Part one of our Mercer report deep dive 

Recently, Mercer’s Workforce 2.0 report on global talent trends from 2024-2025 landed on our desk. The report focused on Unlocking human potential in a machine-augmented world, surveying 14,400+ C-suite executives, HR leaders, employees, and investors on the metamorphosis modern businesses are going through. At the epicentre of this report is the tension of increasingly swift technological innovation, and the pressure on the human workforce to adapt.  

This anxiety is no more clearly illustrated than in the perceived primary risks to business growth in 2025:  

• 41% Reskilling /upskilling to keep up with the demands of customers and/or an evolving business model/transformative technology  

• 25% Inability to realize the full potential of technology  

• 25% The impact of the longevity economy 

Tech concerns take the top two spots. And in fact, nearly 60% of execs worry that tech innovation is outpacing reskilling and redeploying efforts, accompanied by the fact that an astonishing 67% of organisations adopt tech without changing how work happens, which signals that this is an area that deserves and necessitates attention.  

Drive human-centric productivity 

Execs believe work redesign to be the least impactful area to boost productivity – however, 88% of organisations whose HR leaders rate them as world-class at redesigning work have seen increased productivity. Creativity around flexible working is cited by Mercer to be an enabler of effective work redesign.  

What’s happening with Gen AI? 

• 56% of HR leaders report AI has increased efficiency in their organisation, and 46% say it has contributed to innovation. 

• Gen AI has been a ‘job creator’ in 21% of organisations; for the majority it has had no impact on jobs, whilst 28% report job losses. 

• 39% of workers believe they are more replaceable and less valued than four years ago. 

If AI is a job augmenter – not replacer, as many leaders are keen to emphasise – how can organisations adequately measure, recognise and make the most of human contribution? There is a growing chasm in employee experience and recognition that must be redressed as organisations grow their adoption of AI.  

The automation myth 

Employees report that one third of their work today is mundane and repetitive. This may seem like the obvious opportunity to deploy AI, however execs see it as an engine of growth, more interested in how it can create new product and revenue streams.  

AI to handle a poorly concealed culture problem 

“It is clear that executives see the potential of human-machine teaming to mitigate some of the most pressing talent risks of our time — constrained supply, rising labor costs, ineffective talent mobility, low workforce energy levels, and more.” 

The challenges which AI can replace, as cited by Mercer, don’t do much to assuage the fears of employees around being replaced. How do organisations consolidate their need to cut costs with the ethical requirement to pay people fairly? Is it better to pay no one at all? These systemic catches occasionally leak through a very pro-AI rhetoric which permeates organisations at a high-level. 

From churn and burn to reskill and redeploy 

To keep up with the pace of change, in-demand skills aren’t easy to access or afford. Leading organisations are investing in their people, matching people to work by their skills – this is a “build from within” approach which Mercer says will pay dividends.  

High growth firms are more likely than low growth firms to invest in the following: 

• Focusing on developing skills internally (1.3x more likely) 

• Matching people to internal job opportunities (1.3x more likely) 

• Redesigning work to increase productivity (1.6x more likely) 

In the process of upskilling employees, organisations must be able to adequately answer the question ‘What’s in it for me?’ – for 45% of HR leaders that’s rewarding skill acquisition, and 60% of organisations use incentives do so through salary progression.  

Stay tuned for part two, when we dive into Mercer’s findings on the theme ‘Anchor trust & equity’.