Month: June 2026

Frontline workforces keep organisations running. They make products, move goods, care for customers, keep sites safe, maintain services and solve operational problems every day. Yet they are often the people who feel furthest away from corporate communication. 

The issue is not that frontline teams are difficult to engage. It is that many workplace communication systems are designed around desk-based access: email access, intranet updates, office hours, regular screen time and scheduled meetings. For employees working shifts, driving vehicles, operating machinery, serving customers or moving through busy sites, that model often does not fit the reality of the working day. 

IC Index 2026: The reality check paints a difficult picture. One in five frontline workers hear about major changes through the grapevine rather than from leaders. Frontline workers are over twice as likely to say they spend no time reading communication updates. And trust in executive leadership among frontline workers sits at 35%, compared with 54% among desk-based colleagues. 

These are not small channel issues. They are trust, access and relevance issues. 

In a recent Work Wonders conversation, our CEO Sally was be joined by Keren McCarron to explore how organisations can make communication count for frontline workforces, without adding more noise. Keren has 15+ years’ experience leading communications in FMCG and manufacturing environments, while Sally brought a strategic people and culture communication lens, shaped by her work with global businesses with large, complex frontline workforces. 

During the conversation, seven themes stood out: 

1. Start with the reality of the working day

Frontline communication needs to begin with how people actually work. 

For many frontline employees, there is no quiet moment in the day to read an email update. Teams may be working different shifts, moving between locations or operating in noisy environments. Some may not even have a work email address. Some may have access to an app, but only through a personal device which they may be restricted from using during their working time. Others may technically have access to an intranet, but very little time or reason to log in. 

That means communication cannot rely on the same assumptions used for desk-based teams. Sending an email at 9am does not mean the message has landed. Posting on an intranet does not mean people have seen it. Uploading content to an app does not mean it has become part of the working day. 

The strongest frontline communication meets people where they are. That might mean digital screens in the places teams naturally pass through, printed one-page updates in break areas, short visual messages near handwashing stations, team huddles, shift handovers or manager briefings built into existing routines. 

The key is to take communication into the working environment, rather than expecting people to go and find it elsewhere. 

2. Use existing rhythms, not extra noise

Frontline teams are often already dealing with communication overload. Global updates, local updates, HR messages, safety notices, change announcements, operational briefs, learning reminders and wellbeing campaigns can all compete for attention. 

When everything is pushed out with equal weight, people have to work out what really matters to them in their role. That is a difficult task for anyone, and it’s even harder when time is tight and shifts are busy. 

Making communication count does not mean doing more. Often, it means being more disciplined about what is shared, when it is shared and how it connects to the work people are doing. 

Existing rhythms are a useful place to start. Shift handovers, safety huddles, toolbox talks, pre-shift briefings and regular team check-ins already have a purpose in the working day. When communication is built into those moments, it is more likely to feel relevant and less likely to become another task people have to fit around everything else. 

This also forces a useful question for communicators and stakeholders: does this message genuinely need attention from frontline teams right now? If the answer is yes, it needs to be made simple, specific and easy to pass on. If the answer is no, it may need to wait, be combined with something else or be targeted differently. 

3. Support middle managers as trusted communicators

For many frontline teams, the line manager is the most trusted and immediate source of information. They are the person employees go to with questions, concerns and practical realities. They are also often the person expected to explain decisions made elsewhere in the organisation. That makes middle managers essential to frontline communication, but it also places a lot of pressure on them. 

Managers are often stretched, dealing with operational demands, people issues, performance pressures and constant change. If they are given a long briefing pack, unclear messages or information at the same time as everyone else, they are not being set up to communicate well. 

Supporting managers as communicators means making their role easier and more realistic. They need clear messages, simple talking points, a route for questions they cannot answer and enough context to explain why something matters. They also need permission to be honest when they do not have all the answers yet. 

This is especially important during change. A manager who understands the message, has had time to prepare and knows where to send feedback is far more likely to create confidence than one who has been handed a script and asked to cascade it quickly. 

Middle managers should not be treated as a channel. They are people translating organisational decisions into real conversations. They need support to do that well. 

4. Stop treating tech as the silver bullet

Employee apps and digital platforms can be valuable, especially for dispersed or deskless workforces. They can make communication easier to access, help reach people quickly and create a more consistent route for updates. But technology is not the same as communication. 

A new platform cannot fix a relevance problem. It cannot rebuild trust on its own. It cannot make leaders more visible, managers more confident or employees more listened to. If the content is not useful, the tone feels distant or people do not see why the channel matters, it can quickly become another place they do not go. 

