59 per cent of HR leaders say attracting people with the digital skills they need is their biggest challenge. Below are the seven challenges that recent research identifies for HR and L&D professionals, with the figures and the briefings behind them.
Source: Mercer, Global Talent Trends 2026, February 2026 (almost 12,000 executives, HR leaders, investors and employees worldwide).
Set your own HR agenda against what is being measured elsewhere, and back up proposals to the executive team or works council with a source.
For HR directors, HR business partners, learning and development and talent management, in business and in the public sector · Compiled with AI from public sources, with the source for every figure · How the challenges were chosen
HR leaders say finding people with digital skills is their biggest challenge. Meanwhile, employees find that their manager knows little of what they can do beyond their job, while senior leaders want to move to skills-based working.
59%of HR leaders say attracting people with the digital skills they need is their biggest challenge.MercerNot yet checked
49%of L&D and HR professionals say senior leaders fear staff lack the skills the strategy requires.LinkedIn LearningNot yet checked
33%of Dutch employees say their manager overlooks skills beyond their current job title.RandstadNot yet checked
A caveat. Mercer does not say how many HR leaders are in the sample. In the same survey, 63 per cent of executives say the organisation should move to skills-based working; none of the sources measures how far organisations have got.
Employees already use AI at work, often on their own initiative, but only a minority feel adequately trained. Even at large companies, managers are far from always offered AI training.
36%of employees, managers and leaders feel adequately trained to work with AI.Boston Consulting GroupNot yet checked
Almost 90%of Dutch nurses, carers and support workers have never had any training in AI.NivelNot yet checked
57%of HR directors at Fortune 500 companies offer AI training for managers.GallupNot yet checked
A caveat. The figure from Nivel, the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research, covers healthcare only. There, just over half used AI in their work, two thirds of them on their own initiative, and more than six in ten want training. No comparable Dutch figure across all sectors was found.
Employees see their work changing and fear their skills are falling behind. To keep up, what they ask for most is time, followed by guidance or training. Many feel the responsibility rests on them alone.
44.5%of Dutch employees say what they mainly need to adapt to changes in their work is time.TNO and CBSNot yet checked
53%of employees worry that they lack the skills they will need in future.MercerNot yet checked
41%of Dutch employees feel the responsibility for a future-proof skill set lies mainly with themselves.RandstadNot yet checked
Briefings behind this
There is no briefing on this yet.
A caveat. According to the NEA, 59.5 per cent of employees currently feel no need for training, and 54 per cent took a course in the past two years. Guidance or coaching and a course are each named by 31 per cent as what they need to keep up.
MercerGlobal Talent Trends 2026 · press release · Global · almost 12,000 executives, HR leaders, investors and employees
Keeping staff now matters more than hiring
Dutch HR professionals now see retaining employees as a bigger task than attracting them. In their view, a lack of career progression is the main reason people leave.
53.2%of Dutch HR professionals call retention the biggest challenge, against 46.8% for attracting employees.Trends in HRNot yet checked
33.5%of HR professionals name a lack of progression opportunities as the main reason for staff turnover.Trends in HRNot yet checked
88%of organisations are worried about retention; learning opportunities are the most common response.LinkedIn LearningNot yet checked
Briefings behind this
There is no briefing on this yet.
A caveat. Berenschot sees the same shift: in 2025 recruitment slipped from first to second place on the HR agenda, while development and absence rose. The announcement gives no percentages. The Trends in HR figures are estimates by HR professionals, not a survey of people who left.
Sources (3)
BerenschotHR-Trendonderzoek 2026 · survey · Netherlands · over 900 HR professionals · via NL Times
One in five Dutch employees has burnout symptoms, the highest share since measurement began. Sickness absence is above the long-term average, and HR professionals rank it among their top three themes for 2026.
21%of Dutch employees had burnout symptoms in 2025, up from 19% in 2023 and 13% in 2015.TNO and CBSNot yet checked
5.8%was the sickness absence rate in the first quarter of 2026, against an average of 5.0% since 1996.CBSNot yet checked
44%of employees worldwide say they are thriving at work, down from 66% in 2024.MercerNot yet checked
A caveat. Using the same NEA data (the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey), RIVM, the Dutch public health institute, arrives at 20.7 per cent. Of those off sick in 2025, 23 per cent said their absence was wholly or partly caused by work (Statistics Netherlands, CBS). The Mercer figure is global and not broken out for the Netherlands.
HR relies on managers for career conversations and for guiding staff through AI. HR directors doubt managers are up to it, few employees have had help with a career plan, and some managers feel unprepared.
50%of HR directors at Fortune 500 companies have little or no confidence that managers can guide staff through AI.GallupNot yet checked
15%of employees got help from their manager with a career plan in the past six months, down 5 percentage points on 2024.LinkedIn LearningNot yet checked
36%of managers feel insufficiently prepared to lead people.DeloitteNot yet checked
A caveat. A different picture from the Netherlands: eight in ten employees say their manager encourages them to develop their knowledge and skills (NEA 2025). In the LinkedIn survey, half name a lack of support for managers as the biggest obstacle to career development.
AI is changing work, but some employees have no influence over how that happens. Few HR leaders take account of what AI does to people, and many organisations do not measure the effect on staff.
31%of Dutch employees say they have no influence on how AI is introduced into their own work.RandstadNot yet checked
19%of HR leaders factor the emotional impact of AI into its rollout; 62% of employees think leadership underestimates it.MercerNot yet checked
42%of employees say their organisation does not check what AI does to people.DeloitteNot yet checked
A caveat. The NEA measures more broadly: 27 per cent of employees were not involved in changes to their own work, whether or not AI was involved. Deloitte gives no sample size in the press release; the report page says over 9,000, while a Swiss page cites over 3,000 in 15 countries.
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