Internal Communications Guide: Best Practices for Non-Desk Workers in 2025
Internal Communications Guide: Best Practices for Non-Desk Workers in 2025
Navigating today's evolving work environment can feel like steering a ship through uncharted waters, especially when your team includes many non-desk workers. These employees, often found on construction sites, manufacturing floors, or bustling warehouses, require innovative communication strategies beyond traditional emails or intranets. Without effective internal communication, important messages might as well be messages in a bottle. In this guide, we'll dive into fresh strategies, tools, and insights to help you foster meaningful connections within your organization, ensuring every employee stays aligned with your company objectives.
What is Internal Communications?
Internal communications isn't just about sending announcements from the top anymore—it's become a vital part of keeping your team informed, engaged, and moving toward shared goals. Today, it's an ongoing conversation that uses spoken words, written messages, and digital tools to build a common understanding of your company's objectives, values, and initiatives at every level.
For your non-desk workers, who make up 80% of the global workforce, effective internal communications is particularly crucial. These employees often lack access to traditional communication tools like computers and company emails, creating unique challenges in keeping them connected and informed.
Embrace Personalization and Two-Way Conversations
Effective internal communication needs to be personal and smart, reaching your employees with messages that matter to them. It's not just about sending out information—it's about opening up two-way conversations so everyone, no matter their role or location, can share and receive feedback.
Recognize the Power of Preferred Channels
Not all communication channels are created equal—while only 20% of emails get read, text messages achieve a 98% read rate with an average response time of 90 seconds. The stark difference in read rates highlights why modern internal communications strategies must adapt to employee preferences and accessibility needs, particularly for your distributed and non-desk workforce.
Adopting a Multi-Channel Approach
To nail internal communications these days, you need to send timely, personalized messages that boost engagement and productivity, all while keeping a clear, trusted voice to avoid misinformation and keep everyone on the same page. Using multiple channels helps make sure important updates get to every employee—whether they're at a desk, on the factory floor, or working remotely.
The Importance of Internal Communications in Today's Workplace
Effective internal communications aren't just nice to have—they're essential for business success, especially when you have non-desk workers. By keeping everyone connected, informed, and engaged, you create a shared understanding of company goals that boosts collaboration and productivity.
For your non-desk employees, staying in the loop can be a real challenge. Without regular access to computers or company emails, they might miss out on important updates and changes. This gap can lead to misalignment with company goals, lower efficiency, and even safety risks in fields like manufacturing, construction, and warehousing.
Implementing strategies for effective communication for non-desk workers is essential to bridge this gap.
The business impact of effective internal communications is substantial. When done right, it:
- Ensures critical information reaches all employees
- Enables real-time updates during emergencies or operational changes
- Creates transparency and trust between management and frontline workers
- Facilitates two-way dialogue that gives employees a voice in the organization
- Drives alignment between daily tasks and broader company objectives
Modern workplaces need communication strategies that meet employees where they are. That means adopting mobile-first solutions for non-desk workers, offering multilingual support for diverse teams, and making sure information is accessible without adding extra barriers or costs.
Going forward, internal communications will focus on personalized, data-driven methods that deliver relevant content to specific groups, all while keeping things simple and accessible for frontline workers. Companies that get this right will be better equipped to keep their teams engaged, productive, and connected.
Essential Components of an Effective Internal Communications Strategy
Build on a Mobile-First Foundation
Your internal communications strategy should start with mobile accessibility at its core. With practically every human owning a mobile phone and most deskless workers lacking corporate email access, mobile is your most direct path to reaching your employees. Mobile communications generate three times higher engagement rates compared to web-based content, making it an ideal foundation for your strategy. Recognizing the benefits of text messaging, Yourco's SMS-based platform leverages this by allowing you to send important updates directly to your employees' phones without the need for downloads or internet access.
Implement Multi-Channel Integration
While mobile is your starting point, integrating multiple communication channels helps you reach everyone effectively. Your strategy could include:
- SMS/text messaging
- Digital signage in common areas
- Kiosk stations for shared access
- Printed materials for reference
- Face-to-face communications
- Collaboration tools for team interaction
Since different messages call for different mediums, and your employees probably have their own preferences for how they get information, diversifying your channels lets you reach everyone where they are. For instance, incorporating SMS can ensure immediate delivery of critical information to your non-desk employees.
Personalize and Target Your Communications
Generic, one-size-fits-all messages just don't cut it for non-desk workers. Your strategy needs to consider:
- Location-specific information
- Role-based content relevance
- Shift patterns and time zones
- Language preferences and translations
- Department-specific updates
Targeted communications see nearly double the engagement rates of broad messaging. Structure your strategy to segment audiences and deliver tailored communication strategies that resonate with specific employee groups. Yourco empowers you to send both personalized and grouped messages in a timely manner, directly to your employees' phones. This ensures that each worker receives relevant information tailored to their role and location.
Establish a Measurement Framework
You need to include clear metrics in your strategy to track how well it's working and keep improving:
- Monitor engagement rates across channels
- Track message open and response rates
- Gather qualitative feedback through surveys
- Measure impact on business objectives
- Analyze channel effectiveness
- Review content performance
Use these insights to tweak your approach, mix up your channels, and fine-tune your content. Regularly measuring helps show the value of your communication efforts and spot areas where you can get better. Yourco's platform provides analytics on message delivery and engagement, helping you to refine your communications based on real-time data.
Make sure to put these pieces together while staying flexible to adapt as your team's needs change. The best strategies balance structure with agility, so you can keep communication consistent while handling whatever comes your way.
Best Practices for Internal Communications
To optimize your internal communications, consider the following best practices.
Empower Your Line Managers
Your line managers are key players in communication. Give them:
- Brief, digestible summaries of important company information
- Tools to effectively relay messages to their teams
- Regular talking points for team communications
- Resources for gathering feedback from their reports
Measure and Refine Your Approach
Set clear goals for your internal communications and keep an eye on relevant metrics. Use these insights to tweak your strategy, and don't hesitate to try out different formats and channels. The best internal communication programs grow and change with your team's needs and preferences.
Keep those two-way communication channels open. Your frontline workers have lots of valuable insights about operations, customer interactions, and ways to improve. Make it easy for them to share feedback and ideas—maybe through mobile surveys, suggestion boxes, or regular team discussions.
Tools and Technologies for Modern Internal Communications
While some organizations might consider complex communication platforms, simpler solutions often work better for deskless workers.
Sophisticated communication platforms can present challenges for your non-desk workers, prompting the need for effective communication alternatives. They may require downloads, regular updates, and consistent internet access. Many employees are reluctant to use work apps on personal devices, and some may have limited data plans or work in areas with poor connectivity.
SMS-based communication, like on Yourco's platform, emerges as a superior alternative for deskless workforces. Text messaging requires no downloads, works without internet access, and leverages technology that employees already use daily.
Simplify Communication with Yourco's SMS Solutions
Keeping non-desk workers connected doesn't have to be complicated. Yourco offers an SMS-based communication platform that bridges the gap between management and frontline teams. By leveraging text messaging—a tool your employees already know and use—you can deliver important updates, gather feedback, and ensure everyone stays aligned with company goals.
Whether it's urgent safety alerts, shift updates, or company announcements, text messages through Yourco ensure that critical information is read promptly. Plus, with features that allow for two-way communication, you can receive valuable feedback from your team, fostering a more engaged and connected workplace.
By choosing an SMS-based approach with Yourco, you're selecting a reliable, user-friendly solution that meets your employees where they are—no extra apps, logins, or training required.
Try Yourco for free today or schedule a demo and see the difference the right workplace communication solution can make in your company.
