The dominant narrative of how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping work focuses on white-collar jobs, knowledge workers, and the risk of mass displacement in office-based roles. That narrative largely misses the tens of millions of Americans who do essential, physical, place-bound work that has resisted automation for decades: people who clean buildings, maintain landscapes, prepare food, operate equipment on manufacturing floors, support construction projects, and staff warehouses.
But now, as AI arrives in these sectors, the workers, employers, and the systems that support them should prepare to respond.
And because these roles often serve as the first door in for workers trying to rebuild their lives, the stakes of getting this transition right are particularly high.
Over the last several months, our team at Redefine Alliance has conducted a wide-reaching investigation into the AI landscape, and how it will affect frontline workers like many of the people employed by employment social enterprises (ESEs). We’ve compiled our insights into a research report, now live and available to download for free.
ESEs are a Leading Lens to Illustrate The Effect of the AI Transition on Frontline Workers
For ESE businesses competing in markets where AI-adopting competitors are becoming more efficient, early adoption is a chance to get ahead in a way the field has rarely had the opportunity to do.
And AI represents a genuine leveling force for ESE workers – people whose barriers have been about access and credential rather than capability.
Furthermore, ESEs offer a uniquely valuable lens for understanding what the AI transition will mean for frontline workers broadly because of who they serve and how they operate. An ESE navigating AI adoption has to solve for everything a conventional employer does – competitive pricing, operational efficiency, workforce capability – while also supporting workers who need more than a paycheck to thrive.
If ESEs can figure out how to navigate this transition, insights will travel: to inclusive employers across these industries, to workforce development organizations, and to policymakers designing the systems that shape how millions of Americans experience this transition. ESE workers are a proxy population: the challenges they face navigating this transition are concentrated versions of what millions of frontline workers across America will encounter. What works for them matters well beyond the ESE field.
Our Research
This paper draws on emerging research and in-depth interviews with more than 20 ESE leaders across the country to offer an honest assessment of what AI means for frontline workers and their employers – and what ESEs, other employers who intentionally hire people facing barriers, funders, and policymakers should do about it.
As part of our ongoing commitment to future-oriented innovation in the workplace, Redefine Alliance is committed to supporting ESEs through this transition. Beyond this report, we offer a community of practice for peer learning and shared experimentation, updated programming and capacity building that reflects the current moment, and coordinate on a policy agenda developed in partnership with ESE leaders. The organizations already leaning in to AI are showing what’s possible – not just for other ESEs, but for the millions of workers whose path to economic power necessitates employers willing to invest in them.
