5 employee experience trends for 2026

Employee experience, or EX, is changing rapidly, in part because of the continued deployment of AI. AI automation and time-saving tools are changing the workplace, influencing employer expectations and causing a shift in required skill sets. 

Employee well-being also continues to be a priority for CHROs because of the speed and intensity of these changes. Meanwhile, managing EX itself is now becoming a C-suite priority. 

Here are five current employee experience trends. 

1. AI as an employee assistant is here to stay  

For some time, various vendors have been pushing their AI products and offering discounts. Because of this, many companies now require their workers to incorporate AI into their daily tasks, shifting the role of workplace AI from experimental tools to full-time assistants. 

AI is now increasingly used for HR processes such as recruiting, onboarding and performance management. More frequent use for employee sentiment analysis and retention risk monitoring is likely as well. 

2. The hybrid work model is evolving 

COVID-19 led to an increase in hybrid work, and organizations are continuing to implement various approaches to it. Some of these approaches include scheduled in-office collaboration days and teamwork-focused work areas in place of traditional desk spaces.  

3. Workforce models are increasingly skills-based 

In the past, workforce models were driven by titles. However, the nature of work itself is shifting as new workplace technologies increase in popularity, so this traditional approach is giving way to skills-based models. 

A skills-based workforce model involves employees serving on project-based teams. Managers assign workers to these teams based on skill inventories, leading to an environment where employees move between roles instead of changing titles.  

A skills-based approach can help increase employee career mobility and opportunity, but companies will need to continually update employee skills information for the strategy to succeed. 

4. Employee well-being will become an even higher priority 

Employee well-being has been a top HR priority for some time, with many organizations establishing a formal program to assist workers experiencing work-related stress and burnout, among other issues. Employee burnout and reduced retention have continued to affect companies and lead workers to underperform. A survey of 2,000 employees in the U.S. found that 61% of employees are "languishing, or struggling with engagement, motivation, or fulfillment in their roles," according to "Workplace Well-Being Report 2026" by the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the University of Illinois' Gies College of Business. 

CHROs have been responding to this by expanding efforts around mental health support and psychological safety, as well as attempting to improve employee workload management and healthy internal communication policies. Employee well-being metrics, such as overtime use, are becoming central to these company strategies. 

5. EX is becoming a competitive advantage 

CHROs and other HR leaders have begun giving employees the same focus that a company would give its customers. 

Prioritizing employee experience involves creating an end-to-end employee journey that's carefully tailored by the organization. It includes making digital tools, including AI, more readily available to all employees, as well as streamlining onboarding and organizational communication and fostering increased trust within the workplace culture. 

The thinking behind this trend is that a company with a good employee experience will, in turn, be more competitive in the marketplace because it will have good employee retention. 

Scott Robinson is an enterprise data architect at New Era Technology, a global digital transformation firm. He is an IT veteran with more than 25 years of experience, a social scientist and the author of Modern Data-Centric Architecture.