HOW TO TRANSFORM INTERNAL COMMS FOR THE DESKLESS GENERATIONThe Time Has Come For A Mobile First Approach

When you look at today’s workforce, you see an increasing amount of deskless employees, especially in industries like retail, hospitality, healthcare, medicine, and field service. And more and more, that workforce consists of Millennials who have different expectations about communications than older generations. It’s a population that eats, breathes and sleeps with their mobile phones and social media.

As a communications professional, you not only need to consistently communicate with this generation, you need to engage with them. That means going away from email, the company intranet, and newsletters, which don’t align with how they prefer to consume information.

The time has come for you to implement a mobile communications strategy. Not only will you get on board with 21st century tools, you’ll see higher levels of employee engagement and the increased productivity that comes with it.

2

What is an engaged employee? What is a deskless employee?

Engaged employees feel connected to the company. Management communicates with them and genuinely listens to their needs. Their opinions are not just valued, they’re welcomed.

But as Gartner points out, less than one-third of employees are engaged. That may be because 74% of employees feel that they missing out on company information and news (Gallup). This is why it’s critical to launch a mobile communications program: Engaged employees are 57% more effective and 87% less likelyto leave the company. (ADP, CorporateExecutive Board)

Deskless employees work in stores, on factory floors, in warehouses, on construction sites, and in the field serving customers.

They spend their days mainly doing physical work rather than using a keyboard or phone. And there are a lot of them. 80% of the global workforce, which is approximately 3 billion people, performs physical or deskless work. (Google)

YOUR NEW WORKFORCE: MILLENNIALS AND GENERATION Z Employers need to adjust to the way the most recent generations live and communicate

of people between 18-29 say they “can’t live” without their smartphone(Pew Research Center)

Who? MindsetKey Stats Mobile Behavior

Millennials and Generation Z.

At 75.4 million they are now the largest living generation. (Pew Research)

By 2020 they’ll make up 46% of the workforce. (Upworthy)

64% ask about a company’s social media policy during interviews. (Upworthy)

Mobile is their default way of communicating with friends and family.

They expect to do the same with co-workers and colleagues.

They’re attracted to employers with cultures and processes that align with their thinking and habits.

Over 86% own smartphones, more than any other age group. (USA Today)

They account for 41% of the total time Americans spend with smartphones, despite being just 30% of the population.(MarketWatch)

“There’s a new generation of associates that walk through the door every day and many of them live and breath and have

grown up in a social media world. We have to avoid the disillusionment of them coming into our organization and seeing that

we are not communicating in the same way that they communicate in the outside world.”

— Andrew Cutler, Internal Communications Manager @ BMW Group

3

47%

39%nearly 4 in 10 millennials say they interact more with their smartphones than they do with their significant others, parents, friends, children or co-workers(Bank of America)

WHY DESKLESS EMPLOYEES PREFER MOBILE COMMUNICATIONSThey get the exact information they need: With mobile you can slice and dice information for specific

segments of employees. Deliver personalized information and messages based on location, department and

job function, as well as their interests and online behaviors.

It’s convenient: In real-time, on the factory floor or at the coffee shop, employees can receive company news,

schedule changes, announcements and more. They can also use chat tools to troubleshoot problems or get

advice from co-workers – all without leaving their location.

They’re comfortable sharing company-related content: There are now mobile technologies that allow you

to create a hub of company-approved content for employees to share. Employees want to share content about

their workplaces with their social networks and feel comfortable doing it.

4

In 2015, 24% of employees worked from home.

(Fast Company)

(Mindshare NA)

(Prescient Digital)

55% of employees said mobile alerts about news and content would help them be more informed and engaged with their company.

Only 13% of employees even visit the intranet, while 30% ignore their employer’s emails.

“Mobile is particularly important for our in-store staff. It gives us the ability to deliver content directly to them while they are

in our retail stores.”

— Kristian Lorenzon, Head of Social Media @ O2

HOW MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS BENEFIT EMPLOYERS Employee engagement can increase revenue: With the wide reach and instant nature of mobile

communications, you create deeper employee engagement. And that can improve the bottom line. According

to a Holmes Report, when Best Buy boosted employee engagement scores, they also increased sales for

individual by $100,000 each year.

Better communication saves money: When you engage employees, you do more than improve morale.

The same Holmes Report showed that because of poor communications, companies lose about $26,000 per

employee, every year based on productivity losses.

Increase efficiency: Mobile means deskless employees can collaborate on projects, share documents, access

company information, and receive instructions anytime, anywhere during the workday. They don’t have to go

back to a workstation.

