The commitment and motivation of blue-collar workers can directly impact productivity and thus the success of a company. However, reaching and motivating this group of employees can often be the greatest challenge. Fortunately, internal communication can act as a super catalyst in better reaching and engaging physical workers. In our blog post, we present some easily applicable strategic tips for this purpose.
Increasing satisfaction and commitment among physical workers can come with relatively quick returns. The motivation and involvement of blue-collar workers can contribute to better morale, form a more cohesive team among employees, reduce turnover, and play an important role in the success of the entire organization with increased productivity. Therefore, when designing internal communication strategies, it is worth developing a thread specifically focusing on blue-collar workers.
In workplace communication, digital tools are now indispensable, and although it's almost taken for granted that everyone is always accessible, this is less true for blue-collar workers. They typically do not have workplace laptops, phones, or email addresses, making it a significant challenge to reach them during working hours.
The physical distance from management, HR, and the office environment also complicates communication. The effectiveness of outdated informational tools such as notice boards, printed materials, TVs, etc., is questionable and not easily measurable. Moreover, these tools lack the possibility of interaction and are not always suitable for capturing attention. Verbal personal communication can work well, but obviously, it's not feasible in every situation and requires significant human resources.
Overall, blue-collar workers often have to participate in corporate daily life in a rather isolated manner. This can be an obstacle to commitment and the development of a sense of community. The erosion of community and workplace culture at this level can be detrimental to both individuals and organizational effectiveness.
A mobile-friendly internal communication application is an ideal tool to bridge these not just physical distances. Moreover, besides direct personal access (which is often unfeasible due to the above reasons), this may be the shortest route to an employee today. Because, just as practically everyone, blue-collar workers are also likely to have their own smartphones. (The small proportion who don't can be relatively easily caught up with various corporate programs, internal competitions, motivational activities, point-earning activities, etc.) Additionally, the installation of common workstations can also facilitate access.
The goal is for blue-collar colleagues to see this new interface as the main channel for workplace communication, i.e., for maintaining contact, interaction, and acquiring information with their workplace, employer, and workplace community. Therefore, the new internal communication platform must not be alienating. Its use should be promoted among blue-collar workers through separate campaigns, and training should be provided to enable them to navigate the application easily and efficiently.
Overly formal language, long and complex content is no longer effective - not only for blue-collar workers but for others as well. Breaking down information into smaller, digestible chunks facilitates information processing. Moreover, enhanced with visual elements (images, infographics, video content), it further arouses interest.
If they don't feel they're finding relevant content on this platform, it will be much harder to reach blue-collar workers. Therefore, it's important to share content on the platform related to their interests, daily work, and experiences to better engage them.
One of the most important features of a digital, mobile-friendly internal communication platform is its suitability for two-way communication compared to traditional tools. Therefore, blue-collar workers should be encouraged to have their say on the new platform, express their opinions, ideas, react, participate in community activities, etc. Inclusivity can thus be achieved, leading to increased satisfaction and commitment.
When designing a content strategy, it is possible and necessary to rely on which content is most popular among physical workers. These can be measured within the app through internal surveys, and valuable statistics can be directly extracted from the application on how to best activate blue-collar colleagues.
Besides workplace topics, it's also worth exploiting the possibilities of such an internal communication platform for community building. Informal content such as highlighting name days, birthdays, various quizzes, games, competitions, holiday preparations, photo submissions, etc., bring colleagues closer together. Blue-collar workers get to know each other better, and the distance from other colleagues becomes easier to overcome.
A workplace culture where the involvement of blue-collar workers, who tend to isolate due to working conditions and communication difficulties, is prioritized, results in positive changes quickly. Engagement stimulates motivation, a sense of belonging to the team, thereby increasing commitment. Direct access to physical workers via their own internal digital platform can bring about swift and beneficial changes to corporate life. It's advisable to regularly monitor interest and effectiveness so that along with mandatory content, content that blue-collar workers enjoy watching is always featured on the shared platform.
