10 Questions to Determine if You Need a Mobile App For Employees

There are a lot of different internal communications solutions out there. So, how do you decide which one you need? Because 80% of the global workforce doesn’t work behind a desk, we believe that mobile solutions are key. If you’re wondering if you need a mobile app for employees to use, but aren’t sure if it’s the right fit, ask yourself these ten questions.

What is a Mobile App for Employees?

Before we get to the questions, let’s cover some important context. What even if a mobile employee app?

Mobile apps for employees are company applications that can be downloaded onto a smartphone. These apps can have a range of functionality, but many strive to help companies with mobile workforce management (MWM) and improving communication with their employees.

What are the Main Uses of an Employee Communication App?

At theEMPLOYEEapp, we specialize in helping companies improve employee communication using the right suite of internal comms tools.

The primary use cases of our mobile app for employees are:

• Resource Hub: Give employees one channel where they can access all the resources and information they need for work.
• Manager Communications: Provide tools and talking points to improve manager employee communication.
• Executive Communications: Get the C-Suite in front of all employees, while also giving them more ways of communicating beside text-based messages, which can be poorly received.
• Broadcast Notifications: Quickly and efficiently let employees know about shift changes, cancellations, product recalls, and other urgent updates with app push notifications.
• Recognition and Employee Engagement: Celebrate important milestones and achievements and share these stories on an engaging, social news feed.

What Employee Groups Need a Mobile App? 

Employee apps aren’t necessarily for everyone. The audience that stands the most to benefit from this kind of mobile-first communication channel is the deskless workforce.

These are your nurses and clinical staff in healthcare, truckers and distribution center workers in logistics, plant workers in manufacturing, and hotel, restaurant, and retail store employees.

Deskless employees often don’t have access to other common channels like the company intranet or company email. Mobile apps, however, allow these employees to download an app to their personal device to have access to the updates, resources, and systems they need for their jobs.

That said, mobile workers aren’t the only ones who would use an app. Millennials and Gen Zers likely also want to use channels that are more modern and give them 24/7 access to the information they need. So, it’s also possible that your younger corporate staff would also adopt an employee mobile app.

Mobile App For Employees Question Checklist

Throwing a new tool or technology at a problem isn’t always the right approach. It’s important to consider your existing channels, what you need to send, who you’re trying to reach, and what you’ll need to be able to do in the future.

 An internal comms audit can help you visualize this at your company. This will help you find gaps in your current strategy, but there are other factors that might make finding an app for your employees a good decision.

Ask yourself:

1. Have you asked your employees if they want an employee app?
2. Do your frontline workers and hard-to-reach employees have access to the channels you’re currently using?
3. Is your content strategy being held back by the limitations of your existing channels?
4. Are your employees disconnected from the company, mission, vision, values, or culture?
5. Is it difficult to improve manager communication with your existing platforms?
6. Are your employees wasting time trying to find the information they need?
7. Can you measure success on your current platforms?
8. Are you able to reach your employees during an emergency or crisis?
9. Are you struggling to have employees complete certifications and required training? 
10. Do you rely heavily on outdated and difficult to track methods of communication (e.g. printed materials)?

How Do You Roll Out a Mobile App For Employees?

Based on your answers to the above questions, you probably realize that a mobile-first solution would help round out your channel mix.

But once you select an app provider, it’s important to consider your rollout strategy. Without a thoughtful deployment plan that considers change management best practices, any new tool can fail. Even a much-needed one.

Follow these steps to make sure your new app gets adopted by your employees.

• Pilot the app. You can learn a lot from a pilot. Are there any barriers? Where might more training be helpful? What kind of content did the pilot employees want that you didn’t think of? Our clients have had a lot of success when piloting with a leadership group as well to get them bought in and advocating for the tool when you launch it to your whole company.
• Plan a staged rollout. Your strategy for gaining adoption might be different for each employee group you want to use the new tool. theEMPLOYEEapp’s clients have had the most success when rolling out their apps in stages. Whether you want to roll out by region, by department, or by role, this strategy really helps.
• Survey your people. Don’t rely on assumptions about what you think your employees will want a tool to do. Gaining buy-in is a lot easier when your teams feel like they were included and considered. So survey your employees early on and let that intel drive your content strategy and rollout campaigns.
• Follow the ADKAR Change Management Steps. A new tool is a big change. You’ll definitely want to consider change management best practices to ensure long-lasting success and adoption.

What is the Best Employee Mobile App?

It feels like we have finally entered a golden age for internal comms technology. There are now more employee apps and solutions than ever before.

While choice is good…it can also be overwhelming. So, how do you find the right employee mobile app for your business?

To make the right choice, you have to evaluate your goals. What is it that your company is trying to achieve with the app? 

• Are you trying to give frontline workers a comms channel? 
• Is HR communication and operational messages most important to you?
• Or are you trying to drive more engagement? 

You probably have multiple goals for your employee app. Map these out and compare different providers. But remember that price and scalability are just as important as features and functionality. And many internal comms solutions charge an arm and a leg for their apps, offering features a la carte. 

At theEMPLOYEEapp, our product comes with all the standard functionality you need to communicate effectively.

Take the Next Steps With theEMPLOYEEapp

If you’re considering a mobile app for your employees and want to learn more about how theEMPLOYEEapp can help solve the challenges of communicating with your deskless workers, let’s get in touch.

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