Axonify Pandemic Survey: Retail’s Frontline Heroes Are Left Behind

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, frontline employees have been referred to as heroes — and rightly so. Retail and grocery store associates have been the backbone of communities, ensuring businesses could stay open during the crisis.

Despite an appreciation of frontline employees, however, businesses are letting them down during this crisis. Frontline employees do not feel safe, prepared or supported, and that's especially true for those working in retail.

Those are the findings from Axonify’s recently released annual Global State of Frontline Employee Training Study of 2,000 frontline employees from the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, who were asked about their workplace training experiences before and after the onset of the pandemic. The study looks at responses from grocery store associates, retail associates, contact-center agents and professional sales agents.

The results of the survey sound an alarm for the retail industry to pay closer attention to the training needs of their critical employees.

Retail Employees During the Pandemic

When looking at the survey results, it’s essential to remember the chaotic environment retail employees were faced with, especially during the early days of the pandemic. While grocery stores remained open, the status of retail stores varied. Some opened, but with limited hours and capacity. Some retail stores closed to the public and became temporary warehouses or distribution centers to accommodate the increase in online and curbside pickup orders. Due to those transitions, some retail employees were furloughed (49 percent of the frontline employees surveyed), while others worked reduced hours. Still others took on new or expanded responsibilities to address the pandemic’s unique delivery or customer service needs.

Communication During the Pandemic Lacked Job Relevancy

In the first days of state and local lockdowns, information changed rapidly. Retailers needed to act quickly to respond to the changes and communicate those changes with employees. In fact, 66 percent of frontline retail employees said employers gave them timely information about the organization's response to the pandemic. Digging deeper into the data, however, only 38 percent of frontline retail workers said the emails and texts received were relevant to their job. Ultimately, the communication wasn't as relevant, reliable or timely as employees desired.

Customer-Facing Employees Felt Unsafe

Retail and grocery associates didn’t have the option to work from home — they needed to go to work in person, risking potential exposure to COVID-19. With new and sometimes conflicting information emerging on how the virus was transmitted, it was difficult to feel safe.

This reality is reflected in the survey results: only 68 percent of retail employees and 65 percent of grocery associates felt their employers kept them safe. Organizations must extend their safety culture to go beyond accident or threat prevention and include employees' well-being.

Training Was Missing During the Pandemic

During the pandemic, nearly half of frontline employees (46 percent) took on new responsibilities, and 23 percent moved to new positions. However, although frontline employees were asked to do more, only 28 percent of retail employees received training to help.

What’s concerning is the training employees did receive wasn’t effective. Only 34 percent of frontline training was easy to understand and remember. As a result, 39 percent didn't feel prepared to do their job.

When employees were asked what kind of training would work best, the answer was mixed. Only 33 percent of retail employees said they wanted more online training, such as video, interactive models and practice questions. Considering that retail employees may have little opportunity for training, either on the clock or off, current training methods may not meet their needs.

Retail employees did say they wanted training that was enjoyable and engaging. And yet, only 14 percent of retail employees said they currently receive that quality of training. They also wanted to access more information on the topic after training sessions. Only 17 percent of retail employees felt they could do that now.

The good news is retail employees want to learn job skills. They want to feel prepared to dive into new and changing responsibilities. To do that, they need their employers to help with job-specific training that meets their needs.

Businesses cannot wait until this crisis passes to provide frontline employees with support, training and a safe environment. If they do, they'll lose employees. Those employees who stay will be ill-equipped for the changing environment — and that will also impact customers. Even as companies navigate from this crisis to the next, they must focus on how to support the heroes on the frontline.

Carol Leaman is CEO of Axonify, the modern learning solution for frontline employees that actually works.