No New Year, New Me When It’s Same Old, Same Old,

As I write this, it’s the 6th  of March, and I now regularly get a parking space right outside the gym!  It's a stereotype, but the new year  sees many people take on new habits or ways of life and in some cases they stick, but in many they fall off within a matter of weeks. 

For many, this can also impact their work behaviours, they are going to be more committed or engaged at work, maybe they are going to go for a promotion or even in some cases find a new job. But what if your role doesn’t have a December slow or shut down. That's the reality for many Frontline workers. Rather than enjoying a relaxing Christmas break, many of these employees have just endured their busiest period of the year – a time of increased workloads and extra shifts as well as added stresses, particularly in pressurised sectors such as retail, hospitality, transport or healthcare. A time when their friends and family were relaxing with time off, while they missed the festivities to supply essential services. 

This cohort consistently exhibits far higher levels of burnout than the wider workforce at the start of each new calendar year. For example, our data already reveals a 40% drop in enthusiasm and engagement levels amongst UK frontline workers during January 2024, compared to December 2023. Ongoing interactions via internal channels such as message boards and group chats have massively declined as frontline employees have withdrawn from day-to-day organisational culture.

This pattern of behaviour is part of a growing problem called “Silent Burnout”. Silent burnout occurs when workers feel so undervalued and unsupported in their roles  and feel there is no value or merit in asking their employer for help. This leads to the checking out before many employers have even realised there is an issue.  This year’s data is consistent with the pattern we’ve identified over the past five years. Frontline employee engagement sinks dramatically at the start of each New Year, before the churn rate increases in the months following.

And for HR Professionals, this creates a problem that businesses will inevitably look to us to solve. So, what can we do about it?

No HR leader that I've worked with wants to partner with a frontline workforce that feels undervalued and unsupported at work, so swift action is needed to understand and re-engage these employees, and prevent it happening again. Step one is all about communication, fostering an environment where communication is not only encouraged but made easy and accessible for those who aren’t based at a desk full-time, is crucial. For this to have a true impact, that needs to be 2 way communication that listens and leads to visible action. 

 Step two is recognition, this could be implementing programmes that acknowledge the hard work and dedication of frontline staff, providing they go beyond lip service and deliver tangible recognition, rewards and benefits.

And step three is to use the data,  proactively identifying employees at risk of quitting is crucial. Overworked and disengaged frontline team members don’t always recognise the extent to which they’re unhappy – let alone share it with others. Employers should monitor workloads and look for signs of burnout among those who have taken on high numbers of shifts.  There are lot’s of ways to effectively so this, but with a diverse deskless workforce, technology is playing a bigger role than ever in spotting trends and identifying potential silent burnout cases earlier, or even better, preventing it in the first place. 

Statistics tell us that the UK workforce is in the middle of peak “ work sickness” – the highest point of the year for staff absences andnd for organisations with a high proportion of frontline workers, who represent 80% of the total global workforce, this is an even bigger risk. Open roles, and therefore unfilled shifts, are at an all time high, and anything that further contributes to attrition and absenteeism, is going to have an even bigger impact. 

This isn’t easy, and isn’t something that HR will solve alone. But in the spirit of being true partners to the business, these are topics that we need to be thinking about, and putting in place actions to engage our frontline teams and support our companies.