2024 Global Human Capital Trends

We’re operating in a world where work is no longer defined by jobs, the workplace is no longer a specific place, many workers are no longer traditional employees, and human resources is no longer a siloed function. These boundaries, once assumed to be the natural order of things, are falling away and traditional models of work are becoming boundaryless.

Just a year ago, we introduced many of these shifting realities in our 2023 Global Human Capital Trends report. Since that time, things have only accelerated.

It’s a time of uncertainty, shaped by unpredictable global events, lightning-fast advances in technology and AI, evolving workplace cultures and markets, growing worker mental health and well-being concerns, and transformative shifts in how people think about work and the workplace.

Many of the technological changes happening now—the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, the rise of virtual worlds and even virtual replicas of our own selves, and the development of neurotechnology that can quantify the brain—may seem like they’ve been plucked straight out of the pages of a science fiction book, but they’re already becoming part of everyday reality.

Boundaryless work amid so many disruptions is no longer hypothetical—or optional. The old proxies for measuring performance may no longer apply, and there’s no easy playbook for organizations to follow to thrive in this new environment. So, what’s next for organizations and workers? What steps can they take to create a future full of possibility and hope in the uncertainty of a boundaryless world?

Our 2024 Global Human Capital Trends research reveals that a focus on the human factor is emerging as the bridge between knowing what shifts are shaping the future of work and doing things to make real progress in putting them into action to create positive outcomes. It’s clear from the responses to this year’s global survey—from over 14,000 respondents in 95 countries—that the more boundaryless work becomes, the more important uniquely human capabilities, like empathy and curiosity, become.

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