Frontline Employees Stay for People, Not KPIs

Community is the Real Performance Driver for Frontline Teams

When you ask frontline employees why they stay, especially when the pay isn’t the best or the work is physically and emotionally demanding, they don’t talk about KPIs, engagement scores, or dashboards.

They talk about people.

“My manager really helps me out.”
“I like the team.”
“It feels like we’ve got each other’s backs.”

That’s the heartbeat of the frontline experience. And yet, too many organizations still try to build culture and retention strategies around metrics instead of human connection.

Here’s the truth leaders are slowly relearning.
Community isn’t soft. It’s strategic.

When people feel seen, supported, and connected, they don’t just show up. They show up better. They adapt faster, care more about customers, and stay longer, even when a competitor offers a dollar more an hour.

Because at the end of the day, frontline employees don’t work for the company.

They work for each other.

1. Connection Is the Real Retention Strategy

JD Dillon, Chief Learning Architect at Axonify, summed it up perfectly in our recent webinar on Driving Frontline Performance through Recognition & Learning:

“Whenever I talk to frontline employees and ask why they stay, the conversation always begins with people. It almost never begins with the work or the company.”

The data backs him up.

A Workday survey of 3,000 frontline workers across healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and more found that 79% of employees who feel a sense of belonging at work say they have no plans to leave their employer. In a separate report covering 46,000 frontline employees, companies with highly engaged frontline workers had a 12-month turnover rate of ~85%, compared to ~99% in the industry overall.

Every great frontline team has that invisible glue: trust, camaraderie, and shared purpose. But here’s the mistake many organizations make: when turnover spikes, they reach for perks. Bonuses. Pizza parties. Sign-on incentives.

Those things may help temporarily, but they don’t fix burnout. You don’t fix burnout with bonuses. You fix it with belonging.

Chloe Waind, Director at NewLeaf Performance, puts it plainly:

“Employees want to know that what they do matters, that they’re seen, and that their contributions are valued. Recognition is the glue that facilitates a positive culture and strong relationships.”

Practical Ways to Build Belonging on the Frontline

Normalize peer recognition, not just top-down praise.
Create small rituals such as shift shoutouts, weekly wins, and manager check-ins.
Make recognition timely, not saved for quarterly programs.
Tie appreciation to real behaviors, not generic “great job” language.

Connection isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s foundational.

2. Managers: The Culture Linchpin

Every conversation about frontline culture eventually lands in the same place: Managers make or break the experience.

JD Dillon doesn’t mince words:

“A great manager can turn an okay job into a life-changing experience. A struggling one can take a decent job and turn it into a really problematic experience.”

Frontline managers are the bridge between corporate intent and daily reality. But most are overwhelmed, covering shifts, hitting targets, dealing with staffing shortages, and still expected to “build culture” on the side.

JD’s advice is blunt and essential:

“If you’re adding something to a manager’s plate, you have to take something off.”

What That Means in Practice

Stop launching programs that assume managers have unlimited time.
Remove administrative friction where possible.
Give managers simple, lightweight tools to recognize and coach in the flow of work.
Measure managers not just on outputs, but on how well they build teams.

The solution isn’t another training module or one-off recognition initiative. It’s giving managers the time, tools, and autonomy to lead, to recognize their teams, coach consistently, and create the kind of environment people actually want to stay in.

Listen to HR on The Frontline now!

3. Recognition and Learning Are the Glue That Holds Community Together

Recognition reinforces connection. Learning fuels growth. Together, they create a sense of shared progress, not just for the company, but for the people doing the work.

JD explains it this way:

“If people don’t feel appreciated for what they do every day, they’re going to leave. And if people don’t have the proper support to feel capable and confident, they’re going to leave. It has to be part of one story.”

Too often, organizations treat learning and recognition as separate initiatives. On the frontline, that separation doesn’t work.

What Actually Works

Recognize effort and progress, not just outcomes.
Celebrate learning milestones, not just tenure.
Use recognition to reinforce how work gets done, not just what gets done.

Chloe Waind adds an important reminder:

“No two people are motivated the same way. Some want a gift card, some want public recognition, some just want to learn how to do more stuff. Recognition is not transactional; it’s personal, and that’s where it becomes foundational to culture.”

Recognition isn’t transactional; it’s personal. That’s why flexible, choice-based recognition works so well on the frontline. It respects individual motivation while reinforcing shared values.

4. Values Only Matter If They’re Lived Daily

Even the best recognition programs can’t compensate for misaligned values.

Chloe highlights a common breakdown:

“Employees experience a disconnect between what leadership says they value and what actually happens day to day. That misalignment creates friction, attrition, and dissatisfaction.”

That disconnect erodes trust faster than almost anything else.

How Organizations Can Close the Gap

Define current versus desired culture honestly.
Translate values into observable behaviors.
Train leaders to model those behaviors.
Reinforce them consistently through recognition and feedback.

When values, leadership behavior, and recognition align, culture becomes something employees experience, not something they read on a wall.

5. The Bottom Line: Community Enables Performance

Community isn’t the opposite of performance; it enables it. Strong culture drives engagement, retention, and customer experience, which ultimately drives business results.

Community isn’t the opposite of performance; it’s the engine behind it. Strong frontline culture drives engagement, retention, customer experience, and operational resilience.

So flip the script

Stop measuring connection by retention.
Start measuring retention by connection.

Frontline employees don’t stay for perks or slogans. They stay for people.

Want to learn more?

Want to hear more of JD Dillon’s frontline insights? Check out our recent webinar: Aligned for Impact: Driving Frontline Performance through Recognition & Learning (w/ Axonify)

Listen to HR experts, like Chloe Waind and Tracie Sponenberg, share their experiences and knowledge on HR on the Frontline:

Learn how to build a culture of recognition that connects your office and frontline teams with Guusto. Book a demo today!

— Skai Dalziel, Co-Founder & CEO @ Guusto

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