different communication approaches. A notice of an upcoming promotion with detailed information requires a different approach than a reminder about an upcoming statutory holiday.

Axonify has various communication capabilities designed to get frontline associates to login regularly. These include broadcast messages for top-down messaging to the entire organization or targeted groups, and a personalized feed where employees can see what’s happening, stay up to date on key campaigns and initiatives and access messages relevant to their role.

Axonify also facilitates open dialogue and two-way communication through Channels, enabling workforces to be more connected with a way for employees to feel empowered to share their stories and a way for leaders to capture best practices directly from the field. Survey questions and open text responses can also record feedback from employees, providing leadership with guiding data.

Make it easy for frontline managers to improve team communication

With Axonify Communications, managers can easily craft, plan and schedule specialized communications like Announcements, Polls, and Quizzes to the frontline, ensuring the right information is received at the right time.

How managers could use Axonify to accelerate team communication:

• Announcements to update teams on new initiatives and build excitement, and with the inclusion of quizzes and polls, managers can quickly check readiness and get feedback
• Channels to allow teams to share ideas and best practices and recognition features for team members to connect and celebrate
• Deliver digital messages directly to employees while reinforcing key topics during shift huddles and team meetings
• Store important job aids and resources in a central repository so employees are enabled to quickly search and find information (and yes, HQ can do this too)
• Chat to team members directly for private, real-time discussions that cut through the noise

Get critical insights into what’s working—and what’s not

Go deep on how your frontline is interacting with your messages so you can refine your strategy and drive real business results. Axonify Communications provides flexible reporting and data exporting to help communicators move beyond simply sending messages to truly connecting with their frontline. This includes:

• Trend analysis to help you understand reach patterns and refine messaging strategies by identifying optimal times and days for sending communications. You can also identify engagement differences across audience segments to tailor content effectively.
• Detailed analytics on message and initiative engagement, with the ability to drill down on viewership, interactions, and user or team attributes.

Reinforce to retain, AKA people forget stuff

It’s a fundamental aspect of being human that we forget things, especially information we encounter only once. Consider, for example, the last lengthy email or newsletter you read; how much of that content do you truly recall?

This tendency for one-time communications to fade from memory is amplified when there’s no immediate opportunity to reinforce or apply what we’ve just learned. As time passes, recalling information that isn’t regularly accessed becomes increasingly difficult. Consequently, even the most well-intentioned communications can quickly lose their intended impact.

This phenomenon is scientifically supported and known as the Forgetting Curve, which illustrates the inherent difficulty in retaining information over time. The implications of this, particularly in a professional setting, can be significant. Forgetting crucial details on the job can lead to operational inefficiencies and costly errors, such as product loss, missed sales opportunities and even safety incidents.

The Axonify difference: Reinforcement

While many platforms aim to improve frontline communication, only Axonify uses the concept of reinforcement and repetition of key information so it’s not forgotten. Axonify reinforces communications, ensuring that the information sticks with a focus on bite-sized, continuous repetition that drives behavior change.

How reinforcing communications works in practice

Picture this: you’ve just sent out a company-wide announcement about operational procedure changes or new product information. Now what?, With targeted reinforcement questions delivered in the Axonify learning platform, you can ensure that important information is continuously retained.Communication tools quickly disseminate this information, and then reinforcement modules are deployed to ensure employees understand and retain the updated knowledge. This provides valuable insight to leaders and helps determine where further communication or reinforcement may be necessary.

This concept of using reinforcement is inherently how Axonify drives behavior change, by amplifying the value of teaching people how to execute based on the communicated information. The application of spaced repetition and reinforcement is a core aspect of Axonify’s approach to frontline enablement.

Axonify Communications use cases and real-world examples

Looking for some ideas about how you can use Axonify Communications in your daily workflow to get your messages out to your frontline? Here are a few to get you started:

• Broadcasting important messages: Broadcast messages are used for urgent announcements, friendly reminders or department-specific updates. Regular, video-based messages from senior leadership have been found to increase employee morale as staff feel more connected and valued.
  
• Product launches and updates: The personalized feed is effective for increasing awareness and knowledge of key campaigns and initiatives, such as a new running shoe launch. Periodically delivered messages help increase employee product knowledge and remind them of what’s needed for a successful launch.
  
• Sharing best practices: The Channels feature provides a platform for employees to share their experiences and strategies. Examples include sharing successful techniques for selling a new product or tips for helping customers use self-checkout. This allows for capturing best practices from the field and validating crowd-sourced ideas. Channels can also be used for friendly socializing.
  
• Accessing information on-demand: The Discover feature serves as a central repository for job aids and resources, enabling employees to access needed information quickly.

Closing communications gaps for good

Frontline workers are indispensable, yet they face significant communication barriers that impact their performance, engagement and well-being. Traditional communication methods are often ineffective, leaving employees uninformed, disconnected and stressed.

By connecting communications with reinforcement, Axonify ensures that critical information isn’t just delivered; it’s understood and retained. This drives desired knowledge transfer and behavior change that are essential for operational excellence and business results. 

Axonify provides a comprehensive, purpose-built solution by unifying communication, learning and task management in a single, accessible platform. By delivering targeted messages in the flow of work, facilitating two-way communication, providing on-demand resources and streamlining task management, Axonify addresses the core challenges faced by the frontline.