Deskless workers make the world go round. They’re the employees that build products, drive delivery trucks, answer phones, prepare food and act as the backbone of many operations. It’s time to engage them with an inclusive intranet that takes their specific needs into account. Here’s how.
As Boston Consulting Group (BCG) notes, because the deskless workforce must be physically present at a job during specific times, they often don’t have the benefits of flexible work hours and certainly aren’t offered remote options. Additionally, according to BCG, “deskless workers have a high turnover rate––more than one-third (that make up 75% of the labor force in most countries) are at risk of quitting in the next six months.”
But this can be remedied with the right strategy and tools. And a part of any savvy company’s tool belt is a modern intranet.
The intranet plays a large part in keeping employees, and contributing to a more inclusive environment, one in which employees feel valued. A place they want to stay. We’ll explore this, but first, you need to know why your workers are leaving. Without understanding the driving force behind the exodus of deskless workers, you can’t hope to fix it.
The exodus of deskless workers and what is driving it
Right now, the US alone has many more jobs available than workers to fill them, and the same can be said of Germany and France. And this phenomenon is spreading globally – 42% of deskless workers in Japan are planning to leave and the UK isn’t far behind. So, what’s happening? Why are so many deskless employees ready to quit?
It comes down to employee experience. Many employees feel disconnected or disengaged from the rest of the company. Many are on the road, or in the field collecting data, and because they don’t have a desk to go to, it can be challenging to keep the lines of communication open. And communication is a key component to your employee’s connection with the company.
When it comes to communication, many deskless workers can’t receive direct communications from their bosses, as most deskless workers don’t have a corporate email address, and the company intranet isn’t even available to them. Without proper communication, employees don’t feel a part of the larger company culture, and therefore, don’t feel that they belong.
And when you don’t feel connected to your workplace, that leads to dissatisfaction, and ultimately, a high turnover rate – which is costly for companies of all sizes. The solution is to build a better employee experience––a place to engage your workers through an inclusive intranet so they feel connected to your culture and community. Let’s see how that looks!
Inclusive intranet plays an active role in employee experience
When deskless workers feel included, they’ll work harder–– not because they have to, but because they want to. There are steps your company can take to ensure that every employee, from the desked to the deskless, sees themself as a valuable player on the company team.
Here are some stats to flesh out that intranet conversation:
- There was a 20% increase in employee satisfaction and an 87% increase in employee retention in companies that used social intranets.
- 85% of employees said they’re most motivated when they have access to regular updates on company news.
- A survey on “Mushroom Management” policies at businesses revealed over 50% of employees reported “contributing to the overall performance of the organization” more often when they had access to company information. Data transparency is clearly linked to productivity and efficiency.
Inclusive intranets offer more than a feeling of belonging. They offer:
- Career growth. Providing opportunities for growth and learning to increase skills encourages your employees, as it demonstrates you have faith in their capabilities and want to see them flourish.
- A voice in the company. Just like everyone else, deskless workers desire the opportunity to be heard. An intranet provides this outlet.
- Timely feedback. Direct communication with managers helps employees more accurately evaluate their own performance and receive encouragement as well as correction from supervisors.
- Access to pertinent data. Having access to the same data that others have access to gives deskless workers a sense of belonging and saves them time that is otherwise wasted on unnecessary disconnects.
Companies that seek to retain deskless employees should rethink their intranets from an inclusivity standpoint and make changes.
How Simpplr’s inclusive intranet works
Creating custom intranet dashboards for each employee is a must. You have hundreds of diverse and distinct employees and your intranet should be equally accommodating. Dashboards should offer critical companywide intel that everyone needs to know as well as tailored content that is specific to your deskless employee’s status, role, seniority, location, interests, needs, and previous searches. That’s a lot! Let’s break it down.
Individualized employee experiences
Personalize your employees’ experiences by surfacing real-time insights that reveal your employees’ interests and how to best engage them. With AI and adaptive personalization, your employees will automatically have what they need, when they need it based on their preferences and needs.
Interest-based employee engagement
Help connect your employees to one another using dashboards. Deskless workers are often solitary, so creating a space to connect and engage with coworkers in other departments around shared interests is a nice touch––and an unexpected one that employees appreciate.
Employee onboarding
Many times, workers are overwhelmed with information the first few days, after which they’re kicked out of the nest and expected to fly all alone. And this is particularly true of deskless employees.
With an inclusive intranet complete with a personalized dashboard, employees will have easy access to everything they need to be successful. And with an auto-governance engine, data that’s no longer relevant or necessary to a job function disappears, keeping everything neat and uncluttered. It’s a place employees will learn to love, and consistently return to, thanks to its usefulness.
Employee productivity enhancements
Productivity often comes down to how well something is communicated, and how quickly and effectively an employee can do their job. If they are unsure of exactly what is required and need to guess, it could lead to disastrous, uniformed decisions.
And being unable to find resource materials they need is an exercise in frustration. And frustration is a productivity killer.
An inclusive intranet gives your deskless employees a cohesive environment with employee experience at its center. This means employees have easy access to every workplace application offering company news, socialization, resources, and more. And through Smart Search, which adapts to employee preferences, searches are constantly improving and cutting through the noise to provide rapid and accurate search results.
Management and employee communication
Because we use prescriptive analytics that combine sentiment, behavioral, and solicited feedback for a comprehensive view of employee perception, you can adapt and optimize intranet offerings. Measuring employee sentiment around changes in the company helps identify gaps and problem areas before they become a stick in your wheel. And of course, this opens the lines of communication between leaders and deskless employees, which fosters a company culture of trust.
Best of all, as everything has a mobile app today, your intranet can be accessed on the go, making it simpler than ever to create a cohesive environment to accommodate all employees in one place.
A reliable and inclusive intranet enables good business decisions and strengthens your company culture. So, make it part of your employee experience strategy. If you’re ready to bring your deskless workers on board and make inclusivity much more than just a talking point, reach out for a demo!
