The “complexity crisis”: 5 key results from the Humanforce/Forrester frontline workforce study

What was the goal of the Forrester/Humanforce research? 

In late 2024, Humanforce commissioned Forrester Consulting to investigate the current state, challenges and opportunities for businesses leveraging human capital management (HCM) technologies to optimise their frontline workforce management and improve the employee experience (EX).  

To explore this topic, Forrester surveyed 342 decision-makers and 328 frontline workers, and conducted four in-depth interviews with final decision-makers responsible for workforce management strategy and HCM technologies. 

These employer and employee groups come from various industry verticals globally, including healthcare, childcare, aged care, events & stadia, retail, and travel & hospitality.  

Respondents were split between AU and NZ, UK and the US (approx. 25% each). In addition, 37% of respondents came from mid-size organisations (500-999 employees), 50% from large orgs (1,000-4,999 employees) and 13% are from enterprise (5000-19,999 employees). 

Acknowledging the “complexity crisis” 

What Humanforce is seeing from customers and partners, and what the Forrester results confirmed, is that all organisations, and especially those reliant on frontline workers, are facing crisis levels of complexity. This is due to the rising burden of compliance, unprecedented wage inflation, rising employee expectations, and a war for talent on the frontline that continues unabated. 

In many instances, there’s a gap between the needs of employees and the needs of business. Fortunately, there is a bridge between the two — and that bridge is the employee experience (EX). When leaders get the EX right, they are ticking boxes for their workers and their organisation. Metrics like employee retention, engagement, productivity and customer experience are all outcomes of a great EX. 

The Humanforce/Forrester report highlights that organisations are increasingly turning to technology to enhance the EX, streamline operations, drive predictive analytics, and transform HR functions into strategic, data-driven functions. 

This article will be a review of some interesting stats collected during the survey process. However, these are just pieces to the wider puzzle. If you’re a decision maker, you’ll want to download the full report for even richer insights.

Five interesting takeaways from the report (backed by statistics) 

1. Organisations are invested in improving the EX through new technologies 

There’s no doubt that organisations are prioritising the EX for frontline workers. It is being carried out via the adoption of new technologies, the provision of training and development, and by offering employees greater flexibility — as well as new ways to be heard.  

When comparing the perspectives of decision makers and frontline workers on what’s being offered, the survey results showed both similarities and disparities.  

For example, 33% of decision makers claimed they were investing in new technology to improve the day-to-day lives of employees — and 31% of employees claimed that they were indeed receiving it. This makes sense, as the survey results indicate that the top 6 HR objectives in the next 12 months are all EX-focused. For example, improving employee retention, improving engagement, and enhancing employee wellbeing. 

On the other hand, 29% of decision makers claimed they were investing in leadership development, compared to 24% of frontline workers who said the same.  

2. Frontline employees value praise and positive culture as a driver of positive EX – but the right tech also plays a role 

A poor EX can be the result of many different things, from toxic work environments to a lack of flexibility, training and career development.  

36% of respondents indicated that the most important driver of positive EX is the creation of an empathetic, positive and accommodating culture. 34% claimed the key was improving the recognition of good performance, with another 34% advocating for access to tools that support employee productivity. 

However, throughout the survey results, a recurring theme emerged: the impact on the EX from a poor technology experience. For example: 

• 33% of frontline employees feel overburdened by the load of HR-related tasks 

• 28% of frontline employees experience an increased possibility of burnout 

• 34% of frontline employees feel less connected to the organisation 

Meanwhile, only a third (27%) of employers have recognised the prevalence of employee burnout in frontline industries and are prioritising employee wellbeing.

3. Compliance is top of mind for employers of freelance workers 

Doing business is tough at the best of times, but frontline workforce management brings with it extra layers of compliance complexity. This is especially apparent in countries with complex industrial relations landscapes. For example, a quarter of New Zealand and Australian organisations stated they find it challenging to navigate the landscape of employment laws and regulations.  

It’s no surprise that compliance is the number one business priority for the next 12 months, with approximately 40% of survey respondents citing this as a top priority. 

Recent policies continue to add to this challenge, with Australia criminalising intentional wage underpayments from 2025.  

