October 2024
Global Talent Trends
Australia Edition
Data-driven insights into the changing world of work
Over the past 12 months, talent leaders have tackled one big challenge after another, even as those challenges often pulled them in opposite directions. Remote work and return to office. Hiring surges and headcount reductions. Developing AI-specific skills and prioritising innately human skills.
As far-ranging as those issues are, they all point to the key to success in the emerging world of AI: a company's people.
“As experts in human potential and change management, talent leaders are uniquely positioned to help their organisations unlock human capability in this AI era of work. Just as you’d upgrade your tech stack, you’ll need to upgrade your talent playbooks to stay ahead and unleash all that’s possible.” Teuila Hanson, LinkedIn senior vice president and chief people officer
Teuila Hanson
LinkedIn senior vice president and chief people officer
Teuila Hanson
LinkedIn senior vice president and chief people officer
In this report, we surface data insights from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, the LinkedIn Executive Confidence Index survey, and our global member community of over a billion professionals to understand how the world of talent is shifting with the arrival and proliferation of generative AI (GAI).
Hiring around the world and in Australia is stabilising — internal mobility is on
the rise
Year-over-year hiring rates are stabilising, with a moderation in the hiring slowdown.
While hiring rates across most industries are down, the tech industry is recovering from a hiring slowdown and is even up in several countries relative to last year.
In Australia, three industries that remained stable during the slowdown were financial services, wholesale and consumer services.
* = Seasonally adjusted.
The LinkedIn Hiring Rate (LHR) is the number of LinkedIn members who added a new employer to their profile in the same month the new job began divided by the total number of LinkedIn members in that country. By only analysing the timeliest data, we can make month-to-month comparisons and account for any potential lags in members updating their profiles.
Internal mobility has increased 7% year-over-year in Australia.
Versus global increase of 6%.
“Internal mobility” is defined as any point in which an employee took a new position at the same company and includes both lateral moves and promotions. Companies with fewer than 100 transitions were excluded.
What LinkedIn chief economist Karin Kimbrough says to talent leaders:
Hiring in most countries and most industries is still down year-over-year, but this slowdown has begun to show signs of moderation and even stabilisation in some cases like the technology, information, and media industry. LinkedIn data showing increasing internal mobility is encouraging and shows that companies are discovering how leveraging internal hiring can accelerate organisational agility, employee engagement and retention, and career development.
The time for organisations to welcome GAI is now
About 8 in 10 Australian executives see at least one way GAI will help their employees.
reducing time spent on mundane but necessary job tasks.
increasing productivity
freeing up employees’ time for strategic and creative thinking
Most companies haven’t yet fully embraced GAI, creating a significant opportunity for those who move quickly to get on board.
Where Australian executives rate their organisations GAI adoption.
- About 1 in 10 are “Leading — my organisation has broad leadership alignment, comprehensive tools, and strong processes in place for GAI adoption.”
- About 2.5 in 10 are “Accelerating — my organisation is making progress toward leadership alignment and has some tools and processes in place for GAI adoption.”
- About 4 in 10 are “Emerging — my organisation has limited leadership alignment, limited tools, and ad hoc processes in place for GAI adoption.”
- About 2 in 10 have not started the process.”
What LinkedIn chief economic opportunity officer Aneesh Raman says to talent leaders:
Most organisations are curious and excited about AI’s potential but are stuck on how to make that potential a reality in the day-to-day of work. The talent innovators I’ve spoken with have one thing in common: They are bringing a human-centric view to AI and believe in the power of people more than the power of tech alone. Those pioneers know that for AI adoption to be effective, talent leaders need to be involved at every stage of the planning, bringing their change management skills to bear at every step. The organisations that get that will be the organisations that succeed most in this new era, because in this era it'll all come down to who has the best talent, not simply the best tech.
Recruiting leaders will be zeroing in on soft skills
80% of Australian executives plan to hire next year.
Top 3 soft skills in ANZ
1. Problem solving
2. Analytical skills
3. Team Leadership
LinkedIn’s Executive Confidence Index (ECI) is an online survey taken every quarter by ~5,000 LinkedIn members (at the VP-level or above in 10+ countries). ECI data included in this report are from June 12-26, 2024. Members were randomly sampled and must be opted into research to participate. We analyze data in aggregate and will always respect member privacy. Data are weighted by Seniority and Industry to ensure fair representation of executives on the platform. The results represent the world as seen through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership and the overall market population are not accounted for.
What LinkedIn VP and head of global talent acquisition Erin Scruggs says to talent leaders:
AI has the potential to lead to major shifts in how we hire and who we hire. As AI increasingly takes on the less complex, more repeatable tasks being done by the workforce, companies will need to hire talent who have broader, uniquely human skills. We’re seeing increasing demand for skills like problem-solving, adaptability, and collaboration — skills that spur organisational agility. And more and more, TA teams that are looking to hire quality talent faster should consistently scour their current employee base as a source of hire alongside potential external talent.
AI adoption goes hand-in-hand with broad skill development
Adopting AI is not just about productivity; it’s also about enhancing human capabilities to create a more innovative workforce.
Employees skilled at using GAI are 5x more likely than others to develop skills like creative ideation, design thinking, and emotional intelligence.
Companies that have more employees skilled at using GAI also see 4x higher leadership promotion rate and 5x higher overall promotion rate compared with companies with fewer such employees.
In Australia, LinkedIn members increased their consumption of learning content by 5% year-over-year, signaling they are dedicating more time to learning and upskilling.
9 out of 10 Australian executives plan to increase or maintain their financial investment in employee learning & development, including upskilling and reskilling in the next 6 months.
Employees skilled at using GAI are measured by members who have added at least one GAI skill, such as ChatGPT, to their LinkedIn profiles. Overall promotion rate is measured using the median ratio of total promotions by total average headcount and leadership promotion rate is measured using the median ratio of total managerial level promotions by total average headcount, both in the last 12 months. Only full-time employees are considered in companies with more than 100 employees.
The likelihood of developing a soft skill is determined by dividing the proportion of GAI skilled members who upskilled by the proportion of non-GAI skilled members who upskilled a given soft skill in the last 12 months.
What LinkedIn senior director of talent development Stephanie Conway says to talent leaders:
Creating readiness for AI adoption requires companies to take a systemic approach. Providing opportunities to apply gen AI in the flow of work (the what) needs to be combined with a focus on human skill development, in particular growth mindset, innovation, and resilience (the how). Underpinned by a culture of continuous learning, from new hires to senior executives (the who), “learning to learn” will become a critical skill for organisations as they develop talent that can adapt to the fast-evolving workplace. I encourage talent leaders to be early adopters by experimenting with this new technology, integrating it into learning experiences, and exploring how AI tools can scale learning across their organisations.
GAI is a blessing disguised as a challenge
Companies that embrace GAI by securing the right tools, applying them intelligently, and supporting their teams in learning how to best use them will reap a windfall in increased engagement and productivity.
63% of Australian executives agree GAI will unlock new potential in high-performing employees in their organisation
More than half agree in planning to have their organisation use GAI to unlock more growth and revenue opportunities in the next 12 months.
Even as workforces become more GAI savvy, they will simultaneously need to sharpen their particularly human skills — think problem-solving, communication, creativity, and compassion. LinkedIn will be here each step of the way, with timely thought leadership and one-of-a-kind data insights as well as the talent tools and skill-building content to help organisations thrive.
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Questions? Comments? Feedback? Reach out to the report lead, Tanya Oei.
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