For the deskless employee—or most workers across industries such as retail, hospitality, manufacturing and health care—“trickle-down” or cascading systems of communicating information is no longer effective. (image: Shutterstock)

As many HR professionals can attest, communicating information such as benefits to employees can be a daunting task. Keeping up-to-date on ever-changing policies and regulations and helping employees understand what they all mean can be a time-consuming and costly process. This is especially true of the often overlooked deskless worker who doesn't have the same privileges as his or her deskbound counterparts, including basic technologies like corporate email or intranets.

For the deskless employee—or most workers across industries such as retail, hospitality, manufacturing and health care—“trickle-down” or cascading systems of communicating information is no longer effective. HR leaders still using breakroom posters, emailed memos or snail mail are probably missing the mark when communicating to a large percentage of their employee base. If they don't adapt and implement new internal communication strategies that go beyond tactical operations and actually drive engagement with employees, these professionals run the risk of becoming obsolete.

Related: Communications breakdown: How can brokers and employers get on the same page with technology?