← InsightsReportTalentJAN 2026 · 11 MIN

Reskilling in the agent era — a multi-market study

Skills people are losing, gaining, and being measured on, in the first year of agentic work.

Theo BrennanNadia Khoury
Talent

We surveyed and shadowed knowledge workers across multiple markets and roles to understand what is actually changing in the work. The headline: the people who are thriving are not necessarily the ones who started out closest to the technology.

Four patterns

  • Judgment scales when assembly is automated. The hours saved go to harder questions, not fewer questions.
  • Coaching beats training. Embedded reskilling outperforms the formal curriculum.
  • Mid-career talent benefits most. Early-career adapts; mid-career compounds.
  • Manager skill is the binding constraint on team productivity gains.
Keep reading

More from the lab.

All insights
AI
ReportAPR 2026

The Reinvention Index 2026: agentic at scale

The benchmark on what works when AI moves from pilot to operating model — across enterprise scale and sector.

Banking
PulseAPR 2026

Banking after the agent — fee, margin, trust

What conversational AI does to fee income, margin, and trust — by region.

Industrial
BriefingMAR 2026

What sovereign AI means for European industrials

Compute, capital, and the new geography of advantage.