Talent strategies continue to evolve over time, as new generations enter the workforce and macroeconomic conditions shift. Common offerings, such as higher salaries, bonuses, stock options, premium healthcare plans and 401(k) programs still matter, though they’ve become table stakes. That’s why more recent benefits, such as paternal leave, mental health support and guaranteed buyouts (GBOs) hit the scene.
There has also been an increase in other lifestyle-related benefits aimed at improving work-life balance and happiness, such as lifestyle spending accounts, vacation stipends or even pet-related PTO. Those perks reflect the desires and feedback of today’s workforce, but not all companies can afford them.
Regardless of an organization’s size or means, benefits should not be gimmicks or empty promises. Organizations should solicit meaningful employee feedback and take a more empathetic approach to workforce needs.
Perks alone aren’t enough
The nature of benefits continues to change over time. For example, during the dot-com boom, ping-pong tables and premium snacks and drinks were common, as people were expected to work so many hours. After the pandemic, hybrid work was popular, though many companies have since issued return-to-office (RTO) mandates. Other organizations have become virtual following the pandemic, sidestepping the RTO fallout altogether.
Heather Leier-Murray, research director in the CIO practice at Info-Tech Research Group, said organizations hit a tipping point in 2025 when they realized the old way of attracting and retaining IT talent no longer worked.
“In 2026, there needs to be a reimagination of how we approach talent management generally, and specifically in IT because of the skills gap and talent shortage we’re seeing,” she said.
IT and HR must work more closely
The CIO’s relationship with the chief human resources officer (CHRO) matters greatly, though historically, they’ve viewed recruitment through different lenses. HR professionals tend not to be technologists, so their approach to hiring tends to be generic. Conversely, IT leaders aren’t HR professionals. Many of them were promoted to management or executive roles for their expert technical skills, not their managerial or people skills.
To close the CIO-CHRO gap, some organizations have made a point of having people who specialize in IT recruitment. Those individuals may report to the CIO or CHRO, according to Orla Daly, CIO at skills management company Skillsoft. Alternatively, there are IT-specific recruiting agencies and recruiting agencies with IT specialists.
Bridging the CIO-CHRO divide is increasingly seen as essential to attracting the right technical talent.
One-off training doesn’t work anymore
Many organizations have some sort of training for their employees, but tech and business processes are evolving so fast that their educational practices need to change. While some managers and executives worry that their employees will leverage their new credentials to land a job elsewhere, that outlook is not only antiquated but also unwise when it comes to IT.
More importantly, IT recruits expect training — but it must be meaningful. Chris Daden, CTO at SaaS hiring and talent management company Criteria, warned that a four-hour AI course given right after hiring isn’t as effective as continuous learning, so his cybersecurity training now includes five-minute videos that teach employees something about a particular issue — for example, phishing.
“High-performing organizations are going to invest less in generic courses and more in these targeted role-specific learning opportunities,” Daden said, adding that “as we develop a sustainable AI culture, mentorship is being formalized through coaching frameworks, rather than left to chance.”
AI is accelerating the shift from static degree-type education to dynamic education on a personalized level. Daden and others said this can translate to higher ROI for the organization and a workforce that is better prepared to thrive in today’s dynamic economy.
Clear individual career paths reduce frustration
The multigenerational workforce can be frustrating for everyone at times, simply because employees’ lives and work experiences can be so different. While not all individuals in a demographic group are homogeneous, at a 30,000-foot view, Gen Z wants to work on interesting and innovative projects — things that matter on a greater scale, such as climate change. They also expect more rapid advancement than previous generations, such as being promoted to a management role after a year or two versus five or seven years, for example.
Employee career expectations need to be managed carefully because a lot of disgruntled employees don’t feel valued. One of the best ways of turning that around is individual career pathing, so the employee knows that personal growth is possible and what qualifications are necessary to earn the next promotion, raise or both.
Transparency around advancement can be as important as compensation in retaining talent.
AI-enhanced HRIS requires oversight
Modern HR information systems (HRIS) have analytics and AI built into them. Never has it been easier to track how employees perform, how they work and how they engage. These systems also contain valuable pre-hire and post-hire data that can be used to improve and optimize HR processes. They can also help personalize work experiences.
But using AI-powered HRIS solutions without oversight can create problems. To test that concept, Info-Tech’s Leier-Murray tried an A-B test. While working in academia, she and a junior employee “applied” for the same entry-level job. The software recommended against hiring Leier-Murray because she was “unqualified” when she was overqualified. The junior person was identified as an excellent candidate.
While it may be tempting to offload the tsunami of resumes through an AI engine and just trust the output, doing so without human review can be risky and irresponsible.
Criteria’s Daden warned that AI has made it easy to appear qualified for a position without actually having the required capabilities. His company doesn’t hire candidates based on their degrees or experience, but the company does have a competency framework that keeps the company and employees aligned on what qualifies a person for a particular role.
For example, there are many different engineering levels at Criteria, each of which has competency requirements. Similarly, one must achieve a certain level before that person can qualify for management responsibilities. When someone requests a bonus or higher title, the framework is referenced rather than relying on the hiring manager’s personal decisions. It also helps to have insights into unstructured pre-hiring and post-hiring data that were previously unavailable.
Culture and skills matter more than titles
Most organizational leaders will tell you their companies have great cultures, but not all their employees would likely agree. Cultural decisions made behind closed doors by a few for the many tend to fail because too many assumptions are made, and not enough hypotheses tested. “Seeing how your job helps the company move forward has been a point of opacity for a long time, and after a certain point, it’s like, ‘Why am I still here?'” Skillsoft’s Daly said.
Individual and corporate resiliency are better served by having the right mix of skills for where the company is headed. Both CIOs and other organizational leaders realize it’s more effective to have the right set of skills than the “right” mix of titles because change happens so quickly these days.
Tiger teams aren’t new, but they’re shifted somewhat. They were traditionally formed for a special project, but the model now applies to business as usual. “It’s really thinking about alignment with key initiatives that we want to drive as a company, then deciding the skills and talent to support that,” Daly said.
Candidates and employees are psychologically affected by company culture. A recent example is the backlash from RTO mandates when, in 2020, work from home was considered the future of work. Some employers are using remote work to lure candidates away from their RTO employers.
More fundamentally, candidates and employees should be a cultural fit because they’ll stay longer. For example, Adam Wachtel, CTO at Click Boarding, said he wants to ensure candidates understand he’s looking for IT professionals that can take limited information and run with it. Everyone on this team is encouraged to contribute ideas, which helps foster innovation and makes individuals feel more valued than if they’re micromanaged. In addition, IT department employees can see the effect of their work in terms of company revenue and growth, which inspires them to do more. Importantly, project timelines have shortened and become more predictable.
