How to Increase Productivity of Your Frontline Workers

Often, employees at the top of the corporate hierarchy are well-known across the company while ideally enjoying all the glory. But the truth is, employees that make the most difference to your brand and business operations are the ones lying at the bottom of the pyramid – the frontline workers. In a way, they play the role of a bridge between your customers and company.

It’s not an option but a growing necessity to take steps to motivate and engage frontline workers and drive their productivity, which in turn will ensure improved customer experience and better business outcome at all levels. Although it is important to look at their professional well-being from every possible angle, technology tools and digitalization play the most crucial role in crafting winning strategies to not only enhance their day-to-day performance at work but also to imbibe the sense of empowerment in them by engaging them in operations involving innovation, revenue-generation, growth and creativity.

Let’s look at the following aspects business leaders should consider to up the productivity game of frontline workers.

Create an environment driving enhanced communication: As most frontline workers operate from remote locations it needs more than just emails to share and exchange messages and information. While emails are essential, interacting with your frontline workers requires embracing a digital internal communication strategy that works wonders to get all your frontline workers under one big umbrella. The first step might involve having a unified team communications platform, which will drive and support on-the-fly and real-time communications between team members and back office operators. These easy-to-use communication platforms encourage frontline workers to stay informed 24/7 and enable them to communicate through receiving, sending and responding to instant messages within a controlled and secured environment. This opportunity helps them to make more efficient decisions, quickly resolve issues and drive faster time-to-market.

Train & encourage them to use smart devices and technology tools: Companies need to understand that most frontline workers are millennials who are aware of the eruption in digital technologies and their business implications. Hence, it is more than necessary to encourage them to use digital or rugged devices and technology tools that they can leverage to increase their productivity and efficiency level. Introduction to digitalization and the required training processes within the workspace will allow the frontline workers to feel connected and empowered to carry out their daily jobs effortlessly while minimizing errors, process delays and even device downtime. Usage of software platforms and smart devices will help them automate their routine tasks, organize their daily deliverables, manage their shift timings, identify roadblocks, access and exchange critical company information, data and content and gain improved visibility. A proper corporate training strategy to encourage the use of digital devices will increase employee engagement tenfold.

Encourage a collaborative working atmosphere: Most frontline workers tend to work from remote locations and sometimes they work individually and rotating shifts, which makes the importance of team collaboration even more prominent. Collaboration tools can do more than just facilitate the frontline workers to collect, access and exchange valuable information amongst the team members. It also supports work flexibility, precision and efficiency, which in turn allows the frontline workers to manage and streamline their work with improved effectiveness and time-convenience.

Improve and elaborate your onboarding process: A thoughtfully-created onboarding program proves to be beneficial to encourage and motivate your frontline workers to stay productive throughout their stint with the company. Most studies conducted by corporate giants confirm that the first 6 month’s experience makes a huge difference to an employee’s decision to stick around. Great onboarding strategy boosts retention as it will make your frontline executives feel welcomed, appreciated and important.

Source: Securityboulevard