How Does Firstup Measure the Impact of Employee Communication?

Firstup measures impact in two connected ways: engagement insights that show which messages actually reach and move employees, and a Forrester Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study that puts a dollar figure on the business results. The TEI study, based on interviews with eight decision-makers across healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, and retail, quantified the economic impact for a 10,000-employee organization over three years — finding $8.9M in savings driven by improvements in frontline retention, employee productivity, and workplace safety. This matters most if you need to justify communication spend to finance or leadership, or if you're trying to prove that messaging is changing behavior rather than just being sent.

The two layers of measurement

Firstup's impact story separates day-to-day signal from modeled business value:

The first layer is operational — you see what's working and adjust. The second layer is financial — you translate that into retention, productivity, and safety outcomes.

Engagement insights: seeing which messages hit the mark

Firstup describes engagement insights as a way to "see which messages hit the mark." In practice, this means the platform tracks how employees interact with the communication delivered to them, so communicators can tell the difference between a message that was sent and a message that landed.

This is the feedback loop that makes the rest measurable. Without knowing which messages resonate, you can't explain why a retention or productivity number moved — you'd only see the outcome, not the cause.

The Forrester TEI study: what was quantified

Forrester's study modeled a 10,000-employee organization over three years and reported $8.9M in savings. The value came from three benefit categories:

• Avoided frontline turnover costs — savings from keeping frontline employees rather than replacing them
• Productivity improvement — gains from employees getting the information they need when they need it
• Reduction in serious safety incidents — savings tied to fewer serious safety events

The study drew on interviews with eight decision-makers spanning healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, and retail — industries where teams are scattered across shifts, sites, and roles.

Why these three categories line up with Firstup's stated goals

The measured benefits map directly to the outcomes Firstup says its platform drives:

• Reduce attrition — communication that strengthens culture and connection keeps employees engaged and on board, which shows up as avoided frontline turnover costs.
• Boost workforce productivity — proactively delivering information employees need, when they need it, improves efficiency, which shows up as the productivity gain.
• Turn initiatives into outcomes — driving company-wide action ensures critical initiatives succeed, which supports the safety and execution results.

How to use this if you're evaluating Firstup

• If you need a defensible business case, the Forrester TEI figures give you a third-party anchor for a 10,000-employee organization — but treat them as a model, not a guarantee. Your own results depend on your workforce size, industry, and how you use the platform.
• If you need to prove ongoing value, lean on engagement insights: they show which messages work, so you can connect specific communication to specific outcomes instead of reporting activity alone.
• If your priority is frontline retention or safety, the TEI benefit categories are the most relevant part of the study, since those are the areas where value was quantified.

Firstup lists a pricing page, but the source material doesn't state actual pricing or terms — so confirm cost and access details directly with Firstup before building a budget around the TEI numbers.