New report finds a talent visibility issue that neglects the potential of the internal workforce
A talent visibility issue is making organisations miss out on the potential of their current workforce in favour of external hires, a new report has warned.
Findings from SHL's Talent Mobility at Work in 2026 show that the skills needed by employers may already be present in their workforce, but they remain unseen and untapped.
According to the report, 84% of workers want their employers to proactively show them internal opportunities that match their skills and experience, with 89% saying they would willingly sit through a formal skill assessment to demonstrate what they can do.
"The striking thing about this research is how willing people are to prove what they can do. Employees are saying, 'assess me, develop me, show me where I could go next,'" said Lucy Beaumont, global senior vice president of product and design at SHL, in a statement.
In fact, the report found that most employees are open to retraining to secure a more senior role (83%) or a different role altogether (82%).
"Yet organisations continue to invest time and money searching the external market for individuals with skills and experience that they may already have."
The result is a "hidden workforce," according to the report, where capability exists inside organisations but isn't visible enough to influence deployment, development, or career decisions.
"The biggest missed opportunity for leaders and businesses today is overlooking the talent they have," Beaumont said.
"The next era of workforce strategy needs to bring greater visibility, helping leaders to see, develop, and mobilise the skills their organisations already have."
Are managers the problem?
The report further points out that the issue is not limited to managers not fully understanding their people's skills, but also extends to managers not wanting their people to go.
Nearly a third of the respondents (31%) said a barrier to internal mobility at work is their managers not wanting to lose good people to other teams.
This is even higher than the 24.6% who said their skills are not being recognised and the 23% who believe there is a lack of visibility into opportunities.
Overall, the top barriers to internal mobility, as cited by employees, include few job opportunities available (42.2%) and limited career pathways (31.4%).
"Employees are being encouraged to learn, but internal opportunity isn't being discussed often enough," the report read.
"When workers do speak with their manager, the conversations tend to focus more on strengths, development, and learning aspirations, rather than on mobility itself."
Employees also pointed out that their organisations still see external hiring as the preferred path, with many saying their employers favour external candidates over internal development.
Addressing the talent visibility issue
Beaumont advised leaders to look at their people "through a different lens" to see what else they can do at work.
"With a science-backed view of skills and reskilling potential in individuals and teams, they can make smart, better-informed decisions in an AI-powered world of work," she added.
The report outlined five measures that employers can use to make talent mobility successful. They include:
- Making workforce skills visible by having a reliable and objective view of skills and potential across the workforce
- Making career pathways easier to see and connecting people with opportunities
- Using objective assessment to make better mobility decisions
- Equipping managers with actionable talent data so they can fully understand the broad skills and capabilities of their teams
- Using artificial intelligence to unlock talent mobility
"Closing that talent mobility gap requires employers to understand people beyond job titles and credentials – creating a clearer, more objective view of skills and potential, and connecting that insight to development and real career opportunities," the report read.
