Contents
The CEO has their leadership team so why do they need to listen to front line workers?
Why you should reconnect deskless workers with the CEO
What the data tells CEOs
How WorkBuzz gives a voice to deskless workers
How many levels of employees span the gap between the CEO and front line workers? In typical organisational structures, there are likely to be five or even six layers between the leader and the company’s customer-facing employees. Given that front line employees are in a position to provide lightning quick feedback on the customer experience, shape the company brand, and carry the company’s reputation daily, it’s critical that CEOs keep the feedback loop between themselves and those on the front line, open .
In this post we’re looking at how CEOs can effectively listen to their deskless workers, understanding employee engagement benchmarks in industries like hospitality, retail and manufacturing, and why it matters.
The CEO has their leadership team so why do they need to listen to front line workers?
In an ideal world information flows easily up and down the organisation through clear, structured and timely communication channels . The CEO cascades messages that are disseminated though senior managers and front line workers have ample opportunity to provide feedback, share ideas and let the senior team know what they should be doing better!
But our People Priorities 2026 report shows this isn’t often the case and employees want much more from their senior leaders in terms of role modelling and behaviours, as well as more ways to communicate with them. When it comes to deskless workers, these communication channels can become even more distant, or blocked, and workers can feel disconnected from the company culture and direction.
When this happens, poor employee engagement manifests itself in employee attrition, skills loss, reduced productivity and other indirect consequences that impact business resilience such as culture decay, reduced innovation and poor customer experience.
Why you should reconnect deskless workers with the CEO
In many organisations, deskless workers make up the majority of the workforce, yet they are often the least heard as employee listening programmes can favour employees who have a desk. That is; they have access to company email, a login for an online survey, a safe space to participate, and regular hours during which they can dedicate time to the activity.
For deskless workers things are very different but excluding them from employee listening programmes is bad for culture, undermines the cohesiveness of the workforce and exposes the business to risk.
Why?
- Firstly, deskless employees are typically closest to the customer. They serve, deliver, build, maintain and care making them a powerful barometer of customer sentiment, service quality and operational friction. When frontline workers are disengaged, for example retail employee engagement, customers feel it first.
- Deskless workers also represent scale and therefore concentration of risk. Deskless roles often exist in high volumes (such as in hospitality, care, manufacturing), meaning small engagement issues can quickly multiply into large productivity losses. Many of these roles also experience higher attrition, particularly in competitive labour markets.
- Plus, in some sectors such as infrastructure, utilities, healthcare and logistics, deskless workers hold highly skilled or niche capabilities that are difficult and expensive to replace.
- Add to this the fact that deskless roles are often high-risk environments (from (perhaps a safety or regulatory point of view), and the importance of listening to their voice becomes even clearer. Engaged employees are more alert, more committed and more likely to speak up early when something isn’t right.
- Finally, many deskless workers carry the employer’s reputation every day. In industries like hospitality, they are the face of the brand to customers. If these workers feel disconnected from the company or unheard by leadership, culture quickly erodes on the front line.
What the data tells CEOs
WorkBuzz’s People Priorities: Future of Work 2026 research elevates employee engagement to a CEO-level workforce risk . Productivity has risen sharply up the exec team’s agenda, a priority that is deeply tied to front line and deskless roles. Yet this research shows that engagement and wellbeing often suffer when productivity pressure is not balanced with listening and support.
Our research also highlights the key factors that compromise engagement and culture: vague or intangible culture, poor change management, ineffective communication, and a lack of listening to the employee voice. These issues are felt acutely by deskless workers, who may work further from head office (physically or psychologically) and may be less exposed to leadership communications.
How WorkBuzz gives a voice to deskless workers
WorkBuzz is designed to work without desks, emails or logins, using mobile access, QR codes and kiosks to reach deskless teams wherever and whenever they work.
We work with a huge variety of companies with large, niche and multinational deskless workforces, such as providing employee engagement software for hospitality, supporting them with projects that engage all workers. In doing so we are protecting productivity, reducing attrition, strengthening culture and safeguarding the brand by reconnecting those on the front line with the CEO and the mission of the organisation.
