Top Communication Solutions for Deskless Workers in 2024

Deskless workers make up a huge part of the economy, around 2.7 billion professionals or 80% of the global workforce to be exact! Whenever employers ignore their deskless workers, they’re faced with huge losses in productivity share and all the additional costs incurred when replacing disengaged workers who leave the company. 

What, and who, are deskless workers?

Deskless workers are the employees working out in the field and typically cannot use a computer to efficiently perform their job duties. From construction sites to restaurants and hotels, to retail, manufacturing, education, truck drivers and more. Usually, they don’t even have an internal company email.

Deskless employees often represent the company as they’re in front of the clients and the suppliers, therefore their actions have a direct impact on the company image. 

What are the challenges of communications for deskless workers?

Deskless employees just aren’t as connected as the rest of the staff. 

In fact, 85% of deskless workers say that the communication they receive on the job isn’t enough. Why is that?

• They don’t work in the office
• They’re usually on the road
• They barely visit the company office, if at all
• They have limited or no access to a computer
• They don’t receive the same training, if at all
• They don’t have a corporate email
• They struggle to connect and communicate with their peers
• They can’t easily access company news and updates 
• They feel out of the loop and aren’t engaged
• They can’t access key documents or information on-the-go.

“Most remote workers feel totally disconnected from their corporate overlords,” says Henry Albrecht, CEO of Limeade.

Why is it a MUST to have good communication with your deskless workers?

If you’re looking for that one answer to prevent harmful turnover then you need to look no further than effectively communicating with your deskless workforce. Ongoing, consistent communication is essential so use whatever means necessary to deliver. 

Don’t just tell your team what to do, instead give them clear goals by letting them know how they’re doing, the steps needed to achieve the goal, be there to lend a hand and let them know how they’re affecting the bottom line. 

Address concerns promptly, keep your team in the loop about all company matters, share in successes, discuss mistakes and so on. And most of all, remember that communication is a two-way street. Never assume anything. Let your employees share their opinions and ideas, let their voice be heard. 

Most turnover is preventable. 

So hammer down the points above know that everything is within your reach – a study found that most employees leave a company because of a lack in career development, a poor work-life balance, poor manager relationships, and low compensation.

All of this can be avoided if your employees feel connected to the company. Ensure that communications for deskless workers are streamlined to avoid the negative scenarios above.

When it comes to sharing information, most companies follow the top-down method. However, this leads to a trickle of information instead of streamlined communication. Trickle down communication only leads to the following: employees are faced with limited opportunities for feedback, delays in announcements, and are far too dependent on a single person to share information.

Therefore, in order to have effective communication with deskless workers, you need to empower middle management. 

“Middle managers can be powerful facilitators of change bridging the gap between the macro level focus of change proponents (designing structures, administrative processes, missions, cultures, strategies and protocols) and micro level implementation (knowledge, needs, skills, experience, communication, learning, values, practices) that shape process changes.

A central research finding is that empowering middle managers is the key to effective change implementation.”

Middle managers are the key to: 

• Effectively communicating company goals and initiatives
• Leading the success of change management
• Leading company strategy being properly implemented
• Have a direct hand in how quickly change can happen within the company 
• Have a direct hand in the trust amongst team members. 

“The stronger the bond of middle managers to front-line workers is, the more economically viable and financially sound the organization will be.”

People buy people. It might be an age-old saying but it is very much relevant, especially in 2021. Rather than spending millions on brand recognition, commercials, and product development, companies must invest in their employees. Especially if your frontline, deskless employees are critical to your customer experience.

In order to succeed, companies NEED good and motivated employees, but that’s easier said than done. Considering that the magic bullet here is…employee engagement. 

According to Gallup, more than two-thirds of all employees are disengaged or actively disengaged. And that’s worrying when good employee engagement leads to a better relationship between the company and the customer, more ideas, frequently showing up to work and on time, higher productivity, better morale, a healthy work-life balance, and are more likely to recommend their company to others. 

In order to really drive employee engagement, communication is a must. “Companies must communicate to better understand and internalize the value proposition of their own company and to represent it with the customer in a convincing manner.”

With a solid internal communication plan and transparency, employers can meet the growing demands of the modern customer because they invest in their employees on a regular and permanent basis. 

There is no doubt that a positive work environment helps companies two-fold: to avoid high turnover and to better attract new talent. Many companies focus on executing a healthy company culture to better their work environment in a positive manner. 

In November 2019, the average turnover rate in the United States was 3.7%. As a whole, that’s a pretty impressive rate, however when you know that turnover costs the American economy around $3 billion annually, it puts things into perspective.

“Good internal communication provides constant feedback and purpose which increases employee engagement which in turn decreases turnover rates, ultimately saving the company money.”

When you’re looking to attract top talent and retain them then your employees need to know their employers and they need a positive work environment. This means having a great internal communications system, listening to your employees, showing appreciation, having opportunities to grow and develop skills, and having fun. All of these combine to create a healthy work environment which gives your company an edge in today’s very competitive market. 

“A business cannot generate sustainable value and growth without employees understanding where it’s headed, why, what it’s going to take to get there, and why each employee matters,” said Steve Soltis, the group director of employee and leadership communications for The Coca Cola Company. 

Soltis hit the nail on the head. Especially as the costs of miscommunication today are dramatically growing. Large enterprises with 100,000 employees or more experience an average loss of $62.4 million per year because of mismanaged communications. Smaller organizations with less than 100 employees incur costs of $420,000 per year. And here’s the kicker, deskless employees are directly caught in the middle of this disconnect. 

When your deskless workers receive a constant and steady flow of information, they are easily more productive and efficient. Why? Simply put, they’re in the loop. They know what’s going at headquarters, what their co-workers are up to, how sales are growing, when new team members join or retire, etc. Your deskless workforce wants to know it all. Just like your in-office staff.

So what’s the communication solution for deskless workers?

To properly reach your entire deskless employees, you need effective and modern communication solutions for deskless workers. What do we mean by that? We don’t mean emails, bulletin board printouts, or phone calls. Those are outdated methods of communication. 

Think about it. Everyone has a smartphone so use this to your advantage. Especially when you have employees who are constantly on the move. Today, we see that more and more companies are making the digital switch with employee apps and with amazing results. 

Employee apps remove hierarchical barriers and location issues by efficiently facilitating a direct two-way communication channel. Therefore, the gap is bridged between management and employees, especially deskless employees. 

Connecteam is an all-in-one solution that was built especially for the deskless workforce. 

With Connecteam, employee engagement and strong internal communication is easy to build as you have a more connected company that allows your whole workforce to become empowered to interact, share, and collaborate with one another, no matter their job role or location.

Why Connecteam is the best solution for deskless workers:

Listen to how a field service company with 200+ employees utilizes Connecteam for daily internal communication & engagement!

Lastly, let’s talk about cost. It’s so good that we turned it into its own paragraph! Connecteam is the only employee communication app that offers fixed monthly plans that don’t hurt the back pocket. Pricing starts at just $29 a month for up to 30 users. And if you need more than 200 users, there’s an Enterprise plan available. And let’s not forget the “free for life plan for up to 10 users”