Nearly half of workers globally seeking new roles as salaries stall

CORK, IRELAND — Salary stagnation and automation anxiety are driving nearly half of workers globally to plan a job change within six months — even as 63% of their employers report no planned headcount reductions, according to Morgan McKinley’s 2026 Workplace Trends Report, drawn from 2,799 workers and 214 employer decision-makers.

A salary plateau colliding with AI skills anxiety

“If pay is flat, if roles are changing and if AI is being introduced without clear explanation, employees will naturally ask where they stand and whether their future is better protected somewhere else,” said Trayc Keevans, Global FDI Director and Head of Research at Morgan McKinley.

The report found 37% of workers believe their role faces restructuring, automation, or cost-cutting risk. When 70% of workers haven’t seen a salary increase in six months and 37% believe automation is already targeting their role, the question they are asking is not whether to leave — it is when.

AI skills investment is the retention variable employers are underestimating

“Employers that are clear on pay, honest about change and serious about skills will be in a much stronger position than those relying on stability alone,” Keevans added.

Seventy percent of workers identify AI and data skills as critical competencies, yet 56% rate their employer’s investment in professional development as insufficient — making skills access as visible an exit driver as pay stagnation.

Twenty-five percent of employers already rely on temporary staff and contractors as part of their workforce model, a proportion that reflects a structural gap between internal skills development and actual talent demand.

Seventy-five percent of employers say they prioritize redeployment and reskilling over automation or temporary staffing, yet the report’s exit-intent data shows this strategy is not shifting worker behavior.

The salary stall story is the surface; the AI skills investment gap is the mechanism — 56% feel underinvested in, and exit intent follows when employers provide no credible path to the skills workers know they need.

For BPO and offshore staffing providers, the Morgan McKinley findings describe a market where demand is building from two directions.

Clients managing workforce exits because of salary stagnation need flexible, cost-efficient talent alternatives; clients managing AI skills gaps need offshore teams with structured, verifiable development programs.

Providers that deliver both — flexible headcount and AI-literate teams — are positioned at the intersection of the two workforce pressures this report maps.