The frontline workforce represents about 70% of the U.S. workforce, forming the backbone of industries like retail, healthcare, and hospitality. Despite their essential role in driving outcomes and delivering exceptional customer experiences, McKinsey reports that many frontline workers face significant barriers, including limited access to tools, resources, and support. These challenges can leave employees feeling disconnected and undervalued, ultimately impacting the customer experience and organizational success. Addressing these barriers is critical for creating a supportive and thriving frontline employee experience that benefits both employees and the organization.
As workplace expectations evolve with advancements in technology and changing organizational priorities, the demands of frontline workers are shifting. They now seek meaningful work, effective communication, and resources that contribute to a better employee experience and empower them to excel. According to the report mentioned above, organizations that prioritize their frontline teams achieve stronger employee engagement, retention, and overall performance.
To meet these expectations and create a positive frontline employee experience, businesses must focus on four key areas: building the foundation for engagement, empowering teams through leadership and recognition, enhancing the digital and physical workplace, and driving innovation and purpose. Together, these elements form a roadmap for transforming how frontline employees experience their work—benefiting not only the workforce but the organization as a whole.
Develop a clear foundation for engaging frontline workers
A strong foundation is essential for creating a positive and effective frontline employee experience. By establishing clear strategies, streamlining onboarding, and fostering inclusivity, organizations can set their workforce up for long-term success.
1. Create a targeted frontline employee experience strategy
Building a positive employee experience starts with aligning organizational goals to the needs of frontline workers. Defining clear objectives and implementing a targeted strategy ensures employees feel valued and supported throughout their journey.
JetBlue exemplifies this approach with its “On The Fly” program, which aligns communications to specific roles. By delivering relevant, actionable updates, the platform empowers employees to stay informed and perform at their best. Learn more about JetBlue’s success.
Belonging drives engagement
2. Create seamless onboarding experiences
Onboarding is the first impression of your company culture and can significantly impact employee retention. A structured onboarding process fosters connection, confidence, and frontline worker engagement among new hires.
Fact: According to Deloitte’s 2023 Work Trends Report, structured onboarding can reduce turnover by up to 69%. By automating communication, organizations like Cooper University Health Care have eliminated confusion and streamlined the onboarding process for new team members.
3. Foster inclusivity and psychological safety for frontline employees
Frontline workers perform best when they feel safe, respected, and valued. Psychological safety—the assurance that they can speak up, share ideas, or raise concerns without fear—creates a foundation for a better frontline experience with stronger team collaboration, higher productivity, and reduced turnover.
Research shows the power of psychological safety: Gallup reports that teams with this key element are 12% more productive and experience 27% less turnover. By fostering a culture of inclusivity, organizations can unlock the full potential of their frontline employees.
Real-time employee feedback tools play a vital role in creating such environments. Platforms that enable anonymous input provide employees with a voice, empowering them to contribute meaningfully while informing and strengthening diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies. When inclusivity becomes a core value, organizations not only retain talent but also build a workplace where every employee feels they belong.
Empower teams through leadership and recognition
Strong leadership and meaningful recognition are cornerstones of a thriving frontline employee experience, inspiring confidence, boosting morale, and fostering frontline worker engagement and long-term employee loyalty.
4. Equip managers with tools to lead effectively
Managers play a pivotal role in shaping the frontline employee experience. Empowering them with the right tools and resources ensures they can effectively support their teams and foster a culture of trust and productivity.
Equipped with the analytics capabilities in the Firstup platform, managers gain valuable insights into team dynamics, communication effectiveness, and the employee experience. These actionable data points help managers identify opportunities to boost morale, address challenges, and enhance overall team performance. By providing managers with these tools, organizations enable them to lead with confidence and improve the overall employee experience, ensuring the frontline employee feels supported and empowered to excel.
5. Recognize and celebrate team achievements
Recognizing and celebrating team achievements is essential for fostering a positive and productive environment for frontline workers. By acknowledging milestones and behaviors that align with company values, organizations can enhance employee satisfaction and engagement. According to the 2023 State of Recognition Report, more than half of employees agree that feeling recognized inspires productivity, balances a heavy workload, and helps maintain morale during layoffs.
