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Talent availability, AI adoption, and geopolitical disruption are reshaping how organisations hire, build, and retain their workforces — and CPOs say the hardest challenge is not finding people, but finding the right ones.
The world is not short of talent. It is short of the right talent, in the right place, at the right time. The forces making that harder are no longer just economic. Geopolitical tensions, migration restrictions and cyberthreats are now sitting squarely on the desks of chief people officers (CPOs), reshaping how organisations plan, hire, and build their workforces.
That is one of the central findings of the World Economic Forum's Chief People Officers' Outlook for May 2026, which draws on a survey of more than 140 people leaders from large global employers conducted between January and March 2026. The report examines how geoeconomic volatility, technological change and shifting labour market dynamics are influencing workforce strategy, and what organisations are doing in response.
A divided outlook on the year ahead
When asked about their expectations for the global labour market over the next 12 months, CPOs were far from united. Half of those surveyed expect talent availability to improve, while 29% anticipate weaker conditions and 21% foresee no change. Expectations around job creation were even more split, with 35% of respondents expecting somewhat stronger growth while 43% anticipate conditions to weaken.
This marks a notable shift from the September 2025 edition of the outlook, where 42% predicted "no change" and short-term caution dominated sentiment. This time around, opinions are more polarised, reflecting the diverging regional and industrial realities shaping today's labour market.
What is consistent across both editions, however, is where CPOs see the real pressure point. As one people leader put it: "The most acute issue is not talent supply; it is talent matching. Skills-based workforce strategies can help bridge that gap.”
The regional picture
Looking across regions, sentiment varies considerably. Expectations of strong talent availability are comparatively higher in East Asia and the Pacific, China, and Europe. Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Latin America, on the other hand, show more cautious outlooks. This is a striking finding given both regions' growing working-age populations, pointing to persistent structural gaps between where workers are and where ready skills reside.
South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Central Asia sit somewhere in the middle, with responses more evenly distributed between strong and moderate expectations.
Workforce strategy: Consistent priorities, sharpened focus
On the strategy front, organisations appear to be staying the course. Reviewing organisational structure and job design has emerged as the top priority for the year ahead, cited by 74% of respondents. This is the same position it held in September 2025. Hot on its heels, each cited by 70% of respondents, are expanding upskilling and reskilling programmes and supporting the deployment of AI and process automation across the workforce.
Compared to the previous edition, where workplace culture and business purpose featured prominently, the emphasis has shifted slightly away from broader transformation themes and towards more targeted interventions. The focus now is on getting job design right and strengthening upskilling efforts that genuinely support technology adoption.
One CPO shared: “Mandatory AI training didn’t stick. We had to make it real to the role. AI only scales when it is grounded in how people actually work, requiring a strategic look at workflows across the company.”
AI: From exploration to execution
That observation reflects a broader shift playing out across organisations. AI deployment is no longer in the planning stage for most. Around 83% of CPOs expect their organisations to be in the scaling phase of AI adoption within the next six to 12 months, meaning AI tools are being rolled out across multiple functions and use cases with increasing integration into workforce processes.
None of the CPOs surveyed said they had no further plans to scale AI adoption. Equally, none yet perceived their organisation to have reached full, widespread adoption. The majority are firmly in the middle ground, past experimentation but not yet at saturation.
What is shifting alongside deployment is where attention is being directed. Earlier phases of AI adoption prioritised training individuals. Now, the conversation is about redesigning work itself, rethinking roles, performance management and talent processes to ensure that AI integration leads to sustainable workforce outcomes.
As one CPO reflected: “Last year, we were still trying to understand what AI is. A year later, the conversation has shifted to what it means for our workforce. We haven’t seen widespread changes to jobs yet – but those shifts are beginning to emerge.”
When geopolitics walks into the office
Perhaps the most significant theme in this edition is the extent to which geopolitics has become a workforce issue. Disruption from geoeconomic and geopolitical forces is no longer confined to trade, technology, and capital flows. It is directly affecting people mobility and workforce planning.
Global competition for strategic skills, particularly in AI, advanced manufacturing and energy, is increasingly shaped by national policy and industrial strategy. As one CPO put it: “Geopolitics used to be about trade flows and technology. Now access to people, talent and skills is becoming the next lever.”
When asked which geoeconomic and geopolitical trends are most directly affecting their workforces, the top responses among CPOs were government labour market interventions such as:
- localisation quotas,
- migration and visa restrictions,
- cyberthreats, industrial espionage, data breaches,
- competition in critical technologies,
- energy security and climate geopolitics,
- trade tensions and protectionist measures,
- regional instability or conflict, and
- supply chain realignment.
The tangible effects are already being felt. The factor most highly ranked by respondents as directly affecting their organisation's workforce strategy was limited access to international talent, followed by wage and cost pressures in certain regions, shifting demand for specific roles and skills, and requirements to strengthen governance.
How organisations are responding
CPOs surveyed for this outlook were asked which aspects of strategic workforce planning they will prioritise in the next six to 12 months in response to geoeconomic and geopolitical disruption.
In the near term, organisations are focusing on strengthening local talent pools through internal mobility and rapid redeployment capabilities, cited by 50% of respondents. This is followed by efforts to enhance cybersecurity and data protection, protect sensitive roles, and review reward frameworks in response to regulatory and protectionist changes.
One CPO said: “We need to transform how we approach change and build agility into the organisation. Change is part of the normal – not an emergency response.”
A problem no organisation can solve alone
The report closed with a clear message: In a fragmented geoeconomic and geopolitical environment, durable workforce resilience requires coordinated ecosystem approaches rather than firm-level action alone. CPOs highlight the need to shift from competition for talent to collaboration on talent through long-term talent development, reskilling, and stronger talent ecosystems across sectors and geographies.
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Infographics / Chief People Officers Outlook May 2025, WEF
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