Global Talent Trends report 2022-2023 

Uncover how organizations are taking the opportunity to redesign work, working, and the workplace.
Global Talent Trends 2022-2023
Explore the global data, trends, and insights and their application to redesign work, working, and the workplace.
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Relatable organizations bring joy and create a brighter future

This is a moment of profound opportunity: to pick up the tools of empathy learned and honed during the pandemic period and carve a new way of partnering that is more resilient, sustainable and attuned to the new shape of work. Relatable organizations are bringing back the joy of work and creating a brighter future for all.

Last year, nearly 11,000 executives, HR leaders, and employees told us what’s top of mind. We heard loud and clear that relatable organizations are leading the way in reshaping work, working, and the workplace. What are they focused on? Our research shows that relatable organizations have five things in common: They are constantly resetting for relevance, figuring out new ways to work in partnership, delivering on total well-being outcomes, building for employability, and harnessing collective energy to drive transformative change.

According to 2,474 HR leaders around the world, these efforts continue into 2023. They recognize that even in the face of sociopolitical and economic uncertainty, these priorities must remain front and center for organizations and individuals to thrive. 

How ready is your organization for what’s next?

The pandemic underscored the importance of being opportunistic and resilient – for organizations and individuals alike. 2023 will be a defining year as ambitious transformation plans and persistent challenges come face-to-face with new realities. HR will need to maintain energy and momentum to ready itself and the business for what lies ahead.

The five trends shaping the people agenda in 2022-2023

Relatable organizations are redefining how they interact with their workforces and contribute to society. They are challenging legacy notions of value creation and building for a future that is more sustainable and equitable for all.

The events of the past two years have left an indelible mark on investor, employee and consumer attitudes. The new world of work – more nuanced and personalized – demands a reset of priorities and new skills around listening, learning and adapting to identify and address unmet needs. Companies that fail to adapt will lose the ability to raise capital, attract and retain talent, and stay relevant. Relatable organizations are coming off mute on what they stand for and setting “good work” standards that reflect the values of all their stakeholders. They relentlessly listen to what drives consumer and employee behavior and build cultures and practices that are adaptive by design.

People no longer want to work for a company; they want to work with a company. The future of work depends on flatter and more networked talent models, fueled by a more flexible, fungible, and globally dispersed workforce. This represents a shift in the social contract of work, one that will succeed only if everyone feels they are getting a fair deal. In response, relatable organizations are developing a partnership mindset across their ecosystem. They are building business resilience by infusing equity and inclusion into their talent models, accessing broader and more diverse talent pools, and building out more robust supplier and partner networks. Today, “partnering” over “leading” might be a company’s biggest competitive advantage.

The pandemic exposed and worsened the health and wealth gaps for different populations, underscoring that accessibility and affordability of care is not enough. The well-being ROI that matters today is less about a return on investment (focused on reducing healthcare costs) and more about what makes a difference to drive current and future health outcomes of the workforce. This puts the onus on an employer to ensure the emotional, physical, social, and financial well-being of their employees. Relatable organizations actively encourage healthy, rewarding, and sustainable work behaviors and offer personalized support during moments that matter.

The significant supply and demand gap in both skills and workers has highlighted the role that organizations play not just in ensuring their own sustainability but also in safeguarding the future employability of their people. The pandemic underscored the importance of a skills-based talent model and agile work design in building the workforce of the future. More than ever, organizations are instilling a mindset of lifelong learning, democratizing work opportunities, and helping workers of all backgrounds and generations pave a pathway to prosperity.

The “future of work” has been a hot topic for many years – but as the name indicates, it was always seen as a long-term play. The pandemic accelerated the timeline and exponentially increased the importance of new business models, new ways of working and new technologies. Ideas that were once met with resistance, skepticism and reluctance are now solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time – and while people are exhausted, they are also much more optimistic. Now, companies have a unique opportunity to unlock energy by ensuring that the transformation agenda is centered around the human experience and to redesign work, working and the workplace for a new age.

