Frontline Workers are Different: Here’s How to Engage and Retain Them [New Report]
Employers across the globe have felt the challenges associated with talent shortages in recent years, and frontline employers have felt those pains most acutely. The realities are
staggering:
- Record high quit rates: every month since February 2021 voluntary resignations have been above the highest historical figures.
- The combination of employee stress and burnout was one of the top reasons for job quits across many roles, especially for frontline workers.
- The mismatch between the high number of job openings and the low number of workers to fill them has been a constant source of frustration for employers.
And the list goes on. We can spend our time commiserating about the problem, or we can start looking for solutions. Bottom line: to get different results, we must do something differently.
But where do we begin?
Most employers have already adjusted and re-adjusted pay scales to try to keep up, but there’s a limit to that. In fact, a compensation executive in the hospitality industry told us in a recent research interview that for a period of time, they were evaluating pay on a monthly basis in some markets to ensure their compensation was keeping pace with market rates. What more could they do?
So if it’s not compensation, what’s the answer? Is it more training? Better benefits? Or some other secret nobody has discovered? The headlines and the news just keep repeating the same old
story: not enough workers to go around. But that doesn’t help your leaders staff their next shift, and it certainly doesn’t make it any easier to keep the existing talent you already have on board.
We partnered with the team at Harri to produce a report to answer these and other critical questions facing employers of frontline workers.
Some key takeaways:
7 in 10 |
4x |
Only 50% |
| talent leaders say that hiring went from a recruiting priority to an operational priority in the last year | is the increase in the likelihood of a frontline employee quitting their job due to the absence of a supportive manager | of workers think they are treated equitably with corporate staff |
Check out the full report to learn more about what it takes to support frontline workers today.
Ben Eubanks is the Chief Research Officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory. He is an author, speaker, and researcher with a passion for telling stories and making complex topics easy to understand.
His latest book Talent Scarcity answers the question every business leader has asked in recent years: “Where are all the people, and how do we get them back to work?” It shares practical and strategic recruiting and retention ideas and case studies for every employer.
His first book, Artificial Intelligence for HR, is the world’s most-cited resource on AI applications for hiring, development, and employee experience.
Ben has more than 10 years of experience both as an HR/recruiting executive as well as a researcher on workplace topics. His work is practical, relevant, and valued by practitioners from F100 firms to SMB organizations across the globe.
He has spoken to tens of thousands of HR professionals across the globe and enjoys sharing about technology, talent practices, and more. His speaking credits include the SHRM Annual Conference, Seminarium International, PeopleMatters Dubai and India, and over 100 other notable events.