Every January, 10 heavyweight publishers — from AIHR and Deloitte to McKinsey and Mercer — tell HR leaders what matters next. But whose signal should a CHRO trust?
This analysis maps all 64 trend statements from 10 publishers onto a single 20-theme framework, ranked by breadth of consensus and visualised as a heatmap. The verdict is clear: HR Value & Operating Model tops the agenda, and AI now frames 75% of all trends.
This heatmap is the companion asset to the WeAreHuman@Work HR Trends Trilogy:
The Signal (what the ten publishers actually agree on),
The Noise (how AI framing has swelled from roughly one in ten trends to three in four — and what that inflation obscures), and
The Filter (how to decide which trends deserve your budget and attention, and which can safely wait).
Full methodology and per-publisher traceability included.
Download the complete analysis below:
Sources consulted:
Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR). (2026). HR Priorities 2026 Report: Market signals, strategy shifts, & steps to lead the AI-powered workforce. Written by Dr. Marna van der Merwe with contributions from Erik van Vulpen and Dr. Dieter Veldsman.
Boston Consulting Group (BCG). (2026). Creating People Advantage 2026: Four Power Moves for the CHRO. Written by Philipp Kolo, Jens Baier, Frank Breitling, Fang Ruan, Suketu Shah, Peck Kem Low, Anthony Ariganello, Aida Troncoso, Lucas van Wees, Amy Dufrane, Ulrik S. Brix, and Kai Helfritz.
Deloitte. (2026). 2026 Global Human Capital Trends: From tensions to tipping points: Choosing the human advantage. Written by Shannon Poynton, Jason Flynn, Nic Scoble-Williams, Victor Reyes, David Mallon, and Sue Cantrell.
Gartner. (2026). 2026 Gartner Strategic HR Priorities for CHROs: Trends Impacting Chief HR Officers in 2026.
Green, D. (2026). 12 Opportunities for HR in 2026: Building Organisations That Thrive in the Agentic Age.
Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). (2025). 2026 Priorities & Predictions: C-Suite Perspectives from i4cp’s Boards. Foreword by Kevin Oakes.
McKinsey & Company. (2026, June). HR Monitor 2026: A comprehensive benchmark survey of workforce and HR trends across Europe, the United States, and China.
McLean & Company. (2026). Trends HR 2026: Leading Through Change: Human-Centric and Future-Ready. Based on the HR Trends Survey 2026.
Mercer. (2026). Global Talent Trends 2026: Driving exponential performance: Solving the human-machine equation.
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). (2026). SHRM 2026: Trends and Predictions. Published by HR Quarterly.
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