80% of the world’s workforce operates on the frontlines of essential industries: the 2.7 billion healthcare workers, retail associates, warehouse operators, hospitality staff and logistics drivers who keep economies running. The difference between a staffed shift and an unstaffed one directly impacts revenue, customer experience and operational performance.

Yet most enterprise software built over the past two decades was designed for desk-based knowledge workers. Frontline employees are often deskless, without corporate email addresses, and are reached through messaging and phone calls rather than software logins. As a result, frontline hiring and workforce management still relies heavily on fragmented manual processes, spreadsheets and large operational teams, consuming significant time and costing organisations billions every year.

The cost is felt on both sides. Annual employee turnover exceeds 70% in many frontline sectors, leaving recruiters and operations teams buried in administrative work while unfilled roles create operational drag. At the same time, workers often enter jobs without proper onboarding, lose contact with employers within days, and leave within weeks.

Orbio is building an AI workforce platform designed for frontline industries. Its agents can conduct interviews, assess candidate fit and motivation, guide new hires through onboarding, monitor engagement and churn signals, and remain in contact with employees throughout their lifecycle — from first application through to tenure and exit.

For employers, this creates a fundamentally new operating model: the ability to engage and support frontline workforces 24/7 while delegating large parts of workforce operations to AI agents. The result is faster hiring, lower administrative burden, improved retention and a more resilient operational workforce.

Orbio already works with global enterprise customers including Poke House, YUM! Brands (which owns brands including KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut), and AWWG (the global fashion group operating Hackett, Pepe Jeans and Tommy Hilfiger licenses). These companies use Orbio’s AI agents to hire, onboard, manage and retain frontline employees at scale. Operating autonomously across channels including messaging and phone calls, Orbio’s agents can engage candidates and employees directly, handling hiring, onboarding, engagement and offboarding workflows for both full-time and shift-based workforces.

Orbio’s expansion is backed by audited results across Orbio's current markets: over 60% time-to-hire reduction at a pan-European security customer, 60% productivity gains at Poke House, and 70% recruiter productivity uplift across multi-language retail in Benelux.