4 Priorities for Future of Work Leaders in 2026
For Future of Work leaders, 2026 marks a shift from experimentation to execution. The question is no longer whether work will change—but how quickly organizations can redesign work, workforce models, and organizational structures to keep pace with AI-driven disruption.
As AI and automation become embedded across the enterprise, Future of Work leaders are increasingly focused on simplifying workflows, unlocking capacity, and enabling more meaningful work. Yet, despite unprecedented investment in AI, productivity gains remain uneven—reviving a familiar tension between technological potential and organizational readiness.
The challenge ahead is not simply deploying new tools, but redesigning the architecture of work itself.
From Productivity Promises to Work Redesign
AI has fueled significant economic growth and corporate investment, but the data on productivity remains mixed. This dynamic echoes the “productivity paradox” of earlier technology waves, where organizations invested heavily before fully realizing gains.
Future of Work leaders see this moment as an opportunity—and a warning. A narrow focus on productivity alone risks sidelining skills development, engagement, and long-term capability. Instead, leading organizations are shifting attention to how work is designed, distributed, and supported across human and digital contributors.
2026 Future of Work Priorities:
Members of i4cp’s Future of Work Board identified four priorities that define the function’s agenda for 2026.
- Redesigning work due to AI (80%)
Redesigning work is the top priority by a wide margin. Rather than focusing solely on job replacement, organizations are increasingly deconstructing roles into tasks to identify opportunities for augmentation.
Progressive organizations involve employees directly in this process, fostering psychological safety while uncovering high-impact automation opportunities. This co-creation approach helps reduce fear of displacement and accelerates adoption by aligning transformation with frontline realities.
The result is work that is more modular, adaptable, and responsive to change.
- Reimagining enterprise organization design (70%)
Rigid, job-based hierarchies are increasingly seen as barriers to agility. High-performing organizations are moving toward project- and task-based models that enable talent and capabilities to flow across the enterprise.
Internal talent marketplaces are becoming a critical enabler of this shift, allowing organizations to match skills to work dynamically. While the technology exists, mindset remains the primary obstacle—leaders must move beyond the “job mentality” and embrace fluid deployment of talent.
- Helping the organization become skills-centric (70%)
Skills are rapidly becoming the connective tissue of modern organizations. Future-ready enterprises are significantly more effective at cataloging current skills, forecasting future needs, identifying gaps, and offering targeted upskilling opportunities.
When work is viewed through a skills lens, organizations can respond more quickly to disruption, redeploy talent more effectively, and make better decisions about where to automate versus invest in human capability.
This shift thrives in learning-centered, inclusive, and collaborative cultures—making skills-centricity as much a cultural transformation as a technical one.
- Improving talent mobility (50%)
Talent mobility continues to gain traction as a driver of agility and engagement. Formal mobility programs enable organizations to adapt faster, improve collaboration, and retain critical talent by offering meaningful career movement.
High-performing organizations are far more likely to emphasize mobility, yet relatively few have formalized programs. Building a culture where movement is expected—and supported—remains a defining opportunity for Future of Work leaders.
2026 Future of Work Predictions:
Looking ahead, Future of Work leaders shared several predictions that underscore the function’s growing strategic influence.
- Strategic workforce planning becomes a boardroom imperative.
Workforce planning will evolve into a continuous, scenario-based discipline that integrates human and digital talent decisions at the highest levels.
- AI literacy becomes a core enterprise skill.
AI fluency will be treated as a new form of business acumen, embedded into performance expectations and leadership development.
- Productivity metrics are redefined around capacity creation.
Organizations will move beyond output-based metrics toward measures that assess how effectively human and digital systems expand capacity to learn, adapt, and innovate.
- The human operating system gets an upgrade.
As cognitive load becomes a limiting factor, organizations will increasingly design work to optimize attention, energy, and well-being—treating human capacity as a strategic asset.
In 2026, Future of Work leaders will be counted on to design adaptive architectures that determine how work gets done, who does it, and how quickly organizations can respond to change.
Their role sits at the intersection of strategy, technology, and culture—helping organizations move from static structures to living systems of work. The companies that thrive will be those that treat work as something to be continuously redesigned, not preserved.
To read the full perspectives of CHROs and senior HR leaders who serve on one of i4cp’s executive Boards, download i4cp's 2026 Priorities & Predictions report.
