Frontline work remains a significant challenge for retailers four years after the pandemic began. Employee turnover rates remain high, but this presents an opportunity to enhance store staff and customer satisfaction. Listening to workers’ needs and providing them with the right tools is essential to achieving this goal.
Listening to and Understanding Store Employees
Retailers must understand what their workers face daily to attract and retain top talent. Relying on a constant flow of candidates to cover a 150% turnover rate is no longer feasible. Today, people have more opportunities than ever. If they don’t find value in their work, they won’t hesitate to leave, which can impact operations, customer experience, and overall results.
Retailers regularly face the challenge of replacing more than half of their store staff yearly.
Store employees are clear about their needs. They want opportunities to develop and grow in their workplace, access to tools that make their jobs easier, and, most importantly, to play an active role in the business’s success.
The Retail Industry’s Challenge and the Competition for Talent
Since the pandemic, retail employment has experienced a slow recovery compared to other sectors. This is partly due to the prolonged closure of stores, the migration of workers to other industries, and a preference for more flexible jobs with better value propositions.
Retailers compete not only with each other for frontline staff but also with other industries and non-traditional job options.
Strategies to Improve the Employee Experience and Reduce Turnover
- Professional Development Opportunities. Personal growth was the main reason frontline retail workers planned to leave their jobs in 2023. Investing in employee development through courses, certifications, and growth programs enhances their skills and loyalty to the company. For instance, one retailer invested in college-level courses and employee skill certifications. Participants developed relevant skills and were four times more likely to stay with their employer.
- Inspirational Leadership. Employees value inspirational leadership. A lack of motivating leadership is one of the primary reasons employees—particularly middle managers and supervisors—leave their jobs. Developing leaders who can guide and inspire their teams can be critical to retaining staff.
- Automation of Routine Tasks and Task Management. A lack of meaningful work—such as repetitive tasks with little social impact or tasks disconnected from the organization’s mission—is one of the top five reasons store employees leave. To address this, corporate and frontline respondents rated task management tools as one of the most effective solutions for addressing store staff challenges and helping them thrive.
According to The Deskless Report 2023, 80% of respondents believe task management tools positively impact store employee challenges and help them succeed.
The Connection Between Employee and Customer Experience
Improving employee experience benefits store staff and has a direct impact on customer experience. In a study of more than 100 retailers, McKinsey found that companies with high levels of store employee satisfaction were twice as likely to deliver top-quartile customer experiences.
A wide range of tools are available to improve customer experience (CX), but few can double the chances of success, as is the case with improving the frontline employee experience.
The Frontline Employee Experience as a Strategic Operational Focus
At Frogmi, we know that satisfied employees stay with the company longer. Experienced workers make fewer mistakes, allowing them to develop pattern recognition skills to solve unexpected problems. Most importantly, they can focus entirely on the tasks at hand, surpassing the learning curve’s tipping point. Moreover, when store staff have a positive experience, this also impacts customers.
Redefining the store employee experience is crucial, but it requires listening to their needs and providing solutions that enable them to thrive. Investing in task management tools, professional development, and inspirational leadership can significantly enhance store employee satisfaction and retention, reducing turnover and increasing operational efficiency.
Improving employee experience is a strategic investment that translates into better customer service, creating a virtuous cycle that benefits all stakeholders: employees, customers, and the company.
