By Andrew Myers

The global pandemic has taken its toll on everyone – but frontline workers have been impacted most severely: burnout, and financial strain have led to career reassessment and subsequently the Great Resignation.

With the labour market as challenging as it is, employee retention could not be more critical – particularly for frontline employees servicing our global supply chains. According to Gallup, highly engaged business units within high turnover organizations see 24% less employee turnover. What’s more, highly enabled business units see 59% less turnover.  And of course, it is much cheaper to retain an employee than it is to find new ones to train.

As we see it, employee enablement is mission-critical for businesses trying to retain their talent and engagement is the first step toward those ends. 

Enable to Retain and Excel

How to retain and upskill employees to get more done is the question of the year for consumer brands and internal supply chain organizations trying to navigate the Great Resignation.

According to our research, 61% of frustrated employees cite scheduling and communication pain points as reasons for leaving. That means age-old, paper-based scheduling processes, which 70% of businesses still use, or even antiquated WFM solutions are sending employees over the edge. However, with the right digital tools, employees can have more flexibility and schedule predictability, which is particularly important as multiple job-holding continues to rise. Hourly employees juggling work, kids, and sometimes another job needs easier access to schedules, timecards, and self-service tools to help manage their life.

Tools that facilitate instant access to employee schedules, and shift self-service tools give management extra floor time while workers proactively find open shifts and swap shifts dramatically lowering absenteeism and knock-on costs. Communications, and learning tie employees closer to the organization and brand.

2020 Hindsight

The pandemic showed us just how fragile global supply chains can be. Bottlenecks and miscommunications are costly, and during the second wave of Covid-19, where there are fewer employees to pick up the slack, they can also be detrimental. No matter if your business oversees local supply chains or feeds into a global network, frontline employee enablement, communication, and alignment are likely at the forefront of your mind right now. In an effort to optimise supply chain distribution, businesses are adopting digital tools and technology that streamline operations and upskill essential employees enabling them to outperform.

Invest in a Connected Workforce

Keeping on point is critical for a global supply chain rebound. But, to do that, businesses need to take a serious look at providing the right digital tools that keep your workforce on the same page. WorkJam recently conducted a poll where 52% of respondents identified a digital workplace as an important tool for working in today’s environment, while another 39% believe it’s a worthy solution for 2022. With a mobile productivity tool like a digital workplace, you can combat the supply chain Armageddon as your frontline workforce is able to learn, earn and perform as well as share in leadership’s vision and goals, to fully learn everything they need to excel in their roles.

Not only do frontline staff have everything they need on a single pane of glass, but they can easily access important information wherever they may be so they can always perform to the best of their ability, which is important for both the multi-generational workforce we see today and the digital native generation entering the workplace in full force in the coming years.

Digital workplace technology is the future of flexible and predictable workplace management. We call this the Frontline Workforce Orchestration.