Workforce management trends are continually evolving. As a business owner or manager, it’s crucial that you keep up with the latest management tendencies in your industry.

It’s no secret that the employee landscape has changed over the years. The modern workforce has a different mindset than those in the past.

Workers have different needs, wants, and behaviors, so managers need to adapt accordingly.

While most companies recognize this, they’ve done little to change their existing protocols and processes. If your company is still using employee management tools from a decade ago, it’s a sign of trouble moving forward.

With that said, it’s not too late to adjust your methods. That’s why I created this guide.

Does your company have field service workers, remote employees, technicians, or use contractors? You need to get familiar with the latest workforce management tips, tools, and best practices.

Use this resource to improve your employee management skills by appealing to the modern workforce.

1. Data-Driven Insights

Historically, terms like “data-driven insights” and “big data” were only used in tech companies and large corporate offices. That’s no longer the case.

Companies with field service workers are using data to manage their employees.

New technology has made it possible to track employees while they’re out on job sites. From monitoring their vehicles to calculating how long it takes to complete tasks, these management tools are trending upward in 2024.

According to a recent study, the smart fleet management market is growing at a CAGR of 8.9% between 2018-2025. This is expected to be a $537.53 billion industry by 2025.

These are some of the top benefits experienced by companies using this technology to manage employees.

Employee accountability is the number one benefit experienced by managers. It ensures that your field service staff isn’t taking a two-hour lunch break while claiming to be on-site or at a customer’s home.

But this technology can also improve your processes by providing more efficient routing.

For example, your dispatchers can know exactly where every vehicle is at all times. So when a new job gets called in, they can send the closest truck. All of this can be managed directly from your employee workforce mobile app.

It’s a much more effective system than having to manually call each employee on the road to see where they are. This is inefficient for management, as well as the workers who are interrupted by these calls.

As a manager, the data generated from these workforce management tools can help you provide a better experience for your employees and clients alike, all while reducing costs.

2. Improved Workflow

The modern workforce wants to be more efficient. When they recognize inefficiencies in the organization, it gives them a negative perception of management.

Managers are finding new ways to improve the workflow process for their staff. Most of these workforce management solutions are driven by automation and technology.

For example, let’s say you manage a plumbing, electric, HVAC, or similar type of business. You do commercial projects, as well as jobs in customer homes.

What is your current process for managing employee workflow tasks? If it involves clipboards, manilla file folders, and manual record-keeping, then you’re using an outdated system.

Mobile technology has made it possible for workers to complete workflow processes on the go, from anywhere. They can have access to job information from the palms of their hands.

• Arrived on-site
• Job in progress
• Task #1 complete
• Task #2 complete
• Scheduled follow-up
• Job complete

This is just a basic example of a potential workflow sequence. Your staff can complete steps from a workforce app in seconds while adding notes and taking pictures of the job site.

Managers can have access to everyone’s progress in real-time. This improves employee efficiency while giving management more of a “hands-off” approach. You don’t need to call your workers every hour to check-in for a status update. Just check the app to see their progress.

3. BYOD in Field Service

Bring your own device, better known as BYOD, has been a common theme in corporate offices for quite some time now. But as of late, BYOD has also penetrated the field service workforce

A recent study shows that 77% of field service workers use their own devices for job-related tasks.

Just 9% of workers in this category aren’t using a mobile device at all.

There are several different reasons why BYOD has become such a popular workforce management tool in field service.

For starters, more companies are turning to mobile workforce solutions. Since virtually everyone already has a smartphone that they’re using at work, it makes sense for them to use the devices they’re comfortable with.

Some workers prefer Apple, while others would rather use Android. Instead of spending more money issuing company phones to every worker, they can simply download your custom company app on their own devices.

As you can see from the graph above, 5% of field service workers are given an employer-provided device of their choice.

This tackles the problem of forcing employees to use a specific type of phone issued by the company. However, with just 5% of field service workers having this option, it’s not much of a trend in 2024. We may see more of this in the future. But for now, BYOD continues to dominate field service employee management.

4. Worker Wellbeing

Employees are more than just a number on a computer screen. Companies are striving to improve the wellbeing of their staff.

This goes beyond just providing health tips and benefits for your employees. It’s about creating a commitment to a wellbeing culture.

North America leads the world with workplace wellbeing programs. In fact, 52% of North American workers have access to workplace wellness programs. This compares to 23% in Europe and just 7% in the Middle East.

With that said, we’re going to see a greater emphasis on these types of programs in 2024 and beyond. As a manager, you need to understand the costs of unwell workers.

Managers have recognized that it’s better for the company when workers are healthy.

Top workforce management professionals encourage and promote these types of wellness programs for both physical and mental health. As a result, they’re benefiting from workers who are happier and healthier. This translates to better performance at work and reduced costs in the long-term.

Ease of access to wellness programs is crucial to success. For example, let’s say your company is providing free or discounted gym memberships for employees at select locations.

How can your employees find out more information about this program?

If it requires visiting the HR department or calling a manager on the phone, it’s less likely that they’ll participate. This is especially true for remote workers who are rarely around the office.

But if your field service staff can get discounted health club and gym memberships directly from their mobile devices, the programs will have higher participation rates.

Happier employees will ultimately translate to better decision making and improve the customer experience.

5. Employee Self Service

Employee self-service (ESS) has been dominating the last couple of years and will continue trending upward in 2024.

Self-service technology benefits employees and managers alike.

That’s because your staff will have access to crucial information on their own time, whether it’s in the office, on a job site, or at home. They won’t be required to communicate directly with a manager to complete certain tasks.

Take a moment to analyze your current process for common employee requests. Can they be improved with self-service technology?

These are some of the top uses of employee self service-portals.

Some businesses have inefficient processes for choosing insurance and requesting time off. In many cases, the staff has to actually meet with a manager to go over insurance options.

I’ve seen businesses that require time off requests via hand-written notes left on a manager’s desk. It adds an extra step or two for everyone involved in the process. Plus, it’s incredibly inconvenient for field service workers who need to go out of their way to deliver a message in person.

But workforce management tools, such as an HR mobile app, will improve these inefficiencies.

This will allow your staff to request vacation time directly from their phones. Once approved by management, automation can notify employees with a push notification. Now they won’t have to keep checking the status of their request online. The message will be delivered straight to their phones.

6. Independent Contractors

More and more companies are continuing to use independent contractors for a wide range of reasons.

For starters, hiring a full-time employee is expensive. Just look at your costs related to onboarding, training, benefits, sick time, vacation, and turnover. You don’t have to deal with those issues by outsourcing tasks to independent contractors.

According to a recent study by Intuit, 40% of the US workforce will be contingent or on-demand by the end of the year.

This puts managers in a unique situation. Technically speaking, these independent contractors are not company employees, even though they might have similar roles.

I could argue that it’s even more important to establish rapport with someone doing contract work than a traditional in-house employee. Managers need to maintain control over the project while understanding the position of the contractor.

In the simplest terms, you are not the boss of an independent laborer. Sure, you can terminate the contract if you’re unhappy with the relationship. But the contractor has less to lose than a full-time staffer.

Good contract work is hard to come by. Managers assuming that these workers are easily replaceable will be sorely mistaken, especially in high-demand industries.

As a manager working with contractors, you need to change up your management style a bit. Make sure the relationship is mutually beneficial. When managed correctly, your company can benefit from skilled contractor labor for years to come.

7. Less Emphasis on Higher Education

Companies are changing the way that they recruit employees. Skills are being valued higher than degrees.

Most jobs require on-site training, regardless of the employee’s educational history.

Managers have realized that a college degree doesn’t necessarily make someone a more qualified candidate. In fact, just 10% of managers say they would not hire someone who doesn’t have a college degree.

The modern workforce consists of people who carry industry certifications and other credentials.

Do certain jobs require higher education? Absolutely. Doctors, lawyers, and accountants will always need college. But a field service employee, project manager, or on-site technician does not.

Furthermore, companies can offer continuing education credits to their staff through various methods. You can offer training materials and tests to your staff through a mobile app.

For example, let’s say you manage a construction company. You might initially hire someone as a general laborer. But you may eventually want them to get an electrician license. That person can work towards that certification while continuing with their daily on-site duties.

