The Total Economic Impact™ Of Firstup

Increased Retention For Frontline Employees

Evidence and data. Interviewees demonstrated that Firstup played a critical role in improving frontline employee retention by strengthening connection, visibility, and inclusion. Interviewees highlighted that the platform was foundational to their communications strategy and allowed their teams to scale initiatives effectively, which helped reduce employee turnover. In particular, targeted communication, mobile access for frontline staff, and two‑way engagement capabilities improved employees’ sense of being informed and valued, which interviewees described as critical to sustaining frontline workforce stability.

• The VP of marketing and communications at a healthcare organization highlighted that internal communications through Firstup were vital to reducing overall turnover and attributed 30% of overall reduction in turnover toward efforts made with the platform. The interviewee commented: “We’ve seen a 16% year‑over‑year decrease in voluntary turnover and about a 15% decrease in first‑year turnover, with an even more significant reduction among nurses. Firstup was certainly a contributor to this improvement.”
  The interviewee highlighted that Firstup was critical to new employee onboarding within a specific department, particularly in driving awareness and participation. Leadership in this department built Firstup use into their onboarding process and noted a 12-percentage-point improvement in retention for employees who attended onboarding events promoted through the platform.

• The assistant director of communications and marketing operations at a healthcare organization noted a correlation between improved communications with Firstup and improved employee experience, commenting: “There’s a correlation there. Year to date, after our first year of implementation, there was around a 4% decrease in turnover. And currently, we’ve projected around a 1% decrease year over year, just since the beginning of our fiscal year.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• There are 6,500 skilled frontline employees and 3,500 desk employees.

• Before Firstup, there is a 20% voluntary skilled frontline worker attrition rate.

• With Firstup, attrition decreases by 4%. This decrease is considering a 10% total reduction in turnover after implementing Firstup, with 30% of this reduction attributable to Firstup as the mechanism to scale companywide initiatives in improving company culture and reducing turnover.

• On average, the cost of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a frontline employee is $40,000.

Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:

• The industry-standard voluntary attrition rate of frontline employees.

• Companywide initiatives launched through Firstup in efforts to reduce turnover.

• The industry-standard average cost of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a frontline employee. Healthcare organizations may see higher costs of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a skilled frontline employee of approximately $60,000.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $4.7 million.

Employee Productivity Savings

Evidence and data. Interviewees consistently described productivity benefits due to reduced time spent searching for information and executing communication tasks. Prior to Firstup, employees and communicators navigated fragmented environments consisting of email, intranet sites, mobile apps, and third‑party tools. Firstup centralized access into a single destination, reducing navigation friction and duplicated effort. Interviewees noted that these time savings accrued incrementally but scaled significantly across large employee populations.

• The director of employee communication and digital platforms at an IT distribution organization highlighted how Firstup became a one-stop-shop for employees to find communications, commenting, “Centralizing resources has saved employees time because they no longer need to hunt across sites, emails, or legacy tools.”

• The assistant director of communications and marketing operations at a healthcare organization discussed how different business units streamlined workflows with Firstup and unlocked time savings, commenting: “People in human resources are able to work much more autonomously without having to come through marketing, where things can bottleneck. It’s contributed to more hours available to work on other projects, it’s freed up the workflow. I would say a ballpark of 20% to 25% more productive.”

• The VP of marketing and communications at a healthcare organization discussed the power of scaling even small time savings per employee across a large workforce, commenting: “If we can save people time by keeping them inside one platform instead of hopping between systems, that’s meaningful at scale. One of the biggest productivity gains is eliminating extra clicks, extra logins, and extra steps to get information.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• It has 6,500 frontline employees and 3,500 desk employees.

• On average, frontline employees save 6 hours per year searching for communications with Firstup with its consistent messaging across mobile access and digital signage.

• Desk employees save 2 hours per year searching for relevant communications as a result of centralized and consistent messaging across intranet, email, and mobile access with Firstup.

