Most frontline employees feel overworked; desire flexibility, work-life balance
A large majority of frontline workers are feeling “burnt out,” especially those under 30 years old.
A new survey from HR and workforce management software company UKG reveals that 75% of all frontline employees, which includes retail and restaurant positions, report feeling stressed and overworked. Gen Z frontline workers feel burnt out at a higher rate (83%), with over one-third of Gen Z (36%) saying they’d quit because their job negatively affects their physical/mental wellbeing.
Despite two-thirds (66%) of frontline workers saying that they enjoy their workplace, 55% say they are not satisfied with their overall employee experience. This figure rises to 61% for Gen Z workers.
More than seven-in-10 (72%) Gen Z workers say interactions with people at work have worsened their mental health, compared to 62% among all frontline employees. A similar number (71%) of Gen Z respondents say they may quit because of negative interactions with their managers, co-workers, or customers. This is compared to 59% of frontline employees in all generations.
[READ MORE: Survey: Only 24% of frontline workers believe they have proper training]
In organizations where frontline and corporate employees co-exist, UKG found that nearly half of all frontline employees (49%) say there are two separate cultures: one for the frontline and one for everyone else. About one-in-five (19%) frontline employees say they are never recognized by their manager.
“Our global study finds that not all workplace cultures are supportive of Gen Z and the frontline workforce,” said Dan Schawbel, managing partner at workplace intelligence. “One thing is for certain across all generations: if you don’t fix the frontline experience, you risk losing valuable talent.”
To reduce burnout, frontline employees desire increased work-life balance and flexibility, which survey respondents cited (both at 55%) as the top two most important factors for considering when choosing an employer, only behind pay/compensation (71%). Over a quarter (27%) of frontline employees say they’d resign due to a lack of workplace flexibility.
A little over half of organizations surveyed with frontline employees (54%) offer flexible hours/self-scheduling. Other flexible scheduling practices are increasing in popularity, including shift trading with co-workers (41%), part-time work with no loss of benefits (28%), compressed workweeks (27%) and job sharing (18%). However, there’s still room for growth, as more than one-in-10 (14%) frontline leaders say their organization doesn’t offer any of these flexible work arrangements.
“The frontline workforce comprises nearly 80% of the world’s working population, yet the benefits and perks we typically hear about are for the laptop-toting 20%,” said Teresa Smith, director of human insights and HCM strategic advisory at UKG. “Small changes made today around flexibility and manager support, specifically for Gen Z, can have major positive ripple effects across the workforce for decades.”
UKG’s study was conducted by Walr between June 19 and July 24, 2024. In total, 12,715 global workers completed the survey, including 10,915 frontline employees and 1,800 frontline leaders. The study targeted frontline employees and frontline leaders from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.
