Engaging Frontline Employee Voice
Enabling and listening to employee voice can unlock efficiency, productivity, and innovation
Human resources, DEIB and operations leaders know that while signing bonuses and increased pay can help get employees in the door, it won’t necessarily keep them there. Prioritizing employee voice, both the mechanisms through which it travels and the cultural conditions that let it thrive, can help employers address your talent and business concerns while better supporting your frontline. By enabling and listening to employee voice, you can unlock efficiency, productivity, and innovation across your organization.
And Talent Rewire knows that creating an environment and culture where employees can safely provide input is hard work which is why we created this tool for human resources, DEIB and operations leaders at companies of all sizes.
Explore Engaging Frontline Employee Voice
Enabling Conditions for Change
Engaging and prioritizing employee voice is an important way to address your talent and business concerns while better supporting your frontline employees but doing so authentically and effectively goes beyond regularly hosting town halls or collecting survey data.
Drawing on our research and reflecting on our work with employers and frontline employees, we see five conditions that can enable a culture where employee voice can thrive.
Shift narratives about frontline employees while valuing and respecting their contributions to the business
Valuing the knowledge and expertise of frontline employees is essential to the ongoing success of a company. The most important message we heard from our frontline advisors was a desire to be seen as human and to be treated with dignity. To share their voice at work, employees must feel valued, and employers must value the expertise of their employees and seek out their perspectives.
Invest in training employees at all levels to create psychological safety
Creating a culture of psychological safety is key to enabling employee voice. Employees are less likely to express their perspective if they do not believe it is sought out in good faith, they fear retaliation, and/or they do not believe it is possible for their words and input to have an impact.
Ensure there is authentic buy-in at all levels of the company
When engaging with frontline employees, leaders must authentically invest in relationships with frontline employees to build trust over time rather than engaging employees when there is an urgent issue. Demonstrating vulnerability and acknowledging gaps or mistakes is an important part of this process. The payoff for intentional trust and relationship building often comes during challenging situations when decisions need to be made swiftly.
Listen for understanding, communicate transparently and remain open to feedback
Transparent, consistent, and inclusive communication practices give employees the information they need to express their perspectives at work and do their job effectively. Transparent communication also builds trust between employees and their employer. Being upfront about areas of growth individually and as a company helps build a culture of openness and understanding where in which everyone can make mistakes and learn from them.
Follow through on commitments and/or share when action is not possible
Engaging employee voice is not only about seeking their perspective, but also about acknowledging and acting on what is shared. Research has shown that gathering feedback and not recognizing it and/or acting on it can have a more negative impact than not gathering feedback at all.
How to Use This Tool
We designed this to be an interactive tool you can engage with individually or with your team. Transforming systems can be difficult and slow – it can also be lonely work if you are going it alone. We encourage you to engage with team members as you go through the guide – print it out, make notes as you consider the prompts, have discussions, and move to action.
We love sticky notes – whether they’re stuck on the wall or they’re virtual sticky notes in a program like MURAL or Jamboard. As you move through the tool you’ll see that it is designed to simulate a brainstorming session, whether in-person or virtual.
