To customers in industries like retail, hospitality and healthcare, frontline workers are your business. Not only are they the first point of contact, but their efforts are a key building block of the customer experience (CX). A positive encounter can leave customers feeling good about their purchase, as well as the company they’re buying from. A stressful exchange can sour the consumer’s perception of the entire business.

This is why employers should invest in their frontline workforce. While corporate leaders may set the goals for CX, it’s the workers who provide the service and expertise that determines whether the company vision is realized. Frontline workers like servers, housekeepers and cashiers have a dramatic influence on how customers perceive and talk about the company. Their experience matters.

In fact, 73% of consumers surveyed by PwC say experience is an important factor in their purchasing decisions. Nearly 80% of U.S. consumers say knowledgeable help and friendly service, along with speed and convenience, are the most important factors of a positive CX. According to the Harvard Business Review, stores with highly skilled and experienced workers outpaced the revenue of lower performing stores by over 50% per employee.

CX is particularly important when the economy is uncertain. For one thing, it’s tied to budgets. The cost of sales is lower for a repeat customer than a new one, and it’s easier to convince existing customers to buy again than it is to entice a first-time purchase.

Why Experience Matters

Employee experience (EX) encompasses more than just a work environment. Pay, benefits, educational opportunities and managers’ support all contribute to a company’s culture and how its employees feel about work. This is particularly important for frontline workers, who frequently change jobs for the promise of even slightly better pay, benefits, schedules and working conditions. It also helps experienced workers to return after they’ve jumped to the perceived greener grass. Just as frontline workers will leave one employer for another in return for modest advancements, they’ll come back when their original company improves its own compensation and EX.

This brings us to the subject of reboarding, which is also part of EX. Very often, returning workers—or alumni—need to get caught up on new products, new policies, new tools and the like. Reboarding is an opportunity to welcome an employee back, to build their enthusiasm and immerse them once again in the company culture. It also maintains the business’s momentum. 

That said, the value of retention outweighs even the best approach to reboarding. When a worker remains employed by your business, their knowledge of products and customers gets better and deeper. At the same time, the cost to recruit, rehire and onboard workers can be significant, both in terms of money and operational cost. When an employee leaves, someone has to pick up their workload to plug the gap created by their absence.

Turnover and Margins

All of this means that failing to prioritize frontline workers—and their experiences—can have severe financial implications. High turnover leads to increased costs, while poor customer service drives customers away. Since a knowledgeable, engaged team offers the strongest CX, it’s important to think about how you can engage and reward employees to keep them in place. 

The connection between employee engagement and CX is direct. It’s important to understand how frontline workers fit into your business. It’s not just about their role, like selling products or offering customer service. It’s about understanding the proportion of your workforce that’s on the frontline, their turnover and comparable benchmarks for other companies in your space. Such metrics can help you identify current challenges or anticipate new ones.

How well your compensation, benefits, culture and workplace align with the priorities of hourly workers is also key. Bear in mind that many of the things frontline workers want, such as transparent scheduling or learning opportunities, don’t have to be particularly expensive. However, they can quickly make a difference in engagement and retention.

In a competitive landscape, companies that invest in their frontline workforce will stand out. By focusing on employee satisfaction, businesses can facilitate happy employees serving satisfied customers, resulting in long-term success.

Your frontline employees shape every customer interaction—and your bottom line. Ready to unlock strategies that improve retention, boost engagement, and elevate CX? Discover five proven ways to create experiences that matter.

Print