The employee app: everything you need to know

Increasing motivation through effective corporate communication

The working environment has a significant impact on employee enthusiasm. Motivated employees not only exhibit higher performance levels, but they also work with increased concentration, resulting in fewer workplace accidents and reduced absenteeism. Furthermore, demotivated employees exhibit lower commitment to the company, making them more prone to resignations and increased sick leave. 

In the Gallup Institute's State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report 'quiet quitting' where an employee psychologically disengages from work impacts nearly 6 in 10 workers worldwide and costs the global economy $8.8 trillion.

Recognizing the importance of creating a positive and motivating working environment is crucial for mitigating these challenges and fostering employee engagement and loyalty.

But what can businesses do to increase their employee motivation? Employees state various factors that contribute to their satisfaction:

• Fair and respectful interactions 
• Appreciation 
• Functioning teamwork 
• Flexibility in everyday work 
• Transparency 
• Dismantling of rigid hierarchies 
• The opportunity to participate in company decisions

Effective internal employee communication is intricately linked to the factors mentioned above. To overcome the limitations of outdated communication methods like newsletters and intranets, which often exclude certain employees from equal participation, we suggest utilizing an employee app. This solution not only enables swift and direct information sharing but also empowers all employees to ask questions and provide direct feedback on ongoing projects and ideas. By embracing an internal employee app, organizations can foster a transparent and inclusive communication culture, ensuring that information reaches everyone promptly while encouraging active engagement and collaboration. 

Challenges in internal corporate communication

In a company, employees often face challenges in staying updated with relevant information. Salesfloor staff may lack awareness of the latest marketing developments, resulting in poor customer assistance regarding current offers. Logistics employees, who are not regularly at their computers, often find themselves disconnected from internal company communication. Similarly, employees working from home may feel excluded and uninformed due to limited access to information. It's crucial to consider the following points for effective internal communication within the company to address these issues:

1. Easy overview: All employees must be able to find information and news in the same way. 
2. Quickly and easily up-to-date: The fewer channels are used for internal communication, the easier it is to exchange data. No valuable time is wasted checking email inboxes and intranets. 
3. Reach all employees: A central app makes it possible to reach all employees. Employees in logistics, sales, the office, and working from home should have equal access to all information and news.

What is an employee app?

Employee apps are an ideal solution for ensuring all employees have access to news, data, and the opportunity to engage in internal communication - crucial for employee motivation. Acting as a centralized platform, an employee app consolidates all internal employee communication in one place. It can be seamlessly installed on company-owned devices and personal smartphones, ensuring accessibility from anywhere. Over 86% of the world’s population owns a smartphone, so employers can reasonably expect that nearly all employees possess one. This widespread mobile device usage makes employee apps a practical and effective means of connecting and engaging with the entire workforce.

Outdated forms of communication, such as company magazines and newsletters, no longer align with the expectations of modern users. In today's mobile communication era, employees want information delivered quickly and effortlessly. The hassle of searching for information across various channels is no longer viable. Similar to the role of social platforms in PR and marketing, a central platform should regulate internal corporate communication.

Employee apps capitalize on the widespread ownership of mobile devices. Through an employee app, every smartphone user can access important information, regardless of location, whether in the warehouse, shop, or home office.

Convincing employees to use employee apps is easy due to their multiple advantages. Firstly, users gain quick and direct access to shared data. The newsfeed within the app keeps employees informed about the latest projects, with real-time news announcements through push notifications, similar to other social networks.

Rather than sifting through mountains of emails in the morning, employees receive immediate and efficient updates via the app. Furthermore, all employees can actively engage in internal company communication. They can comment on newsfeed messages, ask questions, and contribute ideas effortlessly through the company chat. Employees benefit from the following advantages:

• As an employee, you are always up-to-date thanks to the app.
• All employees can directly participate in internal company communication.
• Employees no longer waste time searching their email inboxes, files, and folders for relevant info.

In conclusion, the advantages of an employee app significantly enhance employee motivation. Firstly, the app fosters respectful interaction and collaboration among team members, as well as between supervisors and employees. It ensures transparent communication of data to all employees, leaving no one out. By facilitating both top-down and bottom-up communication, the app naturally reduces hierarchical barriers. Moreover, the app's ability to enable communication independent of location provides greater flexibility than outdated information sources like intranets and newsletters. Overall, an employee app empowers a more engaging and dynamic internal communication environment.

What can an employee app do?

With its diverse functions, an employee app surpasses other internal forms of communication in terms of effectiveness and impact. Let's explore some key features that make employee apps invaluable for enhancing internal organization and boosting employee motivation, ultimately resulting in substantial cost savings and increased business success.

Information transfer via newsfeed

The newsfeed feature in an employee app functions similarly to popular social networks, allowing users to create posts and share current information about internal projects, company guidelines, and ideas. This fosters communication in both top-down and bottom-up directions, enabling a two-way exchange of information and ideas.

Real-time updates and internal company news are instantly transmitted to users through push notifications, ensuring a swift flow of information. Furthermore, the app lets you share videos and images, which can effectively communicate company values and goals, fostering a sense of unity and camaraderie among employees.

Subscribe to individual channels

To prevent employees from being overwhelmed by excessive information, the employee app allows users to subscribe to specific departments and projects based on their interests and work areas. This ensures that information reaches the employees who actually need it. This targeted communication is particularly valuable in large companies with thousands of employees, where delivering relevant information to individuals is crucial.

By using an employee app, the time wasted by many employees searching daily for relevant info and news is significantly reduced compared to traditional communication methods such as newsletters and intranets. The app streamlines the process by delivering personalized and targeted information, allowing employees to access the most relevant content to them quickly.

Interaction of all employees

At the management level, it can be challenging to comprehensively understand the day-to-day issues and challenges employees face throughout the company. To address this, it's crucial to provide all employees, regardless of their department or project, with the opportunity to give feedback on work processes and the working environment. Only by being aware of the problems can effective solutions be implemented.

An employee app facilitates communication between employees and supervisors, fostering a culture of open feedback. The app offers features such as employee surveys, polls, and the ability to ask questions to management. These functionalities can be utilized publicly or anonymously, reducing hierarchical barriers within the company.

By leveraging these interactive features, an employee app actively promotes the individual participation of employees, going beyond the limitations of traditional communication methods. It empowers employees to share their insights, concerns, and suggestions, creating a collaborative environment where everyone's voice is heard and valued.

Knowledge transfer via fixed content

An employee app provides easy access to structured knowledge bases, eliminating employees' need to search through files and folders. Employees can quickly find the necessary information with efficient search functions, structured directories, and integrated learning materials. This saves time, increases satisfaction, and ultimately contributes to the company's success. Although creating structured content requires editorial effort, the long-term benefits outweigh the initial investment.

Accounting issues made simple 

An employee app streamlines company organizational processes by integrating features such as holiday requests, shift schedules, and sickness notifications. Employees can independently handle these tasks with just a few clicks, saving time compared to traditional methods like email or phone calls. This simplified approach not only increases efficiency but also enhances employee satisfaction. It eliminates the need for stressful phone calls to the accounting department. It also provides a sense of autonomy as individuals can easily access shift schedules or check the status of holiday applications with a single click.

Services

Furthermore, an employee app can serve as a platform to access various services within the company. This includes features such as viewing the menus of the employee café, managing car park allocations, accessing employee discounts, and even facilitating carpooling opportunities. By providing these convenient and easily accessible services through the app, employee satisfaction is further enhanced. Users can conveniently access and utilize these services, creating a seamless employee experience.