The Josh Bersin Company

Understanding the Frontline Workforce. As our research point out, more than 70% of all US workers (80% Worldwide) work in a frontline (customer facing or operational facing) role. We all have teams in these positions so it’s important for business and HR leaders to understand this space.

This is the first podcast in a series with Josh Secrest, the head of marketing at Paradox, an innovative AI company that pioneered conversational recruiting from end to end.

Not only does Josh S. know a lot about the frontline, he has leadership roles at the National Restaurant Association and National Retail Federation, and also has experience leading talent management at McDonald’s and leading culture at Abercrombie.

Josh and I will be sharing a series of conversations to help you understand best-practices in high-volume recruiting, frontline workforce management, and the economics and financial business case for automation in this space.

This episode features a deep discussion on the critical role of frontline workers in the workforce, exploring how technology, management, and strategic support can transform frontline work environments. It highlights innovative practices and future trends in supporting frontline employees across retail, hospitality, and healthcare sectors.

Keywords
frontline workers, workforce strategy, HR technology, AI in HR, employee retention, frontline management, retail, hospitality, workforce support, digital transformation

Key topics
Importance of frontline workers
Impact of technology and AI on frontline support
Role of frontline managers in business success

Additional Information

Powering the Frontline Workforce: How Frontline-First Companies Thrive (research)

Josh Bersin Company Highlights Cost of Neglecting Frontline Workers (research)

An Exploration into the Frontline Workforce with Josh Bersin (video)

Tailor your HR and Management Programs for Frontline Work with Galileo, the Expert AI Agent for HR

This week I discuss the real possibility that AI Agents could “turn evil” citing the example of Scott Shambaugh, a software engineer, who was attacked by an OpenClaw agent called MJ Rathbun.

Just so you understand: Scott is a real person but MJ Rathbun is an AI. Yet MJ took upon itself to openly attack Scott online, presumably for not accepting his open source code.

It’s a fascinating (ongoing) story, but it begs a bigger question: when a “human” (or agent) has total authority and power, does it then become evil? We saw this in the famous Stanford Prisoner Experiment, at Abu Ghraib, and in other examples I cite. Does this strange human nature translate directly into AI?

As you’ll hear, these new findings deliver many lessons for our corporate AI systems, and I explain how the issues of AI training, governance, and ethics become real. And this brings up the issue of AI regulation, legal accountability, and who is responsible for these behaviors.

Much of this is being played out in real time in the US War Department vs. Anthropic happening in the press as well.

Despite my most optimistic opinions about AI, “Power Corrupts” may be a statement that applies to AI just as it does to humans.

As AI becomes more embedded in enterprise decision-making, thoughtful governance, ethical design, and continuous monitoring become urgent.

Additional Resources

An AI Agent Published A Hit Piece on Me

The Rise of the Bratty Machines (NYT)

When AI Bots Start Bullying Humans, Even Silicon Valley Gets Rattled (WSJ)

BBC Finds That 45% of AI Queries Produce Erroneous Answers

Anthropic CEO says he’s sticking to AI “red lines” despite clash with Pentagon

OpenAI Steps Into The Breach in US War Department

 

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Could AI Agents Become Evil?
(00:11:11) - AI for Insurance Companies

Today I discuss the new economics of AI for us as business and HR leaders, and how this impacts vendors, HR buyers, IT, and investors. I also discuss how Agents, which are the new building blocks for our re-engineered companies, are now the nucleus of your world in HR going forward.

As I explain, this new world is clearly coming into focus but you need to prioritize your energies, and our Systemic HR AI Blueprint (explained) is here to help.

Stay tuned for a barrage of announcements about Galileo, which now has more than 1,100 enterprise customers. And please join our Pacesetters program so you can share your own company’s innovations and get recognition for all your company’s creation!

Also look at Galileo for Consultants, a new release of Galileo specifically designed for HR, organizational, leadership, and change consultants!  Galileo for Consultants includes a whole array of tools to help you with your career, business, and client projects. Galileo for Consultants (internal consultants too) will be invited to a special monthly webinar to talk about consulting projects, opportunities, and your consulting career.