More and more companies are offering apprenticeships and similar types of programs. This encourages workers to better themselves without needing a four-year college diploma.

Close-minded managers that are only considering candidates with a degree will struggle to find qualified workers in the coming years. With the rising costs of tuition, the modern workforce has realized there are plenty of fruitful opportunities that don’t require higher education. So look beyond an applicant’s LinkedIn profile.

8. Remote Work Communication

Did you know that 80% of the modern workforce is deskless?

There’s a good chance that your company has remote teams or people working from home. Managers still need to communicate with field service workers, even if they’re not on-site with them at all times.

But unfortunately, there seems to be a significant disconnect between managers and employees when it comes to communicating. In fact, 49% of employees say they are not happy with the way management communicates with them.

Only 56% of the deskless workforce feels connected to their respective companies. This means that roughly half of all remote employees experience communication barriers with their managers. Poor communication has an adverse effect on employee productivity, employee happiness, and operating costs.

What’s the solution?

Companies are turning to technology as a resource for improving communication with remote staff. Mobile apps are becoming the most popular workforce management tools for employee engagement in 2024.

Today, you can do anything remotely. From project management to performance reviews, modern managers need to adjust their skill sets associated with talent management.

Do you want more information on this subject? Check out our guide explaining why your deskless workforce needs a mobile app. Subscribe to our blog as well. You’ll be notified whenever we publish new content and resources.

9. Emphasis On Company Culture

Managers are stressing the significance of company culture in 2024. This statement holds true across industries.

Why? For starters, less than one-third of the entire workforce is engaged.

Implementing a new company culture is more than just having a professional-sounding mission statement. Actions speak much louder than words, and it starts at the top.

An astonishing 94% of managers and 88% of employees agree that having a distinct culture in the workplace leads to success. Furthermore, companies with a strong company culture are four times more likely to see revenue growth.

Factors like work environment, company values, and team collaboration all play a role in developing culture.

Company culture is intangible. It’s not something that happens overnight. As a manager, it’s your job to engage with the modern workforce and understand the type of culture that fits best for your organization. The core values of the company must align with the employees.

When done correctly, your staff will become your brand over time.

In a way, your staff’s mentality can be compared to that of your customers. Consumers are familiar with your brand’s advertising campaigns, charitable donations, and other factors that create your brand image.

Your employees have the same awareness but to a greater extent. They know what you actually do, not just what you say. Your staff understands exactly how you operate.

If you’re cutting corners at the customer’s expense or mistreating contractors, it will impact the perception of your brand in the eyes of your employees. As a result, it affects their performance.

Practice what you preach. Create a company culture that gets your employees excited to be part of the team.

10. Talent Acquisition and Retention

The modern workforce has a different view of employment compared to past generations. They know their worth and won’t settle for positions where they aren’t valued.

This is creating challenges for acquiring top-level talent.

For those of you who are lucky enough to find quality workers, it doesn’t mean that they’ll stick around for life. 51% of workers are actively seeking a new job.

Employee turnover is expensive. Turnover costs can range up to 200% of an employee’s annual salary. That’s why 87% of managers believe that improving employee retention is a top priority for their organizations.

The initial recruiting and onboarding process will have the most significant impact on how long an employee stays with a company. In fact, a recent study suggests that 69% of employees are less likely to churn if they had a great onboarding experience.

Another study shows roughly eight out of ten managers agree that internal recruiting improves employee retention.

69% of employees say that management style is a significant challenge in the workplace.

This is something that all managers need to understand. Your personality, talent management, and communication style has a direct impact on acquiring and retaining top-level talent. If your staff feels as though they are being treated unfairly, they’ll simply look for another job.

Top-level talent expects technology in the workplace. From artificial intelligence tools to mobile apps and more, all of this will help you acquire and retain your staff.

11. Diversity and Equal Opportunity

The modern workforce is more diverse than ever before.

In fact, Forbes reports that women hold more jobs than men in the US, occupying 50.04% of all positions.

This diversity goes beyond just women. A recent CNBC publication states that 4.5 million of the 5.2 million new hires in the United States are considered racial minorities.

Here’s another statistic to back-up this claim. Within the next five years, Millennials will make up 75% of the US workforce. More than 44% of Millennials are classified as non-caucasian.

This makes them the most diverse generation in the history of America.

Conclusion

Managers must adapt to the modern workforce trends. As you can see from this guide, things are not the same as they were in the past.

Employees have different expectations from management, and the top organizations are using technology to fill those workplace gaps.

Mobile app integration and employee management tools have been a common theme in these trends. Businesses are using new technology to improve communication and employee engagement.

This is crucial for field service worker management and organizations with remote positions.

If you can’t adjust your management style to keep up with the latest workforce trends, your company will struggle in the coming years.

Subscribe to the BuildFire blog to give yourself an edge. We’ll keep you up to date with the latest trends, tools, and best practices for employee workforce management.

Workplace communication is a vital part of any organization.  

Employees must be able to share information and stay up-to-date with the latest company news, but it’s not always easy for them to do so in person or through email alone. 

That’s why an employee communications app can be such a valuable tool. This blog post will focus on the top ten benefits you’ll experience using an employee app for internal communications.

Are you ready to transform the way your company communicates? Let’s dive in.

1. Communication Apps Establish Company Culture

Company culture is the foundation for any successful business. But creating the right company culture and getting everyone to buy in is much easier said than done. 

The best companies find ways to get everyone in the organization to work towards a common goal. By establishing the right culture and working environment in your company, your staff will be more productive, and you’ll reduce employee turnover. 

So, what does a comms app have to do with company culture? 

For starters, it immediately modernizes any company. Employees will see the organization as innovative and forward-thinking. Plus, you’re giving your staff the communication tools they need to succeed—which everyone appreciates.

But communication apps also facilitate the idea of open communication. Employees feel connected to their co-workers at all times, which helps build bonds and foster long-term relationships.  

Comms apps break down barriers that prevent employers from communicating with each other and management alike. Regardless of the work environment, everyone has their mobile device within an arm’s reach at every hour of the day. So that company culture and communication ability never leave their side.

As an employer, you can create a custom workforce app that mirrors the type of culture you want to create. Everything from the color choices to images, videos, push notifications, and other app content can instill the type of culture that you’re trying to establish. 

2. Comms Apps Drive Employee Engagement

Employee engagement can make or break the success of any organization. Whether you have five employees, 500 employees, or 5,000 employees, their level of engagement has a direct impact on your bottom line. 

Unfortunately, this is something that many businesses struggle with. Only a small percentage of the workforce is actually engaged. 

As you can see from the infographic, the vast majority of employees fall into the “not engaged” and “actively disengaged” categories. Less than one-third of all employees are engaged.

Disengagement is extremely costly. In fact, a disengaged employee costs roughly $3,400 for every $10,000 in salary. This translates to roughly $350 billion per year in lost productivity for the American workforce. 

Apps can provide an immediate impact on employee engagement because they provide everyone with direct access to each other. Employees who work remotely or in the field automatically gain a connection to HR, management, and co-workers from the palms of their hands. These people no longer feel as isolated or disconnected as they do without the ability to communicate via apps.

Your employees are already using their mobile devices in the workplace. So it makes sense for them to use these tools to communicate—ultimately boosting engagement.  

3. Internal Communications Apps Are a Single Source of Truth

Technology is rapidly evolving. But there’s so much great software out there that it’s become a bit overwhelming. 

Here’s how many applications organizations of different sizes are using:

• Smaller companies with 1-100 employees — 102 apps
• Medium-sized companies with 101-1,000 employees — 185 apps
• Enterprise companies with 1,000+ employees — 288 apps

An internal communication app solves the problem here on multiple levels. It can eliminate the need for multiple applications by providing all company information in a single source of truth.

These apps can be used for:

• Human resources
• Pay stubs and employee benefits information
• New hiring onboarding
• Workplace safety and compliance
• Employee training and development
• Company news and announcement
• Employee schedules
• Live chat messaging
• Message boards
• Employee directory
• Office location information

The list goes on and on. For those of you who are already using other apps for certain employee-related or business-related tools, you can integrate your existing solutions with a custom communication app as well. The possibilities here are virtually limitless. 