Get valuable intelligence: Through mobile surveys, polls, user behavior and other metrics, you can find out

what communications work best with deskless employees. You can then apply those findings to specific

departments or across the company.

5

When compared to their competitors, organizations with higher levels of employeeengagement are 18% more productive and 12% more profitable.

(Gallup)

“Dynamic Signal is a really beautiful solution for companies that have a range of employees, who are in office environments

to those who are not behind computers, perhaps in manufacturing settings or portions of the workforce that are on the road

and in mobile environments.”

— Christopher Hannegan, Executive Vice President & U.S. Practice Lead, Employee Engagement @ Edelman

HOW TO CONNECT WITH DESKLESS EMPLOYEESCREATE A MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

Define your goals: Just like your overall internal communications strategy, your mobile communications strategy

needs to have clear objectives. Spell out the big ideas you want to convey to deskless employees. For example:

• Keep them up to date on new products and features

• Inform them about company news

• Share internal announcements about employee recognition and achievements

• Get them involved in decisions around marketing, events and promotions

Address the biggest pain points: Sit down with your team and consider what aspects of your communications

haven’t’ been working. Then ask deskless employees what they think could improve, as well as the types of

content and formats they prefer. Some common stumbling blocks include:

• You can’t get information to employees fast enough

• You can’t measure if any communications are actually working

• You can’t personalize communications for role, location or department

• There’s no common understanding about the company’s mission

• Departments aren’t aware of each other’s activities and achievements

(Sales doesn’t know what Marketing’s doing, and vice versa)

• There’s a lack of engagement, which might be responsible for employee turnover

Segment your audiences: Mobile technology has made it easy to get the right information at the right time to

the right employee. You can also target specific groups. To get started, create a spreadsheet and assign types of

communications to each segment based on job title, function and location.

Measure impact: Tools are now available that allow you to track what’s effective and what’s unsuccessful. You

can measure actions like video views and click-through rates, even where someone stopped filling out an online

form. With these statistics you can adjust internal communications, which improves results and provides evidence

when you’re proposing changes or fresh ideas.

Get to the point: Consider that the average human attention span is now merely 8.25 seconds, a decrease of

33% since 2000 (Social Media Today). So make sure that communications are simple, clear and concise.

Remember that your messages are competing with all of the employee’s other mobile activity.

6

Rethink training: If Millennials prefer mobile, it makes sense to shift some, if not all, classroom training to

smartphone-based training. Deskless employees can avoid travel while learning at their own pace. 43% percent

of learners say the ability to access training content from a mobile device as “essential” or “very useful.”

(Training Mag)

TRY THESE MOBILE COMMUNICATION TACTICS FOR YOUR TEAM

Encourage mobile collaboration and messagingImagine being a deskless worker on the floor of a retail store. You have a question about a product and need to

help a customer fast, but email is too slow and cumbersome. With software like Slack, Yammer, HipChat,

Facebook Messenger, Jive, and of course Dynamic Signal, you can instantly communicate and collaborate with

other employees who can help you. Because of the interface, messages get quicker responses than email, which

can get buried in an in-box.

Keep them organized

Thanks to the combination of cloud technology and mobile phones, deskless employees can access digital files

without having to lug around a laptop. Try Google Drive, Basecamp or Dropbox, all which allow you to store

massive amount of files, with the ability to upload new documents or edit existing documents.

TRY THESE MOBILE CONTENT IDEAS

Encourage the use of social media: The average Millennial mobile user spends nearly 26 hours a month using

social media applications. Since they already use social all the time, it’s natural for that habit to extend to your

company’s social activity. Deliver company-approved content for them to share with their networks, which can

generate brand awareness and drive leads and sales for the company.

Send videos: According to Adweek, 60% of people prefer video over reading text. Nearly two-thirds of

millennials would rather watch a video than read text (Warc). And who can blame them? With its combination

of imagery, music, audio and graphics, video is the most compelling way to communicate announcements and

new initiatives

Be visual: Besides video, use others types of visuals like photography and graphics in emails, text messages,

even chat conversations. They create more impact than plain copy - 90% of information transmitted to the brain

is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text (Hubspot). Pair visuals with

messages about company news, employment opportunities, product announcements and more.

60% of employees feel their relationship with their employer positivelyimpacts their focus or productivity at work.

(Virging Pulse)

7

Share success: Whether it’s a creative video or colorful infographic, send out regular updates about company

accomplishments. Give praise for a specific department’s performance or celebrate an individual employee’s

award. Content like this makes deskless employees feel more connected to the larger team, and motivates them

to do even more in their jobs. Also share industry news and trends to create an even deeper connection to the

company.

