The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published the second iteration of its Chief People Officers’ Outlook Report, following the inaugural edition in September last year. 

The May 2026 report details how geoeconomic and geopolitical tensions, economic volatility and technology trends are impacting global talent dynamics, workforce strategy and organizational priorities. 

“The task ahead is not simply to manage disruption, but to build more resilient and durable jobs and talent ecosystems – enabling inclusive opportunity and supporting shared prosperity,” the report stated. 

UNLEASH examines the report’s top four findings and what HR leaders need to do next. 

1. Prioritize skills-based workforce planning

What the WEF says: Looking to the next 12 months, HR leaders are confident on talent availability with 42% believing it will be “somewhat stronger” and a further 8% believing it will become “much stronger.” 

However, HR’s expectations for job creation are muddled: 43% of CPOs expect job creation to be weaker, while 35% believe it will be stronger. 22% anticipate no change in the next year. 

For CPOs “the core constraint is not overall labor supply, but access to high-skilled, future-ready talent.” 

HR’s next actions: Geopolitical and geoeconomic volatility is reshaping the global talent marketplace; CPOs are cognizant that this directly impacts access to skills and workforce planning. 

To bridge the gap between the talent available and the talent needed to achieve strategic objectives, HR leaders should center workforce planning around skills. 

Skills are often acknowledged as the foundation of redesigning work and roles; mapping critical skills across the workforce, including linking hiring, progression and compensation to skills, is foundational to the new era of workforce planning. 

2. Redefine job roles before rolling out AI

What the WEF says: Three in four (74%) HR leaders are prioritizing reviews of organizational structure and job design for the rest of 2026. 

This was followed by providing upskilling and reskilling programs, as well as supporting workforce deployment of AI and process automation respectively (both 70%). 

The report noted that these priorities are consistent with findings from 2025 – but there was a  new emphasis on “more targeted interventions, particularly reviewing job design and strengthening upskilling” as part of strategies to support technology adoption. 

HR’s next actions: While HR leaders are clearly focused on redesigning how work gets done and what roles within the organization look like, it is imperative to complete this work before rolling out AI projects. 

Layering AI on top of traditional organizational design and job tasks will not yield the desired results from a technology investment or workforce productivity perspective. 

HR leaders must break down roles into the tasks that will be automated, augmented, or for people only, then redefine the workflows around these, before layering on the AI itself. 

3. Scale AI beyond pilots across the organization

What the WEF says: 83% of CPOs expect AI projects to be in the scaling stage in the coming 6-12 months. Just 17% will still be in the exploratory/experimentation stage. 

No respondents believe their AI will be embedded at scale across the organization and systematically shaping workforce deployment, roles and processes over the same period. 

CPOs have moved from collaboration with other functions in 2025 to “operational realities and practical implementation” of broader organizational rollouts, the report noted. 

HR’s next actions: AI is no longer experimental for most, but organization-wide implementation is still a target rather than a reality.  

HR leaders grappling with the enormity of this task should look to successful use cases and scale them rapidly, looking beyond isolated pilots to cross-functional opportunities.  

Foundational to this is HR leading on establishing governance, risk controls, and clear ownership of AI, as well ensuring the contextual architecture of the organization is also fed into AI projects.

4. Make internal mobility the first step of talent strategy

What the WEF says: In response to geopolitical and geoeconomic turmoil, CPOs ranked enhancing internal mobility and rapid redeployment capabilities at the top of their priorities for the next 6-12 months. 

Following enhancing cybersecurity and data protection were reviews of reward, pay and benefits frameworks to reflect regulatory and protectionist changes, and developing regional or diversified talent hubs to reduce geopolitical dependency, were also cited as top priorities. 

The report states that resilience increasingly depends on geographic diversification, skills-based workforce planning, and operating models capable of adapting to regulatory and geopolitical shocks. 

HR’s next actions: To achieve this resilience, CPOs need to realign talent strategies to close internal skills gaps.  

External hiring may be too slow and costly; it also could be unreliable in securing the required skills in a competitive hiring environment. 

Incentivizing lateral moves and reskilling can demonstrate alternative career trajectories to traditional upward promotions, while personalized skill growth plans can also help retain talent crucial to achieving organizational objectives. 

Internal talent marketplaces can match staff with specific tasks or projects that align with their skills or career progression paths, creating opportunities for growth and development.