Holding onto your frontline staff might seem difficult but, in actuality, there are a couple of tips that can help you understand what it is these people look for in a job.
Because frontline employees are usually the first people customers get to meet, it is crucial that they are enthusiastic about their tasks.
Evidence shows the opposite is usually the case, with the majority of frontline staff citing poor relationships with the management as the main cause for their resignation.
With new approaches and new tech, things can change for the better.
Let’s take a look at some ideas on how to provide a better work environment for your frontline teams.
New Tech for New Approaches
Providing your frontline employees with the tools they will need to succeed (including the latest technology) is essential for their success.
After all, frontline staff resigns en masse because they have a poor work-life balance, according to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index. Another reason is mixed feelings on the matter of new tech, notably because training rarely accompanies its implementation.
56% of frontline employees cite feeling pressured to adopt new tech and 55% — being forced to learn the ropes without any assistance being provided.
Hence, it is crucial to couple the deployment of new tech with relevant training programs, starting with frontline managers.
Current trends recommend:
IoT for asset management
Cloud-based software for remote work
Artificial intelligence for business automation
Inventory management software for supply chains
Train Your Frontline Managers
As already mentioned, frontline employees tend to have a poor relationship with the management. The chief reason why this is so is the fact that frontline managers lack field experience.
They could also benefit from software for frontline management, which will help them through all management phases, as follows:
Customer acquisition – Use marketing, advertising, and promotion
Estimating & quoting – Estimate a cost and ask for customer feedback
Task outlining – divide the job into smaller tasks
Scheduling – Allocate the necessary resources and staffing +
Timesheeting –Record employees’ working hours
Emailing & document exchange – Dispatch documents relevant to the job to stakeholders
Cost management
Work-in-progress management
Invoicing
Reporting – Collect the data for further reference
By streamlining procedures that can be streamlined, businesses can significantly simplify frontline processes and management.
Finally, adhere to operations management trends, which include:
Automating repetitive processes
Streamlining communication
Connecting your frontline workforce (IoT and similar)
Deploy Construction Project Checklists
It is important to plan ahead all stages of construction work and draft a construction project checklist. There are five stages of project management in total:
Initiation
Planning
Execution
Control
Closing
All of these can benefit from a solid checklist, so make sure to brainstorm ideas to help your frontline teams perform better.
Set Up Viable Training Approaches
In these data-driven hectic times, information overload happens left and right.
Therefore, make sure to adapt training materials to allow every frontline employee to learn at their own pace.
On top of role-specific training, it is recommended to focus on skill training, the most notable aspect to focus on include:
Resilience
Prioritization
Time-management
Soft skills
Set up Knowledge Management Strategy
Knowledge sharing is one of the weakest departments of almost every business out there. Due to the information overload mentioned earlier, people simply can't make heads or tails even of the simplest tasks.
That’s why knowledge management strategies are crucial. With digitalization changing every business procedure, knowledge management is more important than ever.
Don’t we all know the usual practice: looking for a colleague who knows how to deal with the situation at hand is sometimes impossible? To prevent this from happening, set up a modern knowledge management system (KMS).
In plain words, a KMS is a platform that collects and stores information in a central location, where everyone can find it in a matter of minutes. Some KMSs rely on AI but there are other good options as well.
Simplify Shipping
Lastly, frontline teams dealing with customer support know all too well the woes of poor shipping practices
.
Even though shipping can never be 100% reliable, there are still solutions to improve it.
Here are some notable practices to consider:
Plan well ahead for busy seasons
Prioritize time-sensitive shipments
Check out which of your carriers have the fewest delays and put focus on them
Use digital freight software that can forecast delivery times
Track your containers’ delivery status digitally so that you can address potential problems in a timely manner
Key Takeaways
Ensuring that frontline teams are happy with their jobs is one of the highest priorities of any business. Keeping in mind that 80% of all roles are frontline jobs, it isn’t difficult to understand why the plight of these people must be addressed ASAP.
For best results, train your frontline managers, use modern tools to streamline processes, and keep communication alive.
Angela Ash is a professional writer and editor who focuses primarily on topics related to business, mental health and travel.