• There is a 50% productivity recapture to account for improved employee experience.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate for a frontline employee is $46. The average fully burdened hourly rate for a desk employee is $40.³

Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:

• Prior communication tools and processes used to search for information.

• Industry standards for the average fully burdened hourly rates for frontline and desk employees.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $2.3 million.

Risk Reduction From Improved Safety And Compliance

Evidence and data. For organizations with significant frontline, healthcare, and manufacturing populations, Firstup supported measurable improvements in safety outcomes by enabling more consistent, timely, and visible safety communications. Interviewees explained that Firstup supported rapid dissemination of alerts, reinforcement of compliance behaviors via digital signage, and recognition of proactive safety actions, all of which contributed to risk reduction. Although interviewees acknowledged that safety outcomes depended on leadership and training programs, they consistently viewed Firstup as a critical delivery mechanism that reduced operational risk exposure and supported compliance objectives.

Beyond measurable outcomes, interviewees emphasized a more human and meaningful impact in helping ensure that employees can do their jobs and return home safely at the end of each day. Interviewees noted that their employees felt more confident that their well-being was a priority, while visible recognition of safe behaviors reinforced a shared responsibility for protecting one another.

• The chief innovation officer and physician at a healthcare organization discussed how Firstup was critical in their “Good Catch Program,” where employees were able to quickly report near-miss patient errors, and cited more than a 50% increase in near-miss reporting using the platform. The interviewee commented: “Firstup expanded who could participate in safety, giving a broader population of team members access to the data and the stories behind it. When team members know they’re heard and their voice matters, safety reporting becomes an act of engagement, not compliance.”
  This interviewee also shared tangible examples of near-miss errors, including medication errors. They noted that their organization prevented 11 medication errors from reaching patients, which was directly tied to visibility and engagement created through Firstup. The interviewee commented, “Firstup helped surface critical medication issues earlier, turning potential harm into preventable events.”
  As a result of the improved near-miss reporting Firstup enabled, the healthcare organization was able to serve more patients and noted a 25% increase in adjusted patient day volume (hospital and skilled nursing patient days adjusted to account for outpatient activity) capacity.

• The corporate internal communications lead at a manufacturing organization discussed their broader digital signage coverage with Firstup compared to the prior environment where it was managed separately and less centrally. Now, they align communications with email and app messaging, reinforcing the same messaging to all employees in the company. This interviewee commented: “Firstup has been a key driver in reinforcing our Mission Zero safety culture and making safety communications consistent and visible. We reach about 85% of our workforce through digital signage, which has been critical for safety messaging in manufacturing environments.”

• The VP of marketing and communications at a healthcare organization also discussed increased employee engagement with Firstup in reporting incidents, commenting, “With Firstup, we’ve made it much easier for people to report safety incidents, especially from a mobile device, something that wasn’t possible before.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• Prior to Firstup, there is an average of eight serious safety incidents per year.

• With Firstup, there is a 20% reduction in the number of safety incidents in Year 1, a 25% reduction in Year 2, and a 30% reduction in Year 3.

• The average cost per safety incident is $250,000. This includes various costs related to insurance claims, productivity loss, worker compensation, compliance fees, etc.

Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:

• Industry and role-related safety incidents.

• The average cost per safety incident will vary depending on the severity of the incidents measured and prevented with Firstup. In some cases, interviewees noted a higher number of incidents at a lower cost per incident. With scale, the impact of these avoided costs enabled by Firstup can be significant.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.1 million.

Communications Efficiencies

Evidence and data. Across interviews, communications leaders reported that Firstup delivered efficiency gains by consolidating workflows, automating audience targeting, and embedding analytics directly into the communication process. Prior to adoption, many teams relied on manual list building, IT support, or multiple tools to segment audiences and measure effectiveness. Firstup enabled communications teams to create content once and deliver it across channels, shifting effort away from operational execution toward strategic advisory work.

