Frontline employees are probably the ones doing the real work of your company — building your products or delivering your services. Yet they’re not always celebrated as much as they could be.
Help employees build collective pride in what your company offers to the industry or even to the world with communications that highlight their accomplishments and contributions to your company’s success.
Here are five ways to communicate respect for their roles:
Do you have a meaningful mission that makes the world a better place in some way? If your product or service is helping patients thrive, producing renewable energy or improving life in any way, your frontline workforce is probably the power behind that mission. Remind them, and the rest of the company, how their roles contribute to the success of the company and its mission.
Your manufacturing facilities, hospitals or hotels, for instance, probably help support numerous businesses and improve the local economy. The work of your front line may also play a large role in sustainability. You also might highlight volunteer efforts in the community or any charitable contributions that are an indirect result of the frontline employees’ efforts.
Call attention to examples of how your front line has gone the extra mile to develop solutions for your clients, successfully delivered a large order on time despite unexpected hurdles, or found new ways to serve your customers more seamlessly. Customer-facing frontline employees see issues firsthand and can be the source of practical solutions to customer pain points.
For instance, you might include a regular article in your newsletter on a continuous improvement effort and the frontline team involved in that process. Or try a series of short videos with employees and their managers on practical solutions to ongoing issues. This recognizes the employees involved, and models desired behavior for their frontline peers across the organization.
For many frontline audiences, safety is a daily concern. Applaud those who raise safety concerns and remind them of their repsonsibility to stop work if they see an unsafe situation. Often the frontline workers who notice a safety issue can be the ones to propose a safer alternative. Build collective pride in the frontline employees’ ability to keep themselves and each other safe.
