As the holiday season approaches, the spirit of festivity is mingled with the hustle and bustle for many frontline workers. These are the individuals who keep the wheels of our businesses turning, often under high pressure and demanding conditions. For businesses, this time leading into the new year is an ideal moment to turn a caring eye towards your frontline workers. 

The Fourth Pillar of the goHappy Employee Engagement Model for frontline leaders is to coach, not boss. But, what does this mean, and how can you embody this in your role?

Every November, the United States dedicates a day to honor military Veterans and their dedication to the country through their service. Some companies observe this quietly, while others make a public gesture. Numerous consumer brands extend gratitude to Veterans by offering complimentary items or discounts. As a #USAF Veteran, I keenly acknowledge and appreciate these gestures. Most Veterans, in response, humbly express gratitude to the companies, recognizing that the acknowledgement is not obligatory.

As a frontline leader, you're often in the eye of the storm, navigating the challenges of managing teams, executing projects, and meeting objectives. Yet, amid these duties, one underlying factor determines your success: trust. Trust isn't merely about dependability or reliability; it delves much deeper into the psyche of leadership. At its core, it's about authenticity—being a leader who is genuine, relatable, and transparent. 

We’ve said this many times before, but it bears repeating: gathering feedback from your frontline employees is one of the best things you can do for business performance. 

There is an undeniable connection between an organization's employee experience (EX) and the customer experience (CX) it delivers. Denise Lee Yohn, in her insightful piece for Harvard Business Review, astutely observes that given the technological advancements and shifting labor dynamics, "EX is now the key driver of CX." This assertion resonates powerfully with the principles laid out by the goHappy Engagement Model.

When it comes to motivating frontline employees, managers and leaders often find themselves facing a perplexing challenge. The traditional rewards — bonuses, promotions, and the like — might appear effective on the surface, but their influence can be fleeting. This is especially true for industries where employees often switch jobs for even a seemingly small hourly pay bump. More so, how can leaders and managers who do not have decision-making power over pay make an impact on employee engagement and retention?

Employee engagement is defined as a measure of how committed an employee feels to their organization; how much they identify with their organization; how satisfied they feel with their job; and how energized they feel in their work. There is no doubt that employers benefit in many ways from high levels of employee engagement, while disengagement not only negatively impacts individual workers, but can easily spread. 

America has always been a nation that thrives on the innovation of its entrepreneurs, the insights of its thinkers, and the inspiration of its artists. However, time and again, it's the frontline workforce that stands as the backbone of the nation, ensuring its steady march forward. 

Feedback is the compass that guides an organization toward its true north. Particularly, feedback from frontline employees – those who are in the trenches every day – is invaluable. These individuals deal with the real-time challenges, customer interactions, and the daily mechanics of your operations. 

In any organization, particularly ones that rely on a frontline workforce, the relationship between leadership and frontline employees plays a huge role in shaping the culture, productivity, and overall success of the workplace. 

The current macro environment is challenging for businesses of all sizes. But it’s a lot less challenging if you have above average employee retention. And that’s one place small businesses are winning. 

Something big is on its way over here at goHappy. 

Organizations that rely heavily on a frontline workforce (nearly 90%!) are realizing that frontline employee retention has become their topmost concern. Leaders across industries have recognized the critical role that frontline employees play in driving customer satisfaction, maintaining operational efficiency, and ultimately contributing to the overall success of the company. That’s why frontline employee retention has emerged as the number one concern of leaders in 2023 (even above hiring). 

Organizations are increasingly recognizing the immense value of frontline employees' feedback. These employees, who directly interact with customers and represent the face of the company, possess invaluable insights that can drive operational improvements, enhance customer experiences, and shape the overall success of the organization. 

Competition for talent is stiff these days, no matter which industry you’re in. But the fight to hire and, particularly, retain great talent, is especially fierce in industries that employ a frontline workforce. While attention is often focused on top-level management and strategic initiatives, hat many business leaders don’t realize is that frontline managers play a huge role in whether or not frontline employees decide to stay or go. 