In turn, your employees won’t have to bounce back and forth between multiple platforms to get the information they need to succeed. This makes their lives easier while simultaneously increasing productivity across the board. Everything can be accessed from a single communications platform.

4. Communication Apps Appeal to the Modern Workforce

Your business always needs to stay one step ahead of the competition. This goes beyond just offering a better product, service, or marketing strategy—it includes recruiting top-level talent.

Younger generations like Millennials and Generation Z are the largest part of today’s workforce. Unlike generations of the past, these workers demand modern technology.

They want an enjoyable employee experience on multiple levels. If your company makes it easy for them to access HR information and communicate remotely, then you’ll have an edge over other businesses recruiting the same people. 

The modern workforce is used to being on their smartphone at seemingly all hours of the day. They’re using these devices for both work-related and personal tasks. You need to give them tools that they want through channels that they’re comfortable using—and communication apps fit those criteria perfectly. 

In addition to recruitment, employee apps will help you retain your staff for the long run as well. Employee turnover is extremely expensive, as the costs associated with hiring, onboarding, and training add up quickly. 

But an app kills two birds with one stone. In addition to making your place of work more attractive to prospective hires, it also establishes company culture (refer back to benefit #1). Both of these lead to high retention. 

Furthermore, the app itself can be used during the onboarding process—which has a direct impact on retention rates.  

For more information, check out our post on the top employee management trends for the modern workforce. 

5. Organizations Can Measure Communication Analytics

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 comms app shines 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 double 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. 

You can even use the app for employee polls, employee surveys, and other ways to gather feedback. 

According to a recent study published by the Society for Human Resource Management, employees want to be heard. 

Communication apps are an easy way for managers to collect feedback on a regular basis. You can even set up anonymous feedback so employees can give their opinions without feeling like they’ll be reprimanded for their opinions. 

All of this provides valuable analytics to company leadership, so they can make appropriate changes and keep employee morale high. 

6. Comms Apps Reduce the Need For Internal Email Communication

In terms of internal comms, email is slowly dying. They just don’t provide the instant response that workers seek in modern communication environments. 

From a productivity perspective, email is crushing the way people spend their time. On average, just one employee sends and receives 112 emails per day. Employees are spending up to 23% of their workday on email.

Work emails create a false sense of productivity in the workplace. Workers feel like they’re getting stuff done as they declutter their inboxes, but that task isn’t really adding any value to big-picture initiatives. It’s just busy work that can be eliminated. 

Communication apps offer a more quick and direct form of internal comms. They can even add a social-media-like experience in the workplace with features like an employee communication wall. 

While there is definitely still a place for email at work, the way we use it needs to change. More and more companies are realizing this and trying to find ways to use email less. Employee communication apps are a viable alternative.

7. Employee Apps Provide Real-Time Communication on the Go

Modern employees are constantly on the move. Whether they’re on a job site, working remotely, or just grabbing a coffee in the neighborhood, they like the ability to stay connected with work while living their lives.

Traditional email and phone calls aren’t as convenient and realistic for these types of scenarios. Your staff doesn’t want to answer calls when they’re on the train commuting to the office or standing in line at a local coffee shop.

Management can use employee apps to send urgent messages and notifications to all employees, regardless of their physical location.

Let’s say you need to cancel a meeting or make urgent schedule changes. This can easily be communicated to some or all of your staff with push notifications. 

8. Communication Apps Enable Collaboration For Deskless Workers and Remote Teams

Modern companies need to accommodate the deskless workforce. 

As the name implies, these are people who aren’t sitting behind a traditional desk throughout the day. They might be working remotely, on job sites, meeting with clients on the road—the list goes on and on. 

While 80% of the workforce is considered deskless, just 1% of enterprise software funding is allocated to this group. 

There’s obviously a big problem with these numbers. Organizations are neglecting the largest and most important part of their workforce.

Deskless workers don’t have the luxury of a landline or desktop in front of their faces all day. They are behind the wheel of a vehicle or getting their hands dirty on the job. You can’t expect them to find a computer to get things done when they’re in these types of situations.

But smartphones are always around. Even from a construction site or client’s home, your deskless staff can stay connected and communicate with everyone from a mobile app.

From HR self-service to safety handbooks, training manuals, and company announcements, all of this can be accessed from anywhere.

9. Employee Communication Apps Are Easy to Use

The ease of use and user experience is really important to consider when you’re evaluating software solutions for your employees. You don’t want anything with a steep learning curve or tools that will make simple tasks harder than they need to be.

But the mobile app experience is seamless. Workers are used to using mobile apps for basically everything they do on a day-to-day basis. From social media to banking, food ordering, ride-hailing, and more, apps power the way we live. Why not leverage this in the workplace too?

According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that invest in the employee experience are four times more profitable than those that don’t. 

In short, an app that improves the employee experience will have a direct impact on your bottom line.

10. Communication Apps Deliver a High ROI (Return on Investment)

Continuing on the subject of profits and bottom-line revenue, let’s talk about the ROI of an employee app. Obviously, you want to make sure that your decision to invest in employee communication will pay off. 

We recently published an article on the ROI of an internal communications app. 

I suggest reading that to help you calculate the potential ROI for your business. But here are some of the top highlights and areas where you’ll see the best return:

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

Depending on the size of your organization, an app can save hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars over time. You’ll begin to see the ROI almost immediately after implementing an app for internal comms. 

Conclusion

If you want to improve the way your organization communicates internally, then it’s time to build an employee communication app. The benefits of this are numerous and will work for any size business—from a startup company with only one or two employees up through the enterprise level.

These apps streamline team communication and offer extensive functionality for your business.

Ready to get started?

BuildFire makes it easy for anyone to create a custom workforce app. Our software is easy to use, and it’s the fastest way to build a high-quality app for your business. 

Start your free trial or contact our team to get started today.

So you’ve finally decided to build an app for your employees—great decision! But if it’s your first time going through this process, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed.

What features do you need? How do you evaluate the features of your development solution?

We created this guide to make your life a little easier. First, you’ll learn more about the most popular features of an internal communications app. We’ll also show you our buyer’s guide to evaluating development solutions for your employee mobile app. 

By the end of this post, you’ll have a clear picture of what you can accomplish with a workforce app for employee comms. Let’s dive in.

11 Features to Include in Your Employee Mobile App

There are dozens of potential features you can add to an employee app for internal communications. But these 11 are the most popular:

1. Company News and Announcements

Your employee app should serve as a centralized hub for all company news and important announcements. This is much more efficient than sending memos, writing emails, or posting flyers on the break room bulletin board.

One of the best parts about an announcement hub is that your staff can access it from anywhere. They’re already using their smartphones at work, so giving them the ability to read company news from a native mobile app makes things more convenient for everyone.

Pro Tip: Choose a development platform that makes it easy to update the news feed on the admin side without having to write any code. 

2. Employee Directory

Adding an employee directory to your app is a convenient way for your staff to communicate with each other. It eliminates the need for a phone operator, which streamlines communication across the company.

If someone needs the phone number, email address, or office location of a co-worker, they can find it in the mobile directory in seconds. 

You can add as much or as little information to your employee directory as possible. But most businesses tend to add more as opposed to less. Consider adding a photo, short bio, department, work anniversary, birthday, and more. All of this information helps establish a sense of community and builds a strong company culture within your organization. 

3. Push Notifications

This will arguably be the most important feature to include in an employee app for internal communications. It’s the fastest way to deliver real-time information to your staff, which is crucial for time-sensitive announcements. 

If your company has deskless workers or field service employees, push notifications are far superior to email for communication. Just look at these metrics compared to email:

That’s because a push notification will go directly to your staff’s home screen, similar to a text message. For employees working on job sites, on the road, or otherwise away from a computer, the chances of them seeing this message in a timely fashion are much greater than seeing an email. 

For some industries, like construction, lots of employees and contractors don’t have a company email address. So a push notification is the only viable way to reach employees.

This type of messaging works well for things like scheduling changes, closures due to inclement weather, or any other time-sensitive announcements and top-down communication.

4. Polling and Feedback

Use your employee app to facilitate polls, surveys, and collect feedback from your employees. Your company will benefit on multiple levels by adding this type of feature. Here’s why.

