[Digital Transformation] Better Connecting Your Deskless Workers (Employees Without Email)

Internet Has Revolutionized How We Communicate and Work

In two decades, the Internet has taken a central place in communication, collaboration and the functioning of organizations. By breaking down barriers of time and space, the Internet enables all employees (including blue-collar and deskless workers) to connect, share, access the information they need, support one another, and work together.

Only If You Have an Email Address

However, for hundreds of thousands of employees in France, access to internal communication tools and applications remains impossible due to the lack of a professional email address acting as an access key.

In major sectors such as manufacturing and retail, this population of "Firstline workers " (or "Deskless workers," literally workers without a desk — and therefore without an email address) can represent as much as 50% of the workforce!

This disconnection of part of the workforce creates growing operational challenges every day around information sharing, field reporting, knowledge sharing, and mutual support. It reinforces the frustration of those who, on the front line, deliver the company's promise — yet feel sidelined, as if they were just a number on a payslip. It limits the ability of others to communicate easily with their colleagues and benefit from their on-the-ground experience.

As digital natives (born after 2000) enter the workforce, this situation is no longer tenable.

Read also: How the Enterprise Social Network (ESN) Helps You Better Integrate Your Blue-collar Employees

Connecting the Whole Organization

Talkspirit now enables organizations to bring the entire company together on its social network without requiring a professional email address to sign in.

With a simple personal activation code shared via an internal paper channel or on pay slips, everyone can now access the organization's shared spaces.

This feature, now deployed across all Talkspirit instances, is available to admins and allows them to invite employees without email addresses in just a few minutes.

Connect to Share Better, Communicate Better, and Work Better — Together.

Connecting all employees in a company is the starting point of any digital transformation project, and it is unrealistic to imagine such a project could succeed without part of the organization.

The challenges and benefits are many:

• Human Resources. Giving the enterprise social network access to all employees helps build and rebuild connections within the organization, strengthens cohesion and belonging, reveals talent within teams, and highlights everyday initiatives.
• Communications. Institutional communication is accelerated and distributed at lower cost — from headquarters to different sites and field teams, and back. Information flowing in all directions helps break down organizational silos.
• Collaboration and innovation. Once connected, your employees and subject-matter experts can easily identify and share best practices, contribute ideas, and provide feedback.

Bringing the Whole Organization On Board, Now

Your organization cannot afford to leave any of its talent behind. Beyond the benefits mentioned above, this is first and foremost a question of sustainability and growth in an era where access to information and communication has never been more important.

With their personal email or simply their phone number, most of your employees already use a social network or consumer messaging app (WhatsApp, Snapchat, Telegram, etc.). Do not hesitate to build on these existing habits to bring them into the fold!

Better integrating these 'Deskless workers' into your company project is entirely possible — and more necessary than ever! Give them the space and the voice they deserve, so the whole company can benefit, starting today.

💡 Do you have anecdotes, testimonials, or reflections to share on the topic of deskless workers? Send us an email at marketing@talkspirit.com and let's talk 🙂