• The corporate internal communications lead at a manufacturing organization described significant time saved from consolidating their communication platforms into one with Firstup, commenting, “Across our almost 400 content creators, we estimated just under 3,000 hours saved annually by creating content once instead of building the same message in four different systems.”

• The VP of marketing and communications at a healthcare organization discussed how leaders across the company were now empowered as content creators to distribute their own messaging, taking the burden off the communications team. They commented: “Employee resource groups running their own channels has removed a huge operational burden from our communications team. Instead of managing everything centrally, we’ve empowered teams across the organization to communicate directly and effectively.”

• The director of employee communication and digital platforms at an IT distribution organization highlighted the career growth for employees on the communication team with a platform like Firstup, commenting: “Firstup allowed us to step back from operational busywork and focus on message quality, timing, and relevance.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• There are 15 communications employees responsible for corporate communications and 30 content creators.

• With Firstup, communications employees increase productivity by 20% in Year 1, 25% in Year 2, and 30% in Year 3. Content creators, who are leaders across the organization, also experience time savings in creating posts, saving an average of 8 hours per year on content creation.

• There is a 50% productivity recapture to account for improved work-life balance with Firstup.

• Internal communications employees and content creators (e.g., managers, HR, operations contributors) have a fully burdened hourly rate of $60.

Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:

• The number of communications employees and content creators.

• The fully burdened hourly rates dependent on roles.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $533,000.

Legacy Solution And Processes Cost Savings

Evidence and data. Interviewees highlighted direct cost savings by consolidating and retiring legacy communication solutions. In addition to direct software cost savings, organizations emphasized reduced administrative overhead, fewer vendor dependencies, and lower training costs as meaningful contributors to long‑term economic value.

• The VP of marketing and communications at a healthcare organization discussed the benefits of adopting Firstup versus building an in-house platform, commenting: “We avoided building and maintaining our own system, which would have required significant IT resources we simply didn’t have.”

• The director of employee communication and digital platforms at an IT distribution organization highlighted retiring a number of tools and licensing by consolidating communications with Firstup, commenting: “We’ve retired [point solution] entirely and sunset legacy intranets as part of our consolidation. We also were able to sunset six to eight large [point solution] licenses by moving global town halls into the Firstup platform.”

• The corporate internal communications lead at a manufacturing organization further highlighted their efforts in consolidating systems with Firstup, which enabled significant cost savings. They commented, “Consolidating email tools, digital signage, and mobile communications into Firstup reduced both direct costs and operational overhead.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes that the composite organization has retired licensing and IT management costs of $150,000 per year in Years 1 through 3.

Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on the number of legacy solutions replaced by streamlining communications through Firstup.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $336,000.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• Increased employee engagement and satisfaction. Leaders observed measurable improvements in engagement and satisfaction survey results following Firstup implementation, even during periods of disruption such as mergers, leadership transitions, safety transformations, and crisis events.
  The director of colleague communications at a retail organization discussed increased engagement with employees through Firstup that enabled insights into employee needs, commenting: “It’s almost like a survey of 100,000 people every single month. By seeing what colleagues are clicking on, opening, and engaging with, we get a much better handle of what’s on people’s minds, which is extremely hard to do otherwise.”

• Improved strategic influence on communications teams. Communications leaders consistently reported that Firstup elevated their role from message delivery to strategic partnership. Access to targeting, insights, and analytics allowed teams to advise leaders on timing, relevance, and effectiveness rather than simply executing requests. This increased credibility with executives positioned communications as a value-generating function rather than a cost center.

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Firstup and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• External validation of strategic value. The flexibility enabled by Firstup allowed one interviewee’s organization to expand its communications strategy beyond initial employee messaging to include a structured, manager‑specific communications program. This expanded use of the platform contributed to improved engagement, consistency, and leadership alignment. It resulted in external recognition through an award for manager communications, demonstrating how Firstup enabled future initiatives and strategic outcomes without additional technology investment.

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Total Economic Impact Approach).