Wrapping Up 2025: Highlights and Reflections

Welcome to What's Up with WorkTech by Mercer, where we explore how technology is transforming the workplace. As a leader in digital solutions, Mercer examines emerging trends and innovative HR technologies. Join us for insights from industry experts on the intersection of HR and technology and how Mercer is shaping the now of work. Enjoy the episode.

Hello, everyone. All right. Well, this is the final episode of the year for What's with WorkTech, and this is going to be a special episode with Tara and myself, Karina Lamb. How's it going, Tara?

It is good. I cannot believe that we are almost at the end of the year. I can't believe it. I feel like it was yesterday when we first started the show and all of the topics that we have talked about on this show together.

It has been so much fun. So it's a bittersweet, but you know what? We got 2026 and there's going to be a ton more exciting things to come. I was pondering, yes, that is the word pondering, about a lot that has happened that you and I have been working on.

And I just kind of wanted to start off with what's like the big moment that you've been thinking about this year? Like the thing that you're most proud of that you would want to talk about? Oh, gosh, you want me to pick just one. That is a tough one.

We've done so, so much this year. I feel like I've had my hand in so many pies, very, very great pies to have my hands in right now. But if I had to pick maybe one, and I may piggyback with a second, but we'll start with one. I would have to say the HR tech impact on the workforce report is one that I am super proud of.

So this is a study. It was the first idea that I had when I joined Mercer as an HR tech analyst, helping us build out the practice. It was the idea that I had of where we needed to take our research because selfishly, as I was researching the HR tech and work tech market, I found a ton of information around how HR feels about HR tech, how leaders feel about it, how we're spending on it, how we're thinking about it, what we rate different vendors. I really struggled to find information about what real people think about the technology that we put in front of them as HR, as leaders, what kind of work tech is put in front of them and how do they feel about it.

So that's exactly what this study looks at. And we started off with this being a U.S.-Canadian study looking at North America.

This year, we expanded it globally to over 10 countries. 8,500 respondents gave their voices to this study and really helped us understand where the real risks lie when it comes to the future of HR tech. And specifically this year, it was a special AI edition because of course that is the topic of the year that we are all talking about in the tech world. But it really shone a light on the trust that could potentially be broken here, not because of technology itself, not because of the AI, but because of the lack of leadership voice that we have around it.

And now we get to have those conversations with leaders, help them have conversations with their organizations, and start to fill that leadership void so that we can actually make forward progress with technology, not just making business gains, but making personal gains for employees as well. That is amazing And it just been so exciting especially this past year to see how much support and how much this report has been able to amplify across the world I'm super proud of it. And it's just been exciting to see you from day one all the way through this year.

And I just am so excited ahead. As I think about this past year, there's just been so much that I've been so proud of, to your point. It's so hard to narrow down. But the number one thing that comes to mind is the partner ecosystem that we've been able to form.

And to me, a lot of them have become really close friends. But the way in which we partner together, who we work with day in and day out, we're in the trenches together. We've got amazing opportunities together. Those are the things that I am so proud of because it takes time to build.

I'm just really, really excited to see where it's come by the end of this year. Yeah, a lot of intentionality there is what I hear. And that's something that I think should be a key word heading into 2026. Yes, yes.

I almost want like a big plaque that says intentionality. I love that. Yes, I love it. What are some other things that come to mind?

Like, did you have any aha moments? Oh, well, I would say for me, the aha moment kind of crystallized heading into our fall conference season this year. By that point, there had been a number of spring events, including conferences, analyst days, vendor briefings. And we got to understand that the agent wars we're on, right?

Who could build the most agentic AI, the fastest, who could be the fastest to market getting those to their clients, who could automate away anything that takes the time of a human being. That really became the narrative of the season. But what we hadn't heard much of was customers adopting these types of agentic solutions. And then we all headed to HR Tech Conference together.

And that made it perfectly clear that the vast majority of HR Tech leaders and buyers weren't the least bit prepared to take on all of these features that our vendor friends are creating. And so we found that there's this huge disconnect in what's been built and what organizations are designed to absorb. It's really an AI readiness chasm. and one that we have to clear if we want to unlock a future where AI helps humans do more, which is the future that most everyone in the C-suite is betting on right now.

And that's actually what prompted my latest research focus, which is Mercer's AI readiness study. This one actually just launched this week. So maybe we can even sneak it into our show notes, Karina. Very exciting.

But it's really a study designed to help organizations assess where they fall in terms of AI readiness. And it gives actionable advice on how to grow their readiness muscle inside of their org to help them get the outcomes that they actually want to get with AI. So that was my aha moment. Can't just slap AI onto anything.

You can't skip the hard work of getting ready for AI. We have to, once again, be intentional about how we approach AI. And that takes growing that readiness inside of our organizations. So special plug, AI readiness.

Everyone pay attention. Well, I'm sure you're seeing this with our vendors as well, right? All of our partners are talking about AI. So this has to be something that is top of mind for them too.

So we want to see them succeed by helping them meet clients where they're at and kind of bridge that chasm so that we can get greatness out of all of these investments that are being made. And within all these conferences or events or even just this year, was there anything like memorable or anything that stood out for this year? Well I had so many memorable conversations especially even on this podcast I think back to when I had with Dr Misha Ann Martin on how skills that once seemed trivial next to tech skills are now some of the most important ones that we have inside of the workforce.

