Since the onset of the latest pandemic, much more has become known about the plight of frontline employees. In fact, employers are in desperate need of this category of workers.
Just take a look at the chaos at airports worldwide and you’ll get a fairly good idea of how terrible the situation is.
All that when frontline workers represent 80% of the global workforce!
Businesses worldwide are recruiting frontline teams urgently, but they can’t fill all the positions.
How come frontline workers are disregarding the job openings en masse and turning to other careers?
According to reliable insights, the chief reason is — a troublesome relationship with the management. It turns out, that managers lack field experience and rely on their knowledge delivered in the classroom.
Further out, according to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, frontline workers look for better job prospects because they feel they are underpaid and have a poor work-life balance.
- 63% of frontline workers are looking forward to the job opportunities technology creates
- 56% say they feel pressured to adapt to new technologies over the fear of losing their jobs
- 55% of frontline workers have been forced to learn new tech on their own without any training being provided or offered
Which is to say: don’t just provide the latest tech — ensure that proper training is taking place!
This issue must be addressed fast and promptly because frontline workers who are sick and tired of poor work conditions may well rely on remote work, just like so many other unsatisfied employees do. After all, many frontline occupations are in high demand remotely (e.g., customer support representatives).
How should businesses address this rather burning issue?
Let’s take a look at the 4 top necessities.
But, before that, let’s see in detail what frontline teams really are.
Simply put, a frontline team comprises people who communicate with customers directly. They are usually the first stop for customers and clients, meaning that they leave the very first impression of your business.
There are numerous frontline roles; we’re hereby including only a few:
- retail assistants
- bank clerks
- social media planners and executives
- hospitality personnel
- service personnel
- customer service agents
- field sales executives
- consultants
Sadly, these people often lack technological support to perform their roles better, so the first top necessity would be — providing the latest tech.
Right Apps and Tools
For businesses dealing with construction work, this issue is all the more pressing. Just imagine all those complicated steps for each project being performed manually!
Look at the available apps for construction and make your frontline employees’ lives easier.
Next on, keep up with the latest field service trends.
Here are some ideas that have proven to be successful:
- IoT for asset management
- Cloud-based software for remote work
- Artificial intelligence for business automation
- Inventory management software for supply chains
Dependable Delivery Services
The next important thing is to offer dependable delivery services that include proof of delivery.
In fact, make sure that you’re properly managing all stages of the construction process, as follows:
- Initiation
- Planning
- Execution
- Control
- Closing
There are plenty of apps that will help you with each of these. Shop around and pick the ones that suit your frontline workers best.
Last but not least, empower your frontline team managers. As mentioned above, they too need to be educated. Provide them with the latest tech and make sure they’re following clearly defined management steps, 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
Consistent Job Costing System
Now, construction works are not only lengthy and complicated, but they are also costly. That’s why it is imperative to think up a consistent and reliable job costing system.
While there is no one-rule-fits-all approach in this regard, suffice it to say that there options aplenty. You just need to find the one that works best for your circumstances.
Precise Inventory Management
Using a cloud-based inventory will help your frontline workers stay on top of inventory management, which can be rather troublesome otherwise, especially if you’re running a large business.
Nowadays, there’s technology for everything and cloud-based solutions are among the easiest ones to master.
Key Takeaways
Overall, frontline workers are in dire need or new tech and training, but so are frontline team managers! Start by addressing this complex conundrum and go from there.
Don’t forget that communication is the key to success; ask your employees for input. Why not brainstorm the best solutions together?
