Business process outsourcing (BPO) provider Afni is expanding its use of the UKG Workforce Operating Platform to gain real-time workforce intelligence aimed at improving employee retention, engagement, and frontline performance. The deployment highlights a growing trend in HR technology, where organizations are combining AI-powered workforce analytics with employee feedback to help managers identify workforce risks before they affect business operations.

As labor shortages and high employee turnover continue to challenge customer service organizations, companies are increasingly turning to AI-powered workforce intelligence platforms to improve employee retention and operational performance. Afni, a global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider specializing in customer experience and contact center services, is among the organizations using workforce analytics to make more proactive people decisions.

The company has expanded its use of the UKG Workforce Operating Platform, integrating workforce data, employee feedback, and operational insights to provide managers with real-time visibility into workforce performance across its global operations.

With more than 10,000 employees located across the United States, the Philippines, and Mexico, Afni relies on the UKG Pro® suite as its centralized platform for HR, payroll, workforce management, and employee engagement. Having used UKG technology since 2012, the company has continued broadening its adoption of the platform as workforce planning becomes increasingly data driven.

Turning Workforce Data Into Action

Employee retention remains one of the largest operational challenges for contact centers and BPO organizations, where competition for frontline talent remains intense.

Rather than relying solely on traditional HR reporting, Afni uses workforce intelligence generated across the UKG platform to identify emerging workforce trends, monitor engagement, and provide managers with guided recommendations that support operational and talent decisions.

The platform combines workforce information with business intelligence, enabling HR and operational leaders to analyze employee engagement, retention trends, and organizational performance across departments, business units, and customer projects.

This integrated approach reflects a broader shift within human capital management (HCM), where organizations increasingly seek a single source of workforce intelligence instead of managing employee information across disconnected HR systems.

Continuous Employee Listening

As part of its retention strategy, Afni has also implemented UKG Pro Employee Voice™, which enables continuous employee listening through onboarding surveys, engagement assessments, training evaluations, and pulse surveys.

Unlike annual engagement surveys, continuous listening allows organizations to gather workforce feedback throughout the employee lifecycle while identifying issues before they contribute to turnover.

Afni combines this employee sentiment data with workforce metrics and operational performance indicators to help leaders determine where additional support, coaching, or organizational resources may be needed.

One area receiving particular attention is frontline management.

The company’s HR leaders report that workforce insights consistently demonstrate the influence supervisors have on employee engagement and retention. By identifying teams showing declining engagement or increased turnover risk, managers can receive targeted development and coaching designed to improve leadership effectiveness.

This reflects a growing consensus across enterprise HR technology that employee experience is shaped not only by organizational policies but also by day-to-day interactions with frontline leaders.

Payroll Reliability Supports Employee Experience

Beyond workforce analytics, Afni continues to rely on UKG for payroll and workforce administration across its geographically distributed workforce.

The company reports it has maintained uninterrupted payroll processing since implementing UKG nearly 15 years ago, allowing HR teams to shift attention away from administrative tasks toward workforce planning, leadership development, and employee experience initiatives.

Reliable payroll has become an increasingly important component of employee experience strategies, particularly among organizations employing hybrid, remote, and frontline workers across multiple countries.

AI Becomes Central to Workforce Management

Afni’s deployment reflects one of the most significant trends shaping HR technology: the emergence of AI-enabled workforce operating platforms.

Rather than functioning solely as systems of record, modern HCM platforms increasingly combine workforce analytics, employee feedback, payroll, scheduling, compliance, and artificial intelligence into integrated environments capable of generating predictive workforce insights.

Enterprise software providers including Microsoft, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle, Dayforce, and UKG continue embedding AI into workforce management platforms to support talent acquisition, retention, workforce planning, manager effectiveness, and employee engagement.

According to Gartner, AI-powered workforce intelligence and employee experience technologies remain among the fastest-growing areas of enterprise HR investment as organizations seek to improve decision-making while reducing workforce risk. McKinsey & Company similarly reports that companies using advanced people analytics are better positioned to improve employee engagement, productivity, and organizational resilience.

Enterprise Implications

For HR leaders, Afni’s experience illustrates how workforce intelligence is evolving beyond reporting dashboards into decision-support systems capable of guiding management action.

Combining employee feedback with operational data enables organizations to move from reactive workforce management toward earlier intervention, particularly in industries where employee turnover directly affects customer experience and financial performance.

The announcement also reinforces the growing role of integrated workforce platforms that connect HR, payroll, employee listening, analytics, and AI into a unified operating model.

As workforce complexity continues increasing across global organizations, platforms capable of translating workforce data into actionable insights are likely to become central to enterprise talent strategies. For organizations like Afni, success increasingly depends not only on collecting workforce data but on equipping leaders with the visibility needed to improve employee experience before workforce challenges become business problems.

Market Landscape

AI-powered workforce intelligence is becoming a cornerstone of enterprise HR technology as organizations seek to improve employee retention, engagement, and operational performance. Gartner identifies workforce analytics and employee experience platforms among the fastest-growing HCM investment areas, while McKinsey & Company reports that organizations using advanced people analytics consistently outperform peers in workforce productivity and organizational resilience. Contact centers and BPO providers, where turnover remains a persistent challenge, are increasingly adopting integrated HCM platforms that combine payroll, employee listening, AI, and workforce planning.

Top Insights

• Afni is using the UKG Workforce Operating Platform to combine workforce data, employee feedback, and operational insights into a unified workforce intelligence strategy.
• Continuous employee listening through UKG Pro Employee Voice enables leaders to identify engagement risks and retention challenges before they affect business performance.
• Workforce analytics help Afni strengthen frontline leadership by identifying supervisors who may benefit from additional coaching and development.
• Reliable payroll and integrated HR technology allow HR teams to focus less on administration and more on strategic workforce initiatives.
• The deployment reflects growing enterprise adoption of AI-powered workforce operating platforms that support predictive workforce management and employee experience.

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