Frontline Employee Engagement: Taking a Needs-Based Approach

Employee engagement is often reduced to a corporate buzzword—measured through annual surveys and generic HR initiatives. Too often, it becomes a numbers game, detached from the deeper relationship between employer and employee.

Our latest HR Trends report revealed that disengagement costs businesses $8.8 trillion in lost productivity. This shows a clear need for a more effective approach that focuses on what truly matters to employees and moves away from surface-level perks that generate short-term excitement but fail to foster lasting engagement.

Beyond the lost productivity, employee engagement models and approaches often neglect the needs of the frontline worker. Historically, this has been due to perceptions of “being hard to reach,” time constraints, and a lack of access to technology.

In this article, we examine engagement through the lens of frontline employees and propose a needs-based model and approach to driving frontline employee engagement.

Contents
The importance of frontline employee engagement
How well do employee engagement models apply to the frontline workforce?
What does the frontline really want from work?
Adopting a needs-based approach to frontline employee engagement
How can HR adopt the model for their frontline employee engagement strategies?

The importance of frontline employee engagement

Frontline workers account for over 2 billion employees worldwide, accounting for nearly 80% of the global workforce. Yet, many employee engagement models fail to address their unique needs, often relying on engagement models developed for office-based workers.

Traditional engagement models emphasize career development, learning opportunities, and flexibility. Although these factors remain important for the frontline, other factors, such as fair pay, safety, and security, are more critical in the life of a frontline worker. 

For example, an insurance organization had to implement “safety and panic buttons” for traveling sales individuals due to rising safety concerns when entering the homes of new potential clients. Similarly, most mining operations focus on physical safety, given the high levels of danger associated with the role. Yet, these factors are often not emphasized when approaching employee engagement strategies.

Organizations that neglect to apply relevant and targeted frontline engagement strategies risk higher turnover, reduced productivity, and lower customer satisfaction.

How well do employee engagement models apply to the frontline workforce?

Before developing a more frontline-focused employee engagement model, let’s summarize some well-known employee engagement models as a starting point.

Each model has strengths and limitations, but many fail to capture frontline realities fully. For instance:

• Safety and security—top concerns for frontline workers—are rarely central to these models.
• Career growth is often a primary engagement driver in these frameworks, yet frontline roles frequently offer limited advancement opportunities.
• Fair pay and benefits, essential to frontline engagement, are often dismissed as “hygiene factors” rather than recognized as fundamental drivers of motivation and retention.

Engagement in the frontline cannot be an afterthought. Organizations must rethink how they apply these frameworks, ensuring they reflect the priorities of those on the ground.

What does the frontline really want from work?

We had the opportunity to interview Dr Cristian Grossman from the frontline employee app provider Beekeeper about their recent research report on the pulse of the frontline worker. They engaged with more than 8,000 frontline workers to explore what is important to them and what are the main barriers to frontline employee engagement.

We summarized their findings below, and you can listen to the full interview here:

Factors such as managerial support, access to tools, and clear communication are essential drivers of engagement for the frontline.

Workload management and adequate staffing and scheduling also impact frontline engagement. In industries such as retail and healthcare, where there are extensive skills shortages, this becomes even more important as the lack of available people often leads current employees to work additional shifts or do more than what is reasonably expected.

Most organizations depend on managers to communicate between the head office and frontline environments. Yet managers are overburdened with administrative tasks, spending nearly 60% of their time on repetitive processes, leading to disconnected and inconsistent communication.

Technology and tools remain misaligned with frontline realities. While corporate employees benefit from AI-powered efficiencies and streamlined digital tools, many frontline workers still rely on outdated methods such as paper forms and manual scheduling. 

The frontline is now starting to experience, I would say, a renaissance, getting tools suddenly developed only for them. But those are, in many cases, only point solutions, or the type of tools that desktop workers use themselves because they’re the ones that are conceiving the solutions and say, “Hey, if I’m already using this tool from a legacy vendor in the desktop world, why not just try to put it out there, right? It has a mobile app, it should work.” Well, it turns out that creating software for the frontline is almost a different discipline than creating software for the desktop.

