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Three main “ingredients” in a national growth pattern are regarded, generally, as quite vital: existing natural resources (e.g. including those in sub-soils), state’s geographic position and available workforce (i.e. quality educated population) to actively participate in socio-economic development. It is not only that the WEF’s recent report on workforce and talent strategies – amid global disruption – serves as a good reference source, we also think that these issues deserve additional attention.
Background
The issues of optimal workforce and skills have been closely debated recently around the world and in the European Union states. The “peoples’ engagement” in sustainable growth -since the UN SDG-17 inauguration a decade ago – have become so vital that even a new notion has appeared for that “issue”, i.e. the so-called “chief people officers” in public domain, alongside such widely used notions as chief executive officer and/or chief financial officer, etc.
Recent World Economic Forum’s Chief People Officers Outlook-2025 (CPOO-25) highlights labour market uncertainty and the future of work. Key priorities in the workforce issues include: the “redesign” of employment strategies, culture-building issues, as well as remote work and responsible AI use. The outlook uses new notion (“chief people officers”) in dealing with the “systems thinking and creative leadership, like strategic amateurism, support resilient, adaptable and tech-enabled workforces”.
After analysing more than 130 global leaders, the CPOO-25 explores priorities for building resilient, inclusive and tech-enabled workforces. However, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) experts are currently adopting a “cautious approach” to the workforce’s hiring and restructuring issues due to geo-economic uncertainties and rapid technological advancements. Thus, WEF’s key talent priorities’ issues include: e.g. addressing AI models’ adoption, tackling talent scarcity, as well as responding to changing corporate workforce expectations.
The EU institutions and the member states’ organizations have already recognized great challenges facing “the need for long-term job-transformations”, including sectoral policies’ “structural redesigns”, digital transitions and wide use of numerous AI models and strategies while facing expanded employment opportunities for refugees and accelerate workforce from third countries.
Using new notion -chief people officers – is, actually, “responding” to shifting priorities among younger workers, focusing on flexibility and purpose in the workplace (amid global migration dynamics and challenges), emphasising the need for developing resilient and globally-oriented talent strategies.
The WEF’s “Future of Jobs Report-2023” finds that, globally, about 53% of companies express their “inability to attract talent”, as one of the main barriers to business transformation, with skills gaps in local labour markets accounting for 60% of the challenge. “Despite these pressures to find talent, the employment gap between refugees and migrant groups (i.e. the “refugee gap”) highlights that refugees remain a source of untapped potential both for the host countries and the global labour markets.
Source and citation: https://www.weforum.org/impact/finding-work-after-fleeing-war-companies-aim-to-help-refugees-find-jobs/
On CPOO-25
As continued disruption hits global labour markets, the World Economic Forum has “reacted” with launching “Chief People Officers Outlook 2025” (CPOO-25) to disclose the “senior people leaders” in public and private organizations’ response to capture contemporary talent strategy’s environment. The CPOO-25 findings reveal a dual reality: i.e. a short-term caution and a longer-term imperative for transformation; as to the former, it emphasizes the need to invest, and in latter (the longer-term), indicate changes to “navigate continued disruptions to ensure resilience and success”.
However, recent data confirm “the caution and transformation” circumstances: e.g. the labour markets are showing presently clear signs of “freezing”, with low hiring and quit rates; besides, many organizations are postponing hiring or restructuring decisions as they assess an evolving employment system, while navigating geoeconomic uncertainty and rapid advances in technologies.
As to perspectives in the labour market expectations, the CPOs “expressed no clear consensus underlining current uncertainty”, with the following shifts (in percentage): about 32 for weakening, 42 -no change, and 26 – strengthening, notes the outlook.
Technology remains one of the most transformative trends; but despite general optimism, the CPOs also highlight several near-term risks for their workforce.
It is interesting to note that among main CPOO-25 ideas are the following important ones: the “chief people officers” (CPOs) are pausing hiring and restructuring amid geo-economic uncertainty and rapid technological change; AI’s adoption, talent scarcity and evolving workforce expectations are defining current talent priorities; and, the CPOs are preparing long-term transformation by prioritizing structural redesign, company culture and human-centric AI deployment.
Source: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/09/chief-people-officers-outlook-2025-rethinking-talent-strategy/
Challenges driving structural change
Beneath this uncertainty are structural challenges influencing organizational priorities; hence, the CPOs identify three testing factors, particularly – the AI adoption, talent scarcity and changing workforce expectations.
1. As to the AI adoption, there top three risks, including: a) employees may not adapt or upskill quickly enough to keep pace with new technologies; b) fears of career stagnation and skill atrophy due to the over-reliance on AI; c) ethical and data privacy concerns.
CPOs underline the importance of “intentional, human-centric AI strategies to avoid deepening disparities and to deliver positive outcomes”, notes CPOO-25.
