People & Organizational Performance PracticeHR Monitor 2026A comprehensive benchmark survey of workforce and HR trends across Europe, the United States, and China delivers critical insights for today’s HR leaders.June 2026
HR Monitor 2026June 2026This report is a collaborative effort by Julian Kirchherr, Karel Eloot, Sandra Durth, Ulf Schrader and Vincent Bérubé, with Charlotte Seiler, Kira Rupietta, Kristina Störk, Marlene Senst, Séverine Fobe, and Simon Gallot Lavallée, representing views from McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance Practice.
ContentsHR at a turning point: From functional excellence to system-level transformationConclusionAppendixAbout the authorsTalent acquisition: Enhancing hiring effectiveness as labor markets steadyEmployee development: Preparing workers for rapidly evolving skill and AI requirementsA cautious workforce: Insights into employee experience and retention HR’s operating model: Rewiring the people function in the age of AIStrategic workforce planning in the age of human–AI collaboration4394042111823316Preface3CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTIONCHAPTER 2CHAPTER 3CHAPTER 4CHAPTER 5
PrefaceAs AI transforms how work gets done, the people function is more important than ever. The workforce is undergoing fundamental change as roles and skill requirements shift and new forms of human–machine collaboration emerge. HR is taking on a new dual role: It serves as an architect of AI transformation, shaping how work, roles, and capabilities evolve, and as a “lighthouse,” leading by example in reimagining its own operating model and demonstrating how to embed AI into core processes.In this environment, chief human resource officers (CHROs) and other HR leaders need a sharper understanding of where the function stands today and how it needs to advance. We have expanded our HR Monitor report to provide leaders with richer data to benchmark their people function against peers, evaluate progress, and identify key areas for action. Our inaugural report in 2024 focused on Germany’s HR landscape. Last year, we highlighted workforce and HR trends across Europe. This year, we surveyed approximately 1,300 HR professionals and 5,500 employees across ten countries, with a primary focus on Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom), complemented by comparative data from the United States and China. The data was collected in January 2026, spans multiple industries, and is complemented by insights drawn from discussions with HR leaders and experts across McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance Practice. The result is a robust data set enabling cross-country, cross-industry, and year-over-year comparisons. (Note: Year-over-year differences in survey results should be interpreted as directional only, as country coverage changed slightly compared to 2025, with the addition of China, the Netherlands, and Belg...
