The retail industry has its fair share of challenges. But communicating with frontline employees is perhaps one of the major hurdles that needs immediate attention. And this is why.
Frontline employees are the cornerstone of every successful company. Instead of working from an office, these workers are in the action. They make your products and interact with your customers every day. Clearly, these employees have a huge impact on your company's productivity, customer care, and product success.
But despite making incredible contributions, many restaurants, grocery, convenience, hardware, and discount store managers tend to forget about them when addressing mobile workforce management challenges. And this is costing these companies thousands of dollars.
The Impact of Poor Communication with Frontline Employees
Poor communication leads to lower morale, disengagement, high employee turnover rate, and ultimately reduced productivity. According to a Gallup report, US companies lose over $550 billion in productivity and spend 33% of a worker's salary when finding a replacement. This is unsustainable.
The good news is that some companies are doing something about it. And we are proud to be one of them. We want to help you solve these challenges with the right technology. But first, let's look at these communication problems in detail.
Business Communication Challenges Facing Retail Stores
Using Outdated Communication Techniques
As many companies go paperless, email is becoming a primary form of communication. And it's easy to see why.
Employees don't typically have their own emails. Managers sometimes do and this information tends to flow from general managers or managers and printed or verbally communicated to workers within stores.
This can delay information delivery. And sometimes, that information may get distorted as it is passed on from one person to another leading to brand inconsistencies.
Solution
Mobile-driven communication offers new ways to reach your mobile employees via their smartphones. An employee app for instance gives workers easy access to company information and workplace tools while at the same time eliminating irrelevant messages. Apart from increasing mobile workforce productivity, this will also help you share relevant documents quickly and keep your employees on the same page.
Lack Of Feedback
HR professionals and company managers often communicate with retail employees about procedures and policy changes. However, they rarely take the time to listen to them.
A lack of feedback makes employees feel like their voices don't matter. This in turn affects employee turnover and customer loyalty. In a study of over 130 retail outlets, Medallia Institute unraveled that stores with more engaged employees enjoyed higher customer loyalty ratings than stores with less engaged employees (12% higher).
Although the figure might seem small, industry experts say that companies can propel their profitability by 25- 95% by just improving their customer loyalty ratings by 5%.
Solution
A comprehensive communication strategy should encourage two-way communication. It should offer employees a way of sharing their opinions, airing their issues, and rating the system. This will help you learn about certain problems before it's too late.
Improve How You Communicate With Your Mobile Employees Today
As seen, you can grow your retail store tremendously by improving how you communicate with your frontline employees. And that begins with choosing the right mobile workforce enablement.
Since these employees are always on the move, it is wise to opt for mobile-driven communication solutions. PlayerLync offers the right solution for you. It provides a platform that enables you to communicate with all your employees anytime, wherever they are without interrupting their schedules and day to day activities significantly.
To learn more about our product, please read our eBook: The State Of Internal Communications For Frontline Employees
