The most multigenerational workforce in modern history is here. Millennials and Gen Z will dominate headcount by 2030 while older workers exit later. This guide translates the noise into operating decisions that reduce churn, speed ramp, and protect knowledge before overlap peaks.
AI layoffs are finally being counted. CEOs flirting with “agree or quit” and memos scoring AI usage are culture tells. Hybrid isn’t broken. Management is. HR becomes the growth engine. Ship skills. Publish the plan.
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Layoffs, job hugging, and a flood of LinkedIn “Open to Work” frames make it look like employers hold all the cards. They do not. The rules are changing, not disappearing. Here is how employer branding earns its keep now, and what happens when the pendulum swings back.
AI agents promise lift. Pink slips deliver reality. Gen Z gets squeezed while remote-first shops drown in applicants. This week: productivity hype, adoption whiplash, and the broken rungs of early careers collide.
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Skills based hiring was meant to replace pedigree. In many organisations it has simply learned to live alongside it. Degrees vanish from job ads, but preferred schools and brands still dominate shortlists, while “skills evidence” shows up as one more hurdle at the end of the process.
In 2025 employer branding grew up. AI rewrote jobs, RTO became a reputational event, CEOs turned into brand signals, and radical honesty replaced generic “great place to work” claims. This Almanack distils 28 stories into practical rules.
As organisations look to 2026, EVP must shift from broad promises to clear, tangible impact. The focus is on evidence, storytelling and demonstrating how empowerment and people experience directly influence outcomes and business performance.
After a year of wall-to-wall AI, we wanted to know whether 2023’s confident forecasts were substance or spin. Here is what held up, what did not, and how to use the evidence to shape employer branding, talent attraction, culture, and organisational transformation in 2026.