The pace of technological change means that the talent environment in 2030 will be radically different to today. The organisations positioned to flourish in this new environment are those that embrace change, prepare for emerging trends and create adaptable workforces. Those that fail to do so, face being left behind.
From skills-based organisations to career autonomy, talent marketplaces to the importance of soft skills in an AI-based world, here are six trends that will shape the workforce of the future.
1. Cross-border talent will drive tomorrow’s success
A key driver of future business success will be the ability to access, develop and deploy hard-to-find skillsets. However, a combination of those skillsets sitting in certain geographies, an increasingly globalised economy and more sophisticated talent technology means organisations see cross-border talent agility as vital.
“Much of the focus on talent agility has to do with the workforce demographics of the world. If you look across birthrates versus ageing populations in many developed countries, we’re starting to see a lopsidedness in their workforces,” says May Myat Thu, partner and global employer services (GES) leader, Deloitte Tohmatsu Tax Co.
“Naturally, to retain top talent with the right skillsets, you need agility. This can be through upskilling and reskilling, or moving people around different geographies. You also might need to provide options for people to work from where they want, to get or keep those skillsets,” she adds.
To retain top talent with the right skillsets, you need agility
New research from Deloitte and Raconteur that sought the opinions of 800 global business leaders backs up the importance of cross-border talent agility. Just over 95% of respondents say that talent agility and cross-border skills are at least somewhat important to achieving business objectives, both today and in five years’ time.
However, organisations face some challenges in implementing talent agility across borders – a topic we explore in more depth in this deep dive article. According to the research, business leaders see cost and compliance becoming less of an issue to leveraging cross-border talent in the future, but concerns around macro-economic risk, cultural integration and change management will grow. As practical hurdles to talent agility diminish, deeper strategic issues may increase.
2. The rise of employee autonomy
The way in which people develop their careers is evolving rapidly. We have already seen the traditional career ladder model weaken, as newer generations opt for career lattices (where talent moves sideways and diagonally as well as vertically to develop news skills and experiences) or even career lily pads (where employees strategically hop between roles, projects and organisations based on personal goals).
The future will see employees take even more autonomy over their careers. According to the research findings, only 11% of organisations currently offer employees high input or full autonomy over their career development. However, by 2030, this figure is expected to triple to 34%, with those in HR and talent management predicting the highest levels of autonomy.
Practically, this could mean employees looking for greater mobility opportunities as organisations move further towards becoming skills-based. It might mean more flexible or remote working, project-based opportunities on a global scale, and even revisiting compensation and salary structures as employees work in different geographies. Without autonomy to move within an organisation, employees are more likely to look externally for opportunities. All this will have an impact on how organisations manage their talent and succession plans, as well as maintain access to critical skills.
“Career paths, succession planning and today’s management structures are not guaranteed to work in the future. However, it’s uncertain what will replace them,” says Teji Susheela Vishwanath, director, global workforce consulting at Deloitte.
“What I do think will happen is a combination of choice and change. Careers won’t be as linear as before and we’ll all have to constantly reskill and upskill. One note of caution though – employees can make as many demands as they want, but they still need organisations to provide those opportunities. Autonomy can’t work for just one party, it needs to work for both business and the individual,” she adds.
3. Talent intelligence platforms will become the norm
With cross-border talent agility seen as a driver of future success, then it follows that technology-driven talent platforms will be a vital way of assessing skills and matching talent with opportunities.
According to Deloitte’s ‘Talent Agility’ research, 73% of businesses have already implemented talent management or intelligence platforms of some sort with 26% expecting to do so in the near future. Faster mobility (46%), faster hiring (46%) and access to a larger cross-border talent pool (45%) are benefits organisations are already seeing, with firms expecting talent marketplaces/platforms to unearth tailored learning and development programmes (41%) and move them towards becoming skills-based (8% today / 21% in five years) in the near future.
Internally, the starting point for effective talent marketplaces is clean data. Otherwise, how do you understand what skills your workforce has?
“We need to consider both internal and external lenses when we implement or adopt talent platforms. Internally, the starting point for effective talent marketplaces is clean data. Otherwise, how do you understand what skills your workforce has? That has to be a combination of technology, but also a very clear framework for what the business is trying to achieve and what’s in it for the workforce,” says Susheela Vishwanath.
“Clarity of purpose, strategy and effective messaging are just as important as how you get the data. There have been examples where people have tried to do skills-based talent marketplaces, but haven’t explained why they are doing it. Often, they meet resistance,” she adds.
“Externally, we are starting to see government, industry and skills bodies developing ‘skills passports’, e.g., in the energy and resources sectors. It is vital to feed into and keep up with and align internal skills taxonomies to these standards.”
