2026 Global Human Capital Trends
Shannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.com
Shannon Poynton is a Senior Manager (recently admitted to the Deloitte partnership) in Deloitte Consulting LLP's Human Capital practice, where she advises global clients on organization, workforce, culture, and strategic change solutions, and is a co-author of Deloitte's Global Human Capital Trends report.
Author Perspective
Across 10 tracked claims, Shannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrell skews neutral.
30% optimistic40% neutral30% pessimistic
Claims from this article
10 claims
Competitive advantage is now primarily less driven by technology differentiation and more by cultivating the human edge, as technology—especially AI—is replicable while humans are not.
OptimisticOptimisticShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comimminentconfidence high
AI is reshaping both change management and training, enabling workers to learn, adapt, and apply new skills directly in the flow of work, and organizations that build this always-on real-time adaptability can turn workforce growth and responsiveness into a new competitive advantage.
OptimisticOptimisticShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comwithin 1-5 yearsconfidence high
Organizations that continuously reconfigure capabilities around outcomes are more likely to outperform financially and create meaningful work, turning volatility into opportunity.
OptimisticOptimisticShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comwithin 1-5 yearsconfidence medium
Organizations will likely need to redesign work to harness human–machine synergy, moving beyond having humans and machines work side by side, including rethinking culture, decision rights, and trust in data.
NeutralNeutralShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comwithin 1-5 yearsconfidence medium
To stay resilient, leaders will likely need to expand from focusing on cybersecurity to focusing on disinformation security and establishing stronger foundations of digital trust.
NeutralNeutralShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comwithin 1-5 yearsconfidence medium
AI is increasingly influencing organizational decisions and authority, and treating decision-making as a strategic discipline—intentionally designing how humans and AI share judgment and accountability—is important to maintaining trust and protecting human agency.
NeutralNeutralShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comimminentconfidence high
AI and workforce transformation are accelerating the climb of the S-curve and bringing the plateau sooner, pressing organizations to leap to the next curve more quickly to remain competitive.
NeutralNeutralShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comimminentconfidence high
Organizations taking a tech-focused approach to AI are 1.6x more likely to not realize returns on AI investments that exceed expectations compared to those that take a human-centric approach.
PessimisticPessimisticShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comimminentconfidence high
AI is increasingly blurring authorship and eroding confidence from both workers and organizations, and few organizations are making significant progress to address these concerns.
PessimisticPessimisticShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comimminentconfidence high
Many organizations are overlooking AI's impact on human-to-human behaviors, allowing misalignment, distrust, and unaddressed norms to accumulate as 'cultural debt,' and trust and cohesion are eroding just when they matter most.
PessimisticPessimisticShannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nicole Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, Sue Cantrelldeloitte.comimminentconfidence high