Dive Brief:
- As 2026 gets underway, the “great resignation” is officially over. Workers want stable income, job certainty and “robust” employer support for agility, resilience and engagement, Adecco’s Jan. 7 workplace trends report found.
- Tangible job security has overtaken personal fulfillment as the top retention factor, according to insights from 37,500 workers and 2,000 C-suite execs across 31 countries, the talent and technology services company said. The data also showed that for the first time in three years, blue-collar workers are more confident than white-collar workers in the fairness of their salary, reflecting the acute demand for skilled manual labor.
- Internal mobility is a concern: Nearly two-thirds (61%) of organizations struggle to transition workers into new internal roles, with only a third investing in the data required to understand internal skills and capabilities, according to the report. The gap is hindering job security and agility, Adecco noted.
Dive Insight:
In a “historic reversal” likely driven by economic uncertainty, employees are now prioritizing organizational credibility, stability and effective leadership over belonging and feeling valued, Perceptyx emphasized in research published late last year.
Pay and flexibility are also important, especially for front-line workers, who have said they want more opportunities to move up through their organization, according to the latest research from workforce management platform UKG.
For job seekers, prospects aren’t entirely bleak, recent studies indicate. For instance, a survey by Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll found that two-thirds of U.S. hiring managers plan to increase headcount in the first half of this year, the highest level seen since the survey began, the pollsters pointed out.
But there are caveats. Although most U.S. hiring managers surveyed in December by Resume.org said they expect to hire during the early part of 2026, hiring mainly will be for functions tied to revenue, transformation and efficiency, Resume.org’s head of career advising said. More than a third of the hiring managers who responded to the Express Employment Professionals/Harris Poll survey commented that candidates lack relevant experience or skills, preventing them from filling open positions.
To thrive in this rapidly changing landscape, employees need a workforce strategy, Adecco stressed. “While the majority of workers globally are willing to adapt to the rise of AI and agree that their knowledge of AI has gone beyond the level of training that their employer has on offer, organizations are struggling to keep pace with upskilling demands,” the firm noted.
Businesses risk poor growth “if they fail to balance technology investment with human-centric strategies,” Adecco added.