Human Centered | People Powered | AI Intelligent | Borderless.
By Deborah Stallings, MA, SHRM SCP
“The only thing constant is change.” Heraclitus
The workplace has always evolved, but 2026 is not forecasted to be an ordinary year in the world of human resources. It is a turning point. It is a reset. It is a reimagining. Across healthcare, education, social services, and nonprofit organizations, leaders are navigating a new reality shaped by talent shortages, global competition, AI acceleration, and increasing employee expectations for balance, belonging, and purpose. The organizations that will thrive in 2026 will not simply adapt to change; they will also anticipate and respond to it. They will become architects of it. They will build workplaces that are human-centered, people-powered, AI-intelligent, and borderless in their approach to talent.
To understand the landscape, we begin with what employees are saying. Public research across multiple global studies confirms that work-life balance has overtaken pay as the top priority for talent.
Work-Life Balance in the Data. Work Life Harmony in Practice.
Randstad’s 2025 Workmonitor survey, which surveyed over 26,000 workers in 35 markets across Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas, found that work-life balance is now the number one motivator for workers worldwide. For the first time in the twenty two year history of the study, work-life balance was rated slightly higher than pay, with eighty-three percent (83%) of workers identifying balance as important compared to eighty-two percent (82%) for pay. (Randstad Workmonitor 2025)
Research speaks clearly about work-life balance. However, in my work supporting leaders across the country, I see people desiring something even more meaningful. They want work-life harmony. They seek a balance between their professional and personal lives that supports their health, purpose, and well-being. They want work that aligns with their values and enables them to contribute without sacrificing their humanity. Harmony is not static balance. Harmony is fluid, intentional, and sustainable.
This movement toward flexibility, autonomy, and personal well-being is not a temporary trend. It is a transformation. It is redefining how organizations attract, support, and retain their people.
Remote and hybrid work has permanently changed how people experience their personal and professional worlds. These worlds no longer compete. They blend. Employees across sectors want meaningful work, but not at the expense of their health or family.
The organizations that will succeed in 2026 are those that cultivate true flexibility. This does not mean offering remote work without clarity. It means creating cultures where expectations are transparent, workloads are manageable, and leaders model boundaries and respect for personal time.
A healthcare administrator recently shared a story that reflects what many organizations are experiencing. Her hospital lost a talented behavioral therapist who loved the work but could not sustain ten-hour shifts without relief. The hospital later restructured schedules, added job-sharing options, and regained a pipeline of candidates they had lost before. Flexibility did not reduce performance. It increased it.
Here is a second example from the education sector. A charter school network needed highly specialized curriculum designers but was unable to recruit them locally. By expanding to multi-state hiring, they secured instructional talent from multiple regions. This allowed them to launch a literacy program six months earlier than planned, resulting in improved student outcomes. Work-life harmony and a modern approach to staffing made it possible for these educators to contribute without relocating.
Work-life harmony is no longer a benefit. It is a human sustainability strategy.
Flexibility, Autonomy, and Culture Tie Directly to Retention
Research confirms what many of us have seen in practice. Employees stay where they feel trusted. They stay where they feel valued. They stay where they feel they belong. Employees are drawn to organizations that demonstrate strong culture, supportive managers, autonomy, flexibility, clarity, and fairness. Psychological safety has emerged as one of the strongest predictors of performance and healthy culture.
Employees do not want to work in environments where they fear reprisal for speaking honestly, offering ideas, or naming concerns. The question leaders must ask in 2026 is simple. Do people feel safe here? When the answer is yes, performance rises. When the answer is no, turnover follows.
Belonging, Trust, and Connection Become the Core Engagement Metrics
A powerful shift is occurring across healthcare, education, and social impact sectors. Belonging is now the primary driver of engagement. Widely cited research on belonging shows that employees with a strong sense of belonging experience a fifty-six percent (56%) increase in job performance, along with lower turnover and absenteeism.
Belonging grows when people trust their leaders, feel valued, experience clarity, connect with colleagues, see diversity reflected and honored, and believe their voice matters. Organizations can strengthen belonging by communicating consistently, offering transparent decision-making, and designing rituals that bring people together.
A positive culture does not happen by itself. It must be cultivated.
Career Growth Shifts Away from Promotions and Toward Pathways
One of the most important findings in talent research is that employees no longer define career growth by promotion alone. They value mentoring, stretch projects, rotational assignments, cross-team experiences, and opportunities to develop skills that can be applied in the future. Recent global reports show that eighty-five percent (85%) of employers now use some form of a skills-based hiring model, and many are shifting job design around skills rather than traditional titles.
Healthcare organizations are offering nurses rotations in telehealth. Education organizations are inviting teachers to lead curriculum design teams. Nonprofits are providing project managers with opportunities to shadow executives in budget planning. Career development is no longer vertical. It is multidirectional. It is meaningful. It is personalized. Leaders who invest in growth build retention, capability, and credibility within their teams.
