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Most companies obsess over machinery ROI—but overlook their most valuable asset: people. Discover how investing in your frontline workforce drives real, measurable business impact.
Let’s be honest.
We spend months calculating ROI on a new piece of machinery. We slice and dice every decimal on a capital investment. But when it comes to our biggest line item—our people—we treat it like a sunk cost. A necessary evil. A budget line to “manage.”
That mindset is outdated. Worse—it’s expensive.
According to McKinsey, the average company captures only a third of the expected value from digital and automation efforts. Not because the tools are broken—but because the people using them are burned out, undertrained, and overlooked.
Here’s your wake-up call: If you’re not investing in your frontline teams, you’re leaving massive value on the table. Period.
At Learnit, we’ve partnered with companies across industries—from manufacturing to financial services—and we’ve seen a clear trend: When companies *invest* in their frontline, they don’t just improve morale, they improve metrics.
This isn’t just theory. It’s math. And it’s leadership.
Most leaders don’t realize just how big their frontline payroll is—until they compare it to capital assets. Yet while equipment gets tracked and optimized to the decimal, human capital often gets lumped into overhead.
That’s a mistake.
McKinsey studied 1,430 companies with complete data from 2007 to 2023. Only 1% of them consistently outperformed on both shareholder return and labor productivity. They weren’t just lucky—they were intentional. These companies turned frontline excellence into a core growth strategy.
They proved one thing: when the frontline wins, *everybody* wins.
Ingersoll Rand granted over $250 million in stock to employees who stay with the company for a year or more—not as a handout, but as a way to drive ownership and engagement.
The result? A staggering 400% growth in total shareholder return.
When people feel invested in—and invited into—the success of the business, they show up differently. And the business transforms.
If you're ready to become a frontline-first, learn-it-all organization, here’s your playbook:
A “living wage” isn’t charity—it’s strategy. Better compensation reduces churn, builds trust, and fuels long-term commitment.
Just look at Unilever, which raised wages above minimums as a *baseline*, not a bonus. The result? A stronger, more loyal workforce.
Robots are helpful, but so are better lights and ergonomic flooring. Waste Management (now WM) streamlined its workflow, improved the physical environment—and grew revenue 6% annually with nearly no headcount change.
Flexibility matters. Land O’Lakes overhauled its shift structures and saw productivity rise—even in automated environments.
Sometimes the most radical innovation is rethinking a decades-old schedule.
Can’t find skilled labor? Build it. Quanta Services invested over $150 million in development and partnered with local colleges. The result? Trained, motivated, high-performing workers—no panic hiring required.
Incentives shouldn’t be reserved for executives. At one Unilever factory, small team bonuses for hitting productivity and morale targets cut absenteeism by half and boosted revenue 20%+. Reward what matters.
The best frontline teams know they’re supported, not judged. Offer real-time training, reskilling, and learning environments that go beyond the basics. One electronics firm created its own internal curriculum—and saw a surge in promotions *and* productivity.
Leaders can’t lead from spreadsheets. Disney makes every employee spend time at the frontline. If you want your people to lean in, show up with them. That’s how culture becomes reality.
We see this every day: When leaders stop viewing frontline workers as a “cost center” and start treating them as strategic assets, everything changes.
Learnit helps organizations build custom learning and development programs focused on leadership, upskilling, and culture. We believe people are the real growth engine—and we’re here to help turn potential into performance.
Your frontline isn’t a cost to manage—it’s a competitive advantage to unleash. But only if you treat it that way.
So ask yourself: Are you minimizing labor costs—or maximizing frontline potential?
Because there’s only one path that lifts everyone up. And it starts with investing in your people like they matter.
Because they do.
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