Inspire action: It’s not always enough to get people to watch or read. Every communication should explicitly ask

them to do something, so always include a call-to-action (CTA). Popular CTAs include “Fill out the form”, “Sign

up for the class” , “Register for this event today”, “Share this with your friends”, and “Tell us what you think in

the comments section”. Increase response by offering incentives for their actions.

Get them involved: Deskless employees should be your partners in developing and refining the mobile com-

munications plan. We suggest providing them with an open channel to gather their feedback and ideas. Try polls

and surveys, and in the footer of communications literally spell out, “We want to know how we can improve our

communications. Tell us.”

Visual content increases engagement by 65% .

More than 5,000 Salesforce employees share company-approved content on social, driving

1 MILLION CLICKS

250,000REACTIONS

(HubSpot)

“I definitely hear from employees who feel more informed and engaged by using our employee advocacy platform, Bonfire.

It’s not only about sharing the content, it’s about connecting to the content.”

— Julie Hayes, Senior Brand Communications Manager @ Autodesk

8

YOUR WORKFORCE IS WAITING. ARE YOU READY?When you improve how you engage with employees, your company sees improved output. In fact, according to

Gallup, organizations with a high level of engagement report 22% higher productivity.

Take that number to heart when thinking about implementing a mobile communications plans. Over 86% of

Millennials own a smartphone, and by 2020 they’ll comprise 46% of the workforce. So as you can see, it’s pretty

clear that going mobile isn’t a matter of “if”, it’s really a matter of “when.” The sooner you start, the better the

results you’ll get.

Use the advice and tactics in this ebook to transform your internal communications. As you improve employee

engagement, you’ll see a more inspired, productive workforce.

9

The #1 Platform for Employee Advocacy and EngagementKeep employees informed and engaged while empowering them to easily share company-approved content on social, transforming them into experts, advocates, and contributors.

Trusted by Over 200 of the World’s Leading Brands

News Sharing Messaging Analytics

Reaching a New Audience Is Harder Than Ever Internal Communications is Broken- Organic social media is dying -

- Content creation is costly & time consuming -- Consumers are overwhelmed with content -

- Employees are disconnected at work - - Many have no email or intranet access -

- Outdated technologies are not mobile first -

Keep employees engaged, connected and informed with the latest relevant brand and industry news.

Empower employees to share company content and reach millions of potential customers.

Keep your brand safe, on message, and compliant on social media.

See results, improve KPIs for marketing, communications, HR, sales and finance.

Dynamic Signal’s VoiceStorm platform solves these challenges by providing employees access to relevant content on any device to discover, view, and share, while measuring the impact and results.

7 of the top 10 social enterprises are Dynamic

Signal customers

10B+ impressions generated from external social sharing across all

our customers

More dedicated funding towards Employee

Advocacy than any other vendor in the category

5 of the top 6 PR Agencies in the world use Dynamic

Signal internally and suggest it for their customers

www.dynamicsignal.comf DynamicSignal l DynamicSignal t @Dynamic_Signal

Would you like to learn more about how an Employee Advocacy platform will drive value for your company?

We would love to show you how Dynamic Signal has powered hundreds of successful programs around the globe.

Companies with a formal Employee Advocacy program saw 2X the benefits over those that did not have one.

Learn more about how to do this for your company, contact us today.

info@dynamicsignal.com - 650-231-2550

(Source: Hinge Research)

The #1 Platform for Employee Advocacy and EngagementKeep employees informed and engaged while empowering them to easily share company-approved content on social, transforming them into experts, advocates, and contributors.

Trusted by Over 200 of the World’s Leading Brands

News Sharing Messaging Analytics

Reaching a New Audience Is Harder Than Ever Internal Communications is Broken- Organic social media is dying -

- Content creation is costly & time consuming -- Consumers are overwhelmed with content -

- Employees are disconnected at work - - Many have no email or intranet access -

- Outdated technologies are not mobile first -

Keep employees engaged, connected and informed with the latest relevant brand and industry news.

Empower employees to share company content and reach millions of potential customers.

Keep your brand safe, on message, and compliant on social media.

See results, improve KPIs for marketing, communications, HR, sales and finance.

Dynamic Signal’s VoiceStorm platform solves these challenges by providing employees access to relevant content on any device to discover, view, and share, while measuring the impact and results.

7 of the top 10 social enterprises are Dynamic

Signal customers

10B+ impressions generated from external social sharing across all

our customers

More dedicated funding towards Employee

Advocacy than any other vendor in the category

5 of the top 6 PR Agencies in the world use Dynamic

Signal internally and suggest it for their customers

www.dynamicsignal.comf DynamicSignal l DynamicSignal t @Dynamic_Signal