According to a recent study, employees who feel heard are 4.6x more likely to perform to the best of their abilities. Giving them input and making them feel like they have a say will empower your organization. 

The feedback also gives management valuable information on the workplace environment. It tells you what you’re doing well and what needs to be improved. Feedback keeps your staff engaged at work and in the app as well. 

5. HR Self-Service

Forcing your staff to call, email, or visit the human resources office for important company information is inefficient. For starters, it puts a burden on your HR staff. But it also decreases workplace productivity for everyone else, as they can only contact HR during business hours. 

So instead of doing their jobs, people are wasting valuable time on hold with an HR rep. Employee self-service can reduce HR administrative tasks by 40-60%. 

For remote employees, field service workers, fleet and shipping drivers, and other deskless employees, visiting HR isn’t even an option.

Check out this case study on Preferred Materials. 80% of the company’s employees work on job sites. These workers struggled to get crucial HR information, and the HR staff was constantly overwhelmed by phone calls. So Preferred Materials created an app with a 24/7 self-service hub to solve the problem—resulting in a 300% increase in communication engagement. 

6. Employee Community Wall

An employee community wall is another excellent way to build connections and prioritize company culture in the workplace. It’s an informal place where your staff can communicate with each other about work or even non-work-related topics.

Think of it as the break room or water cooler for your remote staff or field service workers. 

Just 56% of the deskless workforce feels connected and engaged with employers and co-workers. A community wall brings somewhat of a social media aspect to your employee app. 

Don’t think of this as a distraction. Roughly 90% of employees admit to checking social media at work already. With an employee community wall, at least they’ll be engaged with the organization.

7. Onboarding and Training

Use your app as a way to streamline the employee onboarding experience. You can even use the employee mobile app to share videos and other crucial training information with new hires.

As a manager on the admin side of the app, you can use backend analytics to monitor the completion of the employee onboarding and training process. 

Don’t underestimate the importance of a smooth onboarding experience. It’s much easier to retain your staff if the onboarding goes well.

Furthermore, a standardized onboarding process leads to a 50% increase in new-hire productivity. Organizations with an onboarding program benefit from 54% more employee engagement as well.

Read this case study on Praxair to learn how a mobile app saved them $480,000 in just eight months on costs associated with employee training.

8. Safety and Compliance

Internal communication apps make it easy for organizations to streamline compliance as well. You can use it to collect incident reports and track data required for safety training.

The employee handbook, company policies, and safety manuals can all be accessed from anywhere via the app.

So an on-site technician or field service worker can use the app to refresh their memories on safety protocols before doing certain jobs. 

9. Events and Calendar Sync

An employee app for internal communication is the perfect way to manage company events. From the holiday calendar to trade shows, webinars, and any other important date, all of it can be managed via the app.

Your staff can use this company calendar and sync the information with third-party calendars on their personal mobile devices. You can even combine this feature with push notifications to send reminders prior to an event.

Some organizations take this one step further and use a scheduling plugin to set up meetings, all of which can be facilitated within the employee communication app. 

10. Maps

The possibilities with enabling maps on your employee app are seemingly endless. 

It’s a great option for businesses with multiple offices and locations. But the feature also works well for field workers reporting to different job sites. Maps, GPS, and navigation functionality can show them exactly where they need to go.

You can even use a geofencing function to send users an alert when they enter a specific GPS location. For example, when a field service worker reports to a job site that you’ve geofenced in the app, you can send them an alert with instructions for the day or a simple reminder to punch in. 

11. File Management

With an internal communications app, your staff can manage files directly from their smartphones.

Contracts, orientation packages, invoices, training materials—the list goes on and on. It’s an easy way to safely store, share, collaborate, and access work-related files. 

Let’s say your organization has a fleet of drivers performing jobs in customers’ homes. If a new job comes in while one of those workers is already on the road, you can use the app to manage new work orders. This way, the driver doesn’t have to report back to the office before heading to the next job. 

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose The Best Development Solution For Your Internal Employee Communications App

Now that you’ve had a chance to see some potential features for your app, it’s time to evaluate the development solution. As you’re shopping around and comparing options, these are the factors that must be taken into consideration:

Company Branding

The best internal communication apps have custom company branding. Your logos, color scheme, and everything else associated with your business should be included. 

You don’t typically get this option when you purchase pre-built HR software with a supplementary mobile app. 

From the app icon to the login screen and everything else, you want the app to be branded as your own. This makes it more appealing to your employees and keeps them engaged as they’re using the app. 

For larger organizations with subsidiaries, you could potentially have different app branding for each subsidiary. 

Cross-Platform Availability

Unless your company issues a phone to every employee, the app will be accessed through everyone’s personal device. So the app needs to work seamlessly on both iOS and Android.

If you’re using a developer to code the app from scratch, you’ll need to create two separate apps for each platform. That’s a long and expensive process.

Instead, look for a solution like BuildFire. With a single development, you can launch your employee app on iOS, Android, and PWA. 

Customization

Beyond the company branding, you want complete control over every aspect of your app.

You likely won’t have this option if you go with a pre-built communications system or HR software. You’re stuck with the features the app comes with, with no real room for customization.

But every business is unique. Sometimes, a pre-built plugin or feature doesn’t work for the problem you’re trying to solve. 

BuildFire is unique compared to other options because the customization is limitless. If there’s a feature you need and you don’t see it on the plugin marketplace, we can build it for you. For larger organizations with internal developers, our system is open-source. Your developers can use the BuildFire SDK to create custom functions without limits. 

Integrations

The app should integrate with tools that you’re already using for business. 

You can set up your app to integrate with analytics services, authentication servers, databases, CMS, etc. The app should be able to sync with platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Calendly, Facebook, Twitter, Google Sheets, Google Docs, and more.

These seamless integrations limit the amount of work and development you need to do on the back end. For example, want to share training videos? Just integrate the app with YouTube.

User Management

Most businesses want to group their employees into different categories. This is especially true for larger organizations with people working in different locations.

The ability to segment app users creates a custom experience for all of your employees. 

For example, let’s say you needed to close one of your offices for the day due to a water main break. That urgent notification shouldn’t be sent to every employee nationwide. You need the option to only contact those who are affected by the closure. 

Scalability

Your internal communications app should be able to grow with you as your company scales. You might only have 200 employees and four offices today. 

But what happens when you hit 500 employees? What about 2,000 employees across five continents?

You shouldn’t have to rebuild a new app every time your company expands. So choose a development solution with limitless scalability. 

Expert Support

Look for a development solution that will be there when you need them most. 

You shouldn’t have to worry about the backend servers and maintenance of your app once it’s launched. Then you’ll be forced to deal with updates and bugs—the stuff you never want to think about.

At BuildFire, our white-glove support is available each step of the way. Our BuildFire Plus solution takes our service one step further with consultancy, wireframes, design, prototyping, user engagement reports, and so much more. 

If you need assistance and want a hands-off approach to creating an internal communications app, we’ve got you covered. 

Design and Performance

At the end of the day, all of the features don’t matter if the app itself stinks. You need to prioritize the employee experience.

It should have smooth navigation, a user-friendly design, and look professionally made. Your staff shouldn’t be dealing with crashes, errors, or slow loading times. The app needs to perform well when they’re on a construction site performing a job or sitting on the subway commuting after work.

Conclusion

I hope that this post gave you some inspiration on what features to include in your internal communications app. The buyer’s guide should help you narrow down your development options as well.

Check out this guide on how to build a successful employee mobile app for some additional information and pro tips. 

When you’re ready to get started, sign up for BuildFire or book an app consultation with one of our specialists.

Businesses across every industry are finding tremendous value in deploying apps in the workplace. Employee apps for internal communications are extremely versatile—from driving engagement to HR-self service and compliance, the possibilities are seemingly endless.

While the qualitative benefits of creating an employee comms app might seem obvious, the financial return on investment isn’t always so clear. 

Many business owners, CFOs, CTOs, and other decision-makers want to make sure the app will actually pay off before diving into development. This is a natural and logical thought process.

That’s why we’ve created this guide. Below you’ll learn how to measure the ROI of an internal communications app for your employees. 

This information will help you crunch the numbers to ensure the investment pays off. 

