Moving Skills, Not Just People
The skills required for success are changing rapidly as AI reshapes jobs, workflows, and business priorities. LinkedIn projects that 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change by 2030, creating an urgent need for organizations to identify, develop, and deploy the capabilities they will need next. For Global Mobility leaders, this shift reinforces the strategic importance of mobility as a mechanism for getting critical skills to the right place at the right time.
Corporate demand for AI capabilities has accelerated, while the pool of workers who possess these skills remains limited. This creates major implications for Talent Acquisition, Workforce Development, and Global Mobility, because skills-based workforce planning depends not only on finding talent, but also on deploying it efficiently, compliantly, and with the right employee experience.
The Rise of Skills-Based Workforce Planning
Historically, labor shortages were viewed primarily as shortages of people. Organizations needed more engineers, analysts, technicians, or project managers. Increasingly, however, companies are discovering that the greater challenge is a shortage of critical capabilities.
AI adoption is accelerating demand for specialized expertise such as AI engineering, data analytics, cybersecurity, automation, digital transformation, and advanced problem-solving.[1]
At the same time, human-centered capabilities such as communication, leadership, adaptability, and analytical thinking have become even more valuable as organizations integrate AI into daily operations.[2]
Companies are placing greater emphasis on:
- Understanding the skills they have,
- Identifying the skills they need, and
- Creating pathways to close those gaps.
In fact, LinkedIn reports that the rate at which members add new skills to their profiles has increased by 140% since 2022. This reflects the speed of change and the growing importance of continuous learning.[3]
Why This Matters for Global Mobility
The question today is changing from "Where do we need people?" to "Where do we need skills—and what mobility infrastructure is required to place those skills where they can create the greatest business value?"
Implications extend well beyond learning and development initiatives. As organizations adopt skills-based workforce strategies, Global Mobility leaders are increasingly positioned to help business leaders deploy critical talent quickly, compliantly, and compassionately to the locations where those skills create the greatest business value.
This matters because when AI, digital, or transformation capabilities are in short supply, mobility programs become powerful tools for connecting critical talent with business priorities.
Short- and Long-term assignments, project-based deployments, international cross border business trips, and internal mobility programs help organizations:
- respond more quickly to emerging opportunities,
- accelerate capability transfer, and
- address workforce and skills gaps.
This evolution shifts mobility from a transactional relocation function to a strategic workforce capability. For mobility leaders, this means:
- participating earlier in workforce planning discussions,
- helping identify where critical skills need to be deployed, and
- providing data that demonstrates how talent mobility supports business outcomes.
How Global Mobility Creates Strategic Advantage in an AI Economy
AI is unlikely to eliminate the need for mobility. Instead, it may increase the need for organizations to move specialized skills quickly and selectively, making internal mobility, flexible deployment models, and reskilling important competitive advantages.
This is where Mobility can create differentiated value. As business leaders focus on skills, mobility teams can translate workforce priorities into practical deployment pathways, balancing speed, cost, compliance, employee readiness, and business continuity.
To compete effectively in a skills-driven economy, consider four interconnected priorities:
- First, invest in workforce intelligence. Leaders need greater visibility into the skills that exist across their organization and where those capabilities are located. Skills inventories, talent marketplaces, and skills-mapping technologies can help identify capabilities across the enterprise.
- Second, understand how work gets done. Organizations cannot effectively automate what they do not fully understand. Mapping workflows, bottlenecks, repetitive tasks, and knowledge dependencies helps leaders determine where AI can create meaningful value. Deloitte reports that 75% of technology leaders believe their operating models must fundamentally change to generate greater value from AI. For mobility leaders, that same operating-model discipline should extend to assignment design, service delivery, supplier coordination, compliance, and employee support.
- Third, prioritize reskilling and internal mobility. Building new capabilities from within can often be faster and more cost-effective than competing in an increasingly constrained external talent market.1
- Fourth, align mobility programs with workforce strategy. Mobility teams can help business leaders deploy critical expertise through relocations, temporary assignments, business travel, and cross-border project support.
Importantly, this means mobility decisions are becoming more strategic, increasingly focused on deploying scarce skills to the locations, projects, and business priorities where they can create maximum value.
