Great Place To Work Launches New Recognition for Frontline Workers — the People Who Keep the World Moving
New “Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers” list puts voices of shift-based and hourly employees’ at the center, as data reveals a growing AI divide between executives and the front lines.
LAS VEGAS, April 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today at the Great Place To Work For All Summit, Great Place To Work CEO Michael C. Bush announced the launch of a new U.S. recognition: the Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list. The recognition is based entirely on frontline workers’ own experiences, putting shift-working and hourly employees’ voices at the center of what it means to be a great workplace.
Globally, frontline employees make up an estimated 70%–80% of the workforce. From patient care, emergency response, and maintaining essential infrastructure to complex manufacturing, maintaining supply chains, and providing communities with food, lodging, and services, frontline workers build products or interact directly with customers, constituents, and patients, and often must be present to do their jobs. These critical workers power the goods and services that keep the economy — and the world — running.
Yet despite their scale and impact, frontline teams are often overlooked when it comes to investment, opportunity, unique benefits, flexibility, and day-to-day workplace experience — especially as new technologies reshape work. And they feel it. In a recent UKG survey of 8,200 frontline workers, nearly half (47%) believe there are two separate cultures in their organization: one for frontline employees and one for everyone else.
The new Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list spotlights organizations that are closing gaps and delivering a consistently great frontline experience. These companies stand out for practices that matter most to frontline employees — such as opportunities for meaningful work, involving frontline voices in decisions that affect them, offering predictable yet flexible schedules, and providing benefits, perks, and career growth designed for frontline realities. In short: they invest in the people who keep their organizations running.
“Frontline workers are the backbone of every business and every economy,” Bush said. “When these employees are left out — whether that’s AI access, career growth, or simply being heard — it’s not just a people problem. It’s a business problem. This list exists to recognize the companies that understand that, and to hold up a standard for everyone else.”
The Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ list was unveiled during a fireside chat with Jennifer Morgan, CEO of UKG. UKG has a 50-year history of designing solutions with the frontline at the center. Its AI-powered Workforce Operating Platform unifies HR, pay, and workforce management so organizations can manage and understand the flow of work in real time. These unique insights help organizations close the gap between the business needs and worker expectations, as well as the executive intent and the lived experience of frontline workers.
“Frontline workers power the essential goods and services we depend on every day. Without them, every one of us would feel the impact in our daily lives,” Morgan said. “They are the windowpane to every organization’s customers, patients, guests, constituents, products, and overall business. They safeguard revenue, healthcare, and essential services — yet they are often left out of employee experience and AI conversations. That’s exactly why we need to start defining what ‘great’ looks like for frontline workers.”
The list will recognize companies in two size segments — large (1,000+ U.S. employees) and medium (200–999 U.S. employees) — where frontline workers report the best workplace experiences. Rankings are based on responses to 60+ questions covering leadership, respect, pay, advancement, and more. Put simply: this recognition is driven entirely by the voice of the frontline.
AI is one of the clearest examples of why frontline inclusion matters now. A new Great Place To Work global survey of 4,000 employees across 25 countries shows a widening disconnect around AI: 83% of executives say communication about AI in their organization is clear, but only 37% of frontline workers agree. And while 81% of executives believe they are supportive of AI use, only 33% of frontline employees say they feel encouraged to use it. The access gap is just as telling: 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 aren’t avoiding AI. Research shows they simply aren’t getting the trust, communication, and access they need to use it in ways that help them do their jobs better. But there’s a silver lining: UKG’s global survey also shows that frontline workers who use AI on the job are less burned out than their colleagues.
“The best companies already know that when you invest in the people on the front lines, performance follows,” Bush said. “This list is our way of proving it — and making it impossible to ignore.”
About the Best Workplaces for Frontline Workers™ List:
- Two size segments: Large (1,000+ U.S. employees; minimum 300 hourly survey respondents) and medium (200–999 U.S. employees; minimum 150 hourly survey respondents)
- Rankings are based on hourly employees’ responses to 60+ questions on real workplace experience — including leadership, respect, pay, and advancement
- 100 large and 50 medium companies will be named to the list
- Eligibility: Companies must hold active Great Place To Work Certification as of Sept.18, 2026. To be considered, all companies must complete the Great Place To Work Trust Index Survey.
- Publication date: Jan. 14, 2027
- List details available at greatplacetowork.com/list-calendar at 11 a.m. PST on April 23, 2026.
About Great Place To Work
As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work, a UKG company, brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Its proprietary platform and Great Place To Work Model help companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified and receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces list.
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CONTACT: Kim Peters Great Place To Work (415) 844-2574 [email protected]
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