The modern workplace, as we know it, has been disassembled. Nearly everything has shifted to a work-from-home (WFH) setup. According to about 6 in 10 managers, 55% believe we are beginning to see a change in remote work policies. A whopping 52% also say they will allow employees to work remotely more often, as a result of the current conditions.

Companies that already had WFH capabilities in place, started much better off than anyone else. Those new to an at-home setup struggled with providing the necessary technology and connectivity solutions. 

Some problematic elements that appear while setting up remote work programs include the installation of reliable desktop configurations, monitors, proper connectivity, quality audio and more. These types of tech hurdles pose significant challenges. How do you host a company-wide meeting over an unreliable and fragmented internet connection, for example? Some employees might sync up just fine while others may be plagued by disconnects, performance issues, and worse.

A distributed workforce is often one that is incredibly varied and diverse in challenges, as well as disorganized. 

While it's true that working from home can lead to a 13% performance increase, one of the things that might set you back is the lack of connection to colleagues and peers. It's human nature for most of us. The need to belong. The need for human connection. It all affects employee satisfaction. Surely, it leads to a poor experience, so what does that mean for overall success and happiness?

Addressing Employee Engagement 

It's true, employee engagement is a tough nut to crack for teams working off-site, especially from a home or residence. How do you keep employees engaged across great distances? How can you be sure that your team is paying attention, and not just browsing social networks on the other end of that screen?

The companies that excel in this new WFH culture are the ones that leverage innovative technologies to fight non-productivity and disengagement. 

Mobile Apps as an Engagement Tool

The great news is that there's an ultra-reliable, highly-engaging tool that already exists in most people's everyday lives. The tool is a mobile device or smartphone. More specifically, mobile apps can be used as a remarkably engaging tool when they're structured adequately.

Here are just a few reasons why mobile apps and mobility, in general, are such good solutions:

• Apps can be accessed anytime, anywhere
• Real-time alerts keep everyone clued in and active
• Digital interactions like polls and questionnaires can help learn more about the workforce such as sentiment, health, wellness, and family life
• News streams provide companies with a far-reaching channel for broadcasting business-related communications
• They're retroactive, so even those who join late can see past events, communications, updates, and more
• They're easy to maintain especially across large groups, as one push goes out to everyone
• They're safe, reliable, and private, especially when it comes to direct communications
• They have access to mobile-specific features like location stats, in-device cameras, push notifications, and much more

These opportunities all serve a better remote experience, leading to higher levels of productivity, engagement, satisfaction, and most importantly, organizational success.

The Proof Is In the Pudding

One of the best ways to understand just how well mobile works for boosting and maintaining engagement is to use the technology first hand. Unfortunately, that's not possible for most organizations because it requires sweeping digital technology implementations.

To help put it into perspective, however, we're going to share aggregated metrics from customers already using The Workplace SuperApp, CXApp's employee experience platform.

Throughout April, we saw huge spikes in traffic utilization — even while employees work from home — indicating high levels of engagement. We believe this is a result of many key features of a mobile engagement platform that enables employees to stay up-to-date on the most recent news items and goings-on at their workplace(s).

Here are some quick-reference stats:

• In April, screen views were up over 98%
• Active users for the month increased by 60%
• Newsfeed views increased 114%
• Average sessions times jumped up 192%

At the very least, it shows just how engaged end-users are, the end users being your employees, teams, customers and so on. Mobile is hands down one of the best ways to keep employees engaged and productive, outside of corporate intranet solutions.

When your workforce is spread out and not relying on seeing colleagues in person, viewing in-office bulletins or attending meetings etc. for their engagement activities, you inherently see a rise in other forms of communication to relate and connect. More news, targeted topics, work from home tips and other types of content are extremely helpful in times like these. That's not to take away from ongoing, necessary business comms, it's just an added bonus. Your audience becomes more reliant on checking their office app everyday to check on what's going on, see what people are saying, what is trending, and how business is doing. It's a digital connection point, plain and simple.

It's important to remember that even after employees clock out and disengage, they almost always have their smartphone and mobile devices at the ready. It's not about taking advantage of employees while off-the-clock, but merely keeping them connected and mobilized for when they do jump back into work, no matter where that happens.