The efforts employees make to keep up with this pace are taking a toll, with 68% of respondents reporting lower wellbeing, 50% reporting decreased engagement, and 60% experiencing an increased workload.
Only 27% of surveyed leaders say their organisations manage change effectively. The report suggests a shift from a model focused on managing change to one where continuous evolution is embedded into everyday operations. To achieve this, organisations need to support employees in using new tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), provide ongoing learning opportunities, constant feedback, and direct support in task execution so that people can adapt more fluidly. Companies that successfully adopt this adaptive approach are 2.4 times more likely to report stronger financial performance and to provide employees with more meaningful and valuable work. For now, only 8% of respondents believe their employers meet their continuous learning needs.
In this context, adaptability becomes a critical advantage. However, while 85% of surveyed leaders say building adaptability across organisations and employees is essential, only 7% report making progress in this direction.
The same fast-moving environment has led seven in ten executives to state that their primary competitive strategy for the next three years is to become faster and more agile, allowing them to respond quickly and capitalise on changes in business, customer behaviour, or market dynamics.
Rapid technological progress, particularly in AI, combined with a constantly shifting business environment, is also driving the need to rethink traditional corporate functions, which risk becoming outdated. To fully leverage AI, organisations require cross-functional expertise and closer collaboration. In this context, over 50% of respondents believe current functions need to be reinvented to meet future demands, while nearly half identify organisational structure as the main barrier to change. Departments such as HR, finance, IT, and legal, historically designed for reliability and specialisation, may need to be redesigned to support speed, adaptability, and multidisciplinary collaboration, especially in integrating AI. Organisations face a significant gap between ambition and action: although 66% of executives consider overcoming traditional functional boundaries very important, only 7% report meaningful progress.
“Persistent cost pressures, profound shifts in consumer and employee behaviour, and geopolitical volatility have pushed many organisations towards a reductive model where efficiency has become an end in itself. Paradoxically, at the very moment efficiency is maximised, its capacity to generate progress begins to be exhausted, requiring an inevitable shift towards value. This involves functions designed with a clear purpose, deliberate investments in innovation, and a growth logic based on adaptability and relevance, rather than austerity. At the same time, demographic changes and workforce contraction are turning human capital into a scarce resource, reinforcing the need to invest in areas where people generate distinctive and ultimately irreplaceable value,” said Raluca Bontaș, Partner, Deloitte Romania.
The Deloitte study highlights the need for organisations to make faster decisions to adapt at this turning point. Artificial intelligence is also reshaping decision-making processes and, in many cases, becoming an integral part of them. The report shows that 64% of respondents recognise the importance of AI’s impact on decision-making, yet only 5% report meaningful progress in this area. At the same time, 56% of surveyed leaders say they design AI integration primarily for business outcomes such as cost or speed, while an increasing share of leaders (40%) consider both business outcomes and employee wellbeing.
“It is a moment of decision: those who act quickly gain a competitive advantage, and the real stake is the human factor. The logic of cost optimisation is being surpassed: a chatbot does not replace people, it frees them from repetitive tasks that consume their time. Judgement, trust, authenticity, adaptability – these become the differentiating variables in a world where AI can take over a large share of execution,” said Doina Patrubani, Senior Advisor, Human Capital, Deloitte Romania.
At the same time, the accelerated implementation of AI may subtly erode trust, connection, and shared norms, and the study points to a new concept, “cultural debt”. Nearly 60% of respondents acknowledge the importance of AI’s impact on organisational culture, yet only 5% report meaningful progress in this area. To prevent this gradual erosion, leaders need to strengthen and actively develop organisational culture so that AI reinforces rather than undermines values and performance. According to the report, the most important actions to support organisational culture include creating open dialogue between employees and leaders and providing clear, regular updates on how AI is influencing work and jobs.
The Deloitte 2026 Global Human Capital Trends study was conducted among more than 9,000 business and HR leