Dayforce, Inc., a global human capital management (HCM) leader that makes work life better, today released new research revealing that frontline operations are approaching a breaking point. What looks stable on the surface is increasingly dependent on manual workarounds, last-minute adjustments, and in-the-moment decisions to keep work moving – driving higher costs, increasing compliance risk, and placing unsustainable pressure on workers.
Based on a global survey of 5,600 managers, executives, and frontline workers, the findings point to a critical challenge in how organizations manage frontline work in the face of constant change. The result: organizations are struggling to manage frontline performance consistently because employees are left to fill the gaps in systems and processes.
“Frontline teams operate in conditions and environments that change faster than most systems can keep up with. But work doesn’t stop when systems can’t keep pace, and that gap is costing organizations more than they realize,” said Steve Holdridge, President and COO, Dayforce, Inc. “Every day, managers and workers are forced to step in to fix issues in scheduling, time, and pay just to keep operations running. Those quick fixes keep the business moving, but over time they can drive up costs, increase compliance risk, and put real strain on people. Closing the adaptability gap requires more than better planning. It requires the ability to see and respond to what’s happening in real time.”
The research highlights a growing divide between how frontline work is planned and how it plays out at the shift level. Small, everyday disruptions – coverage gaps, pay issues, and manual fixes – compound into measurable financial and operational impact across industries.
Key Findings:
- Disruption impacts performance and costs: 65% of executives and managers said shift-level disruptions have at least a moderate impact on financial or operational performance, with 45% of frontline managers reporting these issues drive overtime.
- Work is increasingly improvised: Nearly three-quarters (74%) of frontline workers said they rely on manual workarounds at least sometimes, and 90% report finding ways to fill open shifts themselves. Meanwhile, 60% of executives and managers said they spend at least three hours per week responding to issues instead of improving operations.
- Workforce strain is rising: A majority (89%) of frontline workers and managers said shift-level issues negatively affect their well-being, and 71% said they have considered leaving their job as a result.
- Risk and accountability are increasing without visibility: 67% of executives and managers said shift-level issues create compliance risk, while 45% of executives said they are accountable for frontline decisions that carry cost risk without real-time visibility.
- Leadership disconnect is widening: Only 42% of frontline workers say leaders understand the challenges they face – down from 62% in 2024 – highlighting a growing gap between leadership perception and frontline reality.
Despite the scale of these challenges, most organizations believe they are avoidable. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of executives and managers said many shift-level disruptions are at least moderately avoidable with better real-time information, pointing to a clear opportunity to improve how frontline operations are managed.
The report introduces the concept of “frontline adaptability” – the ability to manage disruption as it happens through connected systems, real-time visibility, and more flexible workforce strategies. It provides a clear way to measure and close the adaptability gap between how work is planned and how it unfolds at the shift level. More adaptable organizations demonstrate that many of these disruptions are avoidable because they often stem from disconnected systems that lack real-time visibility into frontline operations.
“Disruption isn’t new, but the way we’re asking people to handle it isn’t sustainable,” added Holdridge. “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.”
Additional Information
- Download the full report: Adaptability vs. reality: How frontline operations quietly passed the breaking point
- Learn more on the blog: New frontline workforce research: The hidden instability inside operations
Methodology
Hanover Research conducted the adaptive frontline survey from Dayforce online from March 26 to April 13, 2026. The study included 5,693 respondents aged 18+ who work in frontline organizations with at least 100 employees across Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The Frontline Adaptability Benchmark was calculated based on respondents’ answers to questions across five areas: demand responsiveness, real-time resolution, skills fluidity, operational enablement, and decision confidence. Each respondent was then assigned an Organizational Adaptability Score. From there, they were segmented into low-, medium-, and high-adaptability groups.
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