Increase Employee Engagement ROI

According to a recent study by Gallup, just 35% of the US workforce is engaged. Not only does this mean the remaining 65% is not engaged, but the study also found 18% of workers are actively disengaged—which is troubling. 

Engagement in the workplace is more than just a metric related to how your employees focus or how much they care about their jobs. Employee engagement has a direct impact on your bottom line.

How much of an impact?

Additional research from Gallup shows that increasing engagement can increase profits by 22% and boost workplace productivity by 21%. 

That’s not all. Increasing employee engagement gives you a significant competitive advantage. A study from PostBeyond found that companies with engaged employees outperform others by 202%. 

Keeping employees engaged at work has become a bigger HR challenge today than ever before. With so many deskless employees working remotely, in the field, or otherwise outside of a traditional office environment, it’s easy for them to lose connection with co-workers and management.

But a mobile app keeps your staff connected and engaged regardless of location. 
Companies seeking to improve employee engagement with an experience-driven approach benefit from significant results. The numbers speak for themselves.

Mobile apps are all about the employee experience. Your staff is already using their smartphones and mobile devices in the workplace—why not make their experience even better by providing them with a dedicated app for internal communications? 

For every 1% increase in employee engagement, expect to see sales increase by an average of 0.6%. 

Reduce Employee Turnover ROI

Retaining top-level talent in the workplace is a challenge. But one simple way to reduce employee turnover is by implementing modern communication software in the workplace.

The average annual employee turnover rate is 10.9%.

Times are changing. Unlike generations of the past, the modern workforce is always looking for new opportunities. They don’t get one job and plan on staying there for life. According to a recent survey, 52% of adults in the US and Canada plan to look for a new job in 2021. 

Aside from compensation, recognition is a top reason why employees actively look for new career opportunities.

20% of those surveyed said they feel unappreciated at work. An additional 69% said their relationship with management would improve if they were recognized more often. 60% of employees say their employers seek feedback for ways to improve the employee experience, but just 16% of employers took action based on that feedback.

This is a big problem, and it all stems back to engagement and effective internal communication. 

As a result, employees are churning, and it’s costing companies a lot of money.

On average, it costs about one-third of an employee’s salary to replace them. So businesses with a high employee turnover rate are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars annually that could easily be avoided. 

In addition to the costs associated with recruiting, hiring, and training, you also need to look at these costs from an operational efficiency point of view. 

How will your output and productivity change when a person leaves? Does this put a heavier burden on your existing staff? All of this adds to your total cost. 

A successful employee app fills the gaps in communication lags. Even when your staff is working remotely, on-site, or otherwise out of the office, they can still communicate with co-workers and management. 

You can set up an employee communication app with features for employee feedback, recognition badges, announcements, and more. Use the app to highlight an employee of the week or just spread positive news about top-performers in the workplace. 

Use the app to build company culture, facilitate two-way communication between employees and management, send surveys, and collect feedback for improvements. 

Internal communications tools like a mobile app ensure that your company’s business goals are clearly aligned with everyone in the organization, from top to bottom. 

Safety and Compliance ROI

It’s tough to think of something more important than safety in the workplace. This holds true across businesses of all shapes and sizes.

In a traditional office setting, the risk of injury sitting at a desk or walking to the water cooler is fairly low. But for industries like construction, shipping, manufacturing, production, and similar industries with field service workers, the risk is much higher.

Aside from the importance of keeping your workers safe, the cost associated with injuries and non-compliance is significant. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) penalties can range from $13,653 to $136,532 per violation. 

According to a workplace safety report, employers can expect to pay an additional $4 of indirect costs associated with an accident for every $1 of direct costs. 

This formula adds up quickly for expensive accidents. $20,000 in direct costs becomes a $100,000 incident when you factor in the indirect costs like legal fees, productivity, morale, and more.

Can your company really afford to have these types of problems?

Mobile apps make safety, training, and compliance much easier. You can use the app to provide safety videos and onboarding lessons to ensure compliance. 

Your staff will always have access to the employee handbook, company protocols, and other safety-related information from the palms of their hands on personal devices, regardless of the location. 

In the event of an incident, you can also use the app to collect incident response forms to help streamline the process for a fast resolution. 

Case Studies: ROI of an Employee Comms App

Here at BuildFire, we’ve built over 10,000+ mobile applications. Employee apps are one of our most popular solutions. 

To truly show you how much money you can save by developing an internal communications app, check out these case studies:

Preferred Materials — 300% Increase in Employee Engagement

Preferred Materials has 1,875+ employees. But as a regional supplier of building materials and paving services, just 20% of the staff works in an office. The remaining 80% works on the road and in the field. 

The biggest challenge faced by Preferred Materials was communicating with field service workers. 

This communication problem put a tremendous strain on the HR department, as they were constantly fielding calls. Since the HR team is only available during office hours, this forced employees to call during the day, causing productivity problems on job sites. 

Not only was this frustrating and causing bottlenecks both in HR and in the field, but it was also extremely costly for Preferred Materials. So they created a mobile app as a cost-effective way to reduce HR workload and improve internal employee communication.

As a result, they were able to reach 81% of the workforce, and 48 job sites were connected through a single mobile app. Preferred Materials even used the app to send push notifications to employees regarding plant closures from Hurricane Irma.

Praxair — Saved $480,000 on Training Costs

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North America. The organization has 50+ offices and more than 40,000+ employees across the globe. 

The company’s leadership team in Asia was having problems communicating across different locations. The minimal communication led to wasted resources, as many efforts were unnecessarily duplicated. 

Praxair needed a way to improve internal collaboration amongst management so they could share best practices and information through a centralized interface and new communication channel.

Using BuildFire to create a mobile app was the solution to improve the company’s internal communication strategy. 

The app contained a wide range of features and functionality for things like leadership development, employee training, webinars, real-time company news, learning materials, and more. 

As a result, Praxair saved over $480,000 in just eight months on costs associated with employee training. 

How to Increase the ROI of an Internal Employee Comms App

Now that you’ve had a chance to see some data-driven ROI metrics, it’s time to look more specifically at your own business. Here are a handful of numbers you can crunch based on some of the glaring statistics we’ve seen throughout this guide:

• Number of Employees x 0.65 =  Percent of Disengaged Employees
• Number of Employees x 0.109 = Average Employee Turnover Per Year
• Average Employee Salary x 0.33 = Average Cost to Replace One Employee
• Average Cost of Safety Incident x 4 = Average Indirect Cost of Safety Incident
• % of Increased Employee Engagement x 0.6 = Average % Increase in Sales

These numbers are just a starting point to wrap your head around the ROI of an employee app for internal comms. 

For simplicity’s sake, let’s narrow the focus. Employee turnover is a great example because it’s something everyone can relate to, regardless of industry or business size.

Let’s say your company has 50 employees, with an average annual salary of $75,000. 

Based on these calculations, your average employee turnover would be 5.45, and the total annual cost to replace these employees would be $134,887 per year. 

Can you really afford to spend over $100,000 per year on costs associated with employee turnover alone? For larger organizations, the cost associated with poor communication in the workplace is in the millions. 

Refer back to the case studies. One company used an internal comms app to save nearly $500,000 on costs associated with training in just eight months. Long-term, the app is saving them millions of dollars. 

Now consider the cost of creating an internal communications app. That number will be significantly less than the costs associated with poor communication in the workplace. 

The Fastest Way to Increase ROI — BuildFire

Not every business has a big chunk of cashing sitting around for a mobile app development project. Even for those that do, it’s still a significant investment. 

Fortunately, BuildFire can create your app for a fraction of the time and cost compared to traditional development. 

From an ROI perspective, this is a win-win scenario on multiple levels. First, it reduces your initial investment. But it also reduces your time to launch, meaning the cost savings kick-in sooner rather than later. 

Your ongoing costs and maintenance fees will be lower as well, as BuildFire maintains everything for you on the backend. 

How do we do it?

Our platform already has lots of pre-built functionality. So we’re not building all components of the app from scratch. It’s just a matter of making changes and tweaking certain elements to fit the needs of your organization. 

For example, features for things like an employee directory, company announcements, co-worker community forums, social media integration, file sharing, messaging, and polling can be added to your app immediately. Want to add videos for employee training and compliance? Our platform integrates seamlessly with YouTube and Vimeo.

