goHappy Report: Employee Engagement Links to Frontline Turnover

goHappy, the leader in frontline employee engagement, has released its Q1 2025 State of the Frontline Worker report, based on insights from 46,250 frontline workers across the US and Canada. The findings highlight the strong connection between employee engagement and business performance, revealing that companies with highly engaged frontline employees experience significantly lower turnover rates than the industry average.

“When frontline workers feel valued, connected, and supported, they not only help businesses combat high turnover rates, but they’re also more productive and drive stronger customer satisfaction and workplace culture,” said Shawn Boyer, Founder and CEO of goHappy. “Our State of the Frontline Worker report quantitatively confirms that employee engagement isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a business necessity.”

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that hiring a new employee costs an average of $4,700. When factoring in annual turnover rates, these costs quickly escalate. goHappy’s data reveals that organizations prioritizing employee engagement are seeing significant improvements:

  • Companies with engagement scores above 75% had a 12-month rolling turnover rate of 85%, a 14% improvement over the 99% turnover rate observed across all customers.

“At Snooze, an A.M. Eatery, we’ve seen firsthand how effective employee engagement reduces turnover,” said Jeremy Edmonds, Vice President of People and Culture at Snooze, an A.M. Eatery. “By leveraging goHappy to assess our engagement score—above 75%—we’ve enhanced our programs and successfully reduced turnover to well below 85%.”

Key Findings from the Q1 2025 State of the Frontline Worker Report:

  • The Cost of Disengagement: Only 64% of frontline workers report being engaged, contributing to a 99% turnover rate.
  • Food Service Faces Unique Challenges: Just 59% of food service workers believe their managers lead by example, compared to 72% in other industries.
  • Leadership Matters: Only 63% of frontline employees believe their managers lead by example and foster a trusting workplace.

A Leadership Call to Action

The report outlines actionable strategies to improve engagement, including fostering open communication, recognizing employee contributions, and investing in leadership development. Solutions like goHappy’s app-free engagement tools help employers collect and act on real-time feedback from their frontline teams.

The goHappy State of the Frontline Worker Series is a quarterly publication offering insights into the frontline employee experience. Each report focuses on a key aspect of the worker journey, such as onboarding, benefits, turnover, and employee engagement—the central theme of this edition.