Employee Communication for Non-Desk Workers
Whether your employees are desk-based or deskless, it’s difficult to overstate the importance of business communication. And yet, study after study seems to reveal that employees are overwhelmingly underwhelmed by their employers’ communication styles and issues of poor communication start to fester, undermining both morale and productivity.
If we’re being honest with ourselves, communicating with employees, in itself, isn’t exceptionally difficult—but effective communication requires intention. It’s hard enough when we’re talking about a traditional office full of employees who are virtually always accessible, but what happens at companies where many—if not all— employees work in places other than an office (like a factory floor, warehouse, or construction site)? Learning how to engage deskless employees is the key to keeping everyone informed and safe.
This article will explore how to keep employees engaged and motivated through effective communication, as well as some of the most common barriers to communication in the workplace and how to overcome them by choosing the right employee communication method.
What Are the 4 Types of Employee Communication in the Workplace?
Broadly speaking, the 4 types of communication in the workplace are verbal, non-verbal, written, and visual. Learning how—and when—to use each of these 4 types of internal communication is the key to effective workplace communication and collaboration. Let’s take a closer look at each:
- Verbal: In-person, face-to-face communication (e.g., speaking). This is often considered the most effective, go-to communication method, as it can prove equally appropriate for office-based as well as non-desk workers.
- Non-Verbal: Communication without words (e.g., body language, eye contact). Obviously this works well when you communicate in person, but doesn’t translate well to non-desk job sites.
- Written: Communication delivered via writing/text. Written communication is another form that works well for both office-based workers (e.g., email, instant messaging) and non-desk workers (e.g., text message).
- Visual: Image-based communication (e.g., posters, flyers, charts). This communication type is appropriate for an office environment, but can also be used for non-desk workers—by either posting materials at the job site or sending them to workers’ mobile devices via text or email.
In most workplaces, you should expect to see at least a couple of these different communication types in action. Ultimately, it’s up to leadership and management to determine the most effective method for reaching their employees, and to deliver clear and meaningful messages. When selecting the right communication method for a given situation, of course, context and urgency also matter.
What Is the Most-Used Form of Communication in the Workplace?
It really depends on the workplace, as well as the reason(s) for communication. In terms of what workers prefer, a recent Forbes study found that “many workers prefer old-fashioned tools,” with email being the most popular method.
The popularity of email makes sense—for office-based as well as non-desk workers—when you consider its many advantages, like the ability for a sender to carefully craft their message and the ability of the recipient to read it at their convenience, or to read it multiple times if they don’t understand it.
Another increasingly popular communication method that’s popular among employees across a number of industries is text messaging. Similar to email, texting provides the opportunity to craft clear, thoughtful messages, as well as the ability to reach workers wherever they are, when it’s convenient for them.
In addition to email and text messaging, a list of the top 5 most used forms of communication at the workplace—whether in an office or elsewhere—is rounded out by in-person, phone-based, and visual communication methods.
What Is an Example of a Deskless Worker?
Non-desk workers are exactly what they sound like: workers who don’t primarily sit at a desk or occupy a traditional, office-based environment. You’ll find them in industries like manufacturing, construction, and transportation/warehousing.
There are several key differences between desk-based and non-desk workers, which should be considered when deciding how to best reach them. These differences include:
- Lack of a physical workstation. Unlike desk-based workers, non-desk workers don’t spend much—if any—time sitting in front of a phone and computer. What they do typically have access to, however, is a mobile phone capable of receiving text messages.
- Lack of time. Especially in the industries mentioned above, such as construction, non-desk workers are often busy with physically-demanding tasks on job sites. Their time truly is money, so that must be considered when reaching out to them. In other words, each message must have a purpose.
- Remote locations. Unlike desk-based workers, non-desk employees’ managers don’t typically see them on a daily basis. This can make it more difficult to read meaning or tone in messages, so the best messages are clear and concise, minimizing the opportunity for misunderstandings and miscommunication.
While these employees may not be as accessible as those who sit at a desk on a daily basis, they should not be forgotten about or left out of the loop. Next, let’s look at some best practices for effectively engaging non-desk employees.
How Do You Engage Non-Desk Employees Effectively?
It’s not necessarily difficult to engage non-desk employees, but doing so effectively is a different story. For example, it doesn’t take much effort to send a company-wide email—but simply sending an email doesn’t guarantee that it will be read (or even opened, in many cases).
So, how do you increase the chances of not only reaching employees when you need to reach them, but also having an impact? Consider the following best practices:
- Be clear, concise, and purposeful. The quickest way to get employees to tune you out is by wasting their time. It’s well-documented at this point that most workers feel like they waste too much time reading and responding to emails, and for non-desk workers you can apply that same point to text messages. Whenever you craft a message, make sure it serves a purpose, and that its purpose is clear. If you expect a response, make that clear as well.