Organizations who have made frontline employee engagement a strategic priority are reaping the rewards.

Frontline employee engagement isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity. So how do you add it to an already full plate?

As a business owner or a manager of frontline employees, do you ever feel like you can’t get ahead? Like you produce business results for the short term, but always find those outcomes slipping back to baseline or even below where they started? 

The numbers don’t lie: Frontline managers have a major impact on business success.

The impact that frontline managers have on an organization’s overall performance and results is significant, especially when you consider that, nationwide, they are directly responsible for 8 out of 10 employees in the workforce. Yet, in many organizations managers on the frontline feel undervalued, underdeveloped, and overworked; and their levels of engagement show it. Gallup research has found that only 35% of managers are engaged, meaning they are enthusiastic about and committed to their work, their people, and the organization. 

Are you tired of constantly losing valuable employees? Employee turnover is not only costly for your business, but it also affects team morale and productivity. 

The good news is that there are solutions to reduce employee turnover and improve communication within your organization. 

In this blog post, we will share four tips in which business communication solutions can help you retain top talent, create a more engaged workforce, and thus increase sales. 

In a world where technology is constantly evolving, businesses need to adapt and find new ways to communicate with their teams. When it comes to frontline employees, SMS (short message service) is the clear winner for effective business communication. 

From its widespread availability to its ability to reach workers in real time, there are many reasons why SMS should be your go-to tool for keeping your team informed and engaged. In this post, we'll explore the benefits of using SMS as well as some tips on how to make the most of this powerful business communication tool. 

Employee surveys can provide insightful data to employers and HR professionals about employee morale or collective attitudes about aspects of the workplace. Companies that regularly survey their workers in an effective way have more opportunities to improve frontline employee communications. Still, many need more time or resources to know how to design an effective survey that yields beneficial results. Enter goHappy Hub—a platform built exclusively for employee-centric engagement and feedback that empowers organizations with proven best practices in sending out employee surveys.

“Can you cover tomorrow’s shift for so-and-so?”

Read 7:12 PM.

No response.

Many working Americans report experiencing a negative emotional response to the end of the weekend and personal freetime as the “Sunday Scaries”–an anxious feeling about the work week ahead that cuts into the final hours of off-the-clock bliss. But, perhaps the only thing worse to interrupt an employee’s time off work is receiving unexpected or poorly timed messages from their employer.  

Let's face it: organizations crave high engagement levels from their frontline employees but are often short of ideas on exactly how to accomplish this. 

Take a moment to think about your favorite job that you've ever had. Most likely, one of the reasons that this job was meaningful to you was because of the relationships that you had with your employer and your fellow employees. When we feel valued at the workplace, our work feels more meaningful. 

Now more than ever, it is important that employees feel valued at the workplace. One way to accomplish this is through employee recognition.

As Dr. Bob Nelson says, “Take time to appreciate employees and they will reciprocate in a thousand ways.” 

In our post-pandemic world, it's not enough to assume frontline employees are just " happy to have a job." 

Things have changed, and frontline workers no longer seek jobs where the expectation is the bare minimum in exchange for a paycheck. 

They are more attracted to a work environment where they feel valued and respected, with managers who make them feel like they're contributing to something significant and are working towards common goals. 

If you're an HR Director, Communications Director, or Talent Acquisition Specialist who manages a mobile workforce, you know how challenging good communication can be.

Deskless workers often work in remote settings or visit different locations throughout the day, so you may go long stretches without seeing or verbally communicating with some of your employees. 

Because of this, communication channels that work for office and onsite employees aren't practical for mobile workers.

Your frontline employees work hard. And amid busy schedules and the holiday rush, it can be easy to overlook showing them how much you appreciate their dedication to your organization.

Hourly workers often put in more than 40-hour work weeks during the holiday season — especially amid a labor crisis — and miss out on celebrations with family and friends. 