The AI Talent Demand: Accelerating a New Mobility Strategy
Evidence points to a widening mismatch between demand for specialized AI capabilities and the availability of experienced talent, although public sources do not provide a single definitive global shortage figure. That uncertainty makes workforce agility even more important: organizations need the ability to identify scarce capabilities, build internal pipelines, and deploy expertise across locations when business needs shift.
Today is a good time to evaluate whether your Global Mobility and Talent Management strategies are aligned with your company's short-term and long-term skills needs.
NEI helps organizations connect Global Mobility, Talent Management, and workforce planning so critical capabilities can be positioned where they have the greatest impact, supported by practical mobility policies, supplier coordination, compliance insight, and an employee experience that helps talent move successfully.
To discuss how your organization can better align workforce planning, skills development, and mobility strategy, contact your NEI representative or visit NEI Global Relocation.
The above article is provided for informational purposes only. Please consult your tax, legal, or accounting advisors before making any decisions or transactions.
References
[1] LinkedIn, Work Change Report PDF (2025) LinkedIn Work Change Report PDF and LinkedIn News Summary
[2] LinkedIn, Work Change Report: AI Is Coming to Work (2025) Work Change Report
[3] World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 Future of Jobs Report 2025
[4] Deloitte, 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study and Rewiring the Enterprise Operating Model for AI Scale (2026) 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study and Rewiring the Enterprise Operating Model for AI Scale [deloitte.com]
[5] Second Talent, Top 50+ Global AI Talent Shortage Statistics 2026 (2026) Global AI Talent Shortage Statistics
Moving Skills, Not Just People
The skills required for success are changing rapidly as AI reshapes jobs, workflows, and business priorities. LinkedIn projects that 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change by 2030, creating an urgent need for organizations to identify, develop, and deploy the capabilities they will need next. For Global Mobility leaders, this shift reinforces the strategic importance of mobility as a mechanism for getting critical skills to the right place at the right time.
Corporate demand for AI capabilities has accelerated, while the pool of workers who possess these skills remains limited. This creates major implications for Talent Acquisition, Workforce Development, and Global Mobility, because skills-based workforce planning depends not only on finding talent, but also on deploying it efficiently, compliantly, and with the right employee experience.
The Rise of Skills-Based Workforce Planning
Historically, labor shortages were viewed primarily as shortages of people. Organizations needed more engineers, analysts, technicians, or project managers. Increasingly, however, companies are discovering that the greater challenge is a shortage of critical capabilities.
AI adoption is accelerating demand for specialized expertise such as AI engineering, data analytics, cybersecurity, automation, digital transformation, and advanced problem-solving.[1]
At the same time, human-centered capabilities such as communication, leadership, adaptability, and analytical thinking have become even more valuable as organizations integrate AI into daily operations.[2]
Companies are placing greater emphasis on:
- Understanding the skills they have,
- Identifying the skills they need, and
- Creating pathways to close those gaps.
In fact, LinkedIn reports that the rate at which members add new skills to their profiles has increased by 140% since 2022. This reflects the speed of change and the growing importance of continuous learning.[3]
Why This Matters for Global Mobility
The question today is changing from "Where do we need people?" to "Where do we need skills—and what mobility infrastructure is required to place those skills where they can create the greatest business value?"
Implications extend well beyond learning and development initiatives. As organizations adopt skills-based workforce strategies, Global Mobility leaders are increasingly positioned to help business leaders deploy critical talent quickly, compliantly, and compassionately to the locations where those skills create the greatest business value.
This matters because when AI, digital, or transformation capabilities are in short supply, mobility programs become powerful tools for connecting critical talent with business priorities.
Short- and Long-term assignments, project-based deployments, international cross border business trips, and internal mobility programs help organizations:
- respond more quickly to emerging opportunities,
- accelerate capability transfer, and
- address workforce and skills gaps.
This evolution shifts mobility from a transactional relocation function to a strategic workforce capability. For mobility leaders, this means:
- participating earlier in workforce planning discussions,
- helping identify where critical skills need to be deployed, and
- providing data that demonstrates how talent mobility supports business outcomes.
How Global Mobility Creates Strategic Advantage in an AI Economy
AI is unlikely to eliminate the need for mobility. Instead, it may increase the need for organizations to move specialized skills quickly and selectively, making internal mobility, flexible deployment models, and reskilling important competitive advantages.
