The frontline makes up 80% of the global workforce; they contribute significantly to the global economy, yet they don’t feel seen or valued at work.

That’s according to new data from Workvivo by Zoom.

The employee experience platform surveyed 7,550 frontline workers and found that half believe that office workers are prioritized over them, despite the fact that 49% feel they have a bigger impact on the company than their office colleagues.

In fact, a whopping 46% don’t even know who their CEO is.

87% told Workvivo that they were unsure about whether their company culture applies to them – they often create their own microcultures (50%), and 61% feel more connected to their team, than the rest of the company.

The frontline also feel excluded from the systems – 47% said the tools built for office workers, not those on the frontline, while 66% feel frustrated with the communications tools that their company provides.

“We all can see that there is a gap in experience between frontline and desk employees”, “what came out as really stark in the research was the fact that frontline workers themselves are really feeling this gap”, Colum Nugent, Head of Professional Services at Workvivo by Zoom tells UNLEASH.

Organizations are trying to reach and connect with these employees but we’ve seen here that, more often than not, these strategies aren’t working”, adds Nugent.

42% of frontline workers rate leadership communications are [as?] poor, while 20% said they never feel recognized for their work and 10% feel like managers understand the struggles and the impacts.

Something needs to change – but where should HR leaders focus their attention?

How to re-engage your frontline workers

“It’s not just employees themselves who benefit from better, more inclusive strategies towards employee experience and communications,” continues Nugent.

“In many cases, frontline workers are the face of the brand, dealing with customers. We talk a lot about culture as it relates to working in an office – hybrid work, pizza parties, etc.

But when it comes to the frontline, 40% say their company doesn’t care about them as a person.”

The reality is that the frontline wants to be engaged – 69% said they want to understand company decisions better, 58% want to hear updates from the CEO.

However, right now 48% think that company communications are irrelevant to them.

As a result, just one in three frequently read communications, with 19% rarely or never read them.

The frontline wants more two-way comms – 38% said they have feedback they want to share with leadership, but there’s no good way to share it. Plus, one in four said they were rarely or never asked for their opinion on how work gets done.

For HR to move the needle, Nugent suggests they need to work closely with Internal Communications teams.

“First, collecting feedback at scale from frontline workers – through surveys but also through focus groups and site visits can also be a great way to understand the needs of different cohorts.

“It’s important to understand the organizational culture and audit how it’s perceived by frontline workers.

“From there, building a strong employee value proposition that is aligned with the culture but also includes frontline workers is crucial.

“And ultimately, making sure you have a strong employee communication strategy to reach all of these frontline workers regularly in a way that will engage them to communicate these changes and make people feel a part of the bigger picture.”

Then, it’s time to make sure that the technology tools really work with “frontline workers on the move”.

HR leaders, therefore need to meet the frontline “where they are at and design experiences that are modern and easy-to-use for employees of all generations and backgrounds”.