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Welcome to this issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

A shout-out to Anh Thu Nguyen, Director, Organizational & Talent Effectiveness at Trimble, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Anh Thu, for your support of this newsletter!

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PRESENTED BY TechWolf

AI is changing work, but do you know the exact impact on work tasks in your organization?

As enterprises race to embrace AI, many are navigating the AI shift with limited insight, unsure where automation will truly reshape work in their organizations.

TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index ends that uncertainty with insights drawn from over 2 billion of global job postings across 1,500 companies. The findings are striking:

• Only 18% of work tasks are fully automatable

• Most work remains judgment-led and distinctly human

• The biggest opportunity lies in augmentation, not replacement

• 75% of workers in Fortune 500 tech firms have untapped upskilling potential

For HR leaders, the Work Intelligence Index is a strategic compass, providing the task-level intelligence needed to determine which tasks are best performed by humans, by AI, or through human–AI collaboration.

Discover how your workforce can thrive in the age of AI.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below are links and descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, you can read the full newsletter.

• Is It Time to Break Workforce Planning Out of Its Silo? | Deloitte Insights | A new article that outlines how organizations can modernize workforce planning by integrating functions, democratizing data, and enabling real-time decision-making across teams.

• Agentic AI: Nine Essential Questions | MIT Sloan Management Review | Provides a quick overview of nine key questions that clarify the fundamentals of agentic AI, ranging from how it differs from traditional AI tools to where organizations are seeing ROI. Bonus resources included.

• Is Talent Hoarding Blocking Internal Mobility in Your Organization? A Self-Reflection for Managers | Brian Heger | My one-page cheat sheet to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

• PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025: Rewiring the Future of Work | PwC | A new report that helps leaders gain greater insights into the sentiments of workers on a range of workplace topics, from trust in leadership to skill development to job security. I expand on the trust theme.

• How to Make a Seemingly Impossible Leadership Decision | Harvard Business Review | A new article shares four guidelines leaders can use to evaluate high-stakes decisions more effectively and act with greater confidence and speed.

Also, check out my job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer move of the week.

Brian

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

WORKFORCE PLANNING

Is It Time to Break Workforce Planning Out Of Its Silo? | Deloitte Insights

A new article that outlines how organizations can modernize workforce planning by integrating functions, democratizing data, and enabling real-time decision-making across teams.

Over the years, I’ve written about how one of the challenges in implementing strategic workforce planning (SWP) is that it is often done in silos, without meaningful integration across areas such as business strategy, finance, operations, technology, and HR. I’ve shared this perspective in 1) book chapters, 2) articles, and 3) one-page cheat sheets. And while there are many barriers to SWP, addressing the foundational one of moving the work out of silos is one of the most impactful steps organizations can take to build momentum and improve effectiveness. A new Deloitte article highlights this point by demonstrating how leading companies are transitioning SWP from a static, siloed exercise to a dynamic, cross-functional capability that integrates strategy, operations, HR, finance, technology, and AI transformation. Deloitte notes that this requires both horizontal and vertical expansion. Horizontal expansion brings more functions into the process, as shown by Network Rail, Britain’s rail infrastructure owner and operator, which cut hiring and training time for key signaler roles by 50 percent through a cross-disciplinary team, and by a global biotech firm that saved $94M (USD) by integrating insights across stakeholder groups. Vertical expansion democratizes planning by giving managers and employees access to data, with organizations like Roche (open analytics access), IBM (visibility into in-demand roles and skills), and Google (dashboards and “what if” scenarios), enabling real-time decisions. Other ideas are discussed for how organizations can create SWP synergies across teams to make the practice more impactful.

Read article

AI AGENTS

Agentic AI: Nine Essential Questions | MIT Sloan Management Review

Provides a quick overview of nine key questions that clarify the fundamentals of agentic AI, ranging from how it differs from traditional AI tools to where organizations are seeing ROI. Bonus resources included.

With AI agents becoming an increasingly hot topic, I’ve shared several reports and articles on this subject over the past few months, including my previously curated list of five resources and additional content on brianheger.com. While many of these resources delve into detail, it is helpful to have easy-to-read versions that distill common questions and answers about agentic AI. In this new article, the authors briefly answer nine key questions using excerpts from two recent MIT Sloan Management Review pieces: what AI agents are, how they differ from traditional AI tools, whether companies are seeing ROI, how agents communicate, what security gaps emerge, what data poisoning is, what prompt injections are, how organizations can strengthen security, and how accountability can be ensured when agents make critical decisions. As HR leaders and their teams learn more about AI agent capabilities, I suggest starting with foundational questions before diving into use cases by asking: What business problems are we solving where AI agents can help us perform work more effectively in our function and deliver stakeholder value? What evidence suggests an AI agent is the right solution? What business metrics or organizational outcomes (e.g., revenue, efficiency) would be most impacted? Will ROI be realized in the near term or over a longer period, and what value will be captured each year? One helpful tactic is to illustrate a side-by-side comparison of how a process (e.g., job requisition approval workflow) works today versus how it could look with AI agents. This visual makes the business case more compelling by showing the potential impact of AI agents on important business outcomes.

Read article

INTERNAL MOBILITY

Is Talent Hoarding Blocking Internal Mobility in Your Organization? A Self-Reflection for Managers | Brian Heger

My one-page cheat sheet to help managers identify and address behaviors that may unintentionally limit internal mobility within the organization.