But what makes BuildFire so unique compared to alternative communications platforms and existing employee apps on the market is our limitless customization. 

We can create any type of custom feature for an internal communications app to ensure it meets the needs of your organization. So if you have a unique request to boost your ROI, our expert development team can make that happen. 

That’s why BuildFire is one of the best internal communications solutions on the market today.

Conclusion

Creating a mobile app for internal business communications can benefit your business on so many levels.

In terms of ROI, you can increase employee engagement, reduce employee turnover, reduce costs associated with safety and compliance, reduce costs associated with training—the list goes on and on.

Employee comms apps even directly contribute to increased productivity, increased sales, and higher profits. 

The numbers truly speak for themselves. Just look at the case studies of real businesses that saw a phenomenal return on investment from building an employee app.
To get a more accurate ROI estimate for your specific business, talk to our team about building a workforce app for your business today. We’ll look at your needs in greater detail to determine how you can save as much money as possible with an employee app.

The way we communicate with and engage employees has changed drastically over the past decade. Companies are finding that email is no longer a viable option for all communication. 

With many people using smartphones or tablets as their primary computing device, communication and engagement need to be convenient, timely, and personalized through mobile apps. 

Do you need help with your employee engagement and internal communication process? Do you want to improve your employees’ communication and how they’re staying informed about what’s happening at work? Mobile apps can be an excellent solution for both of these.

This article will show you how a custom app can help your business build better internal communications and employee engagement by providing an overview of the possibilities. From company announcements to safety monitoring, compliance, and more, this post will make you rethink your current process. Let’s dive in!

1. Company Culture

A custom app can help build company culture by providing an exclusive space for employees to communicate and collaborate for their day-to-day lives at work. It also provides the opportunity of sharing important announcements or milestones with your team in real-time through push notifications right on mobile phones without having them waiting until everyone is back together again.

The modern workforce prioritizes happiness and lifestyle in the workplace much more than prior generations. If companies can’t create a culture that aligns with their employees’ values, those businesses will struggle to retain top-level talent.

Apps give that opportunity to do so. A custom app is a chance for human resources and leadership teams in your company to have conversations with remote employees, field service workers—even other use cases like managing their safety or compliance issues on the job site while they continue working. It’s also an awesome way of building up loyalty among current staff by showing them you care about what matters most— them! This translates into happier, more engaged people who will be eager to share good vibes around the office.

According to a recent study, company culture is the largest predictor of employee satisfaction in the United States.

You want top-level talent? Apps are how we keep people happy and loyal. Creating an internal apps is one of the easiest ways to improve the employee experience. 

Practice what you preach and lead by example. Employee benefits, training, and team-building events are just a few ways to establish your company culture. All of this can be managed and improved with a mobile app.

2. Remote Work

Work from home has become the new normal. Even before a global pandemic turned the world upside down, remote work was trending upwards. More and more employees are working from remote locations, but they’re not as engaged because of isolation. Employees need a way to feel connected. Remote workers also want the tools at their fingertips to help them be more productive.

Remote work does have its benefits, like more flexibility, less time commuting (and saving gas money), improved quality of life by being closer with family and friends, and so much more. But remote work still creates problems.

People don’t have colleagues around them, and there’s no water cooler talk happening in the break room or at lunchtime with friends on their team because they work from home instead of an office building like everyone else does (or did). Employees need a way for coworkers not working remotely but still within your company network to stay connected as well—and it has nothing to do with staying safe during those pandemic days.

According to Buffer’s State of Remote Work report, collaboration and communication are the biggest struggles for remote employees.

It goes beyond keeping employees in the communication loop–it’s also about uniting them with your company culture (as mentioned in our last point).

A custom mobile app for effective employee communication will connect you with deskless workers and people working from home, as well as contractors and freelancers supporting your team.

3. Speed

Instant communication is a must-have in the modern workplace. 

It’s not enough for HR to simply provide a way of communicating with remote employees, field service workers, and others. Those same people need the ability to communicate quickly—and asynchronously if necessary without relying on email or phone calls alone (which is so outdated). With mobile apps and communication channels like Slack in place that allow instant messaging from one device directly to another, it becomes clear why these intranet communicators have become immensely popular during periods when everyone wants answers now. 

Some questions are more urgent than others, and can’t wait until tomorrow morning. Most employees prefer quick chats versus talking at all times on the phone or responding to lengthy emails. 

Plus, employees are so accustomed to this type of communication in their personal lives that the idea is just second nature. 

Users have grown increasingly more comfortable with using mobile devices for work, especially when it comes to time-saving tools on a smartphone compared to relying solely upon email and traditional phone calls as before (which was oftentimes slow). Mobile apps help people get things done faster since they can do everything from one screen on their preferred devices.

4. Peer-to-Peer Communication

In addition to using mobile devices for work, employees are also increasingly turning towards peer-to person communication. Sending messages through an app is actually faster and more convenient than ever before. Companies can create their own custom apps that offer features such as instant messaging. These IMs allow users access from any location with an Internet or Wi-Fi connection—which means no matter where you’re at in your office setting, there will be a way of communicating. No need to have someone come out into common areas like lunchrooms every time they need something done quickly or always being tethered by email replies sent back and forth inside company emails.

Internal communication between peers can be more productive than communication from top-down management. Employees can get their day-to work much done much faster with the help of these messages—and even when they’re away, it’s easy to communicate using IMs.

There are many other benefits that come from communication apps for businesses too. Announcements will be seen as soon as possible and onboarding new employees becomes easier, and so much more.

This two-way communication also helps strengthen employee relationships, which improves your company culture (as we discussed earlier).

5. Gamification

Implementing a game-based learning process is a fun and creative way to train your employees.

Gamification is a technique that has been used successfully for years by companies like McDonald’s, Walmart, and Starbucks to motivate employees. The benefits of gamifying employee training programs are directly related to engagement.

Check out these eye-popping statistics about gamification in the workplace:

Everyone loves an added incentive. If your team doesn’t have some type of gaming experience already, they’ll be able to make up ground quickly with these resources. A company culture built on fun can go far when starting out new initiatives—but more importantly, create intrinsic motivation which lasts longer than external rewards such games provide.

A mobile app is the perfect way to implement these game-based processes.

Gamification is ideal for the onboarding process, as it provides more incentive for employees to watch training videos and go through compliance-related tasks. Apps can also keep track of the tasks that employees have completed with a progress bar to show them what they’ve accomplished. 

In addition to new hires, you can use gamification on a daily basis for work-related tasks. This type of feature can create some friendly competition amongst your staff as well. They’ll be trying to win different competitions and climb the leaderboards, which will keep them more engaged and ultimately make them work harder.

The best part is, gamification doesn’t require any additional training for your team. It’s something easy and fun you could start doing today.

4. Video Engagement

Videos are a great way to get employees engaged with the company and feel more connected. It can also help build a culture within an organization because it provides people opportunities for laughter, learning new skills, or being inspired by others who are excelling at their work—watching other videos on topics such as sharing best practices in your line of business. This concept applied while working remotely may make distributed workers feel better about not having face-to-face contact every day, which would increase productivity further downline.

Video content in a mobile app could be used for safety training programs, onboarding process improvement initiatives, consulting services advice sessions from experts outside organizations, and so much more. In addition to the quick and easy accessibility to this content, videos can also ease employee anxiety.

The key to a business success, from a communication tools perspective, is providing the users with what they need, when, and how. You can even include videos with detailed instructions and tutorials for field service workers to access on job sites. 

Employees are used to consuming video content via mobile in their personal lives. From social media platforms to browsing YouTube, this has become second nature for most people. So the idea of adopting the same practices for an internal business mobile app won’t seem so foreign to them. In fact, most people will embrace it with open arms.

5. Measure KPIs For Effective Employee Communication

Without an internal communication app for your business, it can be difficult to understand the effectiveness of your communication strategy. How well is your company communicating right now? It’s tough to provide a concrete answer if there’s no way to track performance.

But with an app, you can see exactly how many employees are opening push notifications or how many of them have completed video training. 