And many of them aren't taught in the classroom, right? It's through learned experience or experience even outside of the workplace. I got to talk to a lot of organizations, including UKG's co-innovation group around how do we think differently about AI? not just putting on top of what we already have, but how do we blow things up, think differently, start from scratch, ask the tough questions.

Do we need job descriptions? Question mark. Don't have the answer specifically was leaving that one to be rhetorical, but those are the types of conversations I've had. But I would have to say probably my favorite moment of this year was a little bit more personal.

For my last speaking event of the year, which was in Scottsdale with the iSelf team, I had my 12-year-old son tag along with me. And this wasn't just to chill in the hotel room doom scrolling, which I know he probably would have loved to do, but I actually made him attend the sessions. I made him act as my photographer in my speaking session. And I even had him join me on a podcast with Ryan Leary, where he took direct questions and he answered them really thoughtfully within the context of a 12-year-old mind.

So I was super, super proud. And I think this was so important to me because we're talking all the time about how AI is going to change the world. And that includes the next generation of workers, which includes my 12-year-old son and his peers. And they're getting a lot of mixed signals in the classroom.

Some teachers in schools embracing it, others banning it, no clear explanation to these kids necessarily about why. So I wanted them to hear about how we're talking about AI at work, how we're tackling some of these challenges, and also help them see that learning can happen outside of a classroom as well. It's something that we should always be tasking ourselves with. And there is research that points to really positive results when boys see their moms pursuing their own careers and passions.

So, you know, being willing to put time into being a family caregiver, treating women more fairly in the workplace, making fair hiring decisions. So hopefully I'm planting a seed there, but also bringing everything that I do in my work full circle into my personal life because it is all connected and we are setting the model for what's to come. So I wanted my son to see what's possible. I love, love that.

I mean, especially as a mom myself, I am a huge fan. I'm so happy you were able to take your son with you and he was able to be immersed in your world, understand what mommy does. I mean, he might be too old to even call you mommy at this point, but But, you know, in his very teenage adult self, just being able to be immersed in your world and really appreciate all the hours that you put into everything that you love from a work perspective. I love that.

Yes. I will tell you, as they get older and they're not as willing to talk to you all the time, trapping them on a work trip with you for a few days is a great way to get them to start chatting a little bit. They have no choice but to talk to you. So also a great personal parenting tip.

Traveling for work is definitely a lot of time spent away from home for sure. But it also gives us the ability to really immerse ourselves into what we've been focusing and that we love, what we've been doing. This is probably a work-related but not work-related. But one of the most memorable events that I had this year was during the UKG Aspire event.

And we had a booth there, but we also had a basketball hoop, you know, as part of our booth. All these people would come in and the purpose of it is really to generate leads and have people come by our booth. But it was just a fun moment because we spent all this time living and breathing our work and we love it But there would be these individuals that would constantly come by multiple times a day to compete for the highest score on the basketball hoop And it was just such a fun thing to see that in this work environment, people were still having so much fun.

They were being, you know, competitive in a fun way, but constantly competing to get the highest score and it just it just made me smile and these are like the little things in life that when i see people enjoying themselves at work and being around other people and finding other people to compete on the basketball hoop with it just really brought a lot of joy so i know it's not exactly the the work-related answer but definitely something that brought a lot of warmth to my heart being at these trade shows yeah i think the connection is really why we're there right yes yes, we want leads and all of that.

Mercer, we promise we're there for leads. But it's also about making connections with people. And sometimes that's not just about talking shop and getting right down to it. Sometimes it's getting to know, you know, what drives someone personally.

And that leads to all kinds of other conversations that you have in the start of potentially some really great relationships. So I love that. I love Tara. As we round out the year, certainly you and I have talked about a ton of topics on what's up with WorkTech.

what do you think is one lesson that you would like to share for the listeners and people who have been with us on this show? Yeah, I would say embrace your curiosity. The world around us is changing really fast, and as much as we'd all love for organizations to give us all the guidance we might need, and in fairness, many are working to provide as much as they can, we have to think about how to prepare ourselves for this new world, not just at work, but in our personal lives as well.

As you mentioned, websites are going away, right? The whole world is going to change around us. So we have to build new skills based on human agency. Things like connectual reasoning, assumption testing, composure under ambiguity.

There's a lot of ambiguity coming in. We need some composure there. Those are the things that we need to start working on so we can take ownership of our growth, shape our futures, and really confidently navigate the unknown that lies ahead with some sort of purpose and resilience. So please embrace your curiosity.

It will serve you well. I was thinking about this one myself, and it would definitely be to keep learning. I know often at times people shy away, especially AI, as we're all talking about it, and it's kind of a fight or flight response. So I say lean in, keep learning, because the world is only going to get more interesting.

And so don't be afraid of it. Lean in and just keep learning. I love that. The world is only going to get more interesting.

Yes. Interesting is the word that we will be using. So amazing. Well, thank you so much, Tara.

This has been an amazing, amazing year. Wishing you happy holidays and to all of our listeners, happy holidays, happy new year. Thank you, everyone. Happy holidays.

Thank you. Thank you.