2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends for Tech, Media, and Telecom

Our 2020 TMT report findings

While all of this year’s Human Capital Trends are TMT-relevant, four main trends stood out. Discover why belonging, knowledge management, reskilling the workforce, and ethics and the future of work ranked the highest among HR execs, and why their large readiness gaps need to be addressed.

Belonging
Today’s workers are feeling less connected and more isolated. Long hours, remote work, and the increased use of technology are challenging their sense of belonging to both their teams and organizations. To our TMT survey respondents, belonging stood out as the most important human capital issue. An overwhelming majority of them said they believed belonging greatly drives or supports their organizations' performance. Yet only a small number of them felt that their organization was ready to address belonging in the workplace today. Companies today can respond by fostering comfort, connection, and contribution to restore a sense of belonging in their workforce.

Knowledge Management
In today’s digital, hyperconnected era, organizations are collecting and generating a “tsunami of data,” but many struggle to create value from that data. Over half of our survey respondents defined knowledge management as the simple documenting and disseminating of knowledge; far fewer linked it to value-driving action and less than half saw it as a key to develop new products, services, or solutions. To be able to capitalize on changes presented by AI, new virtual ways of working, and shifts in workforce composition, organizations must redefine how they promote knowledge creation and knowledge management to help maximize human potential at work.

Reskilling the Workforce
Our survey revealed that 53 percent of TMT respondents think that 50-100 percent of employees will need to change their skills and capabilities in the next three years. Organizations today face changing business landscapes requiring evolving capabilities and skills. Navigating these changes with a worker development approach that considers the dynamic nature of jobs and people’s potential to reinvent themselves is key to enabling organizational resilience.

Ethics and the Future of Work
As organizations integrate people, technology, alternative workforces, and new ways of working, leaders are wrestling with an increasing range of ethical challenges. Eighty three percent of TMT respondents said they believe the future of work raises ethical concerns, yet only one in four reported that their companies have clear policies and leaders in place to manage them. In an age when more people trust their employers than their governments, NGOs, the media, or even business in general, it is incumbent upon organizations to address challenging ethical questions in all aspects of the future of work.