An app can help measure the KPIs that will contribute to a successful and thriving company culture. Once you’re able to measure the effectiveness of your internal communication, you can set benchmarks and target goals to continuously improve efficiencies. 

This is a great way for companies that have remote employees or field service workers, as well as those with other needs like managing company news.

6. Apps Establish a Sense of Normalcy

Your employees are using mobile apps on a day-to-day basis for countless things in their personal lives. From online shopping to banking, social media, travel, and so much more—it only makes sense to give them this same opportunity to use an app in the workplace.

HR communication with a remote employee or field service agent outside the office won’t feel so “corporate” if messages are delivered via mobile. Plus, not every worker has access to a computer 24/7. But their phones are never more than an arm’s reach away. 

Mobile communication apps can provide a central hub for company announcements or even an employee social wall or news feed for a more relaxed communication strategy. These types of features mirror the ones they use in their personal lives on other apps, which will ultimately drive more employee engagement.

All of these reasons contribute towards successful organizations where people feel valued. 

7. Employees Become Brand Ambassadors

Younger generations crave authenticity in the workplace. They want to work for a business that puts them first and gives them opportunities to succeed. 

By providing your staff with modern solutions like a mobile app for internal communication, it empowers their careers. 

You can even use an app to facilitate employee-generated content. This will create more buzz around the office, and it’s more likely to get read and shared than news from management. 

Employees are more likely to refer friends and family if they’re happy in their work. They’ll be ambassadors for the company, spreading positive word-of-mouth that will help make your business grow exponentially. Happy employees will care more about their jobs and do whatever it takes to bring your company to the next level.

Conclusion

A mobile app can help businesses improve internal communications and employee engagement. Mobile applications are more personalized to the needs of employees, which helps them be happier in their jobs, so they’ll care about performing better for your company. 

Apps also give companies an opportunity to engage with employees on a deeper level that’s difficult using other channels like email or phone calls alone.
Ready to take your company to the next level? Starting building an internal communication app today with BuildFire—no coding required. Check out our workforce solutions to learn more about what you can accomplish with our platform.

Apps make life much easier. We use apps in our personal lives for things like banking online, booking flights, getting directions, or doing dozens of other tasks from the palms of our hands.

But mobile apps are also highly beneficial in the workplace.

Mobile employee apps are perfect for internal communication purposes, managing workflow, and providing your staff with self-service HR tools.

Apps are especially useful for organizations with a deskless workforce. Mobile workers don’t have easy access to computers or laptops at a moment’s notice. But their smartphones never leave their side.

Workforce apps are growing in popularity. In fact, 87% of businesses depend on employees accessing business apps from their smartphones.

That’s not all. Your employees want mobile apps. 59% of workers say that organizations are too slow at incorporating apps into the business model. But 60% of employees say that workforce apps directly improved their personal productivity.

So which apps are the best?

I’ve identified the top 11 apps that your business can use to manage its mobile workforce. I’ll outline the features, benefits, and any potential drawbacks of each one below.

1. Slack

Slack has quickly become one of the world’s most popular business apps for internal communication. This instant messaging tool for iOS and Android is leveraged by large enterprises, small businesses, and everything in between.

It’s trusted by big names like Airbnb, TD Ameritrade, Target, Cole Haan, Zendesk, Fox, and HubSpot.

Slack has over 12 million daily active users across 150+ countries. 65 of the Fortune 100 companies use Slack.

Whether you have remote employees or field workers performing jobs on-site, they’ll always be kept in the loop with their team. Whether they have questions or need assistance related to a particular job, or just want to give a quick status update, Slack delivers messages in real-time.

Slack allows you create communication channels for different teams. Let’s say you’re a contractor. You could create a separate channel for each job or each crew.

Use Slack to communicate with freelancers, third-party contractors, or even staff from other businesses that you’re working with.

This app has a wide range of solutions and use cases for employees related to:

• Remote work
• Engineering
• Distance learning
• Sales
• Financial services
• IT
• Human resources
• Customer support
• Project management
• Media

Another reason why Slack ranks so high on our list is because it integrates with 2,000+ other apps and tools you might already be using.

In addition to instant messaging, you can leverage Slack for audio and video calls. Let’s say you have an on-site technician making a repair at a customer’s house. They can video chat with someone in the office if they need assistance or want to show them progress in real-time.

The app is so popular that it’s become a verb. We use it here at BuildFire. It’s not uncommon for someone to say something along the lines of “Slack me later.”

With all of this in mind, Slack does have its fair share of restrictions. It is not an all-in-one solution for managing your mobile workforce. It’s simply an effective communication tool.

2. Trello

The Trello app is an exceptional tool for managing productivity in the workplace. For single projects or ongoing work, it’s an ideal project management solution for small and large teams alike.

Here’s how it works.

First, you create a Trello “board.” The board can be used for anything from managing your company’s blog to handling workflow status updates for field service technicians.

Within each board, you can create a list. Lists are columns that can be used to define the progress for different tasks and projects.

Here’s a simple example. Columns for field service workers could be:

• To be scheduled
• Scheduled
• On-site
• Done

Every time you have a new project, simply create a “card” and place that card in the respective column. You can create subtasks within that card, such as “called client” or “left a message.” Cards can have due dates and be assigned to specific people within your team.

Let’s continue using the example above. If you schedule a new job for a field service technician, you can put the card in the “Scheduled” list and assign it to the designated employee.

The card can include details about the job, including the address, customer name, and anything else that needs to be done.

Once that employee arrives at the job, they can simply move the card to “On-site” to keep the entire team updated. They can take notes on the card, upload documents, pictures, and complete subtasks like “provided estimate” or “fixed broken sink” (or whatever else you’re doing out there).

If your mobile workforce needs an app for project management, Trello is an ideal solution for you. You can join the millions of users leveraging this tool.

It’s worth noting that Trello isn’t perfect. While you can tag team members and add comments to cards, it doesn’t really provide real-time communication, instant messaging, or audio and video calling features.

Like most of the apps on our list, the app is intended for just one specific purpose. In this case, the purpose is project management.

3. allGeo

Formally myGeoTracking, allGeo is a solution designed specifically for field service workers. The platform offers multiple mobile employee apps for different use cases.

• Field Service Visibility — Monitor time and location on the job.
• Field Service Time Clock — GPS time and attendance system.
• Field Service Safety — Monitor employee safety on-site.
• Field Service Inspection — Collect data with forms and checklists.
• Field Service Dispatch — Real-time notifications and messaging.
• Field Service Milage — GPS mileage tracking and real-time location.
• Field Service EVV — Geofence-based tracking for compliance.
• Field Service Load — Automatic status updates including ETAs.

As you can see, allGeo has a field service app for nearly every mobile employee management tool that you can think of. Unfortunately, none of these come with internal communication features.

It does have some HR and HCM functionality. The apps can integrate with payroll tools like QuickBooks and Paychex. But it’s somewhat limited in terms of what you can accomplish with this.

Another downside of allGeo is the fact that all of these apps are separate from each other. So if you want multiple features, you’ll have to use more than one app. This can get messy and confusing.

allGeo does have a custom app solution for these purposes. But overall, the individual apps function better on their own.

With all of that said, these are still top mobile employee apps for field service workers if you need just one of the management functions listed above.

4. GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is another mobile employee app with a specific point of emphasis. As the name implies, this app is used for holding virtual meetings.

The app has features for both audio and video meetings that can be managed from smartphones and tablets. It’s an excellent way for remote employees or staff working on different job sites to communicate in real-time.

With a mobile workforce, you lose the ability to hold conference room style meetings at the office. GoToMeeting makes it possible for you to hold virtual conferences.

Top features for GoToMeeting include:

• No meeting time limits
• Business messaging
• Personal meeting rooms
• Calendar integrations
• Up to 250 participants
• Unlimited cloud recording
• Meeting transcriptions
• Diagnostic reports
• Admin center

You can access GoToMeeting from your computer as well, which is very useful. For example, let’s say you’re in the office but want to give a presentation to all of your remote staff. You’ll be able to present from your computer while giving your mobile workforce the ability to join from their smartphones and tablets.

GoToMeeting does have a messager feature as well. But it falls short compared to solutions like Slack, which we discussed earlier.

