Here’s the truth: most of your frontline employees don’t read the polished updates you spend hours writing. If you’ve ever repeated the same update five times and still had people say, “I didn’t know about that,” you know exactly what I mean.

So the real question isn’t “Did we send it?” It’s “Did anyone care enough to read it?”

In our ROI of Frontline Connection webinar, we unpacked what actually lands with frontline teams. And in most cases, it’s not the corporate newsletter. It’s the stuff that feels close, practical, and personal. Let’s break it down.

Watch the full ROI of Frontline Connection webinar

The content frontline teams actually read was just one part of the discussion. In the full session, Lynn Zimmerman and Daren Jennings unpack how miscommunication drives turnover, why recognition matters more than you think, and how to link comms directly to ROI.

4 updates your frontline employees actually want to read

1. Posts from local leaders

Your employees don’t see the CEO as their leader. They see their supervisor, shift manager, or site lead — the person they interact with daily.

That’s why updates from local leaders hit harder than top-down announcements. A quick post from a store manager about a scheduling change will get read. A long message from HQ about “vision and values”? Probably ignored.

Of course, not every manager feels comfortable posting at first. At Puttshack, some supervisors weren’t sure what to share or how formal to be. That’s where a little structure helped: their people team rolled out a simple content calendar with daily, weekly, and monthly ideas. With that bit of guidance, managers began posting more regularly — and teams stayed more in the loop. Engagement climbed, not because the messages were polished, but because they were personal and relevant.

The lesson? Even short, imperfect updates from local leaders carry more weight than faceless corporate blasts. Give managers tools, encouragement, and a nudge in the right direction, and you’ll see communication flow where it matters most.

2. Recognition moments

Your people want to be seen. Recognition posts are some of the most-read content inside employee experience apps — especially when they’re specific and tied to real wins.

Here are some examples to get you inspired:

• “Shout-out to the night shift for turning around orders in record time — 20% faster than last week.”
• “Thanks to Jamal for spotting a safety risk on the floor and preventing a potential accident.”
• “This store just hit its highest customer satisfaction score in 6 months. Huge kudos to the team.”
• “Appreciation for Ana and Lucas, who trained three new hires this month and kept everything on schedule.”

When you highlight achievements at the team level, you create a better workplace culture. And yes, a photo makes it even more powerful.

At Pura Vida, recognition quickly became a way to connect people beyond their immediate teams. A new colleague being welcomed, a crew smashing a goal, or someone going the extra mile — those moments weren’t just noticed by a manager, they were shared and celebrated across the company. Recognition works best when it travels. When people see achievements across the wider team, it builds community instead of silos.

3. Tactical, shift-level updates

Here’s what really gets attention: anything that affects someone’s shift today. Examples:

• Scheduling changes.
• Safety reminders tied to the current project.
• Productivity targets for the week.
• A new system or process rolling out on the floor.

That’s exactly the kind of communication Jacobs Transport leans on. With most of their team on the road, drivers post real-time updates that others can act on immediately: a heads-up about a dangerous stretch of highway, or a weighbridge check in Germany that could slow things down. During a recent strike, managers shared quick notes about adjusted schedules so no one was left guessing.

These aren’t polished memos — they’re timely, useful nudges that make the day run smoother and safer. And that’s why they work.

4. Benefits they didn’t know they had

Most frontline workers don’t have a company email. Many don’t check the intranet. So the benefits you worked so hard to set up? They often go unnoticed.

Training programs. Career development paths. Wellness resources. Discounts. They’re technically “there,” but unless you put them in front of people — in plain, direct language — they’ll never know.

Take Kalahari Resorts as an example. They’d built a comprehensive wellness program for their associates, but the information wasn’t reaching everyone. With a workforce spanning multiple generations — and many employees without company email — the message wasn’t landing where it needed to.

To fix this, they used MyKalahari, a branded frontline employee experience app powered by Speakap, where associates could find wellness resources, training opportunities, and program updates in one place. Instead of generic reminders, employees now get clear, direct prompts like:

• “Here’s today’s wellness activity.”
• “Here’s how to join the financial wellbeing session.”
• “Here’s where to sign up for training.”

The shift was subtle but powerful: more people actually knew what was available to them — and started using it. As one associate put it:

 I don’t have to worry about missing anything. It’s right at my fingertips.

When benefits are made visible and easy to act on, they stop being “perks on paper” and start becoming part of everyday work life.

Why this matters for you

If you’ve ever felt like your updates vanish into thin air, it’s not because your frontline employees don’t care. It’s because what you’re sending doesn’t feel like it’s for them.

Frontline employees are busy, on their feet, and juggling shifts. They have minutes — not hours — to scan updates. That’s why repetition matters. Saying something twice isn’t “annoying.” It’s reinforcement.

So ask yourself before hitting send:

• Is this practical for someone’s shift?
• Does it come from a leader they actually know?
• Does it recognize people or give them value right now?

If the answer is no, don’t send it yet. Rewrite it until it’s something your frontline will actually care to read.

So, what should you do differently?

Your comms don’t need more polish. They need more relevance.

Frontline employees read messages that are local, tactical, and human. Everything else? It’s just background noise.

So stop chasing reach with updates nobody reads. Start sharing the stories, recognition, and shift-level info that actually matter. Because when your people read it, they don’t just consume information — they act on it.

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