The Newest at UKG: The Workforce Operating Platform

Many HR application vendors position themselves as platforms that address all areas of HR, but many do not have a complete end-to-end set of functionalities. Those that do may be providing an integrated set of applications but not necessarily the depth of actionable insights that leaders wish to have to carry out HR operations. In the fast-paced world, the needs of certain industries with large workforces are greater than ever, especially at the frontline workforce level.

At the recent UKG Global Analyst Day, UKG has repositioned themselves as offering a Workforce Operating Platform, stating they are especially suited for the retail, manufacturing, construction, and healthcare sectors. This is reflected in their product offerings as well as their roadmap. By listening to their customers’ needs and requests and building their solutions around these, their platform is more likely to solve the real-world challenges that the HR leaders and frontline workers of these industries are facing.

What Is a Workforce Operating Platform?

UKG had three main products – human capital management (HR), workforce management (WFM), and payroll (PAY). The Workforce Operating Platform now unifies these with an underlying People Fabric data layer, workforce insights and intelligence, and a front-facing, people-first generative Bryte AI assistant. As such, the platform aims to not just provide integration between the products, but provide a common AI-assisted experience with actionable insights derived from the shared data.

Part of this is the Workforce Intelligence Hub, which aims to help increase productivity in several ways. The first way is to provide market productivity benchmark data. The second is to combine internal and external data, including gathering data from disparate sources to provide productivity insights through such measures as total labor costs and other workforce analytics. The third aims to leverage these insights, making them available to business leaders and turning them into actions through AI interfaces and intelligent triggers. In line with this and on demo was the Dynamic Labor Management interface, which combines demand data, schedules, and forecasts and gives visibility to the HR managers on upcoming disruptions (e.g. bad weather impacting outdoor restaurant seating), allowing the HR manager to quickly optimize staffing (e.g. bring external staff to the inside) and see impacts on labor costs. Another is Rapid Hire, offering a streamlined way to perform high-volume hiring, simplifying the interface and process for the candidates and the hiring managers.

Help to the Frontline Workers

Many of UKG’s innovations around AI are to assist frontline workers, including People Assist and the showcased Project Alto . Recognizing that frontline and desk-based employees have many “How do I…” questions, People Assist allows users to interact with it in a ChatGPT manner. It provides answers, makes suggestions, and helps reduce HR effort to resolve tickets. Project Alto pushes conversational AI further, bringing the voice interface to the forefront, allowing frontline workers to have a near hands-free experience carrying out such tasks as looking for available shifts and requesting time-off. Frontline Worker Network, which aims to address the workers’ wealth, health, and lifestyle needs by partnering with a number of third-party service partners (e.g. UKG Wallet, Chime, TurboTax, OnePay, and Financial Wellness Labs) is also available to help. Future phases would address areas such as insurance, transportation, and childcare. These additions would help alleviate administrative stresses and bring along lifestyle conveniences.

Considerations

There are many other items worth mentioning as part of the UKG Analyst Day (e.g. Reporting Hub, Document Manager, One View, GPTW rollout in Canada, advances in UKG Ready, Project Lighthouse, acquisitions, etc.). That said, CIOs should be mindful of UKG’s platform and direction – it is best suited for the retail, manufacturing, construction, and healthcare sectors, though CIOs should partner with CHROs to properly assess whether UKG’s platform and direction is aligned with corporate objectives.

Also of note is that UKG highlighted continued progress in delivering better customer support, which is good news for both CIOs and CHROs. According to their survey, satisfaction ratings about their support have gone back to prepandemic-high levels. UKG has also showcased AI technology to provide intuitive, human-like support beyond traditional IVR technology, which can guide callers to resolve navigation and configuration problems. It is also further collaborating with partners, and developing other programs and support, to provide the increasingly better payroll services, as well as helping in bettering implementation delivery.

In terms of innovation, UKG’s AI roadmap is intently customer centric. The company surveys top use cases from its customers and quickly works on those, piloting these advances with early adopters before releasing to ensure maturity and practical benefit. CIOs should therefore focus on what is available today but also readily seek out what is in UKG’s roadmap to align with internal requirements and expectations.

Our Take

UKG is a strong contender fitting for industries with large workforces, in particular to organizations in the retail, manufacturing, construction, and healthcare sectors. Its AI- and data-driven platform is designed to support frontline operations and the HR department. What sets UKG apart is their focus on delivering actionable workforce insights, increased conveniences to frontline workers, and a customer-centric approach to innovation. Also, with the new UKG leadership team now complete, bringing a culture that commits itself to closer engagement with customers and continued development to their products, UKG has earned improved scores overall (click here for their latest review). As such, CIOs whose organizations operate within these sectors should consider whether UKG’s platform aligns with their overall HR application and AI strategy when making selections for their HR apps.

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