3 ways to drive brand advocacy in frontline workers (hint: the answer isn’t hiring bonuses!)

Building a workforce of frontline brand advocates is a major win for any company—but when your team numbers in the thousands and spans continents, it can feel like a distant goal. 

While flashy incentives might grab attention, they don’t create genuine buy-in or long-term advocates. Instead, sustainable brand advocacy is about meeting your frontline workers’ needs, creating a culture they’re proud to represent and equipping them with the tools to succeed.

In a (dated but still relevant) article for Harvard Business Review, author and lecturer Alfie Kohn cited a series of studies run by Northwestern University that attempted to test the “bonus effect” and whether it works. 

“What they found was both straightforward and remarkably consistent,” wrote Kohn. “When people are promised a monetary reward for doing a task well, the primary outcome is that they get more excited about money. This happens even when they don’t meet the standard for getting paid.”

In other words, bonuses don’t get to the core driver of brand advocacy: cultural inspiration. 

Because culturally inspiring your staff doesn’t come from compensation—at least, not compensation alone. It comes from answering one simple question: “Why.” The ‘why’ is your organization’s purpose—its mission and values. It’s about making employees understand and believe in the importance of their work. Competitive compensation matters, but true brand advocacy comes from connecting employees to a larger purpose.

Here are 3 ways to culturally inspire your workforce and drive brand advocacy:

1. Support your staff’s mental health

Foodservice and retail jobs have always been stressful, but today’s challenges make it even harder. With constant staffing shortages and added pressures, employees face mounting stress that impacts their well-being. 

In an interview, food industry expert Sylvain Charlebois noted that foodservice workers “show up every day, unsure about their job security and facing new responsibilities, from curbside pickup to retraining on the fly.” 

Addressing mental health in the workplace is not just about retention; it’s a strategic move that shows commitment to your employees’ overall well-being.

2. Foster a sense of community

Frontline employees spend a considerable chunk of their lives at work, and they want to feel like they belong. We frequently hear from frontline employees that they wish to strengthen communities beyond individual locations to improve morale, retention, engagement and motivation.

3. Review how information is flowing

One major takeaway from our latest Deskless Report: communication challenges have persisted over the years and a significant disconnect exists between workers and leaders regarding the effectiveness of internal communication. Frontline workers are desperate for clear, consistent information about company updates, product information, you name it. But insufficient and unclear information leads to uncertainty and stress, hindering brand advocacy. 

Ineffective communication also misses the opportunity to share the “why” of baking your brand mission and core values into everything you share. On the other hand, when you can connect a company update or task back to the core question of “why,” you’re well on your way to culturally inspiring your staff. 

But your communication must flow effectively and consistently for the “why” to resonate. 

A hiring bonus may be flashy and draw lots of attention (and press!), but it alone won’t help drive discretionary effort by fostering brand advocates. 

Culturally inspire your staff by consistently communicating your organization’s “why” and reinforcing its purpose, mission and values.