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If you Google the phrase “hybrid work” you’ll see no end of recent articles exploring the topic – from how to implement it well, to the associated challenges and benefits, to the expectations of both employers and employees. You’ll also see that there’s one persona largely missing from the narrative: frontline workers.
From the healthcare professionals caring for their communities, to the retail associates serving customers, to the employees keeping manufacturing plants going, there are so many deskless workers who don’t have the luxury of choosing where they work. And they make up 80% of the workforce. These folks must show up to a physical location on the front lines every day, because that’s where their work gets done.
It seems frontline workers are definitely feeling left out of the workplace experience conversation. They’re also increasingly disengaged at work, which drives performance down and turnover up. All signs point to significant operational disruption and expense on the horizon for organizations with large frontline workforces:
The Great Resignation saw more than 43 million people voluntarily leave their jobs, and frontline roles were particularly hard hit. While many headlines zeroed in on the number of vacant roles in industries like food service, hospitality, and retail, manufacturing weathered the biggest surge in workers leaving, with a nearly 60% jump in rates compared with pre-pandemic times.
It turns out there are a couple of key reasons why frontline workers are rethinking their work experiences:
The days of trying to keep frontline teams engaged using sporadic team huddles, bulletin board postings, and free donuts in the breakroom on Fridays are long over. Today’s workers want to be fairly compensated for the work they do, but they also want flexibility and opportunities for growth. And they want to always feel safe, respected, and supported at work.
Here are a few strategies you can put in place to meet your frontline people where they are:
Sending consistent, timely communications to employees on the front line is a challenge. They often don’t have a company email or device, and they aren’t permitted to access their phones outside of sanctioned breaks. Many manufacturing facilities also have the added barrier of wireless access challenges.
The forgetting curve shows us how rapidly people forget information that isn’t reinforced. So, while your training might be excellent, if you aren’t reminding your frontline employees of the right things to do on the floor every day, you may be putting them at risk for safety violations.
Those communication channels mentioned above? Turns out they’re also a fantastic tool for reinforcing important safety messages so they stick. Add them to the employee feed and keep refreshing them on digital signage in the key areas where frontline employees spend time to create a culture of safety and awareness.
Bonus: If you’ve got an urgent message that needs to get out quickly to multiple channels, Apspace lets you quickly broadcast across your entire organization, either by scheduling manually or automatically triggering by a third-party alert system like Singlewire’s InformaCast, Alertus, or Everbridge.
Since the majority of their time is spent executing on operational imperatives, frontline employees can easily feel disconnected from the larger organization and struggle to understand how their contributions fit with overarching goals.
Check out this quick demo of our Appspace Intranet from a recent webinar.
In one of the largest studies of burnout, Gallup found the biggest source was “unfair treatment at work.” That was followed by an unmanageable workload, unclear communication from managers, lack of manager support, and unreasonable time pressure. All of these factors lead back to a single person having a huge impact on the frontline experience.
No frontline manager is intentionally doing a poor job supporting their people. Too often they simply don’t have the skills or time to invest in their direct reports. But when they do, it really pays off. 95% of people who are thriving at work report being treated with respect all day.
Employee engagement matters. A lot. Teams that score in the top half on employee engagement more than double their odds of success when compared with those in the bottom half.
The encouraging news is that organizations know things have to change when it comes to the experience of frontline employees. Almost one-third do not consider their frontline workers fully empowered and digitally well-equipped. They just aren’t always sure where to start with improving their work experience.
Want to see the engagement-boosting power of Appspace with your own eyes? Reach out for your personal demo.
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