As we’ve seen, the workplace continues to evolve in new and interesting ways, but one thing remains the same: the frontline team members’ importance. Generation of Frontline or deskless workers is also a large section of the population that is often understudied but is vital in organizations and inclusive of industries like retail, healthcare, and manufacturing. A recently released Microsoft Work Trend Index Special Report revealed that globally, 1.87 billion people are frontline workers, and 88 percent of organizations use them.
It is All Real for the Frontline Team Member
All of these frontline workers experience some sort of challenge that is harnessed to the office workers challenges but not similar in nature. The pandemic has given a sneak view of many of these severe, sometimes perilous, problems of frontline workers. Surprisingly, today many of these employees require such subsidized support in communication and interaction with other workers, relying for many aspects of their organizational experience on their own employer company only.
A McKinsey survey of frontline retail employees in the retail industry showed that forty-four percent of them are thinking of quitting within the next three to six months. This is 1.2 times more than the average US employee. The frontline worker study undertaken at MIT revealed that about 75% of the respondents feel excluded.
One can deduce from these studies that the above team members feel or are actually physically and geographically out of touch with other office based employees and the corporate goals of the organization. This may often translate beyond emotional stress, as it makes little sense to employ or manage under informed and under motivated team members who are likely to turnover and lower productivity rates that they bring.
Read the article- Focus on the Frontline: HR Tech’s Role in Connecting Deskless Team Members