We all ask ourselves, what’s the most important thing businesses need in a global pandemic?
It’s a question very few of us would ever have thought about prior to 2020. Now, it’s front and centre. So what’s the answer?
Survival? Of course that’s going to be right up there. Protecting profit? Another one close to the top of the list. A large supply of PPE and hand sanitizer? Maintaining customer relationships? Looking after employees? Reducing costs? All of these are important but without one essential factor, they are all worthless.
Businesses across all industries realized incredibly quickly that the most important aspect they needed to get right in response to the global pandemic was communication.
With uncertainty across the globe set to continue for the immediate future, having the ability to communicate quickly, clearly, and effectively is an absolute must for any business that relies on the deskless workforce.
Employee communication platform
Let’s pause for a second and think about what we mean by the deskless workforce - and let’s consider how important these workers have been during 2020.
Think of the nurse caring for a sick relative, the grocery store clerk who kept working through the pandemic, the warehouse workers and delivery drivers ensuring we all still get our online orders, the chefs still going to the closed restaurant cooking our takeout - all while the rest of the world was busy stockpiling toilet paper.
It’s these fellow humans who provide a lifeline (literally in the healthcare sense) to millions of us around the world. As office workers we transitioned to working from home, safely behind a computer screen, while people we know, love, and care for were - and still are - on the front line, day in and day out.
Yet they are part of a forgotten workforce. They are the majority of people working in the world today but they’ve been left behind by software.
This realisation dawned on many businesses when COVID-19 hit. The pandemic quickly highlighted one huge problem businesses who rely on the deskless workforce face; communicating with staff is easy when they are all in one place, but when they aren’t, it’s fraught with difficulty.
Many hourly workers or flexible workers won’t have a corporate email address and their personnel files might be missing a personal email address or an up-to-date cell phone number - making it impossible for local managers to get hold of them with vital information. It’s why using an app to communicate with everyone makes perfect sense. Many of our users told us the Quinyx app has been crucial during these last challenging months for quick communication with their staff.
And it’s why workforce management apps became the ‘go to’ communication and engagement platform for many businesses.
Mission critical messaging
Andreas Sjölund, our CRO, recently outlined the importance of this on the ReThink Productivity podcast: “In March, Qmail (the communication tool built into Quinyx) grew by 50% while the numbers of schedules being created decreased. Being able to have a tool to communicate from head office to the employees - and vice versa - that’s connected to schedules was really highly sought after.
“When employee engagement is built into the WFM app, it also means businesses can very quickly and very easily see how their employees are doing - something we also found has become incredibly important.
“With the ability to send Pulse surveys or simply ask ‘How are you doing today?’ or ‘How are you coping with the stress of COVID?’ HR and head office were able to get a sense check on how their workforce was doing. Without a tool like this it’s impossible to pick up on these things and to know what actions to take to drive the business forward.
“We’re already seeing the impact of this with many more RFPs now coming out with a lot of focus on optimisation but also engagement and communication. Businesses in all industries have seen how important engagement and communication are.”
Our report - The State of the Deskless Workforce 2020 - found one in four deskless workers globally felt their employer did not provide clear communication during the pandemic.
Instant communication with your workforce is a real game-changer and will be one of the most important factors in ensuring business continuity no matter what is thrown at you. We’re still providing our communication module free of charge with no strings attached - so what are you waiting for?
Read more about the state of our deskless workers in our report below.