The Head Office v frontline culture clash – how to stop it going terribly wrong
There are many shocking aspects to the Post Office scandal but, as internal communicators, the one we’ve been reflecting on recently is the blatant disregard those in Head Office had for their Postmasters and Postmistresses. In particular, what that said about their culture and how that culture made all the issues with their Horizon IT programme so much worse.
It got us thinking too about conversations we’ve had with clients and how the all-too-common disconnect between the corporate centre and those on the frontline is, most of the time, down to poor internal communication. Take, for example, the leading global financial firm we worked with, which had bought out another company but hadn’t officially welcomed that company’s staff on board (they even still had the previous companies’ lanyard!). Or another client, a well-known charity, who told us how their frontline staff are always telling them that office staff ‘don’t get it’ – IT, for example, hassling employees to fill in forms while they’re in the midst of trying to help the vulnerable people the charity is there to support.
These aren’t isolated issues either and when you think about the different types of employees Head Office and frontline roles typically attract, you can see why. Most corporate centre roles require a degree, with people employed in divisions like HR or accounting or product development – jobs which rarely require the employee to leave their computer and are often far removed from any direct dealing with the organisation’s end user.
Frontline workers, on the other hand, according to Econofact, earn less on average and come disproportionately from socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. They’re also out in the field pretty much all day – whether that’s doing caring roles, deliveries or working on the shop floor. It’s no wonder it can sometimes feel like a clash of cultures.
For internal comms – sat very squarely in the corporate centre – this can create problems. Consider these statistics:
● More than 80% of frontline workers do not have a corporate email address.
● More than 40% do not have access to the company intranet while at work.
● 80% of remote workers feel more excluded than in-office employees.
● More than half of remote workers believe their employer regards them as disposable or temporary workers.
● 40% of frontline workers say the communications they received from their managers were ‘out of touch’ and 42% said they were ‘irrelevant.’
Source: Workplace.com
Yet frontline employees are the face of any organisation and have a huge impact on how customers view the business. They also understand those customers better than anyone else. Customer satisfaction surveys are all well and good, but they don’t give the whole picture; frontline employees see how customers truly behave every day. They are also a goldmine of valuable data and insights.
So, if you suspect a culture clash is causing problems where you work, what do you do?
● Ask yourself whether it’s Head Office that needs a change of mindset. We’re currently working with the fire and security firm CHUBB and, in their brief, they were clear that the Head Office’s role is to make it easier for frontline staff to do their job. Their premise is that they’re only successful if their frontline colleagues are successful. And we love that idea. So if your mindset isn’t there yet, you’ll need to put a plan in place which includes, at the very least, making sure all Head Office staff gain direct experience of what it’s like working on the frontline.
● Audit your internal comms. Worried your frontline workers might find your comms irrelevant or that they’re not even seeing it? The only way to know for sure is with an audit. Look for a sense of what really matters to people and, crucially, what will make their working lives easier. Use qualitative and quantitative measures to review your channels – e.g. focus groups to dig deep, as well as surveys to get an overall picture. You want to end up with recommendations which are actionable and give you a solid business case for investment.
● Make sure all employees have an equal opportunity to contribute ideas and feedback. This might mean holding meetings outside standard hours or using small groups of workers as focus groups. Listen to what works best for people and then react, giving everything the change to contribute.
● Invest in the right technology. No more having to be sat at a desk to access company information. Ask your frontline workers how technology could make their jobs easier and use this to identify what kind of app or other mobile technology you’ll provide.
● Show awareness, understanding – and celebrate your frontline workers! A few years back we worked with Cathay Pacific on their staff awards ceremony, which included, for the first time, an award for the unsung heroes among their frontline staff. We used direct mails, posters, articles and even coffee cup holders reminding staff to publicly nominate their fellow employees, getting a staggering 2,600 nominations in just two weeks. What we loved about it was Cathay Pacific were not only rewarding those individuals in as high-profile a way they could imagine, they were also showing everyone else what they needed to do to get that same level of company-wide recognition.
But back to the Post Office. If you take a look at their website they’ve now published what they’ve done, so far, to improve their relationship with their Postmasters and Postmistresses – and a lot of it involves better internal comms. Prefacing it all, they say it’s been seeking feedback (finally…) from their Postmasters and Postmistresses which has led them to make these important cultural and organisational improvements. The Post Office might be an extreme case, but it should act as a warning to all businesses of the perils of not respecting – or listening to – your frontline workers.
