{"id":65709,"date":"2021-10-19T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/industry\/blog\/?p=65709"},"modified":"2023-05-31T16:43:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T23:43:19","slug":"empowering-retails-real-superheroes-frontline-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2021\/10\/19\/empowering-retails-real-superheroes-frontline-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering retail\u2019s real superheroes: Frontline workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Like so many of you, I got my first job in a retail store (after babysitting) and like many around the world it was my first introduction to the workplace. Retail always has been and always will be a people business with many employed on retail\u2019s frontline. If ever there was any doubt about the importance of retail\u2019s frontline, then their herculean efforts during the past 18 months have put those doubts to rest.<\/p>\n

These superheroes shouldered much of the change we\u2019ve seen and experienced, with minimal training and astonishing grace. Some of those changes are here to stay. Today, we see in-store workers shopping among us for orders placed online for curbside pick-up or delivery. We interact with grocery clerks that manage the growing number of self-checkout stations while answering our questions and a whole lot more. Yet, a recent Forbes survey found that fewer than 1 in 4 frontline workers indicate they have the right technology to do their job.1 <\/sup>With this amount of change, and ever-increasing customer expectations, retailers are asking Microsoft to help them identify innovative ways to improve the frontline employee experience, focus on well-being, provide their associates with the flexibility and certainty they need, speed up on-boarding, democratize access to learning, and help reduce unsustainable employee turnover rates (the average turnover rate in retail is slightly above 60 percent according to the National Retail Federation).<\/p>\n

So, what can retailers do? We see leading retailers investing in empowering, engaging, and continuously re-training the frontline as they automate routine tasks and manual processes. Retail leadership is finding new ways to shift towards employee-centric business models to ensure they are the employer of choice for many, while simplifying processes, reducing effort, and increasing productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time when talent is hard to find and equally hard to retain, retailers are finding it challenging to meet the expectations of both employees and customers. It\u2019s time to reimagine the retail workforce\u2014where it\u2019s done, how and by whom. Retailers also need to invest in order to turn their workforce into an adaptive workforce that is digital, data fluent and diverse.\u201d2<\/sup> Jill Standish, Global Lead, Retail at Accenture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today, many retailers are doing just that. They are investing in new frontline capabilities to grow the loyalty of their employees and customers:<\/p>\n