Chief People Officers Outlook September 2025

8Chief People Officers Outlook Regional 12-month talent outlook Talent scarcity and strategic workforce shifts In a fragmented geopolitical and economic landscape, talent availability and distribution are especially complex. Many countries are developing national talent strategies to attract skilled workers or position themselves as talent hubs. At the same time, global employers are responding by adopting more agile workforce models.Chief people officers consulted for this briefing stressed the importance of skilling and forward-looking talent strategies in this current complex context. They pointed to the potential of global, flexible work models – built on remote or hybrid operations, distributed teams and cross- border collaboration – as key levers for strategic advantage. Figure 3 displays chief people officers’ mid-2025 expectations for talent availability across regions over the next year. Figure 3. Expectation for the state of talent availability (6-12 months) Share of chief people officers surveyed Source: Chief People Officers Survey. (May-June 2025). In the current environment, workforce resilience stems from global, not just local, talent strategies. Chief people officer perspectiveVery weak Weak Moderate Strong Very strong 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%Sub-Saharan AfricaMiddle East and North AfricaCentral AsiaLatin America and the CaribbeanEuropeSouth AsiaEast Asia and the PacificUSChina 13 13 21 22 25 27 7 44 47 20 3325 25 6 21 43 2947 2750 2556 17 643 3640 4740 47