Low frontline employee engagement in a workplace wellness program is not always a motivation problem. Often, the program doesn’t fit how frontline and deskless employees work.
Think about how easy it is for an administrative employee to participate.
They receive an email. Click a link. Open the wellness platform on their computer. Complete an activity between meetings.
Now think about an employee working on a production floor, driving a route, moving between job sites, or working an overnight shift.
That same wellness program can become much harder to access.
For employers in manufacturing, trucking, automotive, field-based industries, and multi-location organizations, increasing participation may require looking beyond what the wellness program offers and examining how employees are expected to use it.
Why Frontline Employees Participate Differently
Employees do not all experience the workday the same way.
One employee may have a laptop, company email address, and internet access throughout the day. Another may spend an eight-hour shift on a production floor where personal phone use is limited, and computer access is rare.
If your employee wellness program relies primarily on email reminders, desktop logins, webinars, or activities completed during office hours, one group has a significant participation advantage before the program even begins.
We have seen this challenge across manufacturing, trucking, automotive, field-based, and multi-location organizations.
Sharpe, for example, was seeing greater participation among administrative employees than production employees.
Instead of simply asking, “Why aren’t our frontline employees participating?” it can be more helpful to ask, “What is making participation harder for them?”
Start With Access, Not Motivation
When participation is low, it can be tempting to assume employees are not interested.
But access should be one of the first things employers examine when trying to improve frontline employee engagement.
Consider:
- Do employees need a company email address to get started?
- Can they scan a QR code instead of typing in a long URL?
- Can they participate from a mobile phone?
- Can they access activities without a desktop computer?
- Are important updates communicated somewhere besides email?
- Can employees participate across different shifts and locations?
- Does participating require a large block of uninterrupted time?
For deskless employees, small barriers can quickly add up.
A phone-first employee experience can make wellness programs much easier to use for employees who rarely sit at a computer. QR codes on breakroom posters, materials near time clocks, and other workplace signage can create simple entry points. Push notifications can also help reach employees who might never see a company-wide email.
The easier your program is to access, the easier it is for employees to participate.
Frontline Communication Requires More Than Email
Sending another email is not always the answer.
Administrative employees may see a wellness announcement several times simply because they already spend much of their workday in their inbox. Frontline employees may never see it.
Improving employee engagement in manufacturing and other deskless environments often requires communicating in more than one place.
A mobile app notification may reach one employee. A QR code in the breakroom may reach another. Digital signage, printed materials, supervisor reminders, team huddles, and shift-change communication can all reinforce the same message without relying on a single channel.
The goal is not necessarily to communicate more. It is to communicate in places employees are already looking.
Using multiple channels also reinforces that the program is intended for the entire organization, not just the people sitting behind a computer.
Ask Whether Your Wellness Program Is Actually Fair
Access is only one part of frontline employee engagement.
Employers should also consider whether their wellness activities give different types of employees a fair opportunity to participate and succeed.
Take a traditional step challenge.
One employee may sit at a desk most of the day. Another may walk thousands of steps during a physically demanding production shift.
Both can technically participate, but they are entering the challenge from very different starting points.
Wellness programs can also unintentionally reward the same employees over and over: the people who are already active, already healthy, or already highly engaged.
Instead of focusing only on top performers, programs can recognize participation, personal improvement, consistency, healthy actions, learning, team involvement, and progress toward individual goals.
An inclusive employee wellness program should give someone training for a marathon and someone taking their first intentional walk in months a reason to participate.
Physical Jobs Have Different Wellbeing Needs
Another mistake is assuming employees with physically demanding jobs do not need wellness support because they already move throughout the day.
Physical work and intentional exercise are not the same thing.
Employees who stand for long periods, perform repetitive movements, lift throughout a shift, or climb in and out of vehicles may have very different needs than employees working behind a desk.
For frontline employees, relevant wellbeing topics might include recovery and stretching, sleep, hydration, nutrition, stress management, musculoskeletal health, preventive care, financial wellbeing, benefits education, and mental and emotional wellbeing.
A strong workplace wellness program does not give every employee an identical experience.
It gives employees meaningful ways to support their wellbeing based on the realities of their lives and work.
Design Wellness Activities for More Than the Already-Fit Population
Competition can make workplace wellness fun.
But competition can also discourage participation when employees believe they have no realistic chance of succeeding.
If every challenge revolves around who takes the most steps, runs the most miles, or exercises the longest, employees who are already highly active may dominate the leaderboard.
Over time, everyone else may stop trying.
That does not mean employers need to eliminate competition. It means competitive challenges should be balanced with activities that recognize participation, consistency, individual progress, and a wider range of healthy behaviors.
Instead of only recognizing the employee with the highest step total, for example, you might also recognize employees who meet a personal movement goal, participate consistently, complete a wellbeing bingo card, try several healthy habits, finish an educational course, or participate as part of a team.
More ways to succeed can create more reasons to participate.
How to Tell if Your Wellness Program Was Built for Desk Employees
If participation looks dramatically different between administrative and frontline employees, walk through the program from the employee’s perspective.
Imagine you:
- Do not have a company email address.
- Rarely use a desktop computer.
- Cannot access your phone throughout most of your shift.
- Work nights or weekends.
- Move between job sites or locations.
- Already perform physically demanding work.
- Hear more information from your supervisor than from corporate communications.
Now try to participate in your wellness program.
Can you easily find it? Can you understand what is happening? Can you join without disrupting your workday? Can you realistically participate in the activities being offered?
If the answer is no, you may not have a frontline employee motivation problem. You may have a program design problem.
Improving Frontline Employee Engagement Starts With Better Program Design
A successful employee wellness program should not require employees to work at a desk to feel included.
Mobile access, multiple communication channels, inclusive activities, and thoughtful program design can help employers reach employees across offices, production floors, warehouses, vehicles, job sites, and multiple locations.
At Motion Connected, we help employers bring wellbeing, benefits education, challenges, rewards, recognition, and employee communication together in one place, with multiple ways for employees to stay connected.
Because better frontline employee engagement does not start with asking employees to try harder. It starts with making participation easier.
