Global Talent Trends

What LinkedIn Chief Economist Karin Kimbrough says:

We see labor markets rebalancing further as the global economy slows. This means employers are reclaiming some bargaining power from their employees. But at the same time, labor markets remain relatively tight in many countries and industries when compared to their pre-pandemic baseline. That’s what makes this era so unique. 

Our new internal mobility data insights are a bright spot — and a beacon into the future. As we learned in the last Global Talent Trends report, internal mobility increases employee retention. And despite the current hiring slowdown, everything I’m seeing indicates that a top business challenge moving forward revolves around people: finding the people who have the skills businesses need, keeping them, and upskilling them.

The way through this ongoing uncertainty and change is to create a more efficient and equitable labor market — and we do that by orienting businesses around skills.

As talent leaders, you’re best positioned to lead the way — designing roles around skills; recruiting candidates and deploying employees based on their skills; and helping employees build skills businesses need in the future.

Even with internal mobility increasing in some industries, it’s still not top of mind for most employees. 

Respondents to our 12-country Workforce Confidence Index survey are less inclined to consider an internal move as a career option.

What LinkedIn VP of Talent Development Linda Jingfang Cai says:

All factors (like company culture and flexible-work options) being equal, employees prioritize external job opportunities over internal moves for two reasons: those job openings are easier to find, and they often provide bigger pay bumps. Even when employees do prioritize internal roles, they can get discouraged by internal-hiring processes that are often clunky, and it can be hard to demonstrate transferable skills. On top of that, their companies often won’t pay them the same as someone hired from outside. 

As it stands, our labor market values experience over skills. We even see evidence of that in the populations for whom internal mobility works well — people managers and Gen X, both of whom tend to have significant work experience. So as talent leaders, we have to evangelize the shift from valuing our people’s experience to valuing their skills. We need to make it easier to assess and demonstrate skills, and adopt equitable compensation practices that are based on skills. That’s how we unlock the real potential of internal mobility.

Are internal moves encouraged? Do employees know how to access open internal roles? Is there a clear working model between the teams most likely to be accountable for internal mobility (like talent acquisition and talent development)?

What LinkedIn VP of Global Talent Acquisition Jennifer Shappley says:

Even with a job market in flux, people continue to reassess why, where, and how they work. We’re now seeing that employees have three top values that have become almost immovable. People are telling us they have basic needs they want their employers to meet. I think it’s especially important for organizations and leaders to note that employees are underscoring that, for them, flexibility is here to stay.

When we cover the basics, we can start to look deeper within our employee populations and candidate pools to see what will make the difference between them joining our organizations (or staying) and looking for opportunities elsewhere. People today want strong alignment between what they value and what their employers value.

Get strategic about your employer brand — for both your candidates and your employees. People want to know what it’s like to work at your organization — and whether the experience will match with what they’re looking for.

What LinkedIn Chief People Officer Teuila Hanson says:

To me, this insight provides further evidence that a skills-first talent strategy (matching businesses and people based on skills) is good for employees and business.

Employees have long been asking for work that complements the skills they have or want to build. Now we see that when we offer them growth opportunities, they’re more likely to stay. 

I know so many of us are confronting the immediate challenges stemming from the macroeconomic and labor-market uncertainty. But I truly believe we as talent leaders will succeed in the long term when we help our businesses orient around skills. When we know the skills our business has or needs, we can upskill our people accordingly. And in so doing, we satisfy both our organizations’ need for agility and our employees’ need for growth and transformation. 

Introducing a skills-first talent strategy can feel big. But this new insight confirms that every step helps. So while you may be focusing on organization-wide initiatives, don’t be afraid to highlight the business impact that upskilling even a small group of employees can have.