Although frontline employees receive overtime pay for their extra hours, it’s a requirement by the department of labor. 

Rewarding your hourly workers beyond what is expected of you, especially when they sacrifice so much, is essential to let them know you care. 

Engaged employees have higher productivity levels, lower absenteeism rates, and greater job satisfaction. 

In addition, companies with high employee engagement tend to financially outperform those with low engagement scores.

Although the positive outcomes from engaged employees speak for themselves, many businesses still need help to proactively engage their frontline workers.

Seasonal hiring is both exciting and stressful for many businesses. 

Busy seasons such as holiday shopping and back to school are a welcome uptick in profits. But, these busy times of the year can also be worrisome as you struggle to find enough employees to meet customer demands.

Employee engagement is one of the most important indicators in gauging satisfaction in work. This is especially true amongst Front Line Workers. People are looking for more than just a 9-to-5 job these days. They crave to be involved in their work, and want to be enthusiastic about the organization they work for and to be committed to those they work with.

Communication in the workplace has changed drastically over the last decade — most notably, in the previous few years, thanks to the pandemic. 

During the pandemic, the world learned that frontline workers are the backbone of our economy as we watched them leave jobs en masse. Now we know that if organizations want to succeed, they need to improve interpersonal communication for all employees, not just those who occupy a desk.

Despite making up 80% of the global workforce, frontline employees have consistently been excluded from company-wide communication. But, thanks to an influx of much-needed HR technology, things are changing. 

Whether you operate a single retail location or a chain of stores, your retail employees are your best asset. They are the ones who interact with your customers daily and can create a positive or negative association with your brand. 

But, with a 69% employee turnover rate in retail — 12% higher than the U.S. national average — it can feel like most of your time and resources are spent on hiring and training new staff rather than nurturing existing employees to be your best brand ambassadors. 

With an approximate price tag of $3400 to replace one employee, a retention strategy should definitely be on your radar.

Deciding to place a beloved family member in a senior care facility is challenging. It's a decision no family member wants to make, but they trust you and your staff to offer them the best care possible when they do.

However, if employee communication in your long-term care facility falls short, it can be a chaotic and frustrating experience for your senior care staff, residents, and their families. This can lead to families moving their loved ones to a different facility and employees leaving their roles to find work elsewhere — and in a worker shortage, it's unlikely you can spare staff right now.

Effective communication is the foundation for any successful relationship, and your assisted living facility is no different.

If your favorite vegan ice cream flavor has been out of stock at your local supermarket for the last few months, you may be the victim of a labor shortage.

Current labor shortages are affecting supply chain issues from picking crops, manufacturing, and transportation to stocking shelves, and there’s no end in sight. Thus, that persistent empty shelf is where your ice cream should be.

As a business owner who employs frontline workers, this reality is a heavy weight to carry. Your profits hinge on hiring and retaining enough workers to keep business cruising, customers happy, and cash flowing.

When your ‘help wanted’ ad gets nothing but crickets, and you receive resignation letters regularly, it’s hard to remain hopeful. But, rather than focus on the frontline employees you don’t have, it’s better to focus on keeping the ones you do.

As a restaurant owner or manager, you know how quickly a tiny setback can spiral into full-blown bedlam. 

Restaurant workers are still quitting their jobs at an alarming rate. According to economists, the quit rate in hospitality and food service is nearly double that of the national average coming in at 6% vs 3%.

At the start of the pandemic, organizations scrambled to get online, set up curbside shopping, and restructure how to get work done and stay in business. It was like everyone was in fight or flight mode.

Those who fought (mostly) survived – and this fight to stay alive, forced companies to find new ways to do business. 

Many of these changes ended up being for the better. Namely, how the world views frontline employees. Before the pandemic, frontline workers were often considered expendable and easily replaced. But now, businesses know better. 

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to highlight poor employee communication. Especially in industries where workers need to physically show up for work.

