Roberta Matuson | Forbes Article

Your company’s ability to staff your organization in 2025 is going to be a mixed bag. Workers will be hesitant to leave their current positions for fear they may be a casualty of a layoff at their new company. And you will no longer be able to outbid your competition, when staffing critical positions, given that payroll budgets are being significantly reduced.

You may be thinking, “Oh, great! Our employee turnover will decline, and we’ll no longer will have to worry about employee retention or hiring.”

This may be true, but what if the wrong people are staying? You could be left with a pool of talent that is mediocre at best.

Forget your free snacks and ping pong tables. By 2025, that won’t cut it anymore.

Navigating the 2025 Talent Landscape

Here’s what it’s really going to take to attract and retain top talent in 2025 and beyond:

1. Authentic leadership. Stop with the corporate speak and start getting real. Employees want leaders who are transparent, vulnerable, and actually walk the talk. Not leaders who say we value work life balance and then promise employees a full weekend off every three months!
2. Meaningful work with real impact. Your people want to know their work matters. Show them exactly how they’re contributing to the bigger picture.
3. Genuine flexibility. I’m not talking about “flexible” Fridays. I mean true autonomy in how, when, and where work gets done. Trust your employees to get their work done and if they don’t, find employees who will.
4. Fair compensation. Period. Don’t make people beg for what they’re worth, and for goodness sake, stop trying to buy people on sale.
5. Continuous growth opportunities. Invest in your people’s development. Help them grow or watch them grow.
6. A culture of belonging. Diversity isn’t a checkbox. Create an environment where all team members feel valued and heard.
7. Purpose beyond profit. There’s nothing wrong with making a profit. However, your company better stand for something more than just making money.
8. Personalized hiring. By 2025, Gen Z may comprise more than a quarter of the global workforce, bringing a new set of workplace expectations and priorities. This demographic shift will require organizations to adapt their talent strategies to attract and retain younger workers, who don’t care to be treated like just another number.
9. Human-centric cultures. People are the heart of every thriving business. Don’t be fooled by the AI hype; technology won’t be replacing your workforce. Start paying a bit more attention to the human side of your organization if you want long-term success.

Here’s the hard truth: if you’re not already working on these things, you’re already behind.

The war for talent isn’t coming – it’s here, as Baby Boomers retire and there are fewer people available to take their place.

And it’s only going to intensify. The time is now to stop playing catch-up and start leading the pack.