This is where Mobility can create differentiated value. As business leaders focus on skills, mobility teams can translate workforce priorities into practical deployment pathways, balancing speed, cost, compliance, employee readiness, and business continuity.
To compete effectively in a skills-driven economy, consider four interconnected priorities:
- First, invest in workforce intelligence. Leaders need greater visibility into the skills that exist across their organization and where those capabilities are located. Skills inventories, talent marketplaces, and skills-mapping technologies can help identify capabilities across the enterprise.
- Second, understand how work gets done. Organizations cannot effectively automate what they do not fully understand. Mapping workflows, bottlenecks, repetitive tasks, and knowledge dependencies helps leaders determine where AI can create meaningful value. Deloitte reports that 75% of technology leaders believe their operating models must fundamentally change to generate greater value from AI. For mobility leaders, that same operating-model discipline should extend to assignment design, service delivery, supplier coordination, compliance, and employee support.
- Third, prioritize reskilling and internal mobility. Building new capabilities from within can often be faster and more cost-effective than competing in an increasingly constrained external talent market.1
- Fourth, align mobility programs with workforce strategy. Mobility teams can help business leaders deploy critical expertise through relocations, temporary assignments, business travel, and cross-border project support.
Importantly, this means mobility decisions are becoming more strategic, increasingly focused on deploying scarce skills to the locations, projects, and business priorities where they can create maximum value.
The AI Talent Demand: Accelerating a New Mobility Strategy
Evidence points to a widening mismatch between demand for specialized AI capabilities and the availability of experienced talent, although public sources do not provide a single definitive global shortage figure. That uncertainty makes workforce agility even more important: organizations need the ability to identify scarce capabilities, build internal pipelines, and deploy expertise across locations when business needs shift.
Today is a good time to evaluate whether your Global Mobility and Talent Management strategies are aligned with your company's short-term and long-term skills needs.
NEI helps organizations connect Global Mobility, Talent Management, and workforce planning so critical capabilities can be positioned where they have the greatest impact, supported by practical mobility policies, supplier coordination, compliance insight, and an employee experience that helps talent move successfully.
To discuss how your organization can better align workforce planning, skills development, and mobility strategy, contact your NEI representative or visit NEI Global Relocation.
The above article is provided for informational purposes only. Please consult your tax, legal, or accounting advisors before making any decisions or transactions.
References
[1] LinkedIn, Work Change Report PDF (2025) LinkedIn Work Change Report PDF and LinkedIn News Summary
[2] LinkedIn, Work Change Report: AI Is Coming to Work (2025) Work Change Report
[3] World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 Future of Jobs Report 2025
[4] Deloitte, 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study and Rewiring the Enterprise Operating Model for AI Scale (2026) 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study and Rewiring the Enterprise Operating Model for AI Scale [deloitte.com]
[5] Second Talent, Top 50+ Global AI Talent Shortage Statistics 2026 (2026) Global AI Talent Shortage Statistics
Moving Skills, Not Just People
The skills required for success are changing rapidly as AI reshapes jobs, workflows, and business priorities. LinkedIn projects that 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change by 2030, creating an urgent need for organizations to identify, develop, and deploy the capabilities they will need next. For Global Mobility leaders, this shift reinforces the strategic importance of mobility as a mechanism for getting critical skills to the right place at the right time.
Corporate demand for AI capabilities has accelerated, while the pool of workers who possess these skills remains limited. This creates major implications for Talent Acquisition, Workforce Development, and Global Mobility, because skills-based workforce planning depends not only on finding talent, but also on deploying it efficiently, compliantly, and with the right employee experience.
The Rise of Skills-Based Workforce Planning
Historically, labor shortages were viewed primarily as shortages of people. Organizations needed more engineers, analysts, technicians, or project managers. Increasingly, however, companies are discovering that the greater challenge is a shortage of critical capabilities.
AI adoption is accelerating demand for specialized expertise such as AI engineering, data analytics, cybersecurity, automation, digital transformation, and advanced problem-solving.[1]
At the same time, human-centered capabilities such as communication, leadership, adaptability, and analytical thinking have become even more valuable as organizations integrate AI into daily operations.[2]
Companies are placing greater emphasis on:
- Understanding the skills they have,
- Identifying the skills they need, and
- Creating pathways to close those gaps.
