Recently at People Matters, we were honoured to have this insightful conversation with Anung Anindita, SVP HR, PT. Pegadaian (Persero) and Shweta Kumar, Chief Learning Architect, Disprz, where our frontline workers took centre stage. It cannot be overlooked how in these challenging times when organisations had to adapt to the new normal, frontline workers played a strategic role by using their skill sets to deliver efficient customer service along with absorbing their customers’ anxiety. Leaders now must step up and put in their best efforts to create opportunities for them to innovate, experiment and thrive. With the changing roles and dynamics and culture of companies globally, creating a sense of belonging, ensuring that employees are tied up to their larger vision and purpose is key to winning together.

It is true that creating learning opportunities for frontline workers is tied to business outcomes and in building greater employee engagement. When managers are tasked with this role, it should become their KPI so that they are actively involved in this process. Although the speed of dissemination of learning continues to be a challenge, digital learning makes it more accessible for all. But at the same time, no one should consider a digital learning platform to be the solution. The end goal is to build a digital learning ecosystem for frontline workers that integrates multiple platforms seamlessly and most importantly gives back data to the company. This data is critical to understanding the success of these learning programs.

Along with technology, a space for building informal networks of learning has to be encouraged. In every decision made to upskill frontline workers, it is the learner who has to be placed right at the centre because it is as much about them as it is about efficiently meeting customer needs. Learning content must be crisp, playful, arouse curiosity and push the learner to think rather than do a simple show and tell. An ideal learning environment can be created virtually by incorporating gamification, opportunities for storytelling and even crowdsourcing learning content. It is building a learning culture, a learning ecosystem that is the priority in unlocking the potential of these workers, to align them to the larger purpose of company culture and help them deliver their best to the customers for greater business outcomes. Thank you Anung and Shweta for your fantastic insights!

You can watch the full session here.