Zebra Technologies: for retailers, a TikTok trend reminds us soft skills need syncing and support

A conversation with a colleague brought to mind the somewhat recent viral TikTok trend of the ‘GenZ stare’ in workplace and customer service roles. These sorts of inter-generational debates are nothing new, but they do underline how workplace communication can impact engagement, morale, and customer service.

In an industry like retail, the workforce includes several generations, who all need to work shoulder to shoulder. Getting that wrong can exasperate employee turnover and friction, customer satisfaction and revenue.

My colleague, formerly the manager of a nine-floor flagship store with over 100 employees, once described her daily routine. It was a frantic exercise in piecing together priorities from a chaotic mix of emails, insecure consumer app messages, handwritten notes, and crackling walkie-talkie chatter. Juggling multiple devices, she spent hours simply trying to create a single source of truth for the day:

·       Productivity and Clarity: Inefficient pre-opening meetings left key associates spending 30 minutes on updates rather than serving customers. Store-level priorities, like stockroom organisation or adjusting the sales floor after walkthroughs, were often written on paper or communicated informally, making it difficult to track progress.

·       Security and Safety: Staff relied on consumer messaging apps to share updates, which lacked integration with other tools and weren’t secure for sensitive information. Staff who had left were often not removed, and they also affected employee morale. Reporting a theft or identifying a suspicious individual often risked alerting the person in question, escalating the situation.

·       Juggling devices: One set of devices were used for inventory checks and scanning. Meanwhile, walkie-talkies to communicate with sales reps and stockroom staff were frequently left on shelves by staff and set to loud volumes to compete with store music. Personal mobile phones were needed for updates from the employee WhatsApp group.

Her story isn't an exception; it's a diagnosis of a broken communications approach in retail. It’s a hidden burden on the industry’s frontline workers, paid daily in lost productivity, employee morale and burnout, and security risks.  And in the age of AI, a lot more focus is on soft skills like communication, empathy, and resilience. But how can those be put into practice when the very tools needed to facilitate them are fragmented?

The Vision: Simplified, Unified, Useful

The solution isn't another app. The solution is fewer apps and devices and a simplified, more understandable communications process. Unified, frontline workforce platforms today can bring together all the channels and features needed into one app on a single mobile computer that can be carried or worn.

The future of retail communication lies in a unified frontline platform - a "single pane of glass" that consolidates communication, task management, and safety into one intuitive interface, on one device. Employee communication channels safeguard important data while maintaining compliance with regulations. This streamlines communication and brings peace of mind, knowing that critical updates are shared securely.

A connected frontline culture: Managers can set up private-named chat groups on the fly to collaborate in small teams, whether it's for a specific promotion or a daily department sync, teams are empowered to focus without distracting the entire store. Managers can move beyond top-down announcements with interactive forums for specific teams or public forums for broader engagement. By allowing employees to react and comment, managers build a more collaborative, engaged workforce.

Eliminating the unanswered call: The problem of fixed-location phones is solved by integrating PBX connectivity directly into a modern platform. Whether a call is from a customer or a regional manager, it’s routed to available staff on their mobile device, no matter where they are on the floor. No call is ever missed. Enhanced communication with options to cancel an ongoing PTT call or place a call on hold with a single button press ensure seamless agility and swift transitions when it’s needed the most.

Addressing risks without rupture: The walkie-talkie dilemma is replaced by a discreet duress calling feature. A member of staff can instantly send a silent alert to managers or asset protection. The recipients can listen in on the situation without alerting the suspicious individual, de-escalating risk and ensuring a professional response. This feature is a game-changer for retail safety, enabling employees to act confidently in high-stress situations without compromising their security or professionalism.

The World’s Biggest Workforce

By integrating push-to-talk, secure messaging, and task management into the same device used for inventory, staff are finally freed from juggling multiple gadgets. This simplifies workflows, reduces stress, and makes technology an ally, not an obstacle.

It’s time to modernise the retail workforce and empower them with up-to-date technologies and processes. Let’s make confused staring at written notes and phone screens across generations a thing of the past for the largest workforce in the world - the  frontline.

About the author: Mark Thomson, Retail Strategy Director EMEA, Zebra Technologies