How the Frontline Gap Is Affecting Retail Workers (+ What To Do About It)

Frontline retail workers are the face of your brand. They’re the ones who represent your business to shoppers in stores, who create consistent experiences across locations, who keep things running smoothly behind the scenes in your warehouse, and who provide loyalty-building customer service that keeps people coming back again and again.

But despite their essential role in the day-to-day operation – and ongoing success – of your company, many frontline retail employees are experiencing the Frontline Gap. This is a fracture between frontline workers and their desk-based counterparts that can lead to communication breakdowns, employee disengagement, and even attrition.

For our recent Frontline Gap Report, we surveyed over 7,500 frontline workers across industries, including over 600 from retail. The standout headline? Frontline retail workers feel especially disconnected from company mission and values. If left untreated, this can impact everything from employee engagement to customer experiences – so businesses need to proactively address this disconnection before it’s too late.

Read on to discover three key takeaways from our research, and download the full Retail Frontline Gap Report to get more insights and data-driven recommendations. 

1. Create a culture that can be accessed from anywhere

Our research revealed that almost three-quarters (73%) of frontline retail workers don’t feel strongly connected to their company’s mission and values. This makes them the most disconnected cohort across industries, coming in far above the global average of 63%.

We also found that only 37% of frontline retail employees say company culture feels real to them, while 41% think it’s just something they hear about.

To address this, you need to ensure your company culture can be accessed (and felt) from anywhere – not just the office. Bring your mission and values to life with an employee experience platform (EXP) that showcases your culture and enables frontline retail workers to engage digitally. Create spaces where they can connect about shared interests, discuss industry trends, and get crucial updates to keep them engaged, informed, and inspired.  

2. Connect recognition to company values

One in five (21%) retail workers feel they’re rarely or never recognized for their work, and nearly half (44%) believe their company cares more about desk workers than them – despite thinking they have a bigger impact than those office-based colleagues.

Simply recognizing retail workers’ individual contributions can have a massive impact on their morale. For 44% of retail respondents, this is one of the top ways to make them feel more valued at work aside from compensation, while a third would even prefer public praise to a bonus.

Improve recognition and help frontline retail workers feel more connected with company culture by aligning shout-outs with your company values and mission. Use your EXP to celebrate achievements in real time and let leaders, managers, and peers nominate employees for value-driven awards, like Stockroom Wizard or Customer Service Superstar, to keep everyone working towards shared goals. 

3. Implement a retail-friendly comms strategy

Some 42% of frontline retail workers say their company is bad at communicating with them, with almost half (49%) reporting that most of their company’s communications seem irrelevant to them. As a result, the majority skip reading them some or all of the time, which could lead to missed information and inconsistent experiences for shoppers.

To keep employees up to date, you need to tailor your comms to their unique needs. Between helping customers, organizing stock, and keeping the store spick and span, there’s no such thing as a “spare moment” for frontline retail employees – so if you want them to engage with your communications, you need to make them easy to access and consume.

Use a variety of media types, from quick messages to videos and podcasts, to send the right message to the right people, at the right time. Get insights about which content performs best and ensure people are seeing time-sensitive comms to keep all retail workers engaged and informed, even if they don’t have access to a computer or company email address (perfect for seasonal hires).

Keep frontline retail workers connected and engaged

As a retail business, you know how important it is to create a cohesive experience for your shoppers: no matter which branch they’re in, or even if they’re shopping online, it should feel like an extension of your brand. The same is true when it comes to employee experiences. Whether they’re in an office, storefront, or warehouse, every worker deserves to feel connected, heard, and valued – and when they do, they’re more empowered to drive meaningful results for your business.

Want to close the frontline gap and keep your retail employees – and your customers – happy? Download the full Retail Frontline Gap Report now to get our actionable tips.