- Watch your tone. Studies have repeatedly shown that in workplace communication how a message is received and interpreted is less about what you say and more about how you say it. In non-verbal communication, like text messages or email, it can be difficult to interpret tone, leading to many preventable misunderstandings. For workplace communication, it’s best to simply keep the tone straightforward and clear.
- Personalize. Nobody wants their inbox or mobile device to be filled with pointless spam messages. While there are certainly times when sending a mass text message to workers at the jobsite makes sense, not everyone needs to receive every message. Be thoughtful about who receives what message(s)—and be personal whenever possible (but not uncomfortably personal).
- Be inclusive. In the context of employee communication examples, “inclusivity” applies in a couple different contexts: using inclusive language and making sure to (literally) include everyone who needs to receive a message before sending it.
- Don’t over-use it. Especially with non-desk workers, be conscientious about valuing their time. Sending messages throughout the day, with varying levels of importance, can lead employees to start tuning messages out. This can lead to issues when you need to reach one or more employees with an urgent message, not unlike “the boy who cried wolf.” The more selective you are about what’s important enough to send, the more you can expect your employees to pay attention when you do reach out to them.
- Anticipate responses. Before sending a message, try to read it from the employees’ point of view. That way, you can anticipate potential responses and be ready with an idea of what to say next, especially if you anticipate objections or questions in response.
By following these best practices and using the right software, employers can more effectively engage their entire workforce—even deskless employees.
What Are the Typical Reasons for Barriers to Communication in the Workplace?
The most common barriers of business communication largely mirror the communication challenges people deal with on a daily basis, in both their work and personal lives. Some of these include language barriers, cultural differences, mismatched communication styles, and lack of clear messaging.
It’s one thing to communicate with employees within the same physical space; communicating with non-desk employees introduces additional challenges to overcome, however. This include:
- Accessibility: Within an office setting, employees are almost always accessible. The same can’t be said for non-desk employees, who can’t possibly be expected to read and respond to messages the same way as desk-based workers. For these employees, two-way SMS/text messaging is the best way to reach them, since they usually have mobile phones with them wherever they are.
- Time: Non-desk workers typically don’t have much (if any) time in their day to leisurely browse their inbox and send responses. With what little time they do have, they’re not incredibly likely to spend it reading email, however, whether due to access issues or just not wanting to. SMS/text messaging provides an easy way to reach these employees when needed.
- Clarity: Within an office setting, it’s relatively easy for workers to interpret the context of verbal and written communication, because they can discern tone and other cues. For a non-desk worker on the jobsite, however, those context clues are much less present. This underscores the importance of clear, concise communication that gets right to the point, in straightforward language.
- Receptivity: Many workers—in offices as well as on jobsites—have a negative view of digital communication forms, such as email and text messaging. Consider the following statistics from a recent Forbes study: For many workers (60%), dealing with digital communication leads to increased feelings of burnout.Half of workers feel like their productivity is negatively affected by ineffective communication.Nearly half (42%) of workers feel stress when they have to formulate appropriate responses to workplace communication—including determining the right tone of voice.
What Are the Benefits of Text Messaging as a Form of Workplace Communication?
While email and texting are generally considered the best forms of communication in the workplace, for non-desk employees, texting offers many advantages over email and other common workplace communication examples. Choosing SMS/text messaging as your go-to workplace communication method is a great way to mitigate the effects of poor communication in the workplace, such as low morale and reduced productivity.
Some of the key advantages of texting include the ability to…
- Engage in near-instant, two-way communication.
- Reach most (if not all) employees, whether at a desk or jobsite.
- Ensure their messages are seen/read, with much higher open rates than email.
- Increase their reach with the ability to send messages to specific groups of recipients.
- Automate or send scheduled text messages.
- Reduce costs, compared with other communication platforms.
Reach Non-Desk Workers with Yourco
Reaching non-desk workers doesn’t have to be difficult. With Yourco, two-way SMS/text messaging couldn’t be easier. There are no apps to download and no difficult configurations—just the simple, straightforward communication you need to keep workers informed, connected, and safe.
The potential use cases for a platform like Yourco go well beyond basic texting. Using our intuitive platform, you can:
- Send company announcements, and track whether they’ve been opened/read.
- Create employee alerts to ensure employees know about safety issues and related concerns.
- Provide employees with an easy way to call off when they’re unable to work.
- Distribute employee surveys to gauge their engagement and satisfaction with the company.
- Deliver onboarding and training messages and materials to employees.
- Solicit employee referrals with an easy-to-send link.
Learn more about our employee texting platform. Contact us to set up a demo, or try it out for free today!
