The Shift | July 25th
Blink - Employee Experience Platform
Blink. And everyone's connected.
Hello and welcome to The Shift, Blink’s bi-monthly newsletter, packed with the latest frontline insight. Coming up in this issue:
UPCOMING FRONTLINE WEBINAR:
Building culture through connection
For HR and people leaders of widely dispersed workforces, it can feel nearly impossible to create a unified employee experience that supports — and delights — every employee where they are.
But it doesn’t have to be so challenging.
You’re invited to join our live webinar on Thursday, August 8, to hear how Stacy Winsett, Chief People Officer at transportation leader RATP Dev USA, connected her company’s 4,000 employees through a frontline-friendly employee super-app.
Learn how Stacy and her team have:
Register today and uncover new ways to elevate the employee experience at your organization. And if you can't make it, we'll send you the recording afterwards
FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
Delaying the tide: preventing frontline attrition in retail
Recent McKinsey research reveals a critical issue. As of May 2024, there are about 2.5 million more frontline retail job vacancies than job seekers.?
The industry also has higher-than-average attrition, with managers and non-managers leaving their jobs at similarly high rates.
To get to the root of the issue, McKinsey asked more than 1,000 retail workers why they were planning to leave their jobs. The top three reasons they gave were:
Frontline managers shared these priorities — but ranked health and wellbeing over compensation as a reason for leaving.?
To improve frontline retention, McKinsey recommends that all retailers ask and answer the following questions:
What’s the value at stake?
How important is frontline retention to your organization? How does it impact customer experience, employee motivation, and business finances? McKinsey highlights that losing a single frontline retail employee costs a retailer, on average, nearly $10,000 .
Who are our priority talent pools and what matters to them?
Find out the attitudes and personal goals of your employees, during recruitment and beyond, to tailor your employee value propositions. For example, employees who want to build a career with you may care about training and compensation. But employees who are with you for the lifestyle are probably more interested in flexibility and work-life balance.?
领英推荐
What is our plan to build strong frontline managers and a development culture?
Leaders need to give managers regular opportunities for development. That way, they can deliver a better frontline employee experience, developing their employees and sending the positive impact downstream.
How will we reimagine frontline work to be more impactful for our employees and customers?
Digitized task management. Automated ordering. Micro-training. Scheduling platforms. These are all solutions that improve productivity. Use them at your organization and you free your frontline workers to focus on more meaningful work, like leading their employees or engaging with customers.
We know that 72% of retail employees who left their jobs over the past three years left the industry altogether. By finding comprehensive answers to McKinsey’s questions, the hope is that leaders will stem the tide and better hold onto retail talent.
FRONTLINE LEADERSHIP
Solving the executive disconnect
Employee experience (EX) starts at the top of an organization. But do executives really understand the frontline experience?
It seems there’s work to be done. While 83% of executives say they understand the challenges facing frontline workers, only 62% of workers agree.
According to a recent HR Dive article , closing this gap is central to improving frontline worker retention and performance. And frontline managers have a vital role to play.
Those in the middle can help executives gain the insight they need to improve company culture and the employee experience. They can shine a light on the everyday reality of frontline workers.?
But they can’t turn the ship themselves. To align executives and frontline workers — without putting too much pressure on already overstretched managers — frontline tech tools and executive support are equally important parts of the picture.
Frontline managers need the right tech tools and data. It should be easy for them to launch surveys, seek feedback, and pass findings on to the C-suite.?
Managers also need receptive leaders, people who are invested in the frontline experience and willing to act upon the feedback they receive.?
Get your execs on board with EX transformation with this free Blink resource: The essential guide to executive buy-in for the frontline employee experience
FRONTLINE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
The three types of frontline tech every organization needs
Frontline workers are the face of your company. But they’re often stuck with outdated tech tools that harm the workplace experience and prevent workers from reaching their full potential.
To empower your frontline employees People Matters says you need cutting-edge tech that addresses three areas of workplace experience:???
To make a success of your frontline tech strategy, People Matters has a couple of other recommendations. First, you put all frontline tools in one easy, accessible place. Second, you get employee buy-in, involving frontline workers in the tech decision-making process.?
Discover how the Capital District Transport Authority (CDTA) chose an all-in-one tech tool for their frontline workforce. Read: Solving the digital divide in a deskless organization?
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