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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Surveys published in 2025 and 2026 describe the same pattern. Frontline workers say schedule control, pay they can understand, mobile tools that work on the job, and quick fixes for shift-level problems matter to them, and many say their employers’ systems fall short on each. The gap concerns how work is scheduled, recorded, paid and explained. It is not simply a question of which software is installed. These surveys report what workers perceive and where processes break down. They do not prove that any particular system causes better retention, productivity or well-being.
Which surveys this article draws on
UKG defines a frontline employee as someone who often must be physically present at a specific time and place to directly engage with customers, manufacture products, or deliver services. In some sectors, the people served include patients, students, citizens, or guests. That definition covers retail, hospitality, health care, logistics, manufacturing and public services, and it is the lens used below.
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The figures come from five employer- or vendor-published sources, each with a different population and method:
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →| Survey | Publisher and date | Population | Field period and method |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Frontline Worker Expectation Gap | DailyPay and Workday, with The Harris Poll; released September 17, 2026 | 2,208 U.S. adults ages 18–45 who were employed and paid hourly | Online, April 23–May 2, 2026. Weighted on demographic and other characteristics; ±3.1 percentage points at 95% confidence for the full sample, with wider intervals for subgroups |
| Second annual global frontline study | UKG, with Workplace Intelligence and fieldwork by Walr; 2025 | 8,200 frontline employees in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Mexico and Ireland | Online, May 29–July 13, 2025 |
| Adaptive-frontline survey | Dayforce, conducted by Hanover Research; 2026 | 5,693 people aged 18 or older working in frontline organizations with at least 100 employees in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States | Online, March 26–April 13, 2026 |
| Workforce Preference Barometer 2025 analysis | JLL; 2025 | 3,411 frontline workers across 26 markets | Not stated in the JLL analysis; consult the report for method |
| Hourly-workforce summary | Legion; 2026 | 1,890 hourly employees and managers in North America | Not stated in the summary |
iCIMS’ 2025 frontline hiring report adds a recruiting-process perspective, but this article does not rely on a headline figure from it.
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These samples differ in country, sponsor, wording and timing, so each figure below should be read with its own population attached.
What frontline workers say they need
Schedule control, and what happens when life intervenes
Schedule control shows up as a top concern in every survey that asked about it. In the DailyPay and Workday survey, 72% of U.S. hourly workers said control over their schedule was important, but only 51% were satisfied with the control they had. Schedule was among the top three factors in accepting a current job for 45% of respondents, second only to pay.
UKG’s 2025 global study ranks schedule flexibility second only to pay among factors in decisions to stay or leave. In that study, 50% said it was difficult to change a shift when a personal issue arose at the last minute, and 57% said they could not take as much time off as they wanted. Among hospitality employees in the same study, 58% said their schedules made it impossible to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
JLL’s analysis shows a similar gap between preference and access. Overall, 47% of frontline workers wanted flexible scheduling and 37% reported having it. Among the two sectors JLL breaks out, the gap is widest in health care: 52% wanted flexible scheduling and 29% had access. In retail stores, 46% wanted short-notice paid time off and 32% received it.
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Pay clarity and the cost of not knowing what a shift will bring
Pay concerns cover both the level of pay and how well workers can see and manage it. In the DailyPay and Workday survey, 88% said high wages were important and 84% said pay clarity was important, yet only 57% were very satisfied with pay clarity. Respondents described the habits this produces: 69% checked their pay after each shift, 78% calculated costs such as gas, commuting and childcare before deciding whether to accept a shift, and 46% borrowed money between pay periods.
Andrew Brandman, chief operating officer of DailyPay: “Employee expectations regarding their time, money and jobs have evolved. Yet, the systems supporting them haven’t kept pace.”
UKG’s 2025 study reports low pay as the leading reason for quitting. The headline release gives that figure as 51% in non-acute health care, 44% in acute health care and 38% in long-term or aged care. The same study reports that 56% of participants said they lived paycheck to paycheck in 2025, down from 64% in 2024.
Mobile tools, AI and the question of whether work gets easier
Mobile access matters to 70% of U.S. hourly respondents in the DailyPay and Workday survey, but 53% were satisfied with the tools available to them.
Josh Secrest, vice president of Paradox, Workday: “Frontline workers want tools that make their daily lives easier, not more complex.”
The same survey asked about productivity and AI. Respondents said digital tools boost productivity (36%), AI boosts productivity (34%), and digital tools improve communication with managers (34%). Half worried AI would replace their jobs. Among respondents whose employers already used AI, 64% reported a positive impact. These are respondents’ perceptions, not measured productivity effects, and they come from U.S. workers aged 18–45 in this sample.
