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Posted on 8 June 2022

Five benefits of a mobile engagement app

5 minute read

Most organisations are finding that a robust and reliable way to communicate with the entire workforce is through an employee engagement app. And for frontline workers, smartphones are often the only way to get the latest news about their employer.

The blog looks at some of the main benefits of utilising a mobile app for your employee engagement needs and why more companies are enjoying the benefits already, here’s why you should be, too.

1. It’s mobile, you can access it anywhere!

Imagine having an employee engagement tool that can be only accessed via desktop.

Many sectors such as retail, leisure, manufacturing, logistics, transport, travel and construction have a significant proportion of the workforce who can be considered as ‘frontline’, ‘deskless’, or field- based employees.

If most of your workforce is distributed or based outside of an office environment, there’s a large chance they won’t have access to their company’s platform whilst on the move. It’s also likely that they won’t have a company email address, which makes it tricky for you to communicate with them in other traditional ways, such as email newsletters. Even if they do have access, will your employees have the desire to log onto their personal desktop when they get home to check on work updates?

To avoid excluding your deskless employees, a mobile engagement app can provide a platform to keep them up to date, recognise their contribution and reward important milestones and achievements.

2. Engagement apps can establish your company culture

To be a successful business you need to establish a strong company culture, and it’s a major undertaking to get your employees to subscribe to this.

An engagement app instantly modernises your company, and your employees will see you as forward-thinking and innovative.

Apps can give your company, and your employees, a voice and make you more transparent to those who are looking from the outside in. There are also several small (but powerful) things you can do to show your colleagues that you perceive and value them as whole people.

You can remind your team of each other’s birthdays and work anniversaries, or you can encourage people to come together to show support when a colleague celebrates a big life event.

Small gestures like this can produce a culture of care and wellbeing, not only do your employees feel more engaged with your values, but they are more likely to perform to their optimum if they feel valued.

3. Measure your metrics remotely

Today, the best business decisions are data-driven. But it’s impossible to make certain management decisions if you don’t have tools that can collect the appropriate data.

That’s where a mobile engagement app can shine above other methods of workplace communication.

On the admin side, you can quickly see how the app is being used. What users are opening the app? How frequently do they open it? What features are they using the most?

You can use these analytics to drill down on aspects that are driving communication and engagement. But you can also use the app to target employees that aren’t necessarily taking advantage of the app’s features.

For example, you might have certain company news announcements that drive more engagement than others. You can use this information to create more announcements that fit into this category instead of wasting time on ones that nobody cares about.

Measuring your metrics can allow you to produce more personalised content for your employees, almost like Amazon’s “We saw this and thought you might like it”. This is an extremely powerful way for you to gain a stronger connection with your workforce and allows you to collate stronger polls and surveys to gather feedback from your teams.

4. Reduce the need for internal email communication

Have you ever looked at your inbox and noticed all of those internal emails from various teams? It’s one of those more traditional forms of communication we’ve all utilised previously, but times have moved on.

Email is always a direct form of internal communication, “can you look at this for me” or “can you help me with this” and then follows a huge chain which can be difficult to keep track of.

Work emails can potentially create a false sense of productivity in the workplace. Your employees may feel like they are getting stuff done as they declutter their inboxes, but that task isn’t really adding any value to big-picture initiatives.

Communication apps offer a more quick and direct form of internal comms. They can even add a social-media-like experience in the workplace, for example, the Rippl platform is based around a social timeline, like LinkedIn.

Your employees can post updates, a ‘Friday question’, for example, to increase company engagement for those who might be considered frontline workers. Here’s some other fun ideas on questions to drum up discussions at work.

An app can change all of this, leading employees, who may be based away from desks, to feel more inclusive of your company culture.

5. Engagement apps can deliver a high ROI

Whilst there can be costs to an employee engagement app, the returns on investment (ROI) in the long run can outstrip the initial early outlay.

Below are some of the main advantages of an engagement app and the benefits it can have for your workplace:

  • Increased engagement
  • Increased productivity
  • Increased profits
  • Lower employee turnover rates
  • Improved relationships with management
  • Lower costs associated with training

Depending on the size of your organisation, an app can save hundreds of thousands if not millions of pounds in the long run. Read about how Asda lowers staff turnover with Rippl in our case study.

Within a relatively short period of time, you should be being to see substantial returns following your commitment to an employee engagement app.

Summary

Apps have fundamentally changed the way we operate in our everyday lives. It’s long overdue for the business world to incorporate employee app technology into the daily work lives of their people, too. On top of that, it’s time to stop just talking to employees. Help give them the ability to listen and engage in a real conversation with the company.

If you’re interested in seeing how companies like Volvo and BP are using Rippl’s mobile app to engage with the network of people, request a demo with us and we’ll be in touch.

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James Hanson
Sales Development Representative