Dr Cristian Grossman, CEO at Beekeeper

Employee retention remains a challenge, with nearly half of frontline workers in this study changing jobs within a year. Pay and work-life balance are listed as the top reasons for leaving, but culture and career progression also play a decisive role in job mobility.

It is also important to create a culture of appreciation, where recognition is embedded in everyday interactions rather than reserved for structured reward programs. Frontline employees don’t just want praise for outcomes; they seek acknowledgment of their effort and contribution. 

Building on these insights, the models highlighted previously, and the implementation of various employee engagement strategies in frontline environments, we position a different focus for frontline employee engagement.

Adopting a needs-based approach to frontline employee engagement

To ensure its relevance to the frontline, we developed our model based on basic human needs applicable to the frontline workforce. Human needs are fundamental requirements that drive behavior, motivation, and wellbeing. Models such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Self-Determination Theory, and Alderfer’s ERG theory are good examples of human needs models.

In our model, we highlight the drivers or factors that need to be in place for engagement to occur. We define engagement as the extent to which employees are willing and committed to contribute within reason to the goals of the organization over time. In our model, if the needs are met, engagement will occur.

We highlight the needs of frontline workers in terms of three levels:

• Individual needs in job: These refer to needs that the individual has specifically related to the content of their job.
• Individual needs from manager: These refer to needs that frontline workers have from their direct managers.
• Individual needs from organization: These refer to needs that frontline employees have in terms of the broader organization and environment.

Let’s break the model down.

Individual needs in job

At the individual needs level, we identify four needs:

Individual needs from manager

The next level describes what individuals need from their managers. These activities fall within the scope and control of the manager:

Individual needs from organization

At an organizational level, there are also needs that have to be met. Specifically, at this level, we look at policies and environmental factors that are only within the control of leaders:

When considering frontline engagement, organizations must take a holistic approach that considers needs at all these levels. When measuring engagement and planning engagement interventions, these factors can be used as a guide for the elements needed for the organization to be an environment where frontline employees can be engaged.

How can HR adopt the model to their frontline employee engagement strategies?

We firmly believe that even though employee engagement is a business responsibility, HR must play a key role in facilitating and ensuring these elements are in place. Specifically, related to our model above, HR can contribute in the following ways:

Workforce planning

HR is responsible for a robust, data-driven approach to workforce planning. This can help ensure adequate workload management.

For frontline employees, effective workforce planning goes beyond just staffing numbers—it directly impacts engagement, job satisfaction, and retention. When scheduling and workload distribution are managed thoughtfully, employees are less likely to experience burnout and more likely to stay motivated. 

Work design

HR needs to design jobs for the frontline workforce that promote autonomy and challenging work and balance the skills required for success with how employees are recruited and developed.

Compensation practices

HR can ensure a fair and transparent compensation policy and practice through continuous benchmarking and fair pay.

Specifically, HR can implement comprehensive benefits packages for frontline employees that prioritize medical care, social support for their families, and housing.

Manager development

Given managers’ important role in frontline engagement, HR needs to support the development of the right managerial competencies to keep the frontline well-managed.

Specifically, HR should also scope out the expectations from managerial roles, allowing enough time to effectively manage the frontline without being overburdened with administrative processes.

A culture of recognition

HR can foster a culture of recognition within the workforce and reinforce these mechanisms through policies and practices related to recognition. Similarly, HR can guide managers in using informal recognition and praise, building a culture where frontline employees feel seen and heard.

Wellbeing

Robust wellbeing programs can significantly increase the engagement of the frontline. HR can provide these employees with sufficient access to relevant wellbeing services while also promoting proactive wellbeing management.

Final words

The frontline is an important part of the workforce and the lifeblood of many economies around the world. Ensuring that this workforce segment is engaged will require a different approach from organizations and HR, requiring a sharp focus on and prioritizing the things that really matter to the frontline employees.

Dr Dieter Veldsman

Chief HR Scientist

Dieter Veldsman is a former CHRO and Organizational Psychologist with over 15 years of experience across the HR value chain and lifecycle, having worked for and consulted globally with various organizations. At AIHR, he leads research initiatives and develops educational programs aimed at advancing the HR profession. Dr. Veldsman is regularly invited to speak on topics such as Strategic HR, the Future of Work, Employee Experience, and Organizational Development.