AI Expectations Are Becoming a Talent Management Issue

The findings suggest that AI adoption is becoming more than a technology investment for employers. It is increasingly connected to how workers assess potential employers, evaluate career opportunities, and decide whether to stay in their current roles.

According to G-P’s report, 92% of executives said their organization’s AI strategy influences its ability to attract and retain top talent. Among employees likely to look for a new job, 73% want their next employer to embrace AI as a core part of its operations.

That creates a dual challenge for HR leaders. Organizations need to introduce AI in ways that improve productivity and business performance, while communicating how the technology will affect employees, their skills, and their future opportunities. A company’s approach to AI governance may become part of its employer brand, particularly as candidates consider whether an organization’s values align with their own.

The report found that 58% of employees would turn down a job offer if the company’s AI values conflicted with their personal views. This indicates that recruitment strategies may need to address not only which AI tools an employer uses, but also how it manages responsible adoption, employee development, and human oversight.

Job Mobility Remains High Despite Economic Confidence

The report also highlights a potential disconnect between confidence in the economy and employee retention. While 80% of respondents expressed confidence in their organization’s ability to navigate macroeconomic conditions over the next 12 months, 62% of employees said they were actively searching or likely to search for a new job within six months. That figure was up from 52% in the previous year’s report.

Executives were more likely than employees to express strong confidence in their organizations’ ability to navigate uncertainty, at 49% compared with 27%.

For HR teams, the figures suggest that organizational resilience and employee commitment should be assessed separately. An employer may feel well positioned to manage economic disruption while still facing attrition risks, skills shortages, or unmet employee expectations.

Retention strategies may therefore need to combine competitive compensation with career development, clearer communication about AI adoption, and opportunities for workers to build skills that remain valuable as job requirements change.

Cross-Border Employment Creates Compliance Challenges

International hiring offers companies access to broader talent pools, but distributed workforces can complicate employment, payroll, and tax compliance.

G-P’s survey found that 93% of executives were confident their distributed workforce complied with local labor and tax laws. Yet 28% of employees said they had worked remotely from another country or state for more than 30 consecutive days without notifying HR.

Meanwhile, 85% of executives said cross-border HR and compliance had become more complex over the previous year, and 63% said regulatory complexity had delayed or slowed expansion into new markets.

These findings point to a visibility problem for global HR operations. Employee location changes can affect employment obligations, payroll withholding, tax exposure, and the rules governing remote work. When workers move between jurisdictions without informing their employers, HR teams may struggle to identify risks before they become operational or legal issues.

For multinational businesses, global employment platforms, workforce management systems, and coordinated HR processes can help establish more consistent oversight. Technology alone, however, cannot replace jurisdiction-specific legal and tax advice or clear policies for employees working remotely across borders.

Side Income and AI Coworkers Reshape Workforce Planning

The report also identifies changing attitudes toward secondary employment. Some 43% of employees said they had another income stream, while another 31% were considering one. This trend exists even though 79% of surveyed organizations reportedly maintained formal policies against secondary employment.

For employers, the figures raise questions about how moonlighting policies align with employee financial needs, conflicts of interest, confidentiality requirements, and evolving expectations around work. HR leaders may need to distinguish legitimate outside activities from arrangements that create compliance or performance risks.

Looking further ahead, 35% of respondents identified AI coworkers as the workplace trend likely to have the greatest business impact over the next decade. Skills-based hiring followed at 32%.

The results suggest that organizations are considering two related changes: greater collaboration between employees and AI systems, and a stronger emphasis on demonstrable skills rather than traditional credentials alone.

As AI handles more routine tasks, the report’s respondents identified critical thinking (42%), creativity (37%), and communication (35%) among the most valuable human skills. For L&D teams, this points toward development programs that combine technical AI literacy with judgment, problem-solving, and interpersonal capabilities.

HR Strategy Must Connect Technology With People

G-P’s 2026 World at Work Report draws on responses from 7,100 business leaders and professionals across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, and Singapore. Its findings capture a workforce facing simultaneous changes in technology adoption, employee mobility, and global employment requirements.

The results are based on survey responses and should be interpreted as reported attitudes and experiences, rather than proof that AI adoption directly causes higher retention or that every organization faces the same compliance risks.

For HR technology providers, the findings point to demand for tools that connect global employment administration, compliance visibility, workforce development, and AI-enabled operations. For employers, the priority is to make these systems part of a broader workforce strategy.

The central challenge is balancing technological change with employee trust. Organizations that explain their AI policies, support continuous skills development, and maintain visibility across distributed workforces will be better equipped to respond to changing expectations. The report reinforces a practical message for HR leaders: technology strategy, talent strategy, and global workforce governance are increasingly interconnected.

Market Landscape

Global HR technology is evolving around three connected priorities: AI-enabled work, skills-based talent management, and cross-border workforce compliance. Employers are adopting AI while navigating employee concerns about responsible use, rising job mobility, and growing complexity in international employment.

G-P’s findings highlight opportunities for global employment platforms, HR information systems, payroll providers, and learning technology vendors to help businesses improve workforce visibility and support distributed employees.

For HR leaders, the competitive advantage will not come from AI adoption alone. It will depend on connecting technology investment with employee trust, practical skills development, retention strategies, and reliable compliance processes.

Top Insights

• G-P’s 2026 report finds that 58% of surveyed employees would reject an offer if an employer’s AI values conflicted with their own.

• Employee job-search intentions increased to 62%, compared with 52% in the previous year’s report, despite widespread confidence in organizational resilience.

• Cross-border compliance remains a concern, with 85% of executives reporting increased complexity and 63% citing expansion delays.

• Secondary income streams are becoming more common, challenging employers to review outside-work policies, conflicts of interest, and employee expectations.

• Critical thinking, creativity, and communication rank among the human skills respondents consider valuable as AI becomes more integrated into work.

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