Great Place To Work Launches Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ — and Reveals a Widening AI Divide Between Executives and the Front Lines
AI / AI Tech Trends | 3 min read
At the Great Place To Work For All Summit in Las Vegas, Great Place To Work (a UKG company; the global authority on workplace culture; 30 years of research and data; CEO Michael C. Bush) announced the launch of a new US recognition: the Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list — the first recognition programme based entirely on the experiences of shift-working and hourly employees. Globally, frontline employees make up an estimated 70–80% of the workforce. From patient care and emergency response to manufacturing, supply chains, and community services, frontline workers are often the largest segment of the global workforce and simultaneously the most overlooked when it comes to investment, opportunity, and day-to-day workplace experience — especially as new technologies reshape work.
The AI Divide — What Executives Believe vs What Frontline Workers Experience
Alongside the list launch, Great Place To Work released new global survey data from 4,000 employees across 25 countries that reveals a striking and widening AI divide between executives and frontline workers. On communication: 83% of executives say communication about AI in their organisation is clear — but only 37% of frontline workers agree. On support: 81% of executives believe they are supportive of AI use — but only 33% of frontline employees say they feel encouraged to use it. On access: 82% of executives say their company provides AI tools to help people do their jobs better — but only 48% of frontline managers say the same. Frontline employees are not avoiding AI. The data shows they simply are not getting the trust, communication, and access they need to use it in ways that help them do their jobs better. The silver lining: a UKG global survey of 8,200 frontline workers found that frontline workers who use AI on the job are less burned out than their colleagues — underscoring that when AI reaches the front lines effectively, it delivers real wellbeing benefits, not just productivity gains. The same UKG survey found nearly half of frontline workers (47%) believe there are two separate cultures in their organisation: one for frontline employees and one for everyone else.
About the Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ List
The new list operates across two size segments — Large (1,000+ US employees; minimum 300 hourly survey respondents) and Medium (200–999 US employees; minimum 150 hourly survey respondents) — with rankings based on hourly employees' responses to 60+ questions on real workplace experience, including leadership, respect, pay, and advancement. A total of 100 large and 50 medium companies will be named to the list. Eligibility requires active Great Place To Work Certification as of 18 September 2026, and completion of the Great Place To Work Trust Index Survey. The list will be published on 14 January 2027. The Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list spotlights organisations that stand out for practices that matter most to frontline employees — meaningful work, frontline voices in decisions that affect them, predictable yet flexible schedules, and benefits, perks, and career growth designed for frontline realities.
Key Takeaways
- • Great Place To Work (a UKG company; CEO Michael C. Bush; global authority on workplace culture; 30 years of research) has launched the Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list — announced 23 April 2026 at the Great Place To Work For All Summit in Las Vegas. The first US recognition based entirely on the experiences of shift-working and hourly employees. Frontline employees make up an estimated 70–80% of the global workforce. Publication date: 14 January 2027. List details at greatplacetowork.com/list-calendar.
- • The AI divide — Great Place To Work global survey (4,000 employees, 25 countries): Communication gap: 83% of executives say AI communication is clear vs 37% of frontline workers. Support gap: 81% of executives believe they are supportive of AI use vs 33% of frontline employees say they feel encouraged to use it. Access gap: 82% of executives say their company provides AI tools to help people do their jobs better vs 48% of frontline managers say the same. Frontline workers are not avoiding AI — they are simply not getting the trust, communication, and access required to use it effectively.
- • The silver lining and two-culture problem: UKG global survey of 8,200 frontline workers found frontline workers who use AI on the job are less burned out than colleagues — AI delivers real wellbeing benefits when it reaches the front lines. However: 47% of frontline workers believe there are two separate cultures in their organisation (one for frontline/one for everyone else). This two-culture perception is both the problem the Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list is designed to surface — and the opportunity it creates for organisations that close the gap.
- • List methodology: Two segments — Large (1,000+ US employees; minimum 300 hourly respondents) and Medium (200–999 US employees; minimum 150 hourly respondents). Rankings: hourly employees' responses to 60+ questions on real workplace experience — leadership, respect, pay, advancement. 100 large and 50 medium companies named. Eligibility: active Great Place To Work Certification as of 18 September 2026; complete Trust Index Survey. Recognition spotlights organisations with: meaningful work; frontline voices in decisions; predictable yet flexible schedules; benefits/perks/career growth designed for frontline realities.
- • Strategic significance: the AI divide data makes explicit what has been implicit in the broader AI adoption conversation — AI rollouts have disproportionately reached knowledge workers and executives while leaving the 70–80% of the global workforce who work on the front lines largely underserved by the tools, communication, and trust needed to benefit from AI. The Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list creates a new accountability framework: organisations that are closing this gap will be recognised; those that are not will be measured against those that are. The burnout data adds urgency — frontline workers who use AI are measurably less burned out, meaning that AI access is not just an equity issue but a direct workforce health and retention issue.