It is abundantly clear that the complexity around compliance is unrelenting, and half of all respondents indicated that HCM technology plays a pivotal role in solving that burden by simplifying their business compliance processes. 

Not only was there broad agreement on this point, but it was ranked 3 times higher than any other benefit associated with HCM implementation. 

The results found that the choice of HCM vendor can make a difference in meeting compliance obligations. For example, the survey found that the use of external HCM technology is 81% greater than the utilisation of in-house software when it comes to compliance management.  

The survey also found that addressing HCM tech scalability is critical for compliance. 27% of respondents identified the handling of volume hires and termininations as a top challenge when implementing HCM solutions. 

The survey identified some mismatches between what employers and employees expect from HCM technology. Indeed, more than half of all employer respondents indicated that HCM technology simplified workforce compliance. However, 40% of frontline workers said their organisation does not use HCM technology to manage compliance. This indicates there’s room for HCM adoption and informing workers of how technology can help. 

It’s incorrect to believe that employees don't care about compliance. With over 23 years of experience developing technology for frontline workforces, Humanforce can confirm that frontline workers do care about compliance — they care about being paid correctly for the hours they work, they care that they have enough time off between shifts so their health doesn't suffer, and they care that their workplace is safe.  

Keen to elevate the EX, optimise HR operations and accelerate business growth in 2025? 

Click here to download the Humanforce/Forrester global HCM study today.

4. Integration, or lack thereof, is a major issue for many organisations’ HCM tech stack

“Our employee lifecycle is quite broken: we are using different systems for payroll, rewards, training, recruitment, and onboarding and the data is not integrated.” 

These are the words of a Chief Technology Officer in the UK Travel & Hospitality sector — and sums up perfectly the plight of decision makers and IT teams when it comes to selecting HCM tools that just work... together.  

Just 10% of respondents are currently using an all-in-one solution, while 67% engage with multiple pieces of HCM platforms and point solutions from different vendors. This ties in with the complexity theme outlined earlier: 31% of decision makers said “suite complexity and associated requirements” was their biggest challenge when implementing HCM technologies.  

In addition, the results show that employees also suffer: 34% of frontline workers reported the need to switch between different platforms to perform a task and 31% are confused by reworking due to overlapping HCM software. 

These results reinforce the importance of vendor selection. A trusted vendor – especially one that can offer a best-in-one composable HCM suite like Humanforce – can provide a breadth of functionality and serve your frontline workers. 

5. Data silos are still prevalent – and there’s an urgent need for people analytics tools 

To ensure their people strategy remains adaptive and flexible in the long term, organisations must start to leverage the data collected from HCM platforms and integrate advanced analytics, such as AI, into HR processes to enable data-driven decision-making. 

However, this is difficult when data is stored across multiple platforms. 

Organisations might be missing out on the benefits of: 

• Quantifying the value of HR initiatives 

• Optimising talent needs 

• Accelerating new insights with trusted data 

In response, 26% of surveyed organisations are deploying EX analytics, and 27% of organisations are analysing end-user telemetry data from devices and apps. In addition, 30% are collecting feedback via surveys or interviews. 

While the survey results and accompanying report confirm that the future of organisational productivity lies with artificial intelligence (AI), this will only be unlocked if leaders are able to utilise data effectively.  

Humanforce believes the EX will drive your organisation forward, but your people data will set you apart from your competitors. The HCM technology value proposition means you can unlock the universe of people data. If you've got disconnected data silos you're set up to fail. Or you can collect a lot of data but not do much with it – so you become data rich but insight poor. 

Download the full report for key findings and recommendations 

This article is just a taster of the comprehensive Humanforce / Forrester report. Get the deep dive by downloading the report, here. 

About Humanforce 

Humanforce is the best-in-one platform for frontline and flexible workforces, offering a truly employee centred, intelligent and compliant human capital management (HCM) suite – without compromise. Founded in 2002, Humanforce has a 2300+ customer base and over half a million users worldwide. Today, we have offices across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. 

Our vision is to make work easier and life better by focusing on the needs and fulfilment of frontline workers, and the efficiency and optimisation of businesses. 

To learn more about how Humanforce’s solution can help automate people processes in your business, please contact us.