Communication, feeling heard and the two-culture problem
Workers also want to be understood by the people above them. Dayforce’s 2026 survey found that only 42% of frontline workers said leaders understood their challenges, down from 62% in 2024. UKG’s 2025 study found that 47% of respondents saw two separate cultures in their organization, one for frontline employees and another for everyone else. Burnout was reported by 76% of frontline employees in UKG’s 2025 study, against 75% in its 2024 study. JLL reports that 45% of surveyed frontline workers did not consider their company a great place to work, and 44% reported burnout.
Barger’s comment in UKG’s release points to where the work starts:
Rachel Barger, President, Go-to-Market at UKG: “Knowing the underlying pain points frontline employees are facing, such as lack of flexibility and visibility of work schedules, challenges building skills needed for advancement, and general financial strain are crucial to understand.”
Where operational processes fall short
Most of the gaps above are not experienced as a single failure. They appear as workarounds. Dayforce’s 2026 survey reports that 74% of frontline workers relied on manual workarounds at least sometimes, and 90% said they had found ways to fill open shifts themselves. The same survey reports that 89% of frontline workers and managers said shift-level issues harmed their well-being.
Managers carry much of this load. Legion’s 2026 summary of North American hourly workers reports that 51% of managers spent at least three hours per week on scheduling, and 49% still mainly filled open shifts by calling or texting employees one at a time. The same summary describes schedule control beyond pay as employees’ number-one request.
Steve Holdridge, President and COO of Dayforce: “Every day, managers and workers are forced to step in to fix issues in scheduling, time, and pay just to keep operations running.”
Holdridge’s second point is the one that matters for redesign: “The organizations getting this right aren’t putting more pressure on their frontline teams, they’re building operations and systems that can flex and adapt in real time.”
Tracing one shift change through the process
An employer can test this gap on its own operations without waiting for a vendor demo. Follow one real example, such as a worker who cannot make a Tuesday 6 a.m. shift, through these steps:
- Record how the worker reports the conflict: app, text, phone call, paper form or a conversation with a supervisor.
- Note who sees the request first and whether anyone can approve it without another step.
- Count the manual steps needed to fill the gap, including calls, texts and spreadsheet edits, and how long the process takes.
- Check whether the time record and pay calculation update automatically when the swap is confirmed, or whether someone re-enters the change.
- Ask the worker whether they can see the final outcome, the reason for any refusal and a person to contact if a rule seems wrong.
A process that needs several manual fixes and leaves the worker without a visible outcome matches the pattern the surveys describe, regardless of which tools sit behind it.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhat to assess before redesigning the system
The six criteria below are working tests drawn from the gaps reported in these surveys. They are not a ranking of products and do not promise any outcome.
| Criterion | Gap the surveys report | Questions to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule agency | 72% say schedule control is important; 51% are satisfied (DailyPay and Workday). 50% find last-minute shift changes hard (UKG). | Can workers see schedules, state availability, request changes and swap shifts under clear rules, with a person to escalate to when a rule blocks them? |
| Pay clarity | 84% say pay clarity is important; 57% are very satisfied (DailyPay and Workday). | Can a worker see hours, rates, deductions and pay timing in plain language, and reconcile them without asking a manager? |
| Mobile access | 70% say mobile tools are important; 53% are satisfied with the tools they have (DailyPay and Workday). | Can common tasks be completed on a phone in the actual work setting, without a desk computer? |
| Communication and feedback | 42% say leaders understand their challenges, down from 62% in 2024 (Dayforce). | Do updates reach workers in time and through a channel they use? Can they ask questions or give feedback and get an answer? |
| Connected workflows | 74% rely on manual workarounds at least sometimes (Dayforce). 49% of managers still fill open shifts by calling or texting one at a time (Legion). | Do scheduling, time, payroll and manager records share the same data, so a change is entered once rather than rekeyed? |
| Explainability and accountability | Half of U.S. hourly respondents worried AI would replace their jobs (DailyPay and Workday). | When automation affects a schedule, shift offer or work instruction, can managers and workers understand the decision and reach a responsible person? |
What the evidence does not establish
- The surveys do not show that buying a specific software platform will raise retention, productivity or well-being. They report perceptions and associations.
- The figures cannot be combined into one universal frontline-worker estimate. Populations, countries, sponsors and collection periods differ.
- The sources do not say which vendor is best, whether any employer’s systems are outdated, or what implementation costs and integration requirements apply.
- Most of the evidence comes from employer- or vendor-published surveys. None of it is a government statistic or an independent causal study.
The Bottom Line
The reported gap is between what frontline workers need from their work systems and what those systems deliver: control over shifts, pay they can read and reconcile, tools that work on a phone, and a way to fix disruptions without a chain of calls. The most useful starting point is an audit of how one shift change moves through the operation today, followed by the six criteria above. Software may be part of the answer, but the surveys indicate that process design and manager capacity decide whether it helps.
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