Frontline workers perform a vital role when it comes to undertaking essential tasks for society or contributing to economic growth. According to the World Economic Forum, almost two-thirds of the global workforce does not sit behind a desk to do their job. Yet all too often they are unempowered and disconnected because workplace digital transformation has largely passed them by.

A landmark 2022 Forrester study revealed that despite ongoing digital transformation initiatives underway in sectors as diverse as healthcare, manufacturing, retail, distribution and hospitality, 73% of frontline employees say that digital initiatives have not yet reached them. This digital disconnect between corporate objectives and frontline realities often results in decreased job satisfaction, high turnover and a decline in customer experience.

Similarly, even when organisations attempt to bridge this digital divide these transformation projects aren’t always undertaken in the right way. As a result, frontline personnel find themselves overwhelmed by multiple, cumbersome and siloed applications that make it difficult to collaborate with colleagues or quickly access communications relevant to them or their role.

Clearly, organisations are missing a trick when it comes to ensuring operational frontline personnel can take advantage of new digital capabilities that will enable them to work faster and more effectively.

Closing the gap: why it pays to empower frontline workers

Many of today’s organisations are focused on delivering digital transformation programmes that boost employee productivity and elevate the employee workplace experience. However, these modernisation efforts are usually confined to their desk-based workforce rather than one of the most significant drivers of business success – the frontline workforce.

The consequences of excluding frontline workers from modern workplace transformation programmes are significant. From a corporate performance perspective, revenue growth and cost reduction represent two top reasons for investing in the frontline workforce experience. Streamlined resource management and workforce scheduling drive new operational efficiencies. Enabling enhanced real-time communication and collaboration on the frontline improves the productivity of workers. Simplifying compliance tasks and equipping frontline teams with instant access to documentation and reporting tools results in faster issue resolution. 

But there’s another important reason for empowering frontline workers with technology solutions designed around their needs. Organisations that successfully transform the frontline workforce experience also enjoy a significant uptick in customer satisfaction scores. That’s because when frontline workers have everything they need at their fingertips, they’re able to serve customers more effectively, more knowledgeably, and in the moment. This results in enhanced customer trust, loyalty and repeat business.

Boosting the employer brand

Equipping frontline workers with the right digital technologies also enables organisations to increase employee satisfaction and engagement. By providing digital tools that make it easier to undertake and feedback on tasks, work in step with colleagues and production processes, or communicate more effectively, organisations can initiate a more positive work environment that drives greater employee engagement and job satisfaction.

In today’s challenging recruitment landscape, where finding and retaining skilled frontline workers has become a mission-critical priority, elevating the workplace experience in this way is key for boosting retention rates and employer brand reputation in the recruitment marketplace.

It also sends out a strong but important message to workers. Namely that corporate leaders recognise the vital role that frontline teams perform and are committed to ensuring they are appropriately equipped, that they are seen and heard, and that they can depend on actionable notifications that explicitly help them do their job properly.

It also opens the door to enabling new workforce management and communication approaches. For example, undertaking regular wellbeing check-ins to gain a real-time pulse on team morale and whether proactive interventions are needed, delivering motivational recognition notifications to staff when they complete tasks well, or delivering tailored on-the-job training and development to each individual.

Critically, it will also eliminate the disconnect that can occur when staff don’t understand how their work delivers against objectives set out in the wider HQ strategy.

Overcoming the barriers to transformation

Despite the benefits on offer, transforming the frontline workforce has traditionally proved a challenging proposition. Typically, these personnel have dynamic shift patterns and often work remotely from corporate HQs. Until now, organisations attempting to take digital transformation to the frontline have provided multiple applications for a range of discrete tasks, for example e-mail for communications and separate tools for managing schedules and tasks. However, all these tools create considerable frustration and confusion for workers who find jumping between apps kills productivity.

Fast forward to today and best practice organisations are now looking to consolidate all these disparate tools into a single ‘super’ app. In other words, a digital workplace for the frontline that provides all the operational and communication tools they’ll need in one app that significantly improves their workplace experience.

They are also leveraging these super apps to capture real-time data and metrics directly from the field, so they can gain richer insights of realities on the ground. For one multi-site Asian convenience retailer this involves asking customers to complete a quick mobile satisfaction survey on exiting a store and delivering instant guidance and feedback that enables store managers to rectify service and operational issues quickly.

Harnessing AI: the next frontier

Being able to leverage AI to analyse data and create actionable insights in real time is going to be a gamechanger for organisations around the globe. Those that successfully harness AI capabilities to pinpoint business problems that can be resolved on the frontline will be able to capture new efficiencies faster and become hyper-tuned and responsive to customer needs. Today it is possible to deploy a new point-of-sale scanner in-store, for example, and undertake sentiment analysis to understand how well this new technology performs in the field by monitoring employee feedback on how easy it is to use, what customers think, and more.

Stepping stones to a productive, engaged frontline

Ultimately, investing in transformation of the frontline shouldn’t be viewed as difficult to do, or a burdensome additional cost. By breaking down organisational siloes, a connected frontline enables organisations to thrive and survive today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. Because, as we’ve seen it’s a ‘dollars and hearts’ strategic business enabler that not only delivers improved operational efficiencies, cost savings and profitability but also engenders greater employee engagement and productivity. 

If you’re just starting out on your frontline transformation journey, begin by creating a roadmap of where you want to go and the top business problems you want to solve. After that, pick two or three areas to focus on and build out from there, keeping in mind that you’re embarking on a long-term iterative journey that will evolve as you discover more about the art of the possible in your unique operational environment.

Further Reading

Behavioral Observation Scale
How To Praise Someone Professionally
Funny Employee Awards
SMART Goal Setting Method