New goHappy Report Links Frontline Engagement to 10-Point Turnover Drop

Second annual report, produced with Lighthouse Research & Advisory, identifies the leader behaviors driving frontline engagement and retention gains

RICHMOND, Va., May 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- goHappy, the app-free engagement solution purpose built for frontline employers, today released its second annual State of the Frontline Worker Report, produced in partnership with Lighthouse Research & Advisory (LHRA). The report benchmarks more than 52,000 frontline worker survey responses from across goHappy's customer base against an independent LHRA study of 2,000 US frontline workers, revealing a clear and widening gap between employers with an intentional focus on frontline engagement and the broader market.

goHappy customers reported 72.2% favorable employee engagement in 2025, compared to 57.0% in the LHRA market benchmark, a difference of 27%. Year over year, goHappy customer engagement scores climbed 8.5 percentage points while the broader market remained largely flat.

Those gains are translating directly into retention. Across the goHappy customer base, overall turnover declined from 99.0% to 89.1% in a single year, and employers earning goHappy's Happiest Frontline Employees Certification pulled turnover down to 80.2%.

Key Findings

• The gap is widening. goHappy customers improved across every measured engagement dimension year over year. The market did not.
• Leader behavior is the lever. The biggest separation between goHappy customers and the broader market shows up in daily, observable behaviors: coaching (77.0% favorable vs. 32.6%), appreciation (77.9% vs. 40.0%), and connection between leaders and their teams (79.8% vs. 45.2%).
• Engagement is showing up on the P&L. A 10-percentage-point reduction in turnover at a 10,000-employee frontline organization translates to roughly $4,700,000 in annual savings, based on an average replacement cost of $4,700 per frontline employee. goHappy customers cut overall turnover by 9.9 points year over year.
• Even the lowest-scoring goHappy dimension beats the market. The Commit dimension, the lowest-scoring area for goHappy customers at 71.1%, still outperforms the LHRA market benchmark of 63.0%.

A different starting assumption

"For years, frontline employers have been told that high turnover and low engagement are just the cost of doing business," said Shawn Boyer, CEO and Founder of goHappy. "This data tells a different story. The organizations who have a maniacal  focus on helping their frontline feel more valued and connected through intentional leader actions—being authentic, appreciating, connecting and coaching—are pulling away from the rest of the market. And they're doing it with simple, repeatable practices that any leader can put to work tomorrow. The frontline doesn't have to be the hardest place to drive engagement. It can be the place where it shows up the strongest and has an outsized impact on the business."

Ben Eubanks, Chief Research Officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, who led the independent benchmarking study, added: "As a research organization, we are always trying to push the boundaries of what we know about the workforce and the workplace. Partnering with goHappy to explore the real trends and changes in frontline industries isn't just about comparing data. It's about helping employers take care of the workers that are building their products, serving their customers, and solving real problems. As this report shows, employers don't have to take high turnover and low engagement for granted when it comes to their frontline workforce."

Live webinar: May 14

goHappy will unpack the full report in a live webinar on Thursday, May 14, featuring Shawn Boyer (Founder & CEO, goHappy), Jeremy Edmonds (EVP of People and Culture, Snooze), and Ben Eubanks (Chief Research Officer, Lighthouse Research & Advisory). Attendees will get the first walk-through of the findings, plus practical guidance on how to apply them inside their own organizations.

Register: https://www.gohappyhub.com/state-of-frontline-worker-2026-webinar

The full 2026 State of the Frontline Worker Report will be available at gohappyhub.com.

About goHappy

goHappy is transforming how employers communicate and engage with their frontline workers by providing the most simple, powerful, and inclusive app-free technology to frontline brands. The team at goHappy has been operating in the frontline employee space for over 25 years and its mission is to help ALL frontline workers feel more valued and connected so they can reach their full potential. In turn, employers not only improve communication to maximize engagement and happiness within their frontline employees, but also benefit from the bottom-line impact that those improvements deliver. For more information on goHappy and its suite of frontline employee engagement solutions, visit www.gohappyhub.com.

About Lighthouse Research & Advisory

Lighthouse Research & Advisory is a modern analyst firm that sets the standard for excellence in talent, learning, and HR. Our team surveys thousands of workers and leaders every year to bring practical insights to employers trying to solve the biggest talent and workplace challenges of today. Our team's mission is to provide actionable intelligence for employers so they can make data-informed decisions. Our advisory, research, content, events, awards programs, and other offerings serve tens of thousands of employers across the globe every year. Learn more at LHRA.io

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SOURCE goHappy