Implementing recognition programs that celebrate team milestones fosters trust and improves morale, contributing to a more cohesive and motivated workforce.
6. Introduce sustainability as a team value
Introducing sustainability as a core team value not only aligns with corporate responsibility but also enhances the employee experience, satisfaction, and engagement. When employees understand how their roles contribute to broader sustainability objectives, they find greater purpose in their work. This alignment fosters a sense of belonging and motivation, leading to improved performance and retention.
For instance, communicating corporate sustainability achievements through tailored updates for a frontline employee can reinforce the importance of each employee’s contribution to these goals. By integrating sustainability into daily operations and recognizing efforts in this area, organizations can cultivate a purpose-driven culture that benefits both employees and the environment.
Need help with performance kickoff communications?
Check out the Performance Journey in Firstup’s EX Content Library for ready-to-use templates.
Enhance the digital and physical workplace
Creating a seamless and supportive work environment requires enhancing both the digital and physical aspects of the workplace. By future-proofing digital tools, optimizing work-life integration, ensuring consistency across workspaces, and addressing well-being, organizations can ensure a seamless and productive frontline employee experience in every work environment.
7. Future-proof the digital experience
To keep up with the fast-paced demands of a frontline employee, organizations must prioritize intuitive and scalable digital tools that meet employees where they are. Mobile-first communications, in particular, ensure frontline workers can access critical updates and resources without being tethered to a desk. These tools allow for real-time engagement, enabling employees to stay connected, informed, and productive no matter their location.
With the Firstup mobile app, organizations can streamline communication and deliver personalized updates directly to employees’ devices. Retailers using this approach have seen measurable improvements in engagement, as frontline workers gain the flexibility and tools they need to excel in their roles.
8. Optimize work-life integration for the frontline workforce
Work-life integration is vital for retaining and engaging frontline teams, who often face rigid schedules and demanding responsibilities. Organizations can enhance employee satisfaction by offering flexibility and tools that accommodate diverse needs, ensuring workers feel supported in balancing their professional and personal lives.
Flexible scheduling solutions and communication tools play a pivotal role in this effort. The Firstup platform demonstrates how personalized updates, shift reminders, and accessible self-service options empower a frontline employee to manage their time effectively. By prioritizing work-life integration, businesses enhance the overall employee experience, fostering happier, more productive teams and significantly reducing turnover rates.
9. Build consistency across physical and digital workspaces
For frontline workers, a consistent experience across physical and digital environments is critical to engagement and productivity. When communication and processes feel unified, employees can focus on delivering their best work without the distractions of disjointed systems or conflicting messages.
Organizations with consistent communication strategies see 23% higher employee engagement and 20% greater profitability, according to Gallup research. Ensuring alignment across tools, channels, and workspaces fosters a sense of reliability and cohesion for employees.
Firstup empowers businesses to streamline communication across physical and virtual environments, ensuring frontline workers can access critical information and updates whenever and wherever they need them. This consistency not only enhances productivity but also reinforces a stronger connection between employees and the organization.
10. Address holistic well-being
Frontline employees face unique challenges that can impact their physical, mental, and financial well-being. To foster a positive frontline employee experience, organizations must take a holistic approach to wellness by implementing programs that address these interconnected areas.
The APA’s 2023 report highlights holistic well-being as a critical component of retention strategies, emphasizing the need for companies to prioritize wellness initiatives that go beyond surface-level efforts.
For frontline workers, the delivery of wellness resources is just as important as their content. On-demand well-being programs accessible via mobile platforms are crucial for reaching deskless employees, who often face high stress levels. However, many wellness programs falter due to poor communication strategies. Ensuring effective delivery and awareness of these resources can make all the difference in creating a healthier, more engaged frontline workforce.
Drive innovation and purpose
Empowering workers to drive innovation and aligning their roles with organizational purpose are key to enhancing the frontline employee experience and creating a stronger connection between employees and the company.
11. Personalize communication with behavioral insights
Effective communication is at the heart of the frontline employee experience. Using AI and data analytics, organizations can deliver timely, relevant updates tailored to individual needs and behaviors. This approach ensures employees receive the information they need when it matters most, fostering greater engagement and productivity.