AI Becomes the Co-Pilot, Not the Replacement
The rise of AI is transforming the field of human resources. However, the most successful organizations will be those that utilize AI wisely, ethically, and with transparency. A recent analysis found that forty three percent (43%) of organizations now leverage AI in HR tasks, with recruiting as the leading use case. Among those organizations using AI in HR, sixty six percent (66%) use it to generate job descriptions and nearly half use it to screen resumes.
At the enterprise level, a 2025 PwC survey found that eighty-eight percent (88%) of senior executives’ plan to increase AI-related budgets in the next twelve months.
AI can draft job descriptions, screen resumes, write interview guides, and personalize communication. Yet AI cannot replace the human elements of leadership, empathy, expertise, and judgment. When used responsibly, AI empowers HR professionals to reclaim time, reduce administrative burdens, and elevate strategic thinking.
Christian Lous Lange said it well. “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.”
AI must remain a co-pilot. Human intelligence must stay at the center.
Ethical Leadership Rises to the Top
Employees want leaders who demonstrate integrity, emotional intelligence, fairness, courage, and responsible decision making. They seek leaders who can navigate conflict with compassion, communicate openly during times of change, and align their actions with the organization’s values. Ethical leadership is not a soft skill. It is a competitive advantage that drives trust, strengthens culture, and improves retention.
As I often remind leaders, “Strategy succeeds through people. When your people feel seen, heard, and supported, the strategy becomes unstoppable.”
Offshoring and Global Talent Become Strategic, Not Just Cost Saving
A 2025 global report on remote work and hiring found that seventy eight percent (78%) of companies now hire internationally for remote positions, and fifty nine percent (59%) have team members in three or more time zones.
For nonprofits, educational institutions, and healthcare organizations, global talent expands access to specialized skills, multilingual staff, extended operating hours, and greater impact with minimal additional overhead.
A mid-sized mental health nonprofit shared a compelling example. They needed a bilingual administrative coordinator but were unable to find one locally. By expanding their search to multiple states and countries, they secured a candidate who now supports clients in three languages, resulting in a thirty percent (30%) improvement in client satisfaction scores. Global hiring became their competitive advantage.
Multi-State Hiring Becomes Standard Practice
Recent 2025 data shows that approximately twenty four percent (24%) of new job postings are hybrid and twelve percent (12%) are fully remote according to multiple hiring trend summaries referencing Robert Half’s annual analysis. A 2025 remote work trends report citing Gallup found that nearly eighty percent (80%) of employees whose jobs can be done remotely are working either hybrid (52%) or fully remote (26%).
This means most organizations are already functioning as multi-jurisdictional employers. Multi-state hiring presents tremendous opportunities but also significant responsibilities. Organizations must navigate payroll tax registrations, pay equity across regions, employment law compliance to include wage and hour laws, credentialing and licensing, data privacy, background checks, and employee classification.
Mission-driven organizations that succeed will be those that invest early in compliance frameworks, equitable pay structures, and strong cross-state onboarding and communication.
Call Out: Top Five Employee Priorities in 2026
Purpose
Employees want to know their work matters. They want alignment between what they do every day and the impact the organization creates for the community.
Work-life balance
Research shows that workers value jobs that support their well-being, offer reasonable workloads, and allow them to care for themselves and their families without guilt or burnout.
Growth and development
People expect access to mentoring, learning pathways, and skills development that prepare them for future roles and careers, not only promotions.
Belonging and psychological safety
Employees want workplaces where they feel respected, included, trusted, and free to contribute honestly without fear of negative consequences.
Flexible and human-centered leadership
Leaders must communicate clearly, listen with empathy, adapt with agility, and model behaviors that honor both performance and humanity.
Employee Experience Becomes the Employer Brand
Employees want their organization’s mission, values, and culture to be visible. Employee experience is now the foundation of employer branding. Organizations with positive culture and clear communication attract stronger candidates and retain employees longer.
This is especially true in healthcare, education, and nonprofit organizations, where people often choose work that aligns with their values. Candidates want to know how leaders support their people. They want clarity, connection, growth, and meaning.
When leaders tell the story of their people, they strengthen their brand.
What Organizations Must Do in 2026
As we move into 2026, leaders can take these steps to position their organizations for impact and growth.
- Redesign the Employee Value Proposition to focus on purpose, work-life harmony, belonging, and culture.
- Strengthen leaders who communicate clearly, model psychological safety, and support flexible work.
- Develop and implement a multi-state and global hiring strategy that identifies roles which can be responsibly supported offshore, and prioritizes compliance, equity, and fairness at its core.
- Invest in learning pathways, mentorship, and skills-based development.
- Enhance collaboration between HR, cross-functional departments, and AI by incorporating ethical guidelines and ensuring consistent human oversight.
- Build a workplace community that elevates connection and belonging across teams and time zones.
- Showcase employee experience as a central part of recruitment, onboarding, and community engagement.
Conclusion
2026 invites us to build workplaces that honor both performance and humanity. Workplaces that embrace technology without losing compassion. Workplaces that expand across borders without losing their purpose. Workplaces that are grounded in trust, driven by values, and strengthened by belonging.
