Recent headlines have been full of layoff announcements, but most of the cuts in retail have been at the corporate level, masking the fact that retailers are still struggling with a massive shortage of frontline workers. A new global study commissioned by WorkJam found that 63 percent of retail companies are currently short frontline staff, but that only 8 percent of those organizations plan to invest in improving the frontline experience this year to help attract and retain store associates.

The survey also revealed that frontline employees at 74 percent of companies are rejecting work conditions that they wouldn’t have challenged just two years ago, and that 80 percent of companies have seen an increase in frontline turnover, which is challenging them to maintain customer service standards.

Forrester Consulting conducted the global survey of 502 decision makers at retail, hospitality, manufacturing and other companies with large frontline workforces to gauge the executives’ perceptions of the frontline employee experience and their plans, if any, to improve it at their own organization. The survey results suggest that after nearly three years of dealing with COVID-19 — and the increased health concerns, staffing shortages, workloads, and cranky customers that have come along with the pandemic — many frontline retail workers are now looking to employers to provide a significantly better workplace experience.

In an effort to fill frontline roles, a number of major retail companies have increased their minimum hourly wage and benefits offerings over the past couple of years. Most recently, Walmart announced it would boost its starting wage for frontline workers from $12 to $14 beginning in March and expand its academic and upskilling benefits. While higher wages and better benefits are obviously parts of the solution, retailers and brands can also pull some other levers to better engage and retain staff amid the ongoing frontline talent crunch.

LOOKING BEYOND WAGES TO IMPROVE FRONTLINE ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION

Here are five other ways retailers and brands can improve the frontline employee experience in their organization to drive employee engagement, retention and happiness long term:

  1. Invest in digital tools for frontline associates, not just corporate staff. The WorkJam study found that 73 percent of decision makers think their company’s digital transformation initiatives haven’t yet reached the frontline, pointing to a huge gap that needs to be closed. To empower and engage frontline associates, while also improving operational efficiency and revenue, retailers and brands need to move beyond clipboards, old-school binders and printed signs in the breakroom and adopt digital tools that combine scheduling, two-way communication, task management and learning/training capabilities in a single app.
  2. Mentor Gen Zers rather than just training them. To attract and retain Gen Z frontline workers, retailers and brands have to understand the generation’s unique preferences and perceptions. One key is knowing that Gen Zers prefer to be viewed as mentees rather than order takers in an organization, meaning managers at all levels are wise to ensure Gen Zers feel seen, heard and supported on the job and help them understand how they’re connected to the company’s overall mission, purpose and team.
  3. Provide employees more flexibility and control over their schedules. Nearly nine in 10 (87 percent) decision makers say frontline employees expect more flexibility in scheduling than they did two years ago, according to the WorkJam study. To better meet staffs’ needs, forward-thinking retailers are leveraging open-shift management platforms that give hourly employees more control over their schedules by enabling them to swap or pick up extra shifts at their own store or a sister location that’s nearby.
  4. Prioritize career development opportunities and upward mobility. A 2022 Korn Ferry survey found that the turnover rate for hourly positions was 75.8 percent in U.S. retail stores and that the top reason retail employees quit is to take a better opportunity. To significantly reduce churn, retailers and brands should proactively communicate potential career pathways to frontline staffs, and then provide ongoing training and upskilling opportunities that enable employees to continually advance their careers within the company.
  5. Don’t view business and human resources goals as separate. WorkJam’s survey found that the top three priorities of the retail companies polled were growing revenue (59 percent), increasing profitability (51 percent) and reducing costs (45 percent). Survey respondents were well aware that none of these is achievable without a capable and motivated frontline staff, with 92 percent identifying the frontline experience as important to achieving their organizational goals in the next year. However, only 9 percent of executives ranked it as their top goal, signaling that retailers that do prioritize investing in the frontline experience will be well ahead of competitors in terms of attracting, engaging and retaining frontline talent.

With the U.S. unemployment rate at a 50-year low of 3.5 percent in December, retailers and brands are still competing fiercely for frontline talent. Although increasing wages and benefits is certainly part of the answer to keeping store roles filled, strong brands are also working to improve the frontline experience in other ways, investing in frontline digital innovation, mentoring and career development opportunities to ensure they’re optimally positioned for long-term business success.

This article was originally published by our sister brand Women in Retail Leadership Circle.