I recently shared my cheat sheet to help organizations evaluate whether their internal mobility policies and guidelines support or hinder talent movement. While some policies are necessary, others may create unintended barriers by over-regulating the process and timing of internal moves. Beyond policies and guidelines, another barrier to internal mobility is “talent hoarding,” when managers discourage high performers, knowingly or unknowingly, from pursuing internal opportunities. Managers often hoard talent for understandable reasons: they rely on top performers to meet team goals, they’ve invested time in developing these employees, they fear productivity drops if key talent leaves, and they are often evaluated on team performance rather than talent development. However, research shows that talent hoarding can have unintended consequences for managers, while sharing talent can yield benefits. Since many managers may not realize they are exhibiting these behaviors, self-awareness is a critical first step. To support this, I’ve included my one-page cheat sheet with 10 reflection statements to help managers assess their talent-sharing mindset. As many organizations enter performance evaluations for the year, when career development, future roles, and potential moves are often part of the discussion, this cheat sheet can serve as a timely reference to help managers assess whether they are enabling or hindering internal mobility.

Access cheat sheet

EMPLOYEE SENTIMENT

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025: Rewiring the Future of Work | PwC

A new report that helps leaders gain greater insights into the sentiments of workers on a range of workplace topics, from trust in leadership to skill development to job security. I expand on the trust theme.

As organizations seek to understand worker sentiment, this new PwC report, based on a survey of 49,843 employees across 48 countries and 28 sectors, offers several insights on AI adoption, trust in leadership, motivation, psychological safety, skill development, job security, and expectations about the future of work. One finding shows that employees who trust their direct manager the most are 72% more motivated than those who trust them the least. A useful example of building trust comes from a global insurance company that piloted automation in its labor-intensive claims function and chose to communicate openly with employees about the changes ahead, including the likelihood of downsizing. Leadership also shared a clear roadmap showing that reductions would occur primarily through natural attrition, boosting trust as employees felt the company was treating them with respect. With this as the backdrop, I want to offer a few reflection questions for both leaders and employees related to trust. For leaders: Am I communicating openly about upcoming changes, even when the news is uncertain or uncomfortable? Do my team members understand why decisions are being made, not just what is happening? If employees observed only my behavior (not just my words) would they understand our priorities? For employees: Do I proactively share concerns, ideas, or feedback with my manager in a constructive way? Am I giving leaders the information they need to understand my perspective? Do I take time to understand why leadership is making certain decisions before forming conclusions? Strengthening trust is a shared responsibility, and even small, intentional actions from leaders and employees can meaningfully improve how teams navigate change.

Read report

LEADERSHIP

How to Make a Seemingly Impossible Leadership Decision | Harvard Business Review

A new article shares four guidelines leaders can use to evaluate high-stakes decisions more effectively and act with greater confidence and speed.

The ability to make effective decisions in a timely manner has always been a core component of leadership effectiveness. But with today’s leaders facing an increased number of high-stakes decisions (often with limited information), it has become an even more challenging capability to demonstrate in the current business environment. A new article highlights four guidelines leaders can use when navigating these types of decisions: 1) map the tradeoffs across operational, legal, reputational, and cultural factors, 2) pressure-test the plan by anticipating stakeholder reactions and surfacing blind spots, 3) use principles to guide decisions, not just policies, especially when situations become ambiguous or emotionally charged, and 4) name the change so people understand what is happening, why it’s happening, and what to expect next. For each guideline, the article includes reflection questions to help leaders evaluate decisions more intentionally. For example, under #2—pressure-testing the plan—leaders are encouraged to ask: How might employees, customers, or partners interpret this? Does anything feel at odds with our values or past promises? Who will be most affected, and were they part of the conversation? What concerns might this trigger, and how will we respond with honesty and care? Is there a less disruptive way to reach the same outcome? If you are an organizational leader, this article provides practical insights for making better decisions amidst uncertainty.

Read article

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

HR’S BUSINESS IMPACT

Linking HR Results to the Business Outcomes They Support | Brian Heger

An excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community that helps to link how year-end HR results contribute to various business outcomes.

As many HR leaders and their teams begin summarizing the outcomes they delivered this year, it is impactful to organize accomplishments by the business results they enabled rather than simply listing activities completed. One approach is to start with the business outcome of greatest importance and use a few reflection questions to surface the accomplishments that best demonstrate impact. To make this easier to put into practice, I’m sharing an excerpt slide from my private Talent Edge Circle community—a one-pager you can copy, adapt, and use with your team, which shows a full example linked to all five business outcomes.

Access slide

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few job cuts (or potential cuts) announced this past week:

• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC). The semiconductor company laid off 669 Oregon employees on Thursday, bringing its total local job cuts for the year to more than 3,000.

• Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS). The electronic design automation (EDA) company is reducing its workforce by approximately 10% (about 2,800 employees) following its $35 billion merger with Ansys.

• Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). The telecommunications company is reportedly cutting 15,000 jobs, roughly 15% of its staff, soon amid sustained competition and declining paid subscriber numbers.

Click here to access my tracker, which includes all announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER MOVE OF THE WEEK

This past week, 11 new CHRO announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription platform tracking movement in and out of the CHRO role.  

This week’s CHRO move of the week is:

• Nokia (ESPOO, FINLAND) [NYSE: NOK]—a B2B technology innovation leader—announced the appointment of Kristen Pressner as Chief People Officer and member of the Group Leadership Team, effective May 1, 2026. She joins Nokia from Roche Holding Group, where she most recently served as Global Head of People & Culture for Roche Diagnostics. Pressner will report to Nokia's President and Chief Executive Officer, Justin Hotard.

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👉️ To access all detailed 11 CHRO announcements from this past week and over 4,500 archived announcements, join a monthly or yearly subscription to CHROs on the Go.

If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

THE BEST OF OCTOBER 2025

SPONSORED BY

Did you miss the “Best of October ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #321, which includes the most popular resources from the month.

Thank you to TechWolf, who sponsored the Best of October. Learn more about TechWolf’s Work Intelligence Index and how it is helping organizations understand the impact of AI on work tasks.

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