Frontline focus: How C-suite collaboration enhances employee experience

A customer’s perception of a brand depends not only on the products or services they buy, but also the interactions they have with employees. Employee experience directly affects customer experience. Delivering meaningful employee and customer experiences can allow retailers to charge a premium of up to 16% for their products and services, greatly benefiting the bottom line. Investments in employee experience can also improve the bottom line.

Key considerations

• CHROs in the consumer markets industry should understand that frontline employees are the critical link between organizations and their customers. It’s important to identify how the customer and employee experience journeys are interconnected.
• The CHRO is responsible for learning and development and should identify desired skills and behaviors for employees along with the appropriate training and incentives to foster accountability.
• The CHRO can work with other executives to equip their workforce with the right tools to help them reach their potential — and achieve strategic goals by creating meaningful work, driving purpose and increasing engagement for employees.
  

In PwC’s June 2024 Pulse Survey, 46% of COOs told us they’re training existing talent to address capabilities gaps. While COOs recognize the importance of technology in maintaining competitiveness, there’s a growing focus on the human element to address these gaps. COOs in consumer markets companies should be sure to include in that focus frontline workers, who are critical yet often overlooked in terms of employee experience. PwC’s 2023 Manufacturing Frontline Worker Experience Survey indicated that 71% of manufacturers either struggle with or could improve mentoring programs for frontline staff, with nearly half rating their efforts as average or below. This underscores the importance for COOs to not only prioritize tech advancements but also invest in developing and supporting these essential workers, aligning their efforts with corporate counterparts.

Key considerations

• In consumer markets companies, frontline (sometimes known as ‘deskless’) workers are a key driver of throughput and customer interaction. These vital employees, who have traditionally operated somewhat independently from corporate engagement, are now being increasingly integrated into more meaningful work and company initiatives.
• With modern technology solutions, the COO can consider investing in the right technology-enabled employee experience so the frontline workforce can be better informed and connected to leadership, resulting in improved productivity, engagement and experience.
• COOs can collaborate with the CIO and CHRO to empower frontline workers by providing the necessary technology and training. This approach helps enhance job efficiency while building trust and stronger connections with corporate headquarters.

PwC’s August 2023 Pulse Survey revealed that 84% of CIOs expect to use generative AI (GenAI) to support a new business model, highlighting GenAI’s importance among C-suite executives. GenAI capabilities extend beyond automating routine tasks by integrating data from various back-end systems, reducing redundancy and enabling employees to concentrate on high-value, strategic activities. This technology can streamline operations and support the creation of an adaptive, employee-centric ecosystem. Other senior executives may look to the CIO for guidance as they begin to fill new roles associated with implementing GenAI, as well as being tasked to help lay a foundation of trust in the GenAI design, function and how outputs are used.

Key considerations

• New technologies, real-time data visibility and streamlined technology interfaces are critical to the employee experience.
• CIOs can connect with their employees to understand their tech experience and how they can reduce time spent addressing pain points while increasing time spent on high-value work.
• CIOs can implement new technologies in ways that contribute to the foundation of an adaptive ecosystem with the goal of driving efficiency.

In 2023, the retail, entertainment and food service sectors experienced the highest employee turnover rates, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with figures of 4.5%, 6.4% and 6.3% respectively. Most of these employees left their jobs voluntarily, which highlights a big challenge for these industries. The PwC Saratoga 2023 Benchmarking Survey shows that hiring new staff isn’t just time consuming — it takes about 54 days on average — but also expensive, costing on average $2,700 per hire in 2022.

One way to help keep employees from leaving is to focus on upskilling and reskilling. Insights from PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2024 indicated that employees who said they are likely to switch employers in the next 12 months were nearly twice as likely to strongly consider opportunities to learn new skills. By investing in employee training and development, businesses can enhance productivity while attracting and retaining talent more effectively.

Key considerations

• It’s expensive to recruit, hire, onboard and train new talent, particularly for the consumer markets industry that generally has higher turnover rates.
• Invest in a holistic strategy to upskill and leverage the talent that may be hidden in plain sight. PwC’s 2024 Global Hopes and Fears Survey showed that of workers that are likely to switch employers, half agreed at least moderately that they have “hidden” skills, and many (76%) agreed it would be easy to find a new job that uses their skills. To reduce turnover, leaders should collaborate with the CHRO — who prioritizes talent strategies that can help identify hidden skills and balance upskilling, reskilling and talent attraction — to reduce the overall reliance on outside talent.