Frontline employee

What is a frontline employee?

A frontline employee (or “frontline worker”) is an employee whose work is done in direct contact with service, the customer, or production — in the kitchen, in the dining room, on the guest floors, in a warehouse, in a store, or at the bedside — and not behind a desk.

These jobs are often marked by the absence of a computer and a work email address, irregular hours, and high mobility. France’s Cigref describes them as the frontline workers: operators, service agents, laborers, and so on.