Companies Need to Invest in Strong Workplace Relationships and Rewarding Work Environments to Attract and Retain Frontline Employees. New Report Shows How. (Media Release)

• The better the quality of working relationships, the more likely employees are to report high job satisfaction and engagement in their work, according to a Catalyst survey of frontline employees.
• Managers and organizations must intentionally build these positive team dynamics, including through systemic changes.
• Creating a workplace where employees want to stay and actively contribute and reducing turnover can save the retail, hospitality, and manufacturing industries $4-8 billion each per year.

New York, March 21, 2024 — Frontline employers are in a race to attract and retain valuable talent. After the pandemic kickstarted a paradigm shift that has raised enduring questions about the employee experience, building respectful, supportive, and connected teams and work environments has been increasingly recognized as key for office workers. It is also critical in attracting and retaining frontline employees and one that employers must intentionally implement, according to new research released last week at the 2024 Catalyst Awards Conference and Dinner by Catalyst—a global nonprofit promoting gender equity and workplace inclusion—in partnership with Accenture.

Surveying 1,800 frontline employees working in retail, hospitality, and manufacturing in the United States, the report, Team Dynamics on the Front Line: How Managers and Organizations Impact This Overlooked Key to Retention, found that as the quality of working relationships improves, employees are two and a half times more likely to report high job satisfaction and three times more likely to report high engagement in their work. They are also less likely to want to leave their current organization and role or report burnout.

But the data indicate that the type of team building that promotes these positive dynamics is not happening enough and that companies may be overlooking the importance of team dynamics in their recruitment and retention efforts. With frontline employers in a race to attract and retain valuable talent, creating a workplace where employees want to stay and actively contribute and reducing turnover can annually save each industry $4-8 billion.

“Meeting the needs of frontline employees, including women, by building respectful and rewarding workplaces is fundamental to retaining and attracting talent that is essential to the daily operations of so many companies worldwide,” said Heather Foust-Cummings, Chief Research & Development Officer at Catalyst. “We’ve heard the calls for a better employee experience from office-based workers. Frontline employees deserve the same. Companies that intentionally foster positive team dynamics where coworkers are able to trust, support, and uplift one another will attract and retain the employees they need.”

To help create these positive work environments, managers must make decisions that are fair and unbiased, respond to employee needs, and be open to their feedback. Likewise, organizations must implement fair and impartial processes for pay, benefits, bonuses, and other rewards; ensure decision-making systems are consistent and transparent; recognize employee contributions and value their well-being; and promote organization-wide conditions that allow employees to constructively speak up about problems, concerns, or challenges.

Frontline employees, regardless of gender, want to work for organizations that foster positive team dynamics. Yet Catalyst found a gender gap between how women and men experience some of the factors that contribute to strong working relationships.

Adding to scholarship on women in frontline roles, an often-understudied group, the report found that women in retail, hospitality, and manufacturing perceive organizations’ rewards (such as pay, benefits, bonuses, and verbal appreciation) and decision-making systems to be less fair compared to men in the same industries. They also see managers as less open to employee feedback and less fair and unbiased in their decision making.

Women are the majority of employees in frontline roles in hospitality, a substantial share of frontline employees in the retail industry, and a target recruitment demographic for the manufacturing sector. For these industries that continue to see labor shortages and high burnout and attrition rates among the frontline workforce, attracting and retaining women in frontline roles is essential.

To help frontline women reap the benefits of positive team dynamics, managers and organizations must ensure they close fairness gaps, including different treatment in terms of growth opportunities, workload, or scheduling. Managers should check assumptions and potential biases. Organizations should, among other key actions, audit hiring, development, and compensation processes to eliminate bias and systemic inequities, and conduct pay equity reviews to ensure everyone is paid equally in the same roles.

This report is the second from Catalyst’s Frontline Employees Initiative, which seeks to understand the unique workplace challenges faced by women in frontline jobs and provide research and tools to shed light on their specific experiences and needs. The Frontline Employees Initiative is a new pillar of work in Catalyst’s more than 60-year history creating workplaces that work for women, driving equity at all levels. Building on findings in the first report in this initiative, Team Dynamics on the Front Line demonstrates the impact of team dynamics, manager behaviors, and organizational conditions in creating an engaging and satisfying work experience for frontline employees.

The report was completed in partnership with Accenture, a leading global professional services company that provides consulting, technology, and managed services solutions to help clients build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth, and enhance citizen services.

Methodology

Catalyst recruited 1,800 frontline employees in the United States via online panel services for this survey. Participants were employed in the hospitality, manufacturing, or retail industries, were required to be physically present at their work location, and routinely interacted with coworkers. Respondents viewed one of two possible job descriptions and then indicated their perceptions about the job and the organization. They were also asked a series of questions about their experiences in their current jobs. Through statistical analysis methods, we investigated the impact of participants’ relationships with their coworkers on workplace outcomes and the role of managerial and organizational factors in driving the development of coworker relationships.

###About Catalyst
Catalyst is a global nonprofit supported by many of the world’s most powerful CEOs and leading companies to help build workplaces that work for women. Founded in 1962, Catalyst drives change with preeminent thought leadership, actionable solutions, and a galvanized community of multinational corporations to accelerate and advance women into leadership—because progress for women is progress for everyone.

Contacts

Mariana Vanin
Director, Global Communications
Catalyst
[email protected]

Stephanie Wolf
US Communications Consultant to Catalyst
[email protected]