SHRM26 Debrief · Modern Employee Experience · #3617
HR Executive Insights: Architecting the Future of the Global Frontline Workforce
with Njsane Courtney
& DeRetta Rhodes
& Jamie Durling
& DeRetta Rhodes & Jamie Durling"Engagement is an outcome. Enablement is the means to that outcome."
What it was about
Frontline and middle-manager populations carry the operational and emotional weight of an organization. HR leaders must intentionally invest in their training, communication, and personal well-being rather than assuming engagement and leadership readiness will happen on their own.
By the numbers
average span of control for frontline supervisors grew from 6-7 direct reports to 12-15 (per a SHRM study)
Increasing administrative/managerial burden on frontline supervisors
frontline worker engagement is 73% lower than that of managers
Engagement gap between frontline employees and managers
60% of the 2,600 game-day staff return each season, with average tenure of 15-20 years
Atlanta Braves frontline retention/tenure
Key notes
- Build intentional onboarding and leadership pipelines for frontline staff (e.g. leadership retreats before the season starts) instead of relying on 'baptism by fire.'
- Target newly promoted first-time managers with dedicated, multi-year programs (coaching, mentorship, an academic component) since they are often abandoned once promoted.
- Simplify strategy communication to three or fewer priorities and translate it into 'what is happening, why it's happening, and how it impacts the person' (WIFM) at the frontline level.
The contrarian takeThe panel argued that organizations over-focus on measuring engagement via surveys and under-invest in enablement, the actual driver of engagement. That means most engagement survey follow-through is misdirected effort.
Take this back Monday
Do this for your team
Give newly promoted first-time managers a dedicated coaching/mentorship check-in this week. Don't let them go it alone.
Say this in your next leadership meeting
Engagement is an outcome, not a lever. If we want it to move, we need to invest in enablement: tools, training, and leadership support.
Watch out for
- Promoting individuals into leadership before they are ready (well below the 80/20 threshold) and then having HR clean up the resulting mess.
- Believing 'pressure builds diamonds' and applying unchecked stress to employees instead of building resilience through supported challenge.
- Treating middle managers as if their prior individual-contributor success guarantees managerial success, then abandoning them without support.
Fun fact · Bettina Deynes
Bettina Deynes once led SHRM's world's largest diversity and inclusion conference and was even featured in the novel "Alejandra's Quest."
If this landed, see these
↳ Go deeperThe Nirvana Fix for Retention & Engagement Is First-Line Leader AccountabilityTrust in the direct manager, not surveys, is what actually predicts retention.⇄ The counterpointThe SHRM Workplace Culture Navigator: Exploring 8 Organizational Culture TypesNo enablement fix is universal: what works depends on the culture type.✦ The unexpected oneBe More Human: Authentic Leadership in an AI WorldAI makes human leadership scarcer just when frontline managers need it most.