Frontline and hourly workers make up 80% of our global workforce, and for industries like restaurant, retail, and manufacturing, they represent the largest percentage of the workforce. 

Communicating effectively with a large team of desk-less workers has its challenges. But the pandemic did an excellent job of highlighting just how critical frontline workers are to a company's success. And the mass job walkouts have taught us that frontline employees are no longer interested in being treated like second-class workers. 

The work world has experienced drastic changes over the last few years. The pandemic has influenced how businesses operate, from hybrid schedules to company policies, practices, and procedures. 

Dubbed The Great Resignation, 2021 was officially the year of quitting. Thanks to severe job dissatisfaction, workers in retail, hospitality, accommodation, and food services were among the top employees to lead the walkout.

And while 2022 has turned a corner with unemployment currently hovering around 3.9% — down from 2021 — all business who have frontline and deskless workers are struggling to retain existing employees and fill open positions.

Every industry has its own unique challenges in communicating with its various constituents - prospects, customers and their employees.  

Senior living communities are certainly no different.  And, their communication challenges are unique and heightened in two ways:

1. Like most industries that have a large number of frontline employees who don’t have company issued email, they struggle with how to effectively communicate with those employees; and
2. they have an added layer of complexity because they need to communicate (in real time in a lot of instances) with their “customers”, who in a lot of cases are both their residents AND the family members of those residents, and they are not tied to a desk/email during the day.

To say that we have enjoyed working with these companies is an understatement - we have LOVED working with them and seeing all of the different ways in which they’re using the goHappy platform to solve for those challenges.  Below are a few examples of those just in case it can be helpful to anyone else out there who has similar challenges - we hope it can get your wheels turning!  In all of these instances, they are using goHappy to send text messages directly through our software to their frontline employees, residents and family members.

In his book, “Built to Last”, Jim Collins talks about how highly visionary companies do not oppress themselves with what he calls the “Tyranny of OR” – the reluctance to accept two seemingly contradictory forces or ideas at the same time.  The “Tyranny of OR” pushes people to believe that things must be either A or B, but not both.  Instead of being oppressed by the “Tyranny of OR”, highly visionary companies liberate themselves with what he refers to as the “Genius of AND” – the ability to embrace both extremes of a number of dimensions at the same time.  Instead of choosing between A OR B, they figure out a way to have both A AND B.

The terms “management” and “leadership” are often interchanged. In fact, many people view them as basically the same thing.  Yet, when you look at the “what” and the “how” of managing vs. leading, there are some clear distinctions between them.   Here are a few of the notable differences: 

 It’s not surprising in this highly competitive labor market that the top concern facing CEO’s in organizations that employ large numbers of frontline employees is their ability to hire and retain staff. As a result, employee engagement has become a key strategic initiative with leaders and managers at all levels devoting more of their time and focus to create a positive and engaging experience for employees. Being more intentional about what leaders and managers need to do to drive higher engagement levels, represents a needed and critical step forward.

The pandemic put a strain on the hospitality industry, causing company cultures to change and increasing employee turnover rates. Employers not only needed a quick and easy way to communicate COVID-19 policies and procedures, but also a permanent way to communicate ongoing updates and engage with frontline team members.

Studies show frontline employees feel undervalued and disconnected from their leaders, causing a lack in commitment, engagement and contributions to the workplace. However, companies that invest in engaging frontline team members have seen positive results like higher revenues, productivity and lower turnover. HBR Analytic Services reported that 87% of nearly 500 business executives said they will be more successful when frontline workers are empowered to make important decisions in the moment.

The Supreme Court yesterday largely blocked the Biden administration’s plan for requiring business owners with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.

A federal court has lifted a stay on the Biden administration’s rule that forces business owners with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.

If there is one thing employers have learned over the past few years, it's the critical role frontline staff play in the economy's stability. Frontline workers came to realize their value, as well.

Front employees work hard all year long, but the holiday season can be an exceptionally challenging time for them.