Global trade must leverage AI to navigate increasing volatility and fragmentation. A significant majority of economists advocate for enhanced investment in AI infrastructure by governments and businesses to secure future growth. AI can transform trade operations by enabling predictive modeling, real-time compliance checks, and autonomous decision-making, thus enhancing resilience against disruptions. However, successful AI adoption requires a strategic approach, including executive commitment, cross-functional alignment, and robust governance. Companies that invest in intelligent infrastructure now will better handle challenges and drive sustainable growth in the evolving global landscape.
Source: https://intelligence.weforum.org/topics/a1Gb0000000LJQ4EAO/publications/6d186114ea8e47d290ff05a543474e71
2. As to the talent scarcity, the extensive use of AIs at a global level makes the issues of talent availability and distribution uneven; thus, demographic shifts and skills gaps are compounding talent scarcity. Governments compete to attract and develop skilled talent through national strategies, while global employers adopt more agile workforce models.
Therefore, the chief people officers in the mentioned Outlook emphasize the importance of forward-looking and global strategies – leveraging distributed teams, remote and hybrid operations, and cross-border collaboration in order to remain competitive.
3. In changing workforce expectations, the so-called “people leaders” in the WEF’s outlook point to ways the changing workforce’s expectations are shaping present talent strategies: i.e. workers, particularly younger generations, are entering the labour market with new priorities, placing greater emphasis on work-family’s flexibility and happiness’ purpose.
As one chief people officer observed: “today’s talent is confident, well-informed and unapologetically selective; workers are clear about what they want and willing to walk away from what doesn’t serve them.”
But while expectations evolve, low vacancy rates in many countries, regions and industries create a paradox marked by both “increased agency and choice alongside growing precarity”.
Leaders also report deeper social and psychological shifts. Rising mental health concerns and increasing value polarization within organizations are reshaping workplace dynamics. Technology is seen as both accelerating these trends and redefining how employees connect, communicate and identify with their organizations.
Priorities in workforce’s transition
Besides, workforce’s transformation has become a strategic imperative. In response to the modern challenges, chief people officers are prioritizing a fundamental rethinking of organizational structures, job design and company culture. The WEF’s survey identifies three clear priorities for the year ahead: – review organizational structure and job design; – b) focus on workplace culture, as well as “articulating business purpose and impact”; and c) support workforce deployment of AI and employment’s process automation.
Existing structures and workforce models are increasingly inadequate for tomorrow’s economies and labour markets; hence, the current challenges are accelerating the need for transformation. While this transition is complex, it presents an opportunity to build a more resilient, inclusive and agile world of work.
The WEF’s Chief People Officers Outlook-2025 illustrates that while the present situation is marked by caution, the future requires bold transformation. Accurate data, aligned strategies, responsible leadership and continued innovation will be essential.
This is not just a time for adaptation, concludes the outlook, it is a time for redesign! And the chief people officers are emerging as critical to shaping, enabling and leading the transitions ahead.
General reference and citations from: https://www.weforum.org/publications/chief-people-officers-outlook-september-2025/
As to the European labour market, two presently visible major trends have appeared: migrant workers (from third-countries, coped with numerous restrictions imposed) and remote work (with various hybrid modifications). As a counter-balance to traditional employment policies, each of these two trends possesses some pros and cons.
First, the flows of migrant workers are surrounded by growing restrictions, labour market tests, salary thresholds and waiting periods for getting authorisations. Although greatly “modernizing” traditional employment, this trend shows a new form of labour market protectionism, paving the ways to challenging self-assured native workers.
Thus, regulating “foreign workers” in the EU is subject to numerous directives, such as the Posted Workers Directive and the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive, that set minimum standards for all workers and ensure predictable employment conditions. While some regulations apply universally, specific rules regarding work permits and visas are handled by individual member states, often influenced by EU policies on legal migration and external border control. The goal is to ensure fair treatment and prevent the exploitation of both EU and third-country national workers by establishing minimum rights and monitoring the labor market.
Reference to: https://www.integrin.dk/2025/08/23/regulating-national-labour-markets-remote-work-vs-guided-immigration/
Remote work continues to expand in the EU-27, with nearly one in five workers now in hybrid arrangements and around one in ten working fully remotely. Hybrid models, i.e. splitting time between home and office, have become the dominant form of flexible work, especially in cities and high-skilled sectors. These two trends reveal a paradox: labour market rules are tightening for migrants even as remote and hybrid work opportunities expand in the European employment policies.
However, it is vital to see the third component in the general arsenal of means in the EU’s modernised national employment strategy: i.e. the role of education providers that shall constantly update training new skills in line with the modern global challenges.
See, e.g. Eteris E. Educational Challenges for a New Century: Policies for sustainable growth. – Springer Briefs in Education Series (2024). -126 pp. In: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-59013-9; ISBN 978-3-031-59012-2.