5 Advantages of an employee app [with examples] 

Does official company information reach employees without a PC at all? In the absence of measurability, the principle of hope reigns in many companies. And as we all know, hope dies last. But it dies - as soon as you look through the eyes of the workforce. 

The main reason are two frustrating factors for operational employees: they have to constantly check notices, info screens or terminal PCs to see if there is any news. Which is often not the case. And if there is, the information is only important for individual occupational groups. 

The solution lies in segmenting the information: In an employee app, groups ensure that information only reaches those for whom it is relevant - categorised, for example, by country, location, occupational group, or shift. 

Like a digital and personalised bulletinboard, a newsfeed bundles all the news from these groups: as simply as users enjoy on Facebook, Instagram and the like - and as securely, so that data protection is also guaranteed in the employee app. 

The black board or noticeboard lives up to its name in one respect: for internal communicators, it is a black box. Whether and how operational employees process the information usually remains unknown. 

What is obvious, however, is the great effort involved. Communicating urgent information by posting it in all the employees' mother tongues? In a three-shift operation in production and several locations, this is almost impossible, in other constellations a disproportionate effort. 

With an employee app for internal communication, those responsible save themselves this effort. These are the features of an employee app that are particularly appreciated: 

• Information reaches exactly those for whom it is relevant with two clicks and in real time. 
• Translation into the local language is automatic 
• Contributions can be planned in advance and automatically published at a selected time 
• Staff scheduling becomes mobile: duty rosters, time recording etc… are always accessible via smartphone 
• Responsibility is spread over many people via rights and roles 

Again and again, we hear doubts whether employees on the assembly line, in the warehouse or at the checkout really want to get involved. Our experience: they want to, as long as they are given an easy opportunity and can make a difference. This is one reason why employee surveys are so popular with many Flip customers. Even more important, however, is daily employee participation. 

An example from a Flip client shows how quickly feedback pays off: In the branch of a retail chain, employees are struggling with liquid soap leaking from the packet when they unpack it. The employees ask for a solution via app. 

Now everything happens very quickly: employees from one branch after the other confirm the experience. The cause was faulty packaging, which was reported to the supplier and rectified. Without the app, the employees would have spent a long time looking for the fault themselves until the problem reached the head office. 

If an employee resigns, it is often not because of the salary. Employees who want to quit do not feel sufficiently valued (76 percent), experience poor internal communication (70 percent) and identify deficiencies in the corporate culture (43 percent), according to a survey by the consulting company Harbinger. 

An employee app does not solve these problems by itself, but it creates the prerequisites. Two successes that would not have been possible without the app: 

• Transferring responsibility: The wine consultants at the Prechtl fresh food markets communicate across branches via their own group. And solve problems together. "The employees no longer just execute but take responsibility. Without going through the head office. This raises them to a new level," says Simon Mareth, member of the management board. 
• Generating ideas: 150 suggestions for improvement were submitted by Europart employees via the employee app in 12 months. Their identification with their employer has increased by 25 percent. 

The staff on the floor receive relevant information in snippets, while their colleagues in the office are drowned in a flood of emails: Those responsible for internal communication tell us that up to 80 percent of their emails come from within the company. 

The situation is not much better for meetings - after all, they are indispensable when it comes to distributing important information to employees without a PC and an email address. 

An employee app comes very close to face-to-face communication: information reaches those for whom it is important quickly, directly and precisely. What is lost in facial expressions and gestures is compensated for by the emojis familiar from private messengers. Long emails and appointments are a thing of the past. 

A study conducted by DHBW Stuttgart shows how employee apps improve internal communication. The respondents provided the following information - both before and after the introduction of the employee app.