Example: Lincoln Financial Group achieved an impressive 90% communication reach by leveraging Firstup’s platform to deliver hyper-personalized updates. By aligning communication strategies with employee preferences, the organization significantly improved engagement and streamlined its internal messaging efforts. Read the full case study.
12. Align EX with business goals
A successful frontline employee experience (EX) strategy doesn’t operate in isolation—it must align with your organization’s broader objectives. When EX strategies are integrated with company goals, they create a unified vision that drives engagement, productivity, and innovation across the workforce.
Key Insight: According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, positive employee experience strategies that align with business goals are 5.5 times more effective at delivering meaningful outcomes. Explore the report.
By connecting employee experience to organizational objectives, businesses can foster a sense of purpose among frontline employees, ensuring their efforts contribute to long-term success. This alignment not only enhances engagement but also strengthens outcomes by creating frontline teams that are motivated, cohesive, and empowered.
13. Create a culture of innovation
Fostering a culture of innovation is essential for empowering frontline employees to contribute beyond their day-to-day responsibilities. Encouraging them to suggest ideas and refine workflows not only improves operations but also reinforces their value within the organization. When employees feel their insights are welcomed and acted upon, they become more engaged and invested in the company’s success.
Driving innovation through collaboration
Providing tools that enable idea sharing—like digital innovation hubs or collaboration platforms—can make all the difference. These technologies allow employees to brainstorm, share feedback, and collaborate across teams, breaking down silos and driving creative solutions. This inclusive approach transforms frontline employees into active participants in shaping the future of your organization.
Building an innovative culture isn’t just about generating ideas; it’s about creating an environment where creativity thrives and employees feel empowered to drive change. By embracing this mindset, organizations can unlock untapped potential within their frontline workforce while staying agile.
14. Expand recognition beyond achievements
Recognition shouldn’t be reserved solely for milestones or extraordinary accomplishments. Highlighting behaviors and everyday frontline work contributions that align with your company’s core values reinforces the importance of those values and motivates employees to embody them consistently. Acknowledging small yet meaningful actions can build a stronger sense of purpose and belonging among employees.
Research by Kincentric underscores that when organizations deliver a consistent and positive employee experience, they achieve higher employee engagement, retention, financial performance, and customer satisfaction. This highlights the importance of aligning recognition programs with company values to foster a more engaged workforce.
Implement recognition programs that focus on these contributions, whether through peer-to-peer shoutouts, public acknowledgment in team meetings, or personalized notes of appreciation. This approach fosters a positive work environment and strengthens the overall employee experience, ensuring employees feel valued for who they are and how they contribute to the organization’s mission.
15. Enhance employee feedback loops for continuous improvement
Creating an effective feedback loop is essential for a thriving frontline experience. By fostering a culture of two-way communication, organizations are making employees feel valued. Transparent feedback systems empower frontline workers to share their insights, enabling leadership to address concerns, identify opportunities, and make meaningful improvements.
Pro Tip: Anonymized surveys play a pivotal role in capturing honest feedback, especially in sensitive areas like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). In healthcare environments, for instance, feedback collected through secure platforms has informed stronger DEI strategies, resulting in a more inclusive workplace culture and better employee engagement.
When employees know their voices matter, they are more likely to stay engaged, committed, and aligned with the organization’s goals. Implementing regular feedback mechanisms not only drives continuous improvement but also strengthens the bond between leadership and the frontline workforce.
Empower your frontline workforce
Frontline employees are the backbone of industries, driving business outcomes and delivering exceptional customer experiences. Investing in the frontline employee experience doesn’t just benefit the employees themselves—it creates a ripple effect that enhances experiences, boosts employee productivity, and strengthens overall business success. When organizations prioritize the frontline workforce, they unlock a competitive advantage that fuels both engagement and profitability.
By embracing scalable, personalized solutions, companies can connect with their frontline teams in meaningful ways. Take the next step toward improving the employee experience and empowering your frontline workforce with proven, scalable solutions like Firstup’s intelligent workplace communication platform.
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