Upskilling Front-Line Workers for Retention

July 28, 2022

Front-line hourly workers represent 60% of the workforce, but due to the distributed nature of their work, they often feel overlooked and stuck in their positions.

According to an article from The HR Digest, “Workers in the hospitality, retail, and other industries hit hard by the pandemic are searching for transfer skills into high-growth industries. As indicated by the U.S. Chamber survey, 46% of Americans previously employees in the retail, hospitality industry are now looking to switch industries.”

In order for companies with high numbers of front-line workers to reduce turnover, they need to provide more frequent attention to these employees.

Managers are rarely trained for management so they too need development so that they in turn know how to develop employees.

Regardless of the skills required for a job, managers should never take for granted that employees are satisfied with their jobs, even if they continue to perform at a high level.

Even if the employee doesn’t show a desire for reskilling or upskilling, employers may be overlooking opportunities to develop employees to meet future demands that will be hard to meet without right-skilled employees.

Research from the World Economic Forum (WEF) finds that half of all employees around the world need to upskill or reskill by 2025 to embrace new responsibilities driven by automation and new technologies.

An article in Forbes shares, “A contributing factor to the dynamics of the current hiring environment is the slow progress many employers made before the pandemic to upskill and reskill their workers. So, when the pandemic hit and further accelerated automation and digitalization, critical skills gaps in the workforce became even more obvious in many organizations.”

Employers looking to attract and retain front-line workers shouldn’t overlook the benefit of providing professional development opportunities so that employees are prepared for the future of work and remain engaged.

With the Truvelop app, managers can analyze team performance and determine gaps and opportunities.

Frequent, ongoing, two-way communication can help a distributed workforce feel valued. Additionally, employees with strong relationships with their managers, are more likely to talk to their managers about goals and growth opportunities rather than look elsewhere.

Develop goals, revisit them often and adjust as necessary, and work together to create a plan for achieving those goals. Using the mobile app, front-line workers can remain in communication with their managers and managers can better track performance and progress.

Contact us today to learn more about our modern approach to performance management and development and how it solves for retention. Don’t just take our word for it, see what our Customers have to say.

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