4. Tomorrow’s enterprises need to be skills-based to succeed
Most businesses are in the early stages of becoming skills- or task-based organisations, but Deloitte’s survey shows a radical shift in ambition over the next five years.
The survey shows that most respondents are in solid thinking (29%) or early stage (27%) of becoming skills-based, with just 3% having a skills-based workforce strategy embedded at every level. However, by 2030, 6-in-10 leaders believe they will have an integrated (33%) or pioneering (28%) approach to being a skills-based organisation.
So how will organisations achieve this?
“In order to make skills-based talent management a reality, organisations need to understand what skills are required within each role. This means redefining traditional job descriptions to be specific to skills,” says Michelle Fertig, principal, global employment services, US digital transformation at Deloitte, Tax LLP.
“Then, businesses need to inventory the skills available based on their workforces, which often requires a technology platform to create profiles, capture skills and map opportunities,” she adds.
Fertig’s colleague Susheela Vishwanath agrees that being skills-based is the future, but warns that organisations need to be flexible in how they achieve it, saying while there is a huge appetite for becoming skills-based, few have ‘cracked it’. New technologies like AI will almost certainly play a key role in empowering organisations to make positive steps toward being more skills-based.
“The reason I think skills-based is the future is because of the degree of change. Neither education systems nor work experience can fully provide employees with what they need for an ever-changing future, so the only way to measure someone’s fit for a job is skills. This is a nascent area and we need time to see how it works,” says Susheela Vishwanath.
5. Access to human skills will fuel success in an AI-powered world
Hybrid working, AI-powered technology and rapid digital transformation means organisations are competing for the same skillsets in a relatively small talent pool. However, such is the current premium placed on developing such technical skills, that organisations feel relatively confident about their ability to access these skillsets in the near future. What they are less confident about is their ability to find talent with the appropriate human skills – such as resilience, adaptability and emotional intelligence.
The ‘Talent Agility’ research from Deloitte suggests a majority of respondents are confident or very confident that they can access technical skills today (76%) and in five years’ time (78%). However, when asked about softer, more human-centric skills, only 67% believed they could access talent with those skills today, with 75% expecting to do so in five years.
“Everybody is interested in how AI can augment work, allowing employees to have the additional bandwidth to be more productive and creative,” says Fertig.
“That means people will need to lean more into their human capabilities, like empathy, critical thinking and ethical decision making. What does it mean to build relationships, deal with change, or be a manager in an era of artificial intelligence? We’ll see that human skills are just as important as technical and AI skills,” she adds.
6. Enterprises need to overcome structural rigidity to retain talent
In a world of constant change, employees understand that they will have to adapt, evolve and learn new skills to flourish. The organisations that will thrive in this environment are those that provide employees with personalised learning and development opportunities and facilitate internal mobility, negating the need to move companies.
More than seven-in-ten (71%) respondents said that data-enabled personalised learning and career paths would have the most significant impact on future strategy – second only to upskilling teams to work with AI (74%).
“Artificial intelligence can curate specific learning pathways for individuals based on the skills they need for their role. This personalised learning and development allows both employees and organisations to build skills for future agility,” says Fertig.
However, the research also shows that smaller organisations (those under 500 employees) are significantly more likely to embrace data-enabled learning pathways than larger enterprises.
To avoid losing out on talent, larger organisations need to confront structural challenges around learning and data, using technology to create outcomes that better serve both individuals and organisational strategy.
Susheela Vishwanath adds “We are starting to see organisations looking to actively develop specialist teams that will allow them to access cross-border talent in flexible, agile, hybrid ways. These teams are made up of SMEs across Talent, HR, Mobility, Tax and Legal, specialists who likely sat in separate siloed teams in the past, have been brought together to create a new framework for cross-border talent support.”
Leading the next talent revolution
For HR and people leaders, the coming decade won’t reward caution – it will reward courage. The future of work will belong to those who move beyond legacy systems and can build borderless, skills-driven, human-first organisations. Technology may evolve faster than any workforce plan, but purpose, adaptability and understanding will anchor success.
The challenge now is not just to anticipate change, but to design it with purpose – and in doing so, turn talent strategy into the ultimate lever for growth, resilience and reinvention.
To find out more about talent intelligence and the future of work, please visit Deloitte
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The pace of technological change means that the talent environment in 2030 will be radically different to today. The organisations positioned to flourish in this new environment are those that embrace change, prepare for emerging trends and create adaptable workforces. Those that fail to do so, face being left behind.
From skills-based organisations to career autonomy, talent marketplaces to the importance of soft skills in an AI-based world, here are six trends that will shape the workforce of the future.
