Job seekers have been increasingly vocal over the past year about how hard it is to find a new role, even as the labor market remains stable. And while it seems like power has shifted back into the hands of bosses, it turns out that executives are also fearful and frustrated when it comes to hiring new talent.
Three of the top 10 biggest near-term risks for executives and board members revolve around labor and talent, according to a new report from Protiviti, a global business consulting firm, based on a survey of around 1,215 high-ranking corporate workers conducted in late 2024.
The ability to attract, develop, and retain top workers, manage shifts in labor expectations, and address succession challenges was ranked as the third-biggest near-term risk for leaders, with around 38% of respondents saying it was a concern. Talent and labor availability came in fourth at 36%, and worries about increased labor costs came in at number five, resonating with 35% of executives.
Why all the concern? An aging workforce, changes in immigration policies, and other potential disruptions (like labor strikes) are on the minds of executives as they think about their operational targets and profitability goals in both the near and long term, according to the report.
Fran Maxwell, global lead of the people advisory and organizational change segment at Protiviti, tells Fortune he’s seen this firsthand among his own clients. One organization has several workers at or above retirement age, but company leadership doesn’t feel the people below them have the right experience for when the retirement “tsunami” hits, he says.
But there’s also a larger underlying issue that may be at play: a fundamental misalignment between the skills that employers want, and those that entry-level employees and job seekers actually have.
“There’s absolutely a mismatch between skills and experiences that organizations are looking for and what’s available in the market,” says Maxwell.
He cites AI as a prime example of the skills-mismatch dilemma. Organizations want people with AI skills, and Maxwell says the role of a chief AI ethics officer, which was once rare, is now becoming more popular. “There’s not an overabundance of those people in the marketplace or people with that skill set or experience because it’s never existed before,” he adds.
Ultimately, Maxwell argues, the onus on solving the skills misalignment falls on the organization. Successful upskilling has been relatively unattainable for many companies, as they struggle in implementing adequate training that will help employees meet the moment, especially when it comes to AI. Only around 50% of companies attempting to implement large-scale upskilling programs last year had activated those initiatives, according to a 2024 LinkedIn report.
“The company itself [has to] have a really strong learning and development function so that they can build their skills internally,” he says.