Priorities for HR leaders vary by geography and industry  

Top 10 results
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2023 priorities for HR leaders by region

Given the economic climate, where will you be investing in 2023? [Top 10 results]

List by region

Global: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve total rewards policies, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver total well-being, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented

North America: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Deliver total well-being, 3. Improve total rewards policies, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Improve strategic workforce planning, 6. Rethink our compensation practices, 7. Deliver on ESG commitments, 8.  Evolve our flexible working culture, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Invest in re/upskilling

Latin America: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Implement automation, 3. Deliver total well-being, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Redesign work, 6. Improve total rewards policies, 7. Invest in re/upskilling, 8. Evolve our flexible working culture, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Improve strategic workforce planning

Pacific: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Deliver total well-being, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Evolve our flexible working culture, 9. Rethink our compensation practices, 10. Reimagine our employer brand

Middle East and North Africa: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Invest in re/upskilling, 6. Improve strategic workforce planning, 7. Implement automation, 8. Deliver on total well-being, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Redesign HR operations

Europe: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Rethink our compensation practices, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Reimagine our employer brand, 9. Redesign work, 10. Deliver on ESG commitments

Africa: 1. Improve strategic workforce planning, 2. Invest in re/upskilling, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Deliver on total well-being, 5. Rethink our compensation practices, 6. Develop human-centric decision making, 7. Enhance employee experience, 8. Redesign work, 9. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 10. Reimagine our employer brand

Asia: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Rethink our compensation practices, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented

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2023 priorities for HR leaders vary by industry

Given the economic climate, where will you be investing in 2023? [Top 10 results]

List by industry

Total: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6.    Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented                                                                                                    

Automotive: 1. Improve strategic workforce planning, 2. Enhance employee experience, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 5. Rethink our compensation practices, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Redesign work, 8. Deliver on total well-being, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Develop human-centric decision making

Chemicals: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Redesign work, 5. Deliver on total well-being, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Rethink our compensation practices, 9. Deliver on ESG commitments, 10. Improve Total Rewards strategies

Construction: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Rethink our compensation practices, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Invest in re/upskilling, 8. Implement automation, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented

Consumer Goods: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Deliver on total well-being, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Rethink our compensation practices, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Design skills-based talent processes, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Implement automation

Education: 1. Rethink our compensation practices, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Redesign work, 4. Enhance employee experience, 5. Invest in re/upskilling, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 9. Develop human-centric decision making, 10. Evolve our flexible working culture

Energy: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve strategic workforce planning, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Implement automation, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Redesign work

Financial services: 1. Design skills-based talent processes, 2. Enhance employee experience, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Deliver on total well-being, 6. Invest in re/upskilling, 7. Evolve our flexible working culture, 8. Redesign work, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Improve Total Rewards strategies

Health: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Deliver on total well-being, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Reimagine our employer brand, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Redesign work, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented

Insurance: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Implement automation, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Evolve our flexible working culture, 6. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 7. Rethink our compensation practices, 8. Deliver on total well-being, 9. Invest in re/upskilling, 10. Deliver on ESG commitments

Life Sciences: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Design skills-based talent processes, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Redesign work, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 10. Evolve our flexible working culture

Logistics: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Invest in re/upskilling, 4. Design skills-based talent processes, 5. Deliver on total well-being, 6. Redesign work, 7. Rethink our compensation practices, 8. Improve strategic workforce planning, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Implement automation

Manufacturing: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve strategic workforce planning, 3. Design skills-based talent processes, 4. Invest in re/upskilling, 5. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 6. Rethink our compensation practices, 7. Ensure diverse groups are represented, 8. Implement automation, 9. Deliver on total well-being, 10. Reimagine our employer brand

Professional Services: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Invest in re/upskilling, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Design skills-based talent processes, 8. Redesign work, 9. Evolve our flexible working culture, 10. Deliver on ESG commitments

Retail: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Rethink our compensation practices, 3. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 4. Improve strategic workforce planning, 5. Redesign work, 6. Design skills-based talent processes, 7. Deliver on total well-being, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Reimagine our employer brand, 10. Evolve our flexible working culture

Technology: 1. Enhance employee experience, 2. Improve Total Rewards strategies, 3. Improve strategic workforce planning, 4. Rethink our compensation practices, 5. Design skills-based talent processes, 6. Deliver on total well-being, 7. Reimagine our employer brand, 8. Invest in re/upskilling, 9. Evolve our flexible working culture, 10. Ensure diverse groups are represented

Benchmark your organization

Relatable organizations are focused on five key areas: resetting for stakeholder relevance, building adaptive capability in their people and processes, figuring out how to work in partnership and tackle inequalities, driving outcomes on employee health and total well-being, incentivizing employability, and harnessing energy for the collective good.

How is your organization forging new ways of partnering that are relatable, sustainable and attuned to the ways people want to work?

Benchmark your actions against the findings from this year’s study.

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