5 best ideas on how to support your frontline employees
Frontline employees are one of the most important groups of employees, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the success of any company depends predominantly on them. That’s why the best employers develop support strategies to motivate and retain their best frontline employees.
Who are frontline employees?
A broad definition of frontline employees includes, but is not limited to:
- employees who have direct contact with customers: salesmen, cashiers, waiters, beauticians, hoteliers,
- uniformed services and health care workers: police officers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists,
- production workers and drivers,
- teachers, educators, and psychologists.
Under this term are also included representatives of other employee groups that do not have the opportunity to work remotely. Due to the lack of a fixed workspace (e.g., a desk), frontline employees tend to have difficulty accessing the technologies and systems that back office employees use daily.
How to support frontline employees – 5 best ideas
The nature of frontline employees’ work generates special needs for motivating and creating employee experiences. As people on whom customer service or product quality depends, they need to feel valued, supported, motivated, and satisfied with their work. Here are 5 ways to help you achieve this effect.
1. Give them the right and flexible, intuitive tools
Connecting employees to the entire company will give them a sense of being part of a larger whole and allow them to understand the vision and strategic goals, but it will also speed up their work significantly. You will achieve this by giving them access to employee applications, accessible from their cell phones. This will give them access to full company communications, knowledge bases, and direct messaging, connecting them with colleagues in other departments.
2. Organize an engaging and effective onboarding system
The frontline employee work environment is dynamic and demanding from day one. Effective onboarding is a key element in building a positive employee experience, affecting motivation and engagement. An interesting, engaging, and comprehensive (and therefore responsive to the needs of new employees) onboarding program will introduce them to their new responsibilities and familiarize them with the company’s culture, vision, and goals.
3. Allow feedback and two-way communication
Companies that want to grow rely on constant monitoring of customer service quality. This is the right thing to do, but it leads to frontline employees being under close scrutiny: by customers, supervisors, and management. If this applies to your company, it’s high time to open up to receiving feedback from employees. On the one hand, those who have direct contact with customers know best what customers expect and how to give it to them. On the other – being able to hear and give feedback from frontline employees gives them a sense of empowerment and appreciation.
4. Recognize your employees
Financial and material rewards seem to be the most effective and intuitive way to motivate. But they are not the only ones. Bonuses, private health care, or fitness and gym passes will encourage people to take the job, but they won’t keep their motivation high all the time. Shared celebration of successes, personal and company recognition and praises, or opportunities for personal and professional development also count. Regularly review what your employees need and give them what will positively affect the quality of their work.
5. Take care of their mental health
Frontline employees face relentless pressure for time, quality and results. Increasing expectations from customers and employers lead to fatigue and stress, and ultimately job burnout. Taking care of mental health can prevent layoffs and the associated costs. So, make an effort to have ongoing access to the right tools (training) and people (psychologists, coaches) to help develop internal resilience to such working conditions.
By developing effective ways to support frontline employees, companies gain twice as much: satisfied customers, served by happy employees. For such organizations, success lies within reach.
How does Workai support frontline employees?
Workai meets the needs of your frontline employees by equipping them with Workai Mobile – a smart employee app that allows them to stay always up to date. The app enables them to easily manage their tasks or save important personalized internal communications to read later. Thanks to the app, the employee always has very quick access to the knowledge base with a search engine powered by artificial intelligence. Push notifications provide assurance that important information will reach every employee on time.