How can you become a more attractive employer? How can you retain your frontline workers better? These questions will, and should, be top of mind for companies in 2024 and beyond.
The answer lies in improving the frontline worker experience.
We don’t claim to know ALL of the ways you can improve your frontline worker experience. It can differ from company to company, and can be based on company culture – but we do know several things that almost every company can do to improve!
Let’s get into what we have discovered to be the top ways you can give your frontline workers a great experience in 2024.
Flexibility and autonomy over scheduling
For frontline workers, it is too often the case that they don’t have access to a platform that allows them to easily swap shifts or request days off, and 41% have no say over their schedules. We found that a lack of scheduling flexibility is the number one stress trigger for frontline workers.
Companies should aim to implement platforms that allow employees to easily swap shifts when they need to, provide information about changes in their schedule in advance, and provide input on when it’s best for them to work. The next level up is a workforce management platform that uses AI and advanced analytics to help suggest smart schedules based on data like busiest hours, and which skills are needed during specific times.
If lack of flexibility is the number one stressor for frontline workers, it should be your number one priority when improving their working experience.
Encourage learning and growth
Salary increases and bonuses are great, but the cake tastes even sweeter when you throw learning and growth opportunities into the mix. Most of us feel better when we’re challenging ourselves and growing.
Learning new skills – like how to manage people, or working from another part of the world to learn a new language and culture – now that is motivating! And it makes work feel like an adventure, not just a job.
What are your employees’ goals? What skills should they learn to accomplish them? You can find a WFM tool that allows you, as the employer, to provide resources and training all in one place. This makes it easy to find, and engage with.
Compliance builds trust
It’s not the most exciting topic, but it is an important one! And it’s one your frontline workers care about. They want to know you’re following the labor laws in their location. They want to know what rights they have as a worker and how to access resources. The best thing you can do is provide them with those resources.
Find a workforce management tool that helps you as an employer consolidate and distribute this information. And when updates to the labor laws change, make sure you have a tool that is staying up-to-date too.
Help your employees bring their best selves to work
It’s time to make sure our frontline workers have the experience they deserve! Providing them with more autonomy and flexibility over their schedules will help relieve their number one stressor. And with more energy, they’ll be able to learn new skills and advance within the company, if that’s something they have as a goal! Implementing these positive changes ultimately means employees will be happier, stay longer, and have the energy and motivation to show up as their best selves to work each day.
We’ll see the digital workforce management space transform even further to help us improve our working experience. Helping us with scheduling, learning, engagement, and staying compliant.
