Do HQ and frontline retail teams have an employee recognition feedback problem? Some of the widest gaps that retail operations teams see are the gaps between the frontline and HQ.
In our State of Retail Communication and Execution report, we found clear misalignment in how frontline teams and HQ teams perceived the most pressing frontline challenges — from having an understanding of store operations to feeling that they had clear and effective communication channels for raising concerns or challenges.
But, buried in all of this is a worrying rewards and recognition gap that occurs when an employee’s day-to-day work is invisible to the leaders at HQ.
Employee recognition: Understanding the employee feedback gap
In a recent survey by Workvivo, 42% of workers said their company leadership was not good at communicating with them, with 35% saying that recognizing their individual contribution would be a top way to make them feel valued at work, aside from compensation.
Bucketlist Recognition Lab’s employee surveys show the same gap in retail:
65% of retail employees receive recognition from a manager or leader less than once a month, compared with 56% of employees across all industries. Peer recognition is only slightly more common: 60% of retail employees receive it less than monthly.
This disconnect between communication, recognition, and frontline work can occur for a number of reasons.
For example, a lack of visibility into the frontline’s execution of company-wide initiatives can keep HQ from recognizing individual contributions and frontline employees from seeing how their work influences company goals.
When HQ sets strategy and brand level initiatives, and the frontline brings these strategies to life, success is often reflected months later in an increase in sales, NPS figures, or brand awareness. HQ can see the results, but not necessarily the work that led to the results.
Take, for example, a company whose goal is to improve their NPS number by 10 points. This is a company directive, but the sales associate who is mentioned in 30% of new positive reviews can easily be overlooked if their work isn’t highlighted by frontline leaders and district managers.
This oversight can be especially prevalent at large organizations where many initiatives overlap or run year-long.
Another roadblock to visibility and recognition is a lack of relevant tooling that brings frontline employees and leaders together in the same place of work.
65% of retail employees receive recognition from a manager or leader less than once a month, compared with 56% of employees across all industries.
A lack of connected frontline tools
81% of retailers we surveyed still relied on email as their primary communication tool. But email inboxes are notoriously messy and hard to track across conversations, projects, and task- level execution.
When HQ needs to:
- Understand what goals have been completed
- Get clarity into the teams accountable for achievement
- And deliver the recognition for valuable frontline work
Email does not offer the execution or team level insights needed for HQ leaders to take the next step of recognizing good work.
Creating opportunities to close the frontline retail recognition divide
Employee recognition can have a deep impact on morale, especially when compared to informal or general kudos.
Employees recognized by a leader at least monthly were 20% more likely to be engaged, 19% more likely to be satisfied with their company, and 32% less likely to regularly consider leaving than employees recognized less often.
HQ leaders choose Zipline for increased visibility into task execution and completion so they can get as close to frontline achievements as possible. And our latest integration with Bucketlist Rewards, simplifies the process of delivering recognition in the flow of work.
Once greater visibility is in place, HQ can begin to surface opportunities to create a culture of recognition for frontline work.
Here are three tips for HQ leaders who want to encourage frontline behaviors through proactive recognition
Create a culture of recognition: Create company rituals where good work is publicly acknowledged. Milestones, achievements, and in-store excellence can all become criteria for HQ leaders seeking opportunities to recognize outstanding staff.
63% of employees recognized by a leader once a month are engaged, rising to 80% for those recognized a few times a week. Leaders who recognize at least monthly are 76% more likely to be seen as recognizing fairly (72% vs 41%).
Create a nomination system to highlight top performers: Realistically, HQ can’t know who every team’s top achievers are. Nor should they be expected to.
Create a system where frontline and district leaders can nominate good work. It then becomes the responsibility of HQ teams to build out recognition initiatives that highlight specific achievements that contribute to frontline excellence.
Pair a retail ops platform with employee recognition: Solve the visibility challenge using Zipline’s intelligent frontline operating system and deliver on-time recognition in the same platform with Bucketlist. Don’t miss an opportunity to track progress on a specific initiative or behavior and capture your feedback right inside the flow of work without switching apps or introducing delays that lessen the impact of the call out.
81% of employees who agree their recognition is timely are satisfied with their company, compared with 45% of those who disagree. Recognition that employees rate as genuine, timely, personalized and fair goes with 87% satisfied versus 46%, and 68% fewer employees regularly considering leaving. Frequent recognition that misses on quality goes with the same satisfaction as rare recognition that misses on quality (47% versus 46%).
When HQ teams are separated by their place of work and the type of work they do, it’s imperative that better communication, feedback loops, and recognition are all treated as strategic imperatives rather than culture initiatives. Employee engagement matters a great deal for revenue, brand reputation, and company trajectory,
Choose Zipline and Bucketlist Rewards to build an employee recognition program that combines the operational insights needed to improve visibility into employee achievement and with an intuitive recognition workflow.
