{"id":27224,"date":"2025-09-17T15:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T15:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/27224\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T15:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T15:29:08","slug":"the-labor-market-is-cooling-so-now-would-be-the-time-for-companies-to-invest-in-existing-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/27224\/","title":{"rendered":"The labor market is cooling, so now would be the time for companies to invest in existing employees."},"content":{"rendered":"

With the labor market cooling, experts have said that now is the best time for employers to invest in\u00a0their existing employees<\/a>. The only problem is that companies aren\u2019t actually doing that.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to\u00a0recent research from Workday<\/a>. Despite a modest increase in hiring demand in the first half of this year, internal hiring and promotion rates have actually fallen.<\/p>\n

Hiring demand was up 6% year-over-year in the first half of 2025, down slightly from the 7% YoY increase in the first half of 2024, according to Workday\u2019s internal data and external surveys.<\/p>\n

However, internal hiring fell 8% YoY, and only 30% of all hires in June were internal. Additionally, promotion rates fell in 10 of the 11 industries tracked by Workday; manufacturing was the only one to see an increase in promotions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pretty rare for 10 industries to see a promotion recession all at the same time,\u201d said Phil Willburn, VP of people analytics, insights, and experiences at Workday. \u201cThat was very surprising to me in our latest data.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s creating some frustrations. More than 57% of job seekers feel stuck in today\u2019s labor market, according to one of the surveys conducted by Workday for the report. (High performers, who are often more likely to land opportunities even in cooling markets, aren\u2019t feeling so stuck, though: Attrition for high-performing employees was up in every single industry, with the largest spikes being in retail and healthcare, up 64% and 28% YoY.)<\/p>\n

AI transformation may be to blame, Willburn said. Many companies have been eager to adopt the new technology, but haven\u2019t necessarily focused on training their workers to use it. (Just 21% of business leaders surveyed by Workday believe investing in AI tools and upskilling will be a key retention driver in the next year.) Instead, they\u2019re focused on getting these skills from external hires, which may push high-potential employees out the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to have a clear and strong narrative around AI, because high performers, above anything else, they need growth,\u201d Willburn said. \u201cThey want growth, and as soon as they feel slightly stagnant, they\u2019re the ones who always have opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Workday\u2019s data is\u00a0yet another sign<\/a>\u00a0that HR leaders need to be involved in AI strategy with their C-suite peers, according to Willburn. Without a clear roadmap and communication around AI, workers will be left in the dust, lacking critical skills and fearing displacement. (Relatedly, 44% of employee comments about strategy and AI were negative.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen all of these tools are being rolled out, and then the CEO is like: \u2018Why aren\u2019t we adopting when we\u2019re spending this much money?\u2019 This is when HR is now coming in and saying, \u2018This is how you actually drive behavior change,\u2019\u201d Willburn said. \u201cMy hope is that this is a wake up call for many organizations, and that then HR steps in and you\u2019re going to see this improve in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report was originally published<\/a> by HR Brew<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26\u201327, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the labor market cooling, experts have said that now is the best time for employers to invest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[72,22118,5959,61,60,123,22654,5152,22655],"class_list":{"0":"post-27224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-compensation","10":"tag-hiring","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-markets","14":"tag-morning-brew","15":"tag-promotions","16":"tag-raises"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}