Josh Bersin Company Defines New HR Taxonomy for Frontline Workers to Improve Hiring, Pay, Retention, and Management

• Josh Bersin Company launches a comprehensive research-based taxonomy for frontline workers, defining five distinct categories
• While many employers see "frontline" as a single group, the research shows that each of these segments have vastly different needs for skills, pay, credentials, and career growth
• Representing nearly 80% of all jobs and one of the only growth sectors in the labor market, frontline work is increasingly central to workforce strategy
• The framework and research help employers fine tune pay, hiring, training, and employee benefits to optimize the overall work experience

OAKLAND, Calif., May 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Josh Bersin Company, the world's most trusted HR advisory firm, today released a new tool for HR: a five-tier categorization of the deskless, diverse multi-million-strong frontline workforce. The findings and associated guidance are included in the latest Frontline-First Initiative research, Understanding the Frontline Workforce: The Five Types of Frontline Workers.

Frontline is a sector in rapid growth, with some job families projected to grow by up to 10% through 2033. But not all frontline workers are alike; treating them as a single group is a costly mistake organizations cannot afford to make. A one-size-fits-all talent strategy will consistently underserve every segment it aims to support, leading to increased turnover and lost revenue.

What has blinded HR and the C-suite, The Josh Bersin Company warned, is that this workforce has too often been lumped together as simply "non-office-based employees."

This hides big differences in skills, credentials, hiring difficulty, pay and career prospects across these employee bases. For example, licensed skilled workers (e.g., electricians, plumbers, vocational nurses, other licensed trades) are compensated two or even three times higher than unskilled workers—meaning moving from unskilled frontline work (e.g., Uber, Starbucks) into a licensed trade can lead to a substantial increase in earnings.

The analysis also identifies major differences in pay and career pathways that broad assumptions about frontline work have overlooked. Costco, for example, pays $26 an hour versus the industry average of $17, while more than 60% of frontline roles are high-skilled and not easily automated.

The data highlights extreme turnover—up to 265% for restaurant servers and 160% for fast-food crews—alongside looming healthcare shortages, with a global shortfall of 10 million licensed workers by 2030.

Such considerations matter not only for these workers, but also for those considering new or later-life careers, as AI reshapes white-collar work and job seekers explore previously less visible, better-paid pathways. They also matter for organizations, which must plan for and engage frontline workers across complex career pipelines while understanding the distinct realities of each segment within increasingly complicated talent lifecycles.

For CHROs, the action plan is clear: map roles to the five segments, prioritize those facing the highest risk, and build tailored talent and technology strategies for each. Organizations that invest with precision, tailoring talent and technology strategies to the distinct needs of different types of frontline work, will achieve measurably lower turnover, stronger operational performance, and a more resilient frontline workforce, the research and advisory firm found.

Josh Bersin Company researchers condensed more than 600 frontline occupations in the O*NET database into five clear and distinct frontline workforce types. Each requires a different, customized approach to talent strategy and technology support:

1. Customer-Facing Associate
   Low-skilled, front-of-house, entry-level, mostly customer-facing. Examples: retail associates, fast-food crew, call-center agents, restaurant servers, hotel attendants.
2. Back-Office Associate
   Low-skilled, back-of-house, entry-level, mostly non-customer-facing. Examples: warehouse pickers, kitchen prep staff, laundry attendants, stockroom clerks.
3. High-Skilled Specialist
   Experienced, non-licensed operational/technical roles. Examples: retail managers, pastry chefs, wind turbine technicians.
4. Licensed Specialist
   Skilled roles requiring formal licensure. Examples: vocational nurses, CDL truck drivers, HVAC technicians, hair stylists.
5. Credentialed Professional
   Advanced knowledge workers with ongoing certification. Examples: doctors, pharmacists, pilots, attorneys.

The analysis estimates 32 million U.S. jobs are in customer-facing frontline roles, 30.5 million in back-office roles, and 85 million in high-skilled specialist frontline roles. Frontline roles account for almost 73% of total U.S. employment. That is, over 100 million workers, in nearly 166 million jobs.

CHROs now have a structured tool for a workforce where demand is far outpacing supply, driving shortages across healthcare, manufacturing, transport, and skilled trades, and risking operational continuity and growth, says The Josh Bersin Company.

But frontline work remains a critically neglected focus for HR: the training market alone is already worth $25 billion in 2024 and could grow to $88 billion by 2032.

Nehal Nangia, Senior Research Director at The Josh Bersin Company and lead frontline researcher, said:

"It's time to remove a long-standing blind spot in workforce strategy: the assumption that frontline workers can be treated as a single, homogeneous group.

"In reality, the sector spans five distinct worker archetypes—each with different risks, skills, motivations, and operational demands.

"That means organizations still reliant on a one-size-fits-all talent model will pay the price in turnover, safety risk, and lost productivity.

"The good news is that by reframing frontline as a strategic capability rather than a cost base and aligning talent investment and technology to the specific needs of each segment, leaders can unlock measurable improvements in performance, resilience, and service quality across the enterprise."

 Global industry analyst and Josh Bersin Company CEO Josh Bersin said:

"For decades, business has been very imprecise about the frontline category. Even the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lacks a solid definition of what the category entails. The result has been a lot of generalized employment practices that haven't fully optimized this massive, critical workforce.

"The five segments identify unique needs for pay, skills development, recruiting, benefits, and employee needs. The needs of a young fast-food worker vs. those of a licensed nurse, fireman, a warehouse worker, or airline pilot are quite different. Yet all are 'frontline.'

"Our new model breaks this large workforce into five distinct segments and then gives managers and HR leaders very specific best practices, hiring dynamics, and pay models for each. The result is a toolset that helps any frontline-first company improve hiring, retention, engagement, and performance of this large category of workers."

To learn more and access the related public-facing resource—developed in collaboration with Paradox, a Workday company—visit here.

The frontline model is explained in the Paradox and Josh Bersin Company online resource, while The Josh Bersin Company-authored Understanding the Frontline Workforce report—available exclusively for corporate members and Galileo users—explores its application in frontline organizations. Using Josh Bersin Company's Galileo^® AI suite, companies can explore and optimize dozens of HR strategies against each segment to improve their operations.

About The Josh Bersin Company
The Josh Bersin Company is the world's most trusted human capital advisors, providing research-based insights on talent, leadership, and organizational performance.

Unlike traditional consultancies, we capture our integrated models, research, and guidance in a structured, scalable knowledge base—Galileo™—making trusted advice and decades of expertise accessible to anyone, anywhere, in real time.

With a dedicated team constantly tracking market change, testing ideas, and applying a unique business lens, we help over a million HR and business leaders address their most pressing people challenges—aligning work, knowledge, and skills for maximum impact. For more information, visit joshbersin.com.

SOURCE The Josh Bersin Company