Announcing Workvivo HQ and the Frontline AI Gap Report

AI is taking workplaces by storm, and lots of employees are reaping the benefits.

But the speed at which it’s moving is making things messy. AI implementation is scattered and overwhelming, leaving people with little idea of which tool to use or where to find answers.

And for frontline workers, the problem compounds. Here at Workvivo, we’ve just launched a new report on this very topic, covering research we conducted on the “frontline AI gap.”

We surveyed almost 5,000 frontline and desk-based employees across multiple industries and countries, and found that:

• Only 32% of frontline workers use AI regularly or occasionally, compared to 62% of desk workers.
• 31% of frontline workers say they never use AI tools in their work.
• For 1 in 4 frontline workers, the biggest barrier to using AI more at work is the belief that it doesn’t apply to their role.

You’ll find the full report here. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at what else we discovered.

Desk employees receive more AI training than frontline workers

We found that frontline workers are almost half as likely as those at desks to receive encouragement from their company about using AI.

It’s not hard to see why frontline team members aren’t clear on AI’s potential, especially when just one-third of them receive clear guidance on how to use it in their work (compared with half of desk workers).

This leads to a host of problems, from limiting frontline productivity to pushing frontline workers toward shadow AI – something that’s 4x more likely among this cohort than their desk-based colleagues.

And in addition to low adoption and engagement, misinformation and security breaches follow. 

Relevance is a much bigger barrier than resistance

In fact, frontline workers are significantly less likely than desk workers to say they’re concerned about AI making their jobs redundant.

What that tells us is this: the biggest obstacle to frontline AI adoption isn’t resistance, but relevance. Frontline workers are almost twice as likely as desk workers to say they don’t see how AI applies to their role.

Workers are struggling to understand how AI can help them, what they can and can’t do with the technology, and where they can find the tools they need – but those on the frontline are feeling it harder.

And when it comes to barriers, desk workers cite concerns over data and privacy as their biggest obstacle (23%) where frontline employees cite relevance (26%).

AI has great potential for frontline workers, but it isn’t reaching them

Not only are frontline employees getting less guidance on using AI, they’re also experiencing accessibility issues. AI can and should be available to every worker, but most workplace initiatives are still rooted in traditional office-based work.

The realities of frontline work – needing mobile-first solutions, for example – aren’t coming into consideration.

Across both office and frontline settings, employees with positive AI experiences report the same outcomes, underscoring that frontline workers do find value in AI – when they’re successfully enabled.

Both types of worker find AI helpful for searching for information and drafting communications, for example.

The challenge isn’t getting frontline buy-in, but embedding AI where frontline work actually happens.

Introducing Workvivo HQ

Whether they work at a desk or on a factory floor, AI should empower employees rather than confuse them. But to do that, it needs to be native.

That’s the idea behind our brand-new flagship product – and the evolution of the Workvivo platform – Workvivo HQ.

While companies continue to invest in new AI tools and capabilities, far fewer are investing in the experience layer where employees discover, adopt, and benefit from AI in their everyday work. Without that foundation, AI won't drive transformation at scale. It will simply add more noise and complexity to an already fragmented workplace.

“AI has the power to transform every organization, but too often it’s being layered onto already fragmented workplaces, creating more complexity instead of less,” said John Goulding, CEO and Co-Founder of Workvivo.

“We believe the next generation of AI at work won’t be defined only by the smartest model. It will be defined by the employee experience layer that brings AI into everyday work. Organizations don’t need another disjointed AI tool. They need a shared place where employees can communicate, find answers, get work done, and understand what’s happening. That’s why we created Workvivo HQ.”

Workvivo HQ helps employees:

• Access company knowledge, policies, documents, and expertise quickly.
• Turn questions into completed work with HQ Agent (coming soon)*, taking action across connected systems.
• Understand employee sentiment and workplace trends through AI-powered people intelligence.
• Stay informed with AI-generated summaries, recaps, and personalized updates.
• Create communications, announcements, and content faster with AI-powered writing assistance.
• Reach employees where they are, from the frontline to the corporate office, through personalized AI-powered experiences.

“When we started designing Workvivo HQ, we weren’t just asking how to add more AI to the workplace. We were asking how to make work feel simpler,” said Andrea Graham, Head of Product and Engineering at Workvivo.

“The result is an experience that brings together communication, knowledge, and action in one place, helping employees spend less time searching and more time getting meaningful work done.”

HQ also brings together the capabilities of our recent expansion into people intelligence with Seer, combining communication, employee insights, and AI to help organizations stay informed, understand what employees are experiencing, and take meaningful action.

Bringing every worker home

Workvivo HQ is bringing every worker – no matter their hours, location, or job type – home.

It’s injecting Zoom’s AI functionality – the same intelligence behind Zoom Workplace and ZoomMate – into the employee experience layer, meaning workers won’t have to go looking for it. Instead, it will be integrated into their daily workflows, where communication, knowledge, and engagement already exist.

AI needs to live where employees feel comfortable, and HQ is the answer. It meets them where they already are, providing personalized experiences, faster access to tools and updates, consistent reach, and a shared center for culture and knowledge.

Other AI tools arrive as outsiders. They need to earn trust, prove adoption, and find a way into the rhythm of daily work. As part of the employee experience layer, Workvivo HQ is already there. 

Every employee deserves a headquarters. Now they have one.

Check out the full Frontline AI Gap report here, and learn more about HQ here.