AI for Frontline Workers: Creating a Better Employee Experience

AI for Frontline Workers: Creating a Better Employee Experience Hosts: Steve Boese Guest: Gretchen Alarcon, GVP/GM of HCM and Payroll at UKG

Summary On this episode of the HR Happy Hour, Steve Boese is joined by Gretchen Alarcon to explore how AI can help organizations create a better experience for frontline workers while also helping managers make smarter workforce decisions. Gretchen shares how UKG is approaching AI from both sides of the employee experience. For workers, that can mean making everyday tasks—like requesting time off, understanding a paycheck, accessing support, or navigating a leave of absence—faster and easier. For managers, AI can bring together information about skills, availability, overtime, scheduling, and workforce needs to help them make more informed decisions. The conversation also looks at the connection between schedule stability, skills, pay, and retention. For frontline employees, knowing when they will work and what they will earn matters. AI can help organizations create schedules that meet operational needs while considering the people behind those schedules. It can also connect employees with training and certifications that may lead to additional hours, greater earning potential, and new opportunities. Steve and Gretchen also discuss the role employers can play in supporting financial wellness, including greater pay transparency, earned wage access, and helping employees better understand the resources available to them. As organizations prepare for 2027, Gretchen offers a simple framework for thinking about the frontline workforce: find them, enable them, and keep them. That means finding people with the right skills, continuously developing the workforce with accessible learning, and creating an experience that gives employees the clarity and support they need to stay.

Topics include: How AI can simplify everyday HR interactions for frontline employees Why schedule stability can have a direct impact on employee retention Connecting skills and certifications to hours, pay, and career opportunities Financial wellness and support for employees living paycheck to paycheck Preparing frontline employees for an AI-enabled workplace How leaders should think about finding, enabling, and retaining frontline talent in 2027

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