Axonify launches 2021 State of the Frontline Work Experience report
Liam O'Meara, VP of Europe for Axonify, gives RTIH the lowdown on his company’s 2021 State of the Frontline Work Experience report, which takes a look at how frontline employees are feeling after the Covid pandemic and what is on their list of priorities now that they're assessing their career options.
RTIH: Tell us about Axonify
LOM: Axonify is an adaptive learning platform designed around the unique needs of the retail frontline workforce. It enables organisations to deliver critical training ‘in the flow of work’ without the impact typically associated with taking employees off the shop floor to learn.
In normal retail scenarios, frontline employees receive a basic onboarding ‘fire hose’ of information and then any ongoing training and communications is typically very sporadic and delivered via traditional channels like the break room bulletin board, or pre-shift huddles.
With Axonify, retail leaders are able to deliver critical, personalised and ongoing training directly to the employee’s own device, or a device on the shop floor.
RTIH: You recently released your 2021 State of the Frontline Work Experience report. What are the key takeaways from this?
LOM: The research uncovered seven key themes that were prevalent among the frontline employees we surveyed, including those in retail.
Firstly, it’s clear that this segment of the workforce is feeling burnt out. The cause is multi-pronged but the pandemic played a big part, and now almost half of all frontline employees are planning to leave their roles.
Other takeaways included a need for better support from management, a focus on equity and the disparities between pay etc, and a lack of skill development opportunities.
Finally, we weren't surprised to see that 82.3% of frontline workers prefer digital training and communication over traditional methods. That preference spans across generations, from boomers to Generation Z.
RTIH: The report also breaks down five levers that companies can pull to improve frontline productivity, capability, resilience and satisfaction. Could you run us through those five levers?
LOM: We worked up five recommendations for improvement; extinguish burnout, foster equity, communicate consistently, empower managers and prioritise skill development. There are lots of elements to factor in, but the role of digital is a key one, particularly in retail.
Automating tasks, improving communication mechanisms, offering learning in the flow of work and providing access to things like mental health training and support are just some of the examples of how organisations can digitise in order to help them build their resilient workforce for the future.
To see all of the detail you can download the full report here.
RTIH: What sort of progress would you like to see when you start work on the 2022 report?
LOM: It’s going to be really interesting to see how retailers continue to navigate the terrain following a very difficult couple of years. The frontline was leaned on so heavily throughout the pandemic and they’re feeling bruised and ready to walk out in droves.
So it’s important that what’s important to them becomes what’s important to the leaders. We’d like to see organisations putting tools and mechanisms in place to support, train and communicate with their frontlines.
Whether that’s personalised job training, updating them about development opportunities or providing access to mental health support and content, to list just a few examples.
Providing all of this through digital channels and not relying on offline traditional channels is going to be key in keeping up with the changing expectations of this valuable segment of the workforce.
RTIH: How can Axonify help retailers in improving their frontline worker experiences?
LOM: Retail leaders use the Axonify platform to train and communicate with their frontlines, in a real-time personalised way that keeps them engaged.
We decrease onboarding costs and time by making sure store associates have the information they need to hit the ground running, then enable the training that the business needs them to have, in the flow of work without taking them off the shop floor.
The platform also provides a communication mechanism which means staff room bulletin boards can be a thing of the past.
