Most HR professionals expect their organization to maintain its current pace of hiring, with 71% planning to hire to support growth initiatives during the first half of 2023, according to CompTIA’s annual “Workforce and Learning Trends” report released today. However, layoffs will continue to be a reality, with 23% of HR professionals expecting skills gaps to be a significant factor in layoff decisions.

The report identified talent mobility as the top trend shaping efforts by organizations to hire new talent and reimagine how to deploy existing staff. Three-quarters of the survey respondents reported a formal or informal talent mobility program within their organization, and 75% said their organization plans to increase their program’s scope and emphasis on talent mobility.

“Learning and development programs aimed at upskilling and reskilling workers will be essential,” said Nancy Hammervik, chief solutions officer at CompTIA. “Every organization has untapped talent and an opportunity to empower employees to strive for that next career rung.”

The research also highlighted the T-shaped skills model as a key trend shaping organizations’ hiring, with 84% of HR professionals indicating that they use the model in some capacity to guide talent management. The T-shaped model signifies an employee with a significant depth of understanding of a particular field and a breadth of cross-discipline competencies.

New technologies continue to play a significant role in how organizations hire talent. While still at an early stage, artificial intelligence is on the radar of most HR professionals, according to the report. Meanwhile, most respondents, 52%, have a neutral or to-be-determined view of AI and its impact on HR.

The report is based on a survey of 450 US and 200 UK HR and learning and development professionals across various industry sectors and company sizes conducted in January and February 2023.