This is where many organisations can get stuck. A platform is introduced as the answer, but the communication behind it still follows the same habits: too much information, too little targeting, not enough local relevance and limited feedback. 

The better question is not “What channel should we use?” It is “What do our frontline teams need to understand, feel or do, and what is the most practical way to support that?” 

Sometimes the answer will be digital. Sometimes it will be a manager conversation, a screen, a printed prompt, a simple visual or a regular face-to-face moment. Often, it will be a mix. 

5. Make listening simple, visible and regular

Frontline communication cannot only be about pushing messages out. If people do not have easy ways to feed back, raise concerns or share what is really happening, communication becomes one-way very quickly. 

Listening does not always need to mean a long survey. In operational environments, simple can be more effective. Keren shared examples such as quick sentiment checks at the end of a shift, where employees can press a button or use a simple visual system to show whether the day felt positive, neutral or difficult. In the session chat, someone shared another practical idea: tennis balls and two buckets, giving employees a quick way to signal how a shift had gone as they left. 

Small listening mechanisms like this do two things. They give organisations a more immediate sense of what people are experiencing, and they show employees that their experience matters. 

The important part is what happens next. If people give feedback and nothing visibly changes, trust can fall further. A simple “you said, we did” cycle helps close the loop. That could be a monthly update showing what has been heard, what is being explored and what action has been taken. It does not need to solve every issue immediately, but it does need to show that listening is active, not performative. 

How well are you tuning in to your workforce? 

See if a human approach to communication could make a difference with our Human Diagnostic. 

6. Respect frontline expertise in the way you communicate

One of the biggest risks in frontline communication is underestimating the audience. Frontline roles are often highly skilled, physically demanding, socially demanding and increasingly supported by technology. Employees may be managing customer expectations, safety risks, complex systems, tight deadlines or even emotionally challenging situations. Communication needs to respect that expertise. 

Simple language matters, but simple should never mean patronising. Visual communication can be useful, particularly in multilingual environments, but it should not feel childish. Campaigns can be engaging, but they should not reduce serious work to gimmicks. 

Respect also shows up in word choice. Office-based assumptions can make frontline employees feel forgotten, even when that is not the intention. Saying “lunch break” when people work nights, or “business hours” when teams work across shifts, can accidentally signal that the message was not really written with them in mind. Small details like “rest break” or “working hours” can make communication feel more inclusive and more accurate. 

Representation matters too. The IC Index 2026 found that only 42% of employees see stories about people like them in internal communication, yet when people do see themselves represented, advocacy for the company and brand nearly doubles. 

That is a clear reminder that frontline employees need to see real people, real stories and real working environments reflected back to them. Not as an afterthought, but as a visible part of the organisation’s story. 

7. Lead change with what it means for people

Frontline teams are often at the sharp end of organisational change. They may be asked to use new systems, follow new safety processes, adapt to automation, change ways of working or support new operational priorities. Yet the reasons behind change do not always reach them clearly. 

The IC Index 2026 found that just 49% of employees feel that the reasons behind change programmes are clearly communicated. That matters because people are far more likely to resist change when they do not understand why it is happening, what it means for them or how they will be supported. 

In many organisations, change communication starts with the business case. It explains the global context, the market pressure, the strategic aim or the organisational benefit. Those things matter, but they are not always the best place to start for frontline teams. 

A more useful approach is to begin with the person. What is changing for me? What will be different on my shift, in my role or for my team? What do I need to do differently? What support will I get? What is still uncertain? Once people understand that, they are better placed to connect their own experience to the wider business reason. 

This does not mean sugarcoating difficult messages. In fact, the opposite is true. Frontline teams need honest communication about impact. If a change will be hard for a few months, say so. If there are things the organisation does not know yet, be clear about when people can expect more information. If there will be extra work, disruption or a learning curve, acknowledge it. 

Clear, human change communication helps people make sense of what is happening. It also gives managers and leaders a better foundation for the conversations that follow. 

Making complex change clearer 

Explore how to make complex change clearer through storytelling, practical language and relatable examples with our guide, How to successfully communicate change. 

Making communication work for frontline teams

Communicating with and engaging frontline teams means considering the workforce you actually have, not the channels that are easiest to use. 

For frontline teams, that means communication that is practical, visible, respectful and rooted in the realities of their working day. It means supporting managers, listening properly, simplifying without patronising and helping people understand change in a way that feels relevant to them. 

If you are trying to reach, engage or support frontline teams through change, safety, culture or development, we can help you build communication that works for the people keeping your organisation moving. 

Get in touch to talk about how we could support your organisation.

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