How to Motivate Frontline Employees Discussion and Replies
ANSWER
Reply to Post 1:
I completely agree with your points on motivating frontline employees. Recognition and appreciation can go a long way in boosting employee morale and motivation. It’s true that even a simple “thank you” or “I appreciate your hard work” can have a significant impact on an employee’s motivation to perform better. Humans indeed seek recognition and a sense of belonging, and when they receive positive feedback from their superiors, colleagues, or customers, it can drive them to excel in their roles.
Setting clear and achievable goals, as you mentioned, is another effective way to motivate frontline employees. When employees have specific targets to work towards, they are more likely to stay focused and motivated to meet or exceed those goals. This not only benefits the individual but also contributes to the overall success of the organization.
Moreover, the idea that employees want more than just a paycheck is crucial. A sense of accomplishment and pride in their work can be a powerful motivator. When employees feel that they are making a meaningful contribution to their organization and that their efforts are valued, they are more likely to remain engaged and committed.
Incorporating these motivational strategies can create a more positive and productive work environment for frontline employees, ultimately leading to better service excellence and customer satisfaction.
Reply to Post 2:
Your insights on motivating frontline employees in the restaurant industry are insightful, especially in highlighting the importance of shifting from pressure-driven motivation to a more positive and learning-oriented approach. The example you provided of a restaurant that relied on intense quizzing and pressure to motivate servers is a clear illustration of how such tactics can create a toxic work environment and ultimately backfire.
The idea of reducing economic and emotional pressure is crucial. Sales commissions and overly competitive promotion criteria can indeed create a stressful atmosphere where employees are more focused on meeting targets than providing excellent service. Eliminating such pressure and fostering a more relaxed and collaborative work environment can lead to more genuine and customer-centric interactions, as you observed in the case of Sephora.
Encouraging experimentation and creativity is an excellent strategy. When frontline employees feel empowered to express their ideas and try new approaches to improve service, it not only boosts their motivation but can also lead to innovative solutions and a better overall customer experience.
Your emphasis on positive reinforcement aligns with the principles of effective motivation. Acknowledging and rewarding employees for their efforts and achievements can significantly enhance their job satisfaction and dedication to delivering service excellence.
In summary, your post provides valuable insights into the challenges of motivating frontline employees in the restaurant industry and offers practical recommendations for creating a more motivating and supportive work environment.
QUESTION
Description
“How can frontline employees be effectively motivated to deliver service excellence and productivity? Give Examples. Much of this content and information for this question comes from Ch 11 in our book.
Reply to two posts.
Post 1:
The working environment can be a really stressful field where anything can happen. This is especially true for those that have to with customers. Orders are either not fulfilled or not filed properly. The amount of time needed in order to complete a job is too limiting. Somebody, an employee or customer calls you out of your name. The only way that the manager, or even the company can make the company, is by finding ways that would make him want to work. Fortunately for the manager and the company, there are many ways they can motivate a front-line worker.
A superior can tell an inferior that he is content with his work. “People are motivated and satisfied simply by knowing that they are doing a good job” (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2011, pg. 301). They are days where the workload is too much for those that are at the establishment and the pace of the work is too off for customer satisfaction. A simple “I appreciate all that you are doing can motivate a person to keep on going for the rest of that shift. Telling an employee is one way that person can be motivated to do his job.
The employee likes to be recognized for his work. “Humans are social beings, and they derive a sense of identify and belonging to an organization from the recognition and feedback they get from the people around them – their customers, colleagues, and bosses” (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2011, pg. 301). If an employee is stated to best the best at a particular job, he would strive to keep that title, even if the statement was said in passing conversation. Honorific titles can told a lot of weight for the employee who earned it. Recognition for a job can keep an employee motivated to have the job.
If there are hard to reach goals, the employee who does them are would find fulfillment. “Goals that are specific, difficult but attainable, and accepted by the staff are strong motivators [and] they result in higher performance than no goals or vague goals” (Lovelock and Wirtz , 2011, pg. 301). If an employee was told to smile to every customer that walked into the establishment, even if he is having a bad day him self, he would do a better job at what he was told. The reason is the goal that had been set into place for him. Goals can make a person want to do his job.
The employee doesn’t want to work for the money. He has to work for the money to live and support himself. A sense of accomplishment though good workmanship can help the employee, even the front-line employee, do more than he thinks he is able to do. The more of those feelings he gets, the more he would want to do for his employer.
References
Lovelock, C., & Wirtz, J. (2011). Services Marketing: People, Technology, and Strategy (Seventh ed., p. 301). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Post 2:
Frontline employees are the bridge from the customer to the organization, or as Lovelock and Wirtz (2011) would say, boundary spanners. In the restaurant industry, frontline employees are the bridge from the front-of-the-house (FOH) to the back-of-the-house (BOH). According to Lovelock and Wirtz (2011), top service organizations that are committed to effective motivation “understand the economic payoff from investing in their people” (p. 280). Ultimately, frontline employees are crucial to the survival and operation of service organizations, yet they are at times taken for granted in the restaurant industry and not effectively motivated to deliver service excellence and productivity.
McGregor and Doshi (2018) outline several ways to motivate frontline employees, with several of these strategies being used to overhaul the operating model. First, McGregor and Doshi (2018) discuss the strategy of shifting the focus from creating pressure to perform well to learning. Unfortunately, using pressure as a means to motivate is common in the hospitality industry, particularly in restaurants. For example, I worked at a casual fine dining restaurant that required servers to have exceptional knowledge of each and every single dish, the preparation methods, sourcing, and be able to recommend at least one alcoholic beverage to pair with each dish. It was an intense job, one that I learned much from, but the stress grew to be unbearable. We would have a pre-shift meeting and Chef and at least one FOH manager would quiz each of us on the spot. If you could not answer or if you delivered the wrong answer, you would be berated and belittled, and you could also possibly get switched to a smaller, less lucrative section. Chef even sent someone home for the day once when they gave an answer that was one ingredient off. As a result, that restaurant was a toxic, high-stress environment, one that left the frontline employees walking on egg shells, constantly worried that we could be fired for making a mistake while ringing in an order on the point-of-sale (POS) system. Instead of feeling excited to learn about new dishes, different food preparations, etcetera, we felt unmotivated, scared, and angry. We were expected to deliver top-notch service with a smile, but those smiles came at a steep price and they were rarely genuine.
McGregor and Doshi (2018) also recommend “reduc[ing] the economic and emotional pressure,” something that Lovelock and Wirtz (2011) also recommend. A service organization may decide to eliminate sales commissions, or promotion criteria that is sales-based. Sephora eliminated sales commissions and I personally feel that the sales associates deliver more genuine service and that they spend more time with customers to address needs. Encouraging experimentation is my favorite recommendation to motivate frontline employees (McGregor & Doshi, 2018). This will foster creativity and let employees feel comfortable expressing themselves. Positive reinforcement is the way to go if management wants to effectively motivate employees to deliver service excellence and productivity.
References
Lovelock, C. & Wirtz, J. (2011). Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy (7th ed.). New York: Pearson Education.
McGregor, L. & Doshi, N. (2018, August 30). How to Motivate Frontline Employees. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/ 2018/08/how-to-motivate-frontline-employees
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