How to avoid information overload with your frontline staff

In 2014, Deloitte warned that the “always-connected 24/7 work environment” was overwhelming workers and undermining productivity. 

Today, this issue has only intensified. A recent survey of 1,000 U.S. frontline workers in retail, food service, fitness and hospitality found that 83% feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to do their jobs properly, and 1 in 5 have considered quitting as a result. 

The constant barrage of information from digital tools overwhelms employees, making it hard to process what’s truly important. Information overload impacts decision-making, ramps up stress levels and hampers overall well-being. Employees feel confused, frustrated and are more prone to making mistakes.

Plus, the pressure to multitask and stay perpetually connected can lead to burnout and disrupt work-life balance. This constant juggling act drains mental energy, leaving employees exhausted and less effective in their roles.

To keep your frontline focused and effective, you need a smarter way to cut through the noise and deliver only what matters. Here’s how:

1. Run an internal communications audit

Before you can fix information overload, you need to understand how big the problem really is. An internal communications audit helps you pinpoint where breakdowns are happening, how they’re affecting productivity and morale, and what’s causing the overwhelm—so you can take targeted action to fix it. With an audit, you understand: 

• The extent of the problem
• The problem’s impact on productivity and quality
• Any effect on morale
• Likely causes
• Potential solutions

Note that this audit doesn’t have to be a comprehensive, all-encompassing audit, either. You can run an audit with a very limited scope (in fact, that could be even more effective at getting useful results than a general-purpose audit). 

An audit for this purpose would cover informational overload and the factors contributing to it, such as internal communication policies, tools being used, and the format and nature of the content being sent out. 

2. Break up information into bite-sized snippets

Frontline staff can’t leaf through dense, multi-page documents or watch an entire 15-minute corporate video. They simply don’t have the time. 

Instead, keep it short and simple. If you’re sharing an announcement or product information, limit yourself to a few key points, and then direct staff to longer resources in a central hub. If it’s a training video, chop it down to a few minutes, max. 

It sounds counter-intuitive, but making your communications shorter will actually increase your chances of getting your entire message across.

3. Triage what information goes out and when

Frontline employees and leadership aren’t on the same page when it comes to communication. Our 2024 Deskless Report found that while 89% of managers and execs believe their communications are helpful, only 74% of frontline employees agree. And when messages miss the mark, employees stop paying attention.

Overloading workers with too many updates—or sending the wrong information at the wrong time—does more than cause frustration. It weakens trust in leadership and makes employees feel like head office doesn’t understand their reality. To keep communications effective, focus on what’s truly relevant, time-sensitive, and actionable.

Every message should have a clear purpose and a strategic send time. By prioritizing what gets shared and when, you’ll cut through the noise, improve engagement, and ensure your workforce actually benefits from the information you send.

👉 Grab your copy of The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Employee Communication

4. Focus on targeted, segmented communications

We’ve all seen inboxes flooded with messages that don’t apply to us. The same problem happens on the frontline. Just because you can send a message to everyone doesn’t mean you should. The more employees have to sift through irrelevant updates, the more likely they are to tune out altogether.

Instead, be intentional about who gets what. Do store associates need the same level of detail as managers? Should every region receive a promo update, or just those impacted? The more targeted your communication, the more effective it becomes.

Foot Locker faced this challenge with 44,000 team members—most without corporate email. HQ relied on store managers to pass down information, but updates often got lost along the way. When they implemented Axonify, they gained the ability to communicate directly with every employee, ensuring key messages reached the right people at the right time. The impact became clear during the pandemic, when Axonify became a lifeline for urgent updates, safety training and morale-boosting messages.

By segmenting communication based on role, location, and experience, you cut through the noise, build trust and ensure employees get the information they actually need—without the overwhelm.

5. Include the “why” 

Information overload isn’t just about volume—it’s about clarity. If employees don’t understand why something matters, they’re less likely to act on it.

When communicating updates, policy changes, or new procedures, providing context makes all the difference. Instead of just saying what’s changing, explain why—how it impacts the company, the frontline team, and the customer experience. This builds understanding, buy-in and even advocacy among employees.

Foot Locker saw this in action when using Axonify to communicate with their 44,000+ team members. During the pandemic, they didn’t just push out safety updates—they framed them around the well-being of employees, customers and the broader Foot Locker community. This approach helped ensure that employees not only followed new protocols but also embraced them as part of their role in creating a safe, supportive environment.

The lesson? Context isn’t the enemy of simplicity. It’s the key to making messages stick. When employees understand the why, they’re more engaged, more prepared, and more confident in delivering a great experience.

6. Rethink how information is presented

Finding the right mix of how information is shared with your staff can be an integral part of avoiding information overload. After all, how an employee gets information is just as important as what information they get. That’s why communication tools should be audited on a regular basis – companies should always be looking for the right balance of tools, processes, and human interaction. 

It’s a delicate balance. Pre-shift team huddles, for instance, are great opportunities for employee engagement and feedback, and are an efficient way for managers to reinforce company values. Relying on them too much, however, can have its downsides as managers can easily get trapped in a communication cascade.

And as we already mentioned, keeping announcements short and bite-sized is a great way to boost info retention and engagement, but you’ll likely need to supplement those communications with a hub of longer resources that staff can access as needed. 

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Information overload isn’t just about too much information—it’s about the wrong information at the wrong time. When updates get buried, or training feels disconnected from daily tasks, frontline teams struggle to keep up, leading to frustration and missed opportunities.

Longo’s tackled this challenge head-on by making training and communication mobile-first, personalized, and embedded into daily workflows. The result? A highly engaged frontline that’s always informed and ready to deliver a top-tier guest experience.

See how they did it: Read the case study.