Creating an effective L&D strategy for retail and hospitality means thinking beyond the head office.

When it comes to retail and hospitality (two distinct sectors with distinctly different needs, but that’s another blog for another time), the accepted wisdom is that deskless workers are hardest to engage. After all, they have significantly less time and less access to digital tools… right?

But the real truth of the matter is a bit more complex than that. So if you’ve been putting all your energy into solving the deskless challenge, it might be time to rebalance your approach.

Let’s explore how L&D teams can meet the needs of both.

The frontline engagement myth: deskless doesn’t mean disconnected

The idea that deskless workers are disengaged from learning is a long-standing narrative, not based in truth. What is true is that they often face barriers, ones that are beyond their own control. We’re adapting a phrase from our client Reiss, who coined the campaign “Deskless doesn’t mean voiceless” to connect their in-office and retail teams through learning. (For more on this, read our write-up.) The same sentiment applies here.

A recent report found that just 10% of deskless teams feel they have access to the right technology tools to keep them connected at work – and as a learning platform provider with a built-in, easy-to-use mobile app, we at Thrive are well aware of the need for this challenge to be met. 

In fact, many of Thrive’s customers in retail and hospitality report higher levels of engagement on the shop floor than at head office. Why is this?

Because deskless teams:

• See the direct impact of training in their daily roles
• Value quick, practical content they can use (and see results from) immediately 
• Benefit from mobile-first, just-in-time learning tools

When the right infrastructure is in place (e.g. mobile access, auto curation, nudges, and social features) deskless workers respond well. The real challenge is replicating that success across the entire business… from the shop floor to the head office.

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Why head office employees disengage from workplace learning

While shop floor teams are thriving (pun intended), head office employees can be surprisingly resistant to learning. There are a few reasons why, so let’s go over the main culprits:

1. Information fatigue. Office workers have to deal in information throughout their day, every day. On top of emails, meetings, and the endless string of Google Docs, learning can start to feel like “just another thing on the list.”
   
   
2. Lack of relevance. Generic or mandatory content may not feel tailored to their specific roles or career goals… (and that’s where Thrive’s personalised Skills & Goals functionality comes in!)
   
   
3. Competing priorities. Sadly, L&D can fall towards the bottom of the priority list when there are more pressing deadlines to be met, projects to complete, and meetings to attend.
   
   

How L&D teams can balance learning across retail and head office teams

So how can you create a learning strategy that works for everyone, wherever they work? Here are some practical tips for L&D teams. 

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1. Treat each audience differently

L&D teams know better than anyone: Your workforce is diverse, wholly unique, and made up of a smörgåsbord of different needs. Your learning, largely speaking, shouldn’t attempt to cater to everyone. It should be thoughtfully curated for individual audiences. 

You can start by creating distinct personas and journeys for head office and deskless teams, dictated by their individual needs and locations. 

For deskless workers: Harness the power of the smartphone. Not just a tool for sending pictures of cats and organising shifts – although it is particularly useful for those things – it’s also a powerful instrument for learning. Mobile training should be bite-sized, practical, and easy to fit around busy shifts. 

For head office: For those who learn from their desk, you can focus on the communication piece. Social learning, campaigns, and playlists are all effective methods to help important training land with head office. 

But that doesn’t mean you should disregard mobile learning.

A recent study by Cisco found that employees’ desire for flexibility in their roles also extends to their devices, with 66% stating they expect to access corporate networks and information from any device, at any time. From the study:

“Two of every three employees surveyed (66 percent) expect IT to allow them to use any device – personal or company-issued – to access corporate networks, applications, and information anywhere at any time, and they expect the types of devices to continue diversifying.”

So, why should workplace learning be any different? Meet the modern learner’s needs by enabling mobile learning – even if they have a desk. 

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2. Use data to challenge your own assumptions

Anecdotal evidence won’t cut it when it comes to creating workplace learning – you need to lean on concrete data to make your decisions. You might be operating under the assumption that deskless teams are struggling with their learning… but what are the numbers actually telling you? 

Look at the following metrics:

• Completion rates by team
• Log-in frequency by role
• Top-performing content by location

You might be surprised at what you find, and eventually it’ll help you shift your focus to where the real gaps are. It’s all about experimentation. Thrive customer Ann Summers fully embraced this approach when partnering with Thrive Impact, and it resulted in a 10% overall increase in sales. (If you’re curious to find out more about how they used data to make these decisions, take a look at their case study.)

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3. Empower managers at every level

Managers are incredibly powerful when it comes to setting the tone. They lay the groundwork that forms part of the company culture; contribute to their employee’s workplace learning (or lack thereof); and have a direct impact on employee retention. It’s been proven again… and again… and again that employees really do leave bad bosses, not bad jobs. 

So with all this power they wield, managers should be your first port of call for learning. They’re the key to whether learning is embraced or ignored, in both head office and front-of-house. 

Equip them with tools to:

• Recommend content to their teams
• Track engagement and progress with advanced analytics
• Celebrate wins, and practically apply learning on the job

Whether they’re Store Managers or Department Heads, their support can make or break your strategy.

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4. Bring learning into the flow of work

This is something L&D teams are always working towards: Learning that fits neatly into the flow of work and can be practically applied, rather than treated as an afterthought. 

For head office workers, that might mean:

• Ensuring your learning platform provider is able to integrate with the tools your team uses every day. (Whether that’s Slack, Teams, Jira, or Google Drive.)
• “Nudging” learning content by enabling email notifications
• Harnessing your learning platform’s auto-curation features to surface the most relevant resources

Meanwhile, deskless teams might benefit from:

• QR codes in back-of-house areas to give teams instant access to key learning when and where it’s needed
• Tablets on-site so employees can engage with learning during shifts or breaks, without needing a personal device
• Short, focused videos embedded in daily workflows to support just-in-time learning on the job
  
  

The key is making learning easy to start, and hard to ignore.

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Building an L&D strategy that works for everyone 

The instinct to focus learning efforts on deskless teams is understandable; they’re often the most visible challenge. But they’re not the only ones at risk of missing out.

To truly support a high-performing retail or hospitality workforce, L&D needs to look both ways:

• Celebrate and sustain engagement on the shop floor
• Reignite curiosity at head office

Curious about how Thrive could help your teams, wherever they’re working?

Book a demo today.

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