5 ways to engage your frontline workers

Editor’s note: We are re-running the top stories of 2021 as part of our year-end countdown.

Frontline workers have the most direct impact on your company’s reputation and operational success, whether that’s providing services, helping customers, fixing problems on site, delivering goods or transporting people.

Making sure they are engaged is vital, but the nature of their jobs (dispersed, away from desks, shift working etc.) has labelled them “hard to reach” in the past. Here are five things you can do to help engage these invaluable employees.

1. Keep comms short and to the point.

Frontline workers usually have more constraints on their time than desk workers. They might work night shifts, or only work part-time hours, and they are away from screens for most of their workday. Short communications that are relevant to their jobs will be appreciated most, so longer story-based pieces will be ignored or skim-read. The inverted pyramid approach to writing is vital, as it will make sure they see what they need to know or do right at the start of your message.

2. Think beyond words.