The organizations that thrive in 2026 will not simply keep pace with change. They will lead it. They will demonstrate to the world what is possible when human intelligence and artificial intelligence work together. They will lift their people, elevate their mission, and create meaningful impact for the communities they serve.
References
BetterUp. (2020). The value of belonging at work: New frontiers for inclusion. BetterUp. https://www.betterup.com/blog/belonging-at-work
(Used for the widely cited statistic that belonging increases performance by 56%.)
Building Re Careers. (2025). Employees worldwide rank work-life balance as more important than pay. Building Re Careers. https://buildingrecareers.com
(Summary of global findings aligning with Randstad’s 83% vs 82% data.)
Gallup. (2025). State of remote-capable work. Gallup. https://www.gallup.com
(Cited in Vena Solutions reporting: 52% hybrid, 26% fully remote.)
PwC. (2025). 2025 Global AI survey: AI predictions and executive investment trends. PwC. https://www.pwc.com
(Cited for the finding that 88% of senior executives plan to increase AI budgets.)
Randstad. (2025). Workmonitor 2025: A global study of worker sentiment. Randstad. https://www.randstad.com/workmonitor
(Cited for 83% valuing work-life balance vs 82% valuing pay.)
Robert Half. (2025). 2025 Hiring and workplace trends report. Robert Half. https://www.roberthalf.com
(Cited in articles summarizing that 24% of job postings are hybrid and 12% fully remote.)
Second Talent. (2025). Global remote work and hiring statistics for 2025. Second Talent. https://www.secondtalent.com
(Source for 78% of companies hiring internationally and 59% operating across 3+ time zones.)
SHRM. (2025). AI in HR: Trends, risks, and adoption patterns. Society for Human Resource Management. https://www.shrm.org
(Cited for 43% of HR teams using AI, and 66% using it to generate job descriptions.)
TestGorilla. (2025). The state of skills-based hiring 2025. TestGorilla. https://www.testgorilla.com
(Cited for 85% of employers using skills-based hiring models.)
Vena Solutions. (2025). Remote work trends and productivity report. Vena Solutions. https://www.venasolutions.com
(Cited for Gallup-aligned statistics on hybrid and remote work prevalence.)
About Deborah Stallings, MA, SHRM-SCP
Deborah Stallings is a visionary CEO, speaker and educator, and human resources strategist who turns workplace chaos into clarity. She helps leaders handle what hurts before it happens, restore trust, and build high-performing teams rooted in purpose, truth, and care.
Her story began in Chicago’s public housing and on her grandparents’ farm in Mississippi, where she learned resilience, helping to care for her paralyzed mother and younger brother. Those humble beginnings shaped her faith, courage, lifelong learning, and the belief that leadership is a sacred responsibility to serve, uplift, and build with integrity.
As Founder and CEO of HR Anew, Deborah has spent more than 30 years transforming organizations through inclusive leadership and strategic HR innovation. Known for delivering hard truths with grace, she helps CEOs, executives, and nonprofit leaders make wise decisions that protect people, culture, and results.
When you work with Deborah, you gain more than an advisor; you gain a collaborator in transformation. Her team of Human Resources (HR), Recruitment, Training, and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) experts shares her values of wisdom, excellence, continuous learning, and servant leadership. Together, they deliver solutions that prevent or reduce risk, save time and money, and create workplaces where people thrive.
Credentials and Impact
- 30+ years in Equal Employment Opportunity, Human Resources, Recruitment, and Training.
- 20+ years as a Christian educator and leadership mentor.
- Master’s in Management and Leadership; Bachelor’s in Business Administration, Notre Dame of Maryland University.
- SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM SCP).
- WBENC Certified Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB); and certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE).
- Aspiring author and advocate for faith-filled, future-ready workplaces.
Deborah believes that when leaders align people, purpose, and performance, they do not just build companies; they build legacies.
About HR Anew
HR Anew is a leading human resources advisory and educational firm that integrates seamlessly into your organization to maximize success and inspire transformation. We work in harmony with your existing team or can serve as your entire HR department. Our presence brings peace of mind to executives, leaders, and teams. Whether on-site, virtual, or a customized blend of both, our solutions are designed to meet you where you are and scale as your needs evolve.
We bring deep expertise across human resources, recruitment, training, workplace investigations (EEO), inclusion and belonging initiatives, leadership development and mentoring, team development, workforce planning, and HR innovation. Guided by a vision to prioritize people and power performance, HR Anew delivers tailored solutions aligned with your strategic goals to drive measurable impact. Whether you need support with recruitment strategy, compliance, employee engagement, or strengthening your HR infrastructure, we collaborate with organizations to deliver excellence, speed, and sustainable growth.
You grow your business. We manage the HR details and complexities so you can focus on growth, impact, and the people you serve. From federal and multi-state compliance to employee relations, from engagement to performance management, we ensure your company benefits from the most current HR strategies and practices, helping you compete effectively and confidently.
Your people are your business, driving your culture, your results, and your long-term success. We are relationship builders and connectors who ensure your people are supported, informed, and empowered to perform at their highest level.
Let us get to know each other. Connect at CEO@hranew.com.