LumApps Report Reveals Communication Gap Among Frontline Workers During COVID-19 Crisis
Forty percent of frontline workers report experiencing burnout, fatigue and stress; Less than half say they use existing work applications and software effectively
LumApps released “The State of U.S.-based Frontline Workers” report. Responses from 1,000 U.S.-based frontline workers confirm that many enterprises struggle with scaling intelligent employee communications and broader digital transformation initiatives among this critical yet disparately connected workforce.
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“Today, 80% of the world’s workforce is deskless, with many workers providing essential services on the front lines,” said Sébastien Ricard, CEO and co-founder of LumApps. “While digital transformation has transformed industries, many of these workers still learn about company policy updates with printouts on the walls of break rooms and use personal smartphone devices to text or call a boss or corporate counterpart — bypassing company IT systems. Our report highlights these trends and clearly shows frontline workforces need better technology-enabled insight via tools like LumApps for Frontliners. ”
For the report, LumApps commissioned YouGov to survey more than 1,000 U.S. frontline workers. Survey responses were collected over a seven-day period in November of 2020. Respondents span workers from a broad cross-section of industries, including: agriculture, construction, energy, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, restaurants, transportation, travel and more.
Among the report’s key findings:
- Frontline workers are in crisis. Forty percent of frontline workers say they are experiencing burnout, fatigue and stress related to the COVID-19 crisis. Slightly more (41 percent) are planning to look for a new job in the next six months due to family, health or work-related reasons. These results are even more pronounced among younger workers.
- Shadow IT dominates. More frontline workers (64 percent) report using their personal smartphones to communicate with co-workers or supervisors on work-related topics in the last six months than any other method of communication, including company applications and systems (50 percent). In-person communication comes in second at 63 percent. Other popular mediums for work communication include personal email (45 percent), social media (30 percent) and communication apps like Signal or WhatsApp (26 percent).
- Workers are both tech-enabled and tech-burdened. Despite nearly half (47 percent) of frontline workers reporting that their employer increased the availability of technology applications since the onset of COVID-19, problems lurk beneath the surface. Sixty-two percent of frontline workers don’t know where to find information on work applications, and over one in four (28 percent) want more training on company systems. Nine percent of frontline workers even plan to leave a job in the next six months at least in part over “frustration with technology tools,” a figure that is higher (14 percent) among younger workers between the ages of 18 and 34.
- Finding the right information is a struggle for many. Thirty-eight percent of frontline workers say they spend at least one-fifth of their time searching for needed information from people or work applications and systems. The results are more pronounced in more regulated industries like construction (55 percent), energy (47 percent) and financial services (63 percent).
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