The math is simple but sobering: ineffective communication costs US businesses $2 trillion annually in lost productivity. That's trillion with a T. And according to surveys, 86% of employees believe poor communication is a major productivity blocker - yet nearly half of executives think their communication is just fine.

We recently spoke with Tobi Anderson, Head of Customer Experience at Speakap, and Darren Jennings, Chief Commercial Officer, to unpack this disconnect and explore how fixing communication habits can dramatically boost productivity for frontline teams.

The frontline productivity problem

Frontline workers - the 80% of employees who don't sit at desks all day - face unique communication challenges. They're on construction sites, in manufacturing plants, assisting guests in hospitality, or helping customers in retail. They have limited time and even more limited access to traditional communication tools.

"Nobody joins an organization because they want to be a mediocre performer," says Daren. "People just want to come in and have us get out of the way so they can do their work. They want the tools and resources to do their job well - but what they don't want is to rummage through a lot of different applications or noise to find what they need."

The $2 trillion problem in action

That astronomical cost of poor communication manifests in concrete ways:

• 44% increase in failure to complete projects
• 31% increase in low employee morale
• 25% of missed performance goals
• 18% lower sales
• 55% of employees missing critical messages
• 53% experiencing burnout, stress, and fatigue
• 36% losing important files
• 28% delivering bad customer experiences
• 12% higher employee turnover

"This is not just hitting employee morale," Daren explains. "There's an actual business impact on the bottom line. These eye-watering numbers are not an accident."

Bad habit #1: Blasting the same message across every channel

After working with hundreds of organizations, Speakap identified the single biggest culprit: blasting the same messaging across multiple channels regardless of who you're trying to reach.

"As communication professionals, we know it's not realistic to have just one channel for everybody," says Tobi. "We do need to meet people where they are. But when all messages go everywhere, we lose people. It's just noise."

The typical frontline organization uses bulletin boards, email (even though many frontline workers don't have company email addresses), SMS text messaging, digital screens, messages cascaded through managers, time clocks, direct mailers, and more. 

How to fix it:

Too many channels is the opposite of simple. Managing multiple platforms is inefficient for comms teams and confusing for employees. "Your messaging gets diluted or - worse - never seen at all," notes Tobi.

Of course you need more than one channel, but be ruthless in reducing them. Don't blast everyone with the same messaging. Understand your audience needs and meet them where they are, providing clarity on which channels are for which audiences.

Bad habit #2: Forgetting about targeted communication

The "all company" email. The broadcast message to everyone. The assumption that what matters to executives matters equally to part-time associates.

"When you have no differentiation in your internal audiences, you're asking employees to filter through massive amounts of irrelevant information," explains Tobi.

How to fix it:

Take time to understand your audiences. Ask yourself:

• Who are your key audiences?
• What are their top priorities?
• What channels are best to reach them?

Don't assume you know the answers. Actually ask your frontline workers through pulse polls, focus groups, or quick in-app surveys.

Bad habit #3: Asking employees to sign into eight different apps

Between payroll systems, scheduling tools, benefits portals, learning management systems, and communication platforms, frontline workers waste significant time just accessing the tools they need to do their jobs.

How to fix it:

Provide access to key tools in a single place where possible. "We have so many tools to support us - make it easy for frontline teams by reducing or simplifying the access points," Tobi advises. Fewer things to remember equals easier to focus on getting work done instead of where to find things. After all, a great frontline employee experience starts with tool consolidation..

Bad habit #4: Keeping all posting rights with one team only

Creating bottlenecks by requiring all communication to flow through one group prevents timely, relevant messaging - even when leaders could share directly with their teams.

How to fix it:

Democratize communications by allowing leaders (think local managers, supervisors, shift leads, etc.) to communicate locally by location and job function. "Internal communications teams are under-resourced as is," Tobi points out. "Enable specific leaders to communicate locally in a planned, permissioned way."

This doesn't mean opening the floodgates. It means strategically expanding who can communicate what to whom.

Bad habit #5: Forgetting fundamentals when writing comms

Lengthy employee newsletters and email updates to the entire company are holdovers from the past that just won't go away. So are lengthy and printed memos stuck to your bulletin board.

"Think frontline workers will spend 20-30 minutes reading a printout on the bulletin board in the break room?" Tobi asks.

Internal Speakap data tells a very important story: frontline workers log into their comms platform 2-3 times per day for 40-60 seconds per session.

How to fix it:

Get back to basics for content creation:

• Write for comprehension of your audience - not to show how smart you sound to investors
• Use simple language and avoid excessive jargon and acronyms
• Keep posts to no more than a 2-minute read
• Embrace short videos (you can convey more in a 1-minute video than a 1-minute article)

Bad habit #6: Keeping internal communication one-way only

Many organizations worry about opening two-way communication. What if someone posts something inappropriate? What if there's negative feedback?

"Yes, there's risk," Tobi acknowledges. "But you're missing valuable insights from the frontline who have great ideas to improve processes and drive productivity. To say nothing of the psychological impact of telling someone you don't care what they think."

How to fix it:

Welcome frontline employee voices by starting small:

• Allow small groups to comment on your content
• Consider allowing only emoji reactions to start
• Have a clear acceptable use policy of what's okay to say and what isn't
• Create dedicated feedback channels where employees have a safe area to sound off and provide ideas

The impact of getting it right (and how to implement change management around it)

The research shows what's possible when you fix these habits: employees who feel included in more detailed workplace communication are almost 5X more likely to report increased productivity. "That's why we care about this," says Daren. "Employees are already reporting they don't have good communication. Leadership doesn't think it's a big problem. But when you unlock that communication, just look at the results." But don't forget change management. "Our staff are going to know what they know," notes Tobi. 

"When you implement changes to reduce channels or democratize comms, you're implementing a change." Ensure current staff are supported with change management through awareness, training, help materials, and reinforcement. Support new staff by adapting your onboarding to start them off on the right foot. This is especially valuable in high-turnover industries like retail and hospitality where you're constantly refreshing your employment pool.

Key takeaways? Simple and actionable!

Breaking these bad communication habits isn't just about employee morale - it directly impacts your bottom line. The eight key actions to take:

1. Reduce channels and target your comms - Be ruthless in cutting channels and provide clarity on which are for which audiences
2. Understand your audiences - Ask who they are, what their priorities are, and how to reach them
3. Provide one place to access tools - Simplify access points so employees can focus on work, not navigation
4. Democratize communications - Enable leaders to communicate locally in planned, permissioned ways
5. Get back to basics for content creation - Write for comprehension, use simple language, keep it short
6. Welcome employee voices - Start small with reactions and comments, create safe feedback channels

The bottom line

Simplifying communication for frontline workers can prevent wasted time seeking information, ensure all employees understand benefits and opportunities available regardless of role or language, give employees a voice that helps them feel a sense of belonging, and increase employee engagement - which is shown to increase productivity.

"How do noisy, repetitive comms block productivity?" Daren summarizes. "They get in the way of people getting their work done. They make work environments more complicated, hard to navigate, and just slow people down. So don't get in the way of people doing their work - enable them to do it better."

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