Mercer: 2 in 5 think work is fundamentally broken – here’s how to fix it

According to Mercer’s 2024 Global Talent Trends report, “the world of work is in full metamorphosis”.

The chaos of the COVID-19 years had just about stabilized, then generative AI burst on the scene, changing not just how people work, but the work experience itself.

One trend in the Global Talent Trends report, which surveyed 845 C-Suite leaders, 1,900 HR leaders, 9,500 employees and 84 investors globally, that surprised the author of the report, Kate Bravery, was the divergence in optimism about AI from the top (the C-Suite and HR leaders) and the bottom (employees).

Speaking exclusively to UNLEASH, Mercer’s Global Leader of Advisory, Knowledge and Insights Bravery shares: “Normally when there’s a tech breakthrough, it is the individual contributors” who lead the way and are “actually further forward in understanding technical implications”, and executives are the laggards.

The opposite is true with generative AI – “it’s flipped” – and now executives are “bullish” about the potential of AI, and the productivity lift it could bring.

One in four executives say that AI will fundamentally change their business model; with 55% predicting AI and automation will bring between a 10% and 30% productivity boost, and 40% see AI bringing an even higher uplift in productivity.

However, the Mercer report is clear that these benefits cannot be reaped as a result of small tweaks in the future of work.

They can only be achieved if there is a fundamental rethink of how work is done – two in five workers surveyed believe that work is completely broken, and a quarter wish they didn’t have to work at all.

Bravery tells UNLEASH: “We need to work to make work a bit more inspiring.”

“The way we’ve always worked with one human one job cannot be the future model” – there’s got a be a move away from a “job-based architecture to a skills-based architecture”, that’ll help fix some of the supply-demand challenges in the talent space.

But “that is a fundamental reset” and requires a lot of agility. “It impacts everything from how you hire, how you develop, how you move talent around, who owns the talent, where you pay that talent”.

Human-machine teaming is the future of work

The good news is that executives are very aware of the need for a rethink, and to focus on the long-term when driving people strategy.

This is partly because investors are really pushing for these longer term, people-focused talent perspectives from companies.

This was the first time that Mercer brought the investor view into the report, and Bravery shares that “the investor community is [saying] if you don’t have sustainable talent practices, that’s going to affect our valuation of your business”.

“We found that companies that grew faster last year were more likely to have agility in their talent models”

But also, the research shows that executives are so committed to the future of work agenda, that even if “we go into a deeper recession, they will actually press the pedal on AI and automation, upskilling, reskilling and investing in more contingency talent,” according to Bravery. “That train is going whatever happens”.

This begs the question, what should executives and HR leaders prioritize when redesigning the future of work?

Yes, AI and skills must be top of mind, but Mercer’s report makes it clear that the key to success is becoming digital by design – rather than just focusing on tech deployment – and putting the person in the center any tech transformation.

Human-machine teaming is a core tenet of this report, as well as a recent book that Bravery co-authored alongside Mercer’s president Ilya Bonic and Work Transformation Leader Kai Anderson.

Bravery tells UNLEASH: “AI does have the potential to really unlock the productivity equation”, and transform businesses.

But it is essential that companies get intentional about how they introduce and implement AI, given that “burnout is heading the wrong direction”.

82% of employees are at risk of burnout this year, so employers need to think carefully about the “productivity equation”, and not just push harder and harder. Employees need to be supported to create healthy work habits, which balance productivity and burnout.

Interestingly, one in five of those at risk of burnout attribute it to a misalignment between their own values and those of their employer.

It’s time for companies to lean into purpose, mission and values, and the key here is trust. This corroborates the message from UKG’s recent Connect conference in London.

Trust in organizations was at an all-time high in 2022 – but it is eroding; it currently sits at 69%, down from 78% during the pandemic.

45% of HR leaders ranked their organization as low on trust; this is linked to broken promises around diversity, promotion, pay rises and green policies.

If employers can get trust right, then they will reap the benefits. Employees who trust their organization are twice as likely to report they are thriving at work and not looking for a way out.

Trust has become an “intangible commodity” – “get it wrong, and you’re going to have a workforce with the brakes on”.

Getting it right requires taking a human-centric approach, led by HR, and where there is “a commitment to always improving the health, wealth and career outcomes of your workforce”.

“If you put that front and foremost, if you build your talent processes and your AI implementation around people, you can’t go far wrong,” concludes Bravery.