Why business leaders should have more conversations with frontline workers

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.

Leaders, are you listening to your frontline employees?

Two billion people worldwide—that’s 80% of the global workforce—manufacture products, provide services, or work directly with customers. They’re often the first to see or hear about problems, and listening to their insights can help avoid headaches. Steven Kramer, CEO of workforce management software company WorkJam, shared an example of a retail client whose salespeople noticed a batch of sweaters that had uneven sleeves.

They shared information about the defect with management, and the company was able to pull the item from the stores. “They might have sold thousands and thousands of the items, which would have led to bad publicity for the organization and a big return event for the stores,” Kramer says. “Empowered and well-supported frontlines will lead to better business results.”

Unfortunately, companies are losing ground when it comes to engaging their frontline workers. Consultancy Mercer’s annual Inside Employees’ Minds study finds that two-thirds (66%) of frontline workers in 2024 said they were “motivated to go above and beyond what is normally expected of me to make my company successful,” down five points from 2023. In contrast, more than three-fourths (76%) of salaried workers said they were motivated to go above and beyond.

Clocked in, but tuned out

Employees offer many reasons for their dissatisfaction, including financial strain and barriers to career advancement. Many bear the brunt of customer anger and incivility, which has risen steadily and sharply in the last decade. And some feel their feedback isn’t valued.

How can CEOs and other executives glean insights from on-the-ground employees? WorkJam’s Kramer, not surprisingly, advocates using technology platforms to engage in a two-way dialogue with workers. WorkJam’s clients can offer their employees a mobile app that enables pulse surveys and messaging among workers and managers, allowing frontline employees to flag issues in real time. Management, in turn, can provide updates and information that might normally not reach workers in the field. “Employees want to have this digital connectivity,” Kramer says. “They want to feel connected to their leadership and understand the values and the objectives of the company.” (When it comes to artificial intelligence technologies, employees in the field are more skeptical, according to a June 2024 study by BGC, with about 22% expressing anxiety over generative AI, compared with 18% of managers and 15% of leaders.)

Start the conversation

Of course, the best way to solicit information from frontline workers is to actually talk to them. When leadership expert Bill George was CEO of medical device maker Medtronic, he says he tried to spend 30% of his time with frontline employees. (The remaining 70% of the time was spent with customers, executives, and external employees.) In contrast, the leaders who participated in Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria’s oft-cited 2018 study on CEO time management spent just 6% of their time with rank-and-file employees. “If they spend 30% of their time with frontline workers, they’ll better understand the needs of both customers and employees and will be better able to lead their companies,” George wrote in a 2022 article for Harvard Business Review.

Scott Salmirs, president and CEO of ABM Industries, which provides infrastructure, maintenance, and facilities services to clients ranging from airports to elementary schools, says he encourages his executives to “do time in the field.” Adds Salmirs, whose company employs more than 100,000 team members and frontline workers: “You have to be out there building relationships, being present and engaged. It’s all about connecting with, inspiring, and learning from the field.”

Are you fostering a culture of communication?

ABM also runs a “Shark Tank”-style event where frontline employees can pitch ideas to leadership. “We tell our frontline team, if you come up with innovations, you’ll be recognized and rewarded,” Salmirs says. “When you’re in the field, you know what the clients want more than somebody sitting in corporate.”

Such pitch contests have become a hallmark of companies on the Fast Company Best Companies for Innovators list, an annual program that recognizes businesses that empower employees at all levels to improve processes, create new products, or invent new ways of doing business.

If your company has an interesting way of enlisting your frontline workers to help you innovate, share your story with me at [email protected], and consider applying to be a Best Workplace for Innovators. The final deadline is March 28.