Additional Information

Understanding NVIDIA’s Growth and Culture

Will Workday Thrive (or Survive) In The World of AI? (video)

Galileo for Consultants: Super-Powering Your Consulting Business

The World Is Accelerating: What Has Changed About Leadership?

Chapters

(00:00:00) - AI HR Blueprint and Irresistible
(00:00:25) - Galileo for Consultants: An Update
(00:02:52) - Nvidia's $120 Billion Profit
(00:08:28) - AI and HR Agents: Future of the HR Agent
(00:14:18) - The AI Agent Blueprint
(00:16:36) - AI Professional Development Conference Update

Coming out of the pandemic almost every company started hiring globally, giving rise to the EOR (Employer of Record) market. An EOR enables companies of any size to easily hire, manage, pay, and reward employees in any country, and today more than 40% of all global employers use an EOR.

One of the leaders in this market is Oyster, a fast-growing company founded as a B-Corp, dedicated with a mission to make global employment a single, seamless marketplace. The founder of Oyster, Tony Jamous, is a fascinating entrepreneur who has a unique way of describing global employment. In this podcast I interviewed Tony so he can explain some of the strategic issues in building a global company of any size.

I think you’ll find Oyster a high value solution provider that combines world-class technology with a strong culture of global advice, support, and regulatory compliance to help companies grow.

(FYI we are partners with Oyster in Galileo: Oyster’s extensive global employment practices database is embedded in Galileo to assist you with many strategic HR policies around the world.)

Like this podcast? Rate us on Spotify or Apple or YouTube.

Additional Information

2026 Imperatives for Enterprise AI: The Road Ahead

The Definitive Guide to Corporate Learning

Oyster Announces Intelligent Global Employment – Redefining EOR Market

Get Galileo, The AI Agent for Everything HR

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Interview with Tony Jamis
(00:00:25) - Oyster's mission to reduce wealth inequality
(00:05:52) - Will Our Platform Become a Strategic Workforce Partner?
(00:10:15) - The Human Capital Challenge
(00:13:24) - Have We Thrived as a Global Company?
(00:16:09) - WSJD Live: Should HR Companies Integrate With HCM Prov
(00:17:23) - What's the role of AI in the Workforce?
(00:19:05) - Oyster HR: Going global with technology
(00:20:51) - EOR Provider Takeaways

This week I explain some of the very cool things going on in AI-Fueled Recruiting (hot space), and also discuss how to start integrating all your talent acquisition tools. I also explain AMS One, the Workday Agent System of Record (ASOR), and why and how all these amazing AI agents are going to enable you to really rethink the operating model for talent acquisition.

This is a trillion dollar space and we all deal with it, and it’s also the area of HR where AI is the most mature. And as I explain, every innovation that takes place in talent acquisition has an impact on tools for internal HR, job mobility, career development, and even learning. In fact TA and L&D really are going to get locked at the hip going forward.

We will be launching our massive new research study on TA at Irresistible 2026, our flagship HR leadership conference in the world. It’s June 8-10 at the beautiful USC Campus in Los Angeles, and I promise you that you’ll see some amazing things there (including a tour of one of USC’s brand new research and arts centers).

Also come see us at Unleash 2026 in Vegas where we’ll be doing workshops for you on Galileo, highlighting the newest release – these hands-on workshops give you 90 minutes to see dozens of amazing AI use-cases and also teach you how to use Galileo as your copilot, teacher, and consultant in all areas of HR. (And listen to my keynote explaining the way AI has already started to change everything about HR.)

Like this podcast? Rate us on Spotify or Apple or YouTube.

Additional Information

2026 Imperatives for Enterprise AI: The Road Ahead

The Great Reinvention of Human Resources Has Begun

Secrets Of The High Performing CHRO

Get Galileo, The AI Agent for Everything HR

 

Chapters

(00:00:01) - Josh Burson on Talent Acquisition and AI
(00:01:32) - Talent Acquisition: The $1 trillion spend area
(00:13:13) - Adam Levine: The ASOR for Workday Agents
(00:18:09) - Talent Acquisition: The New Model
(00:20:42) - A Day in the Life of Galileo