While office employees often enjoy a more casual atmosphere as work slows down for the holidays, frontline workers can be overwhelmed with stressed-out, impatient, and sometimes unforgiving customers.

Encouraging frontline employees to show up for work and maintain a positive attitude during such a hectic time of year requires extra diligence from your HR and management team. 

Despite legal challenges, employers across the United States have been preparing to adhere to OSHA’s vaccine mandate, which calls for business owners with 100 or more employees to require their workers to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. According to OSHA, companies must have a policy in place by Dec. 6 and begin implementing those plans by Jan. 4.

By now, you’ve most likely heard about the workplace vaccine mandate planned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  

According to Gallup, 70% of the variance in employees’ engagement is determined solely by their direct leader.  And, given the financial benefits of having an engaged workforce, such as increased profitability, higher sales, lower turnover, etc., you would hope that frontline leaders would have their employees’ engagement level as a top priority.

2 Tips to Increase Hourly Employee Participation in Open Enrollment by 40%+ 

The Value of an Engaged Workforce

I’ve been on no fewer than 10 calls over the past several weeks with heads of HR and talent acquisition specialists at some of the best employers in the country, and they’re all saying the same thing about the recruiting environment right now: “I’ve never seen anything like this”.  

Sara Reinhardt shares her favorite things about working for Tupelo Honey.

We recently hosted a webinar regarding the keys to frontline employee engagement and the bottom line impact that it drives, with special guests Dave McKlveen, Vice President of Human Resources for Organic Krush and formerly VP of HR at Cava, and Greg Moyer, Chief Engagement Officer at goHappy Hub.  Below are the quick hitting highlights, and for a more full deep dive, click here to watch the full Webinar.

We recently hosted a webinar regarding what CA Assembly Bill 685 requires of California employers, with special guests Wengy Sugg, an experienced labor and employment attorney, and Amir Durrani, VP of Human Resources at NORM’s Restaurants, an iconic CA based restaurant concept with 20+ locations.  Here are the quick hitting highlights of this Bill that went into effect on January 1, 2021.  For a more full explanation, click here to watch the Webinar.

We’re super excited to announce our newest goHappy Labs product offering – goHappy Hub! With goHappy Hub!, organizations now have a simple and powerful way to:

Communicate with their frontline hourly employees; and
Enable their frontline hourly employees to communicate and collaborate with each other in smaller group settings – whether those groups are by location, team, district, etc.

As I was sitting there waiting for my food at the Legal Sea Foods at Boston’s Logan International Airport in November of 2012, a man caught my eye.  He was outside on a ladder cleaning the windows of the gate next to the restaurant. As I sat there and watched him, I was mesmerized by how meticulous he was.  He was so carefully cutting into the corners of each window. 

Three days ago I was having lunch at the top of a mountain at a Colorado ski resort during our family’s spring break, and as we talked to our server about COVID-19 and whether the resort had talked about closing, she said her team had a meeting with her manager that morning and there were discussions that the mountain might close. She was scared to death because she didn’t know how she was going to pay rent if it did close. 

EXTRAordinary Worker: BLAKE

We all felt inspired after “meeting” Blake and hearing his story as an EXTRAordinary Worker finalist for February. One of the most fulfilling parts of our EXTRAordinary Worker Campaign has been the connections we have made with these EXTRAordinary people. And the relationships that have developed from those connections.

Celebrate Your Favorite Hourly Worker & Give Them a Chance to Win $1,000

While most Americans with a “desk job” are being required to work from home, millions of “desk-less” hourly workers across the country are continuing to show up to work so that we have the things we still need – grocery store clerks so that we have groceries (and MAYBE even some toilet paper!), delivery drivers so that we don’t have to expose ourselves to others, plumbers to fix our leaking sinks, health care providers to take care of our sick, etc. Social distancing is not an option for them.

At a time when there is so much information coming at people, it turns out that you, their employer, are the #1 source for credible COVID-19 information they need to know.

HR teams across the country are doing amazing work right now that is both emotionally and physically exhausting.