2020 Global Human Capital Trends | Deloitte

One report that many HR professionals eagerly await each year is the Deloitte Global Human Trends report. This report, which has been published since 2011, focuses on a critical theme that encapsulates various trends, issues, and concerns regarding work, the workforce, and society at large. For the 2020 report, the theme is The Social Enterprise at Work: Paradox as a Path Forward, which tries to “resolve the seeming paradox of finding ways to remain distinctly human in a technology-driven world.” The top two global trends this year are wellbeing and belonging. Eighty percent of organizations globally said worker wellbeing is important or very important for their success over the next 12–18 months, but only 12% say they are very ready to address this issue. This 120-page report is enriched with many insights that are too numerous to list here. Page 91 starts a chapter that speaks to how workforce metrics have not kept pace with workforce strategies. I agree with the point that organizations need to start asking (or ask more) fundamentally new and different types of talent and workforce questions such as “how often are job changing, which ones, and to what degree?” For each strategic question, there can be metrics that inform talent decisions. Unfortunately, three metric areas dominate current usage including 1) headcount, hiring, turnover, 2) salary costs, 3) workforce composition. This comes at the expense of more strategic metrics such as employer branding and reskilling to name a few. Page 96 provides a good set of strategic questions that organizations can begin to ask within this context.