Introduction

Workforce resilience and the talent crisis

Businesses are facing a talent crisis. Shortfalls in key skills are limiting the potential for business growth and are leading to unfilled vacancies. The Talent’s expectations of the employment experience are evolving at pace, and they are prepared to move on if they think their employer is not doing enough. As businesses respond to changing markets and seek to seize new opportunities, they are struggling to build the agility they need to deploy their people effectively.

This report draws on two new global surveys—one of executives, the other of talent—to reveal a disconnect between these two groups’ perspectives on working life. It is a warning to employers: having made progress through the pandemic and the Great Resignation, they now risk slipping backward on engagement.

Yet the report also shows that there is a group of leading employers that are navigating the talent crisis by enhancing their workforce resilience: securing and mobilizing the talent they need to achieve objectives over the long term and adapt rapidly to new opportunities.

The talent crisis has impacted our organization in a number of ways. Five years ago, it was challenging to find highly skilled candidates but today the pool is even smaller. This situation has opened our eyes to how we can do things differently – we need to be more flexible and creative in how we define roles and the experience we seek.

JJ Girt
HR Leader, Evoqua Water Technologies

These ‘Workforce Resilience Leaders’ are focusing on three crucial pillars:

#1 Workforce agility

The ability to scale and align the workforce in response to shifting business objectives

#2 Diversity, equity, and inclusion

Building a diverse culture where all employees are respected, valued, and able to reach their full potential

#3 Workforce capability

Having the right mix of talent, equipped with the right digital and automation strategies, to achieve the organization's current and future strategic goals

In this report, we explore how organizations with high levels of talent agility, inclusive cultures and a focus on developing talent’s capabilities are sharpening their competitive edge—and seeing exceptional business performance.

About this report

This report presents insights from two major global surveys commissioned by Kelly® and conducted in March 2023 by FT Longitude.

Senior executive survey

Conducted among 1,500 C-suite leaders, board members, department heads, directors, and managers across 11 countries and nine sectors.

Talent survey

Conducted among 4,200 individuals at all levels of organizations across the same 11 countries and nine sectors as the executive survey.

In places, we refer to data from the executive survey conducted for our 2022 Global Workforce Report:

Re:work: Calibrating to power the life-work shift

We would like to thank the following experts for sharing their insight:

JJ Girt, HR Leader, Evoqua Water Technologies
Megan Henry, Director of Quality Improvement, Cummins Inc.
Ed Pederson, Vice President of Product, Kelly
Keilon Ratliff, Chief Diversity Officer, Kelly
Philip Rybakov, People and Culture Director, JTI GBS Poland