2023 Global Human Capital Trends

The boundaries that were once assumed to be the natural order of things are falling away as disruption and discontinuity challenge traditional models and assumptions about work. Organizations and workers must traverse this new landscape together, calling on a new set of fundamentals to navigate the boundaryless world.

In a boundaryless world, work isn’t defined by jobs, the workplace isn’t a specific place, and many workers aren’t traditional employees. Those who partner with workers and experiment with what’s possible will create sustainable work models and elevated outcomes—making work better for humans and humans better at work.
 

Framing the challenge: Think like a researcher

Organizations and workers should activate their curiosity, looking at each decision as an experiment that will expedite impact and generate new insights.

	Navigating the end of jobs: Skills replace jobs as the focal point for matching workers with work
	Powering human impact with technology: Technology contributes to making work better for humans and humans better at work
	Activating the future of workplace: The workplace evolves to be an input to the work itself

Charting a new path: Cocreate the relationship

Organizations and workers will need to learn to navigate this new world together—cocreating new rules, new boundaries, and a new relationship.

	Negotiating worker data: Organizations and workers vie for control of worker data when they should focus on mutual benefits
	Harnessing worker agency: Organizations drive value and strengthen their relationship with workers by embracing rising worker influence
	Unlocking the workforce ecosystem: Removing traditional employment distinctions unlocks access to a true workforce  ecosystem – and with it, critical skills and worker potential

Designing for impact: Prioritize human outcomes

Organizations should create impact not only for their business, their workers, or their shareholders but for the broader society as well.

	Taking bold actions for equitable outcomes: The DEI conversation shifts from activities to outcomes
	Advancing the human element of sustainability: Human sustainability rises to the foreor organizations’ sustainability strategies
	Elevating the focus on human risk: Opening the aperture and changing the lens on risks to focus on the human element

Leading in a boundaryless world

Your organization and its leaders are facing a pivotal reframing moment as business and societal shifts continue to change the trajectory of organizations’ human agendas. To thrive, leaders must evolve in tandem with their organizations and adopt a new set of fundamentals to mobilize workers and teams against new outcomes.

Reimagining leadership
Leadership in a boundaryless world is less about formal authority and more about use of insight, personal accountability, connection to values, and action.

This means you
Leaders today can be anyone who mobilizes workers to get work done and is no longer contingent on position, hierarchy, or the number of direct reports.

The choice in front of you
This is your opportunity to take advantage of the lack of boundaries to reframe your role in creating the future of your organization.

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