In fact, LinkedIn reports that the rate at which members add new skills to their profiles has increased by 140% since 2022. This reflects the speed of change and the growing importance of continuous learning.[3]
Why This Matters for Global Mobility
The question today is changing from "Where do we need people?" to "Where do we need skills—and what mobility infrastructure is required to place those skills where they can create the greatest business value?"
Implications extend well beyond learning and development initiatives. As organizations adopt skills-based workforce strategies, Global Mobility leaders are increasingly positioned to help business leaders deploy critical talent quickly, compliantly, and compassionately to the locations where those skills create the greatest business value.
This matters because when AI, digital, or transformation capabilities are in short supply, mobility programs become powerful tools for connecting critical talent with business priorities.
Short- and Long-term assignments, project-based deployments, international cross border business trips, and internal mobility programs help organizations:
- respond more quickly to emerging opportunities,
- accelerate capability transfer, and
- address workforce and skills gaps.
This evolution shifts mobility from a transactional relocation function to a strategic workforce capability. For mobility leaders, this means:
- participating earlier in workforce planning discussions,
- helping identify where critical skills need to be deployed, and
- providing data that demonstrates how talent mobility supports business outcomes.
How Global Mobility Creates Strategic Advantage in an AI Economy
AI is unlikely to eliminate the need for mobility. Instead, it may increase the need for organizations to move specialized skills quickly and selectively, making internal mobility, flexible deployment models, and reskilling important competitive advantages.
This is where Mobility can create differentiated value. As business leaders focus on skills, mobility teams can translate workforce priorities into practical deployment pathways, balancing speed, cost, compliance, employee readiness, and business continuity.
To compete effectively in a skills-driven economy, consider four interconnected priorities:
- First, invest in workforce intelligence. Leaders need greater visibility into the skills that exist across their organization and where those capabilities are located. Skills inventories, talent marketplaces, and skills-mapping technologies can help identify capabilities across the enterprise.
- Second, understand how work gets done. Organizations cannot effectively automate what they do not fully understand. Mapping workflows, bottlenecks, repetitive tasks, and knowledge dependencies helps leaders determine where AI can create meaningful value. Deloitte reports that 75% of technology leaders believe their operating models must fundamentally change to generate greater value from AI. For mobility leaders, that same operating-model discipline should extend to assignment design, service delivery, supplier coordination, compliance, and employee support.
- Third, prioritize reskilling and internal mobility. Building new capabilities from within can often be faster and more cost-effective than competing in an increasingly constrained external talent market.1
- Fourth, align mobility programs with workforce strategy. Mobility teams can help business leaders deploy critical expertise through relocations, temporary assignments, business travel, and cross-border project support.
Importantly, this means mobility decisions are becoming more strategic, increasingly focused on deploying scarce skills to the locations, projects, and business priorities where they can create maximum value.
The AI Talent Demand: Accelerating a New Mobility Strategy
Evidence points to a widening mismatch between demand for specialized AI capabilities and the availability of experienced talent, although public sources do not provide a single definitive global shortage figure. That uncertainty makes workforce agility even more important: organizations need the ability to identify scarce capabilities, build internal pipelines, and deploy expertise across locations when business needs shift.
Today is a good time to evaluate whether your Global Mobility and Talent Management strategies are aligned with your company's short-term and long-term skills needs.
NEI helps organizations connect Global Mobility, Talent Management, and workforce planning so critical capabilities can be positioned where they have the greatest impact, supported by practical mobility policies, supplier coordination, compliance insight, and an employee experience that helps talent move successfully.
To discuss how your organization can better align workforce planning, skills development, and mobility strategy, contact your NEI representative or visit NEI Global Relocation.
The above article is provided for informational purposes only. Please consult your tax, legal, or accounting advisors before making any decisions or transactions.
References
[1] LinkedIn, Work Change Report PDF (2025) LinkedIn Work Change Report PDF and LinkedIn News Summary
[2] LinkedIn, Work Change Report: AI Is Coming to Work (2025) Work Change Report
[3] World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 Future of Jobs Report 2025
[4] Deloitte, 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study and Rewiring the Enterprise Operating Model for AI Scale (2026) 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study and Rewiring the Enterprise Operating Model for AI Scale [deloitte.com]
[5] Second Talent, Top 50+ Global AI Talent Shortage Statistics 2026 (2026) Global AI Talent Shortage Statistics
