The very name underscores the challenge of the job: frontline worker. These are the individuals performing physical labor, often in direct contact with end-customers, to whom they represent the face of the company and ultimate protector of its brand. So it’s no surprise, given the crises and disruptions of recent years, that this class of worker is becoming harder to find, hire and retain.

It's “a very special time” for the frontline workforce, says Cristian Grossman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Beekeeper, seller of a software platform for boosting worker productivity. On one hand, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors driving a persistent shortage of labor, awareness of its value to the organization is at an all-time high. On the other, frontline workers are “poorly equipped” to carry out their responsibilities, mired in numbingly repetitive tasks while saddled with inefficient manual processes. “A lot of friction is coming from old, legacy ways of working,” Grossman says.

All of this is causing extreme instability in the frontline workforce. A recent survey by Beekeeper found that more than half of U.S. workers had changed jobs within the prior 12 months. Employers need to figure out how to stop the churn.

Automation is an obvious solution. Up to now, however, it hasn’t been broadly or consistently deployed. Employers might rely on applications such as a warehouse management system to handle scheduling and track workers’ time. Often, though, that effort runs up against a manual process, whether printing out schedules or resorting to spreadsheets.

"Even though companies have legacy systems,” Grossman says, “when it comes to the actual way of working day-to-day, you still find breakages — going from system to paper to phone to oral, and all the way back around. It’s a little bit messier than what it looks like on the surface.”

Not coincidentally, frontline worker dissatisfaction comes at a time of renewed pro-union sentiment across multiple industries, including airlines, automakers and retailers, to name but a few. Employers are stoking that unrest, Grossman suggests, by failing to understand workers’ priorities. Hence what Grossman refers to as “the frontline disconnect.”

Workplace safety is high among those concerns. Beekeeper’s survey identified that critical issue as seventh in importance — out of eight options — to employers. Frontline workers placed it third. Similarly, employers cited the difficulty of hiring sufficient staff as their number-one “stressor,” while workers ranked it fourth. Their top issue was the rising cost of living in the face of persistent inflation; employers placed it third.

Even for workers, it’s not just about money. Asked about their number-one motivator, they cited “getting the job done right.” That took third place among employers.

So what should employers be doing to repair the disconnect? Start by listening to workers, Grossman says. Management needs to do a better job of identifying their “pain points,” then involving them in crafting a solution. Again, modern technology can help, in the form of digitizing manual administrative processes that so often bedevil workers and send them running out the door.

Another effective strategy is establishing opportunities for advancement with the organization. Even a traditional warehouse offers possibilities for moving up to management. And those who make that climb are often the best in supervisory roles, says Grossman, because they “know the business inside out.” The trope of a successful manager starting out in the mailroom or on the warehouse floor is more than a Horatio Alger fantasy.

No current discussion of workplace automation can avoid the topic of artificial intelligence, even if that aspect of technology remains very much in its infancy. Grossman sees a central role for generative AI, in the form of such cutting-edge tools as ChatGPT, in bridging language barriers. That can be a huge drag on productivity in a diverse workforce, and overcoming it is key to problem-solving and the creation of a more attractive environment for the frontline. GenAI and other forms of large language models can also be a big help in facilitating worker training — yet another area in which so many employers are falling short.

None of this means that technology will replace humans anytime soon. Rather it will serve to augment the frontline in efforts to ensure safety, and free workers of the tedious and repetitive tasks that are making those jobs so unappealing.

Grossman paints a bright picture of a technology-enabled future. “I’m very positive,” he says, “and confident that we’re just scratching the surface when it comes to a frontline revolution.”

Next: A new frontline employee experience survey.