3 essential ways to support frontline managers

Companies with frontline workers don't have it easy. Burnout and absenteeism are driving up labor costs and hampering operational agility at a time when companies badly need those indicators moving in the opposite direction. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that absenteeism in the US costs employers $225.8B annually in productivity losses, while research by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions estimates that the cost of absenteeism could reach $470B in Europe. Burned out frontline employees are also 63% more likely to take a sick day, which leaves teams chronically overburdened and customers frustrated.

That's why Dayforce has released its latest report, Conquering the frontline manager complexity crisis, with insights to help organizations with frontline workforces survive and thrive in the face of persistent challenges.

As the title suggests, our research found that empowering frontline managers is a powerful way to address what we call the "complexity crisis." Organizations today face a series of complex challenges, including an explosion of different types of work and workers, ongoing labor shortages, a mismatch between available skills and evolving roles, and an ever-changing compliance landscape. Unlike traditional office workers, frontline workers are frequently spread across many different locations ranging from floor to field, and their jobs often require them to work face-to-face with colleagues or customers. In these situations, the frontline manager is the lynchpin for operational excellence and employee wellbeing, and succeeding in this role depends on the level of support they receive from their employer.

Read the full report

How to empower frontline managers

Our survey of over 6,900 workers, managers, and executives from eight countries identified many ways that organizations can support managers to drive better business outcomes. Here, we're going to focus on three areas with the highest impact: scheduling, pay, and development.

Here's a quick look at how you can improve your team's performance starting today.

1. Give managers the tools to create better schedules

There's no getting around it - scheduling is a huge issue for frontline workers and managers, and companies need to address it sooner rather than later to prevent the absenteeism, burnout, and turnover that drives up labor costs and harms customer loyalty. To give just a taste of what we mean here, nearly nine in 10 frontline managers say they'd consider leaving their current job for one with a better schedule.

The best way to address scheduling issues is a technology-first approach that gives managers better visibility into their company's scheduling challenges while empowering frontline workers to create flexible schedules that fit their lives. The opportunity for increased efficiency and productivity here is significant, as only one in five workers surveyed said they could swap shifts with another worker using a mobile app. Offering this solution not only helps workers create schedules that work for them, but also takes a significant mental load off of overburdened managers who often have to rejig entire shift schedules when a worker becomes unavailable. This same technology can feed vital data back to managers and help them meet capacity needs through better scheduling and reduced absenteeism.

2. Rethink how you pay your people, not just how much

Many people think of compensation in terms of how much a manager or worker makes, but fewer realize the benefits of rethinking how they approach pay itself. This is especially the case with on-demand pay (ODP), which allows employees to access their earnings at any time. Many employers might be uncertain about adopting ODP because of the admin work involved in paying people outside a normal pay cycle. But instead of foregoing ODP altogether, these organizations should narrow their search to a solution that can help them easily perform all appropriate deductions and payroll administration, no matter what point in the pay cycle earnings are accessed.

Our study found that workers are interested in on-demand pay, but that managers are even more interested. If they had the option to be paid after each shift, managers said it would motivate them to pick up additional shifts (51%), encourage them to refer potential employees (40%), and increase their motivation to work harder (40%). These findings represent a golden opportunity for employers, because with a best-in-class solution, on-demand pay can be offered without significant additional cost or administrative burden to the company. It's an easy win that can increase productivity and decrease absenteeism without generating additional costs for the employer. And companies with frontline workforces can't afford to pass up easy wins in today's tough operating environment.

3. Help managers build a better workforce from within

Having the right skills in the right place at the right time is a tough task for today's employers, but they can tackle it successfully by empowering managers to boost company skills from within. Leaders can accomplish this by providing managers and workers the tools to create personalized career paths and pursue relevant learning and training opportunities. These career paths will help workers envision their future at your organization, increasing retention, reducing absenteeism, and filling critical skills gaps as they incorporate learning, training, and development activities into their day-to-day work.

Personalized career exploration can also help boost your company's internal mobility, which is critical for building your skills base and increasing worker retention over time. But saddling managers with the mental load of career planning for their teams on top of their day-to-day duties is often too much to ask. Thankfully, high-quality career planning at scale can be achieved with the help of technology. With a best-in-class platform in hand, workers can receive AI-driven recommendations for jobs, career pathways, and the learning opportunities to help them prepare for their next move. Another helpful tool to look for is a convenient dashboard to check employees' training progress and how it maps to specific skills gaps in your company.

If companies with frontline workforces take these three steps, they'll be well on their way to outpacing their competitors and gaining a reputation for excellence in a world where other companies are falling behind and disappointing customers.

Moving forward

There's no question that organizations with frontline workforces face significant challenges, and the factors fueling these challenges aren't going away any time soon. Our research shows that supporting frontline managers is one key to overcoming these challenges. But while many employers still wonder about the value of investing in these new supports, industry leaders are adopting a new generation of tools to give their managers the support they need and drive better business outcomes.

To learn more about how to boost your frontline team's performance, read the full report, Conquering the frontline manager complexity crisis.

Read the full report

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