{"id":9038,"date":"2024-07-10T02:41:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T02:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/uk\/?post_type=resources&p=9038"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:58:42","slug":"deskless-employee-engagement","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.brightmine.com\/uk\/resources\/talent-management\/employee-engagement\/deskless-employee-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for increasing deskless employee engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Sue Willcock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you stop me from leaving?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Knowledge workers \u2014 who typically sit at a desk and work on a computer \u2014 have a high level of access to flexible and hybrid working arrangements<\/a>. What can organisations do to provide their deskless or frontline peers with similar benefits that will lead to a higher level of engagement? Sue Willcock has some suggestions for re-engaging this crucial but increasingly disaffected part of the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Office for National Statistics, 44% of UK workers are now using some form of “hybrid” pattern as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, splitting home working with time in the office. And we’ve become used to the benefits too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Need to book a doctor’s appointment? Want to see your child’s mid-afternoon school play? Need to take delivery of a parcel tomorrow morning? Need to walk the dog at lunchtime?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It seems a long time since these things were in the “logistically difficult” category for those workers who have the benefit of working at home, with flexibility now baked into their role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what of the workers whose roles are described as “deskless” or “frontline”? Retail assistants, nurses, doctors, teachers, factory workers, construction workers, warehouse operatives \u2014 in fact, any worker whose job does not involve them being in front of a computer most of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 Global Culture Report<\/a> by O.C. Tanner tells us that these are now the most disengaged workers we have. It goes on to say that they “feel invisible” and two in five say they feel they “are viewed as inferior” by desk workers. That’s a high number, indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what can organisations do about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a “day in the life”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you have never worked in a deskless role it’s worth taking a moment and considering a “day in the life” of someone who does, and how their role might differ from yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Choose a job in your organisation that does not involve working at a desk and briefly consider how this role might compare to yours. What time do you get up? What does your day look and feel like? How much control do you have over what you do and the way you do it?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Choose a job in your organisation that does not involve working at a desk and briefly consider how this role might compare to yours. What time do you get up? What does your day look and feel like? How much control do you have over what you do and the way you do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you make the comparison, it may become clear why our frontline workers might feel disgruntled when they look at their desk-based colleagues. It certainly feels as though the “lifestyle gap” between the two ways of working has grown, and this disparity is compounded for some by fear-inducing headlines threatening that technology, the economy and patterns of consumer behaviour will remove jobs altogether. We only need to look at the reduction in high street banks<\/a> and the increasing use of self-service checkouts. And this is not just a retail trend \u2014 a combination of sector recruitment challenges and customer preference has driven online table ordering as well as kiosks in the hospitality industry that promote self-service<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add into the mix that Gen Z<\/a> (born 1997-2012) are putting work-life balance and wellbeing high on their wish lists for jobs and you have a potent cocktail of disengagement. The figure given by the O.C. Tanner report is that 52% of deskless workers want to leave their role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what are the things we can do to “shift the engagement dial” for frontline workers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walk a mile…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Engagement survey and exit interview statistics are a good place to start if you want empirical data. But, as the saying goes, to understand someone’s point of view you need to “walk a mile in their shoes”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“As we get closer to the workforce operationally, we should view managers as the eyes and ears of the organisation and, critically, empower them to make local changes that make life better for their teams.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As HR professionals we can speak to managers to obtain insight (although recent research has found that 40% of managers consider their relationship with HR “weak”<\/a>), but it’s also important to get close to frontline workers directly. You may well see things differently from their managers or be able to “join the dots” operationally and spot opportunities for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit your frontline workers in their workplace. Hold face-to-face focus groups. Speak to individuals one to one. Look at their surroundings and try to understand the challenges that each group faces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh Bersin cites the example of nurses who said that a change in the location of the wardrobes in patients’ rooms would make it much easier for them to manoeuvre medical equipment \u2014 an easy fix to a problem that had caused a lot of frustration, but that might not have come to light via survey results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Want to make smarter, more-informed decisions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Learn more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Communicate and deliver<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unless we get closer to day-to-day operations, well-intentioned activities can easily miss the mark, leaving frontline workers feeling that they are not understood, especially by senior leaders. For example, a campaign on work-life balance and wellbeing sent to personal email addresses would likely be read by frontline workers “out of hours” \u2014 this would create a scenario in which actions and words do not match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s important, therefore, when we are thinking about the outcome we want for a particular audience \u2014 in this case, optimised wellbeing and work-life balance \u2014 that we carefully consider the “how” of the delivery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A leading construction company had great success with engagement of site-based staff by putting their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content online in the form of regular podcasts. These allowed the audience flexibility as to when they listened. There was also an “online Q&A chat” that people could post to at any time, to suit their own habits. This was in contrast to a more restrictive email-centred communication controlled by head office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crucially, as Steven Covey says in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” make sure senior leaders and HR teams “listen to understand”. Build in strong feedback loops that make it easy for all employees to inform and be part of the culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support and empower managers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As we get closer to the workforce operationally, we should view managers as the eyes and ears of the organisation and, critically, empower them to make local changes that make life better for their teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A multi-store retailer, for example, may have well-defined standards and working patterns that provide governance and consistency around their brand and customer experience across all sites. Local store managers, however, should be trained and then empowered to manage the delivery of these with the authority to make local changes while still being compliant with health and safety, employment law, etc. They may alter shift patterns, change stock delivery days and manage the stock room differently to another store to empower their team to do their best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Define “frontline flexibility”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the widening gaps is the perceived unfairness between the flexibility that can be offered to desk-based compared to deskless employees. While the law around the right to request flexible working<\/a> has changed recently, offering flexible working to frontline workers remains challenging and can require operational transitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it can be done. Examples drawn from workplaces that are moving towards greater flexibility include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n