14 Aug 2026

Engaging deskless and frontline workers with workplace recognition

The link between workplace recognition and employee engagement is well established. Often the hardest part is making that connection when your staff isn’t in front of you.

Research shows that employees who receive recognition at work are 20x more likely to be engaged with the business.

Recognition has the power to strengthen connection, boost motivation and improve retention. However, many recognition programmes are still designed around desk-based ways of working, making it easier for office-based employees to be recognised and celebrated than their frontline counterparts.

With 80% of the global workforce in deskless, dispersed or in frontline roles, organisations need to think more carefully about how recognition is delivered.
So, how can employers create a more inclusive recognition strategy that reaches everyone?

The workplace appreciation divide

Take a moment to think about how workplace recognition has traditionally been delivered. Typically, an employee's actions or achievements are noticed by their manager or colleagues in the moment, usually because they are in the same work environment. But what happens when an employee works in a dispersed, or deskless role?

Without those regular touchpoints, achievements can be less visible, making it easier for valuable contributions to go unnoticed and unrecognised. In fact, studies show that less than half of deskless workers reported receiving any form of recognition from their managers or peers.

The good news is that this gives employers and HR teams a real opportunity to strengthen recognition and make sure no one misses out. Here are some key ways to do that:

Recognition that can be seen by everyone

If there are barriers to seeing recognition in your business, then people will miss out. The individuals that work on-site and have different shift patterns should easily be able to engage with your culture of appreciation too. That’s why mobile-first recognition platforms are essential as they make access to and visibility of recognition inclusive, regardless of where and how people work. Deskless workers don’t need to rely on having a work device or email address – they simply tap and can view recognition in real-time.

Communication that doesn't assume everyone's at a desk

Recognition doesn't land just because it's technically accessible – it needs to arrive in a way that fits naturally into someone's working day. For deskless and frontline teams, that often means push notifications rather than emails, so a "thank you" or a new reward shows up on their phone whether they're on shift, at home or between jobs. It can also mean adding more of a human touch with manager-led shout-outs during a shift handover, a mention in a team briefing, or a moment recognised on a physical noticeboard.

Driving recognition culture

While platforms play an important role in workplace recognition and engagement, it's people who truly bring recognition to life.

Managers are often best placed to spot great work as it happens and celebrate it in the moment. However, they don't always have the time, confidence or tools they need to recognise people consistently and meaningfully, especially across dispersed, deskless teams. The best way to tackle this is by giving managers proper recognition training and the tools to act on it in the moment. When managers feel confident and equipped, recognition stops being a policy on paper and becomes a habit that's visible across the whole organisation.

Recognition that isn't dependent on hierarchy

Giving deskless and frontline teams an easy way to recognise each other – not just receive recognition from above – builds a culture of appreciation that reflects how work happens on the ground. A simple peer-to-peer "thank you”, visible to the wider team on a shared social feed, does two things at once: it makes the person being recognised feel seen, and it reinforces to everyone else what good looks like in your organisation.

To recap

Recognition has the power to drive engagement, strengthen connections and help people feel more invested in the organisation they work for. But to have that impact, it needs to reach every employee, whether they work in desk-based or deskless roles.

By putting mobile-first recognition tools at the heart of the employee experience, adapting communications, enabling peer-to-peer recognition and giving managers the confidence and skills to recognise great work consistently, employers can create a more inclusive culture of appreciation.