I like the fact that GoToMeeting seamlessly integrates with Office 365. It’s a nice bonus for those of you who are already using this tool for scheduling and staying organized.

As with most of the other apps on our list, GoToMeeting has its fair share of restrictions and limitations. It’s strictly an app for audio and video meetings or conferences. It’s not going to integrate with your payroll system or give your employees access to timecards, handbooks, benefits, or anything like that.

5. Kronos

Kronos is an all-in-one solution for managing your mobile workforce.

The company was initially founded 40+ years ago back in 1977. At the time, they specialized in time management by revolutionizing employee time clocks. Over the years, Kronos has been able to adapt with the times and modernize its brand with apps and other workforce management tools.

Kronos has solutions for a wide range of business needs, including:

• Time and attendance
• Employee scheduling
• Labor activities and analytics
• Benefits administration
• Acquisition and onboarding
• Talent management
• Payroll
• Human resources

The company has mobile employee apps and solutions for businesses across multiple industries. Kronos has tools for health care, retail, banking, higher education, government, manufacturing, and more.

Kronos offers product suites that encompass multiple workforce management tools into single solutions.

While Kronos is undoubtedly a leader in workforce management, the app itself falls short of the desktop solutions. Based on user reviews and ratings, there are lots of performance issues. The Kronos app has just a 1.6/5 rating on the Apple App Store. The 3.2/5 rating on the Google Play Store is a bit better, but still not up to par with what we’d like to see.

6. BambooHR

As the name clearly indicates, BambooHR is a human resources solution.

This mobile employee app is a modern way to manage your mobile workforce. It gives your staff the ability to check and access crucial HR resources from anywhere. From requesting time off to looking up a coworker’s contact information, BambooHR has it all.

One of the best features of the app is the calendar. It gives management and employees clear access to who is working each day, who’s on vacation, and who has time off coming up.

Everyone will have access to phone numbers, email addresses, and other important contact information for their coworkers. This makes it easy for your staff to stay in contact.

Other top features include:

• Time tracking and payroll tools
• PTO management
• Hiring and onboarding
• Offboarding
• Employee records
• Workflows and approvals
• Reporting and analytics

BambooHR is definitely one of the best mobile employee apps for HR management on the market today. It offers employee self-service tools as well as management and supervisor benefits.

Overall, the app is very easy to use and integrate with any business. Unlike other apps on our list, all of these functions can be managed in a single solution.

With that said, not every feature comes standard with the BambooHR app. Time tracking, payroll, performance management, and other advanced features need to be added separately.

Additionally, BambooHR doesn’t have any features beyond HR functionality. It’s not made for internal communication, task management, or anything else that falls outside the scope of human resources.

7. Google Drive

Google Drive is something that most of you are probably familiar with. Lots of us (including myself) use Google Drive in our personal lives for storing files in the cloud.

But this is an excellent solution for managing files at work as well.

As a cloud-based solution, you can access Google Drive from anywhere. From documents to spreadsheets and images, your entire team can collaborate on files with this app.

While the application of Google Drive’s features aren’t necessarily geared towards specific business functions, you can easily find ways to make the app work for your needs.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you have field service workers that need to take pictures while on a job site. Your staff can simply take photos using the camera on their smartphone and then upload those images to a folder in Google Drive directly from the app.

You can set up folders for each project, client, or organize your files in whatever way you see fit.

Once a file has been uploaded to the drive, anyone with access can see it. So another employee back at the office could see any uploads in real-time from their smartphone or computer.

Set up Google Sheets to manage workflow tasks on a spreadsheet. Or use Google Docs to provide your mobile workforce with important information about clients, jobs, or training material.

If you have a small team and need a simple solution for file storage and communication via mobile employee apps, Google Drive is a free and simple solution. You’ll just have to get creative with how you set everything up to stay organized.

8. Asana

The Asana app is very similar to Trello, which we talked about earlier. It’s a mobile workforce app made for project management.

Simply create a task, drag it to the respective status column in the workflow chain, and assign team members to collaborate.

Asana is a little bit more advanced than Trello in terms of its features and capabilities. Beyond basic workflow management, Asana is better for tasks with multiple action items. The app dashboard makes it easy for your remote staff to manage and clear any action items assigned to them.

With Asana, you’ll also be able to organize projects and tasks based on level of priority. Employees can attach files, add comments, and manage campaigns from a simple and easy to use dashboard within the app.

Asana integrates with other tools, including other solutions on our list, like Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, Dropbox, and more.

I’d say Asana is geared more towards remote digital marketing teams as opposed to field service workers. There are specific tools and features for mapping out and tracking plans that are just better for this type of remote work.

You can use the Asana app to automate certain processes as well. This is ideal for maximizing efficiency and productivity.

If your organization is in a creative industry with remote workers, the Asana app will be a top choice for task management. But it’s not an all-in-one tool for managing a mobile workforce. The communication tools are limited compared to other options on the list, and HR functionality is non-existent.

9. Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Meet is the new and improved version of Google Hangouts. Commonly referred to as just “Meet” for short, this app is a communication tool that’s included with G Suite.

So for those of you who already have G Suite for other business purposes, you can start using Hangouts Meet for video calls directly from the app.

This app is a basic tool for video meetings and conference calls. It’s better for smaller groups and even one-on-one video calling.

Google offers a separate app called Hangouts Chat for messaging. You can set up different chat rooms for projects, teams, or just use it for one-on-one conversations.

Both of these apps are better for smaller teams who are already using G Suite. It’s unfortunate that the calling and messaging features aren’t integrated into a single solution. Your remote workforce will have to switch back and forth between both, which can be annoying.

For example, let’s say two employees are messaging via Hangouts Chat. Then they decide that it would be more productive if they hopped on a call. Your staff would be forced to switch apps and connect from there instead.

But if you’re a low volume user or working with third-party contractors or freelancers, Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat are both sufficient for basic usage.

10. Dropbox

Dropbox is similar to Google Drive, although it’s a bit more advanced in terms of features designed for managing remote employees.

With Google Drive, you need to get creative in terms of how you organize your files and set them up for business purposes. Dropbox has some of those tools built-in right out of the box (no pun intended).

Dropbox is a top option for those of you who need to share large files with remote workers. Team plans start at 5 TB of storage. You can send files up to 100 GB using Dropbox Transfer.

You’ll also have access to features like:

• Document watermarks
• Tiered administrative roles
• Single sign-on integration
• Ability to manage multiple teams

450,000+ businesses use Dropbox for managing files and content with employees.

With Dropbox, it’s an easy transition from the app to desktop. Your remote staff can start something on their computer and then access it on the road from their mobile device at a job site, client meeting, or anywhere else.

If Google Drive doesn’t quite meet the needs of your business, use Dropbox for an upgraded (but still very basic) workforce mobile app for content management.

11. Build a Custom Workforce App

Rather than using a cookie-cutter solution with limitations, you can build a custom workforce app with BuildFire.

Custom app development gives you the opportunity to add whatever features you need to manage your mobile workforce. Instead of using one app for HR self-service and another app for internal communication, your custom workforce app can contain both features in a single solution.

Common use cases for BuildFire workforce apps include tools for human resources, safety, compliance, field service workers, and field sales workers.

Popular workforce management capabilities include:

• Employee training and development
• Compliance
• Company news and announcements
• Employee onboarding
• Real-time communication for a crisis or emergency
• Timesheets
• Time off requests

Custom app development gives you the ability to measure success and improve engagement with your mobile workforce. It’s also an all-in-one solution for to address challenges faced by your HR department.

BuildFire gives you the opportunity to create an app on your own. No coding or development experience is required.

For those of you who want some additional assistance with the development process, you can get the app designed and built by the team of experts at BuildFire. Our platform supports full customization.

Final Thoughts

There’s a common theme with the mobile workforce apps on this list. All of them have limitations and flaws.

Do you need an app for internal communication with remote employees? There’s an app for that. What about an app for managing projects and tasks? There’s another app for that. There are apps for video calling, file management, and field service employees. But none do all of the above.

The only way to get an all-in-one solution for mobile workforce management is with custom app development. Tools like BuildFire make it possible for you to manage employee tasks, real-time communication, payroll, self-service HR features, and more in a single app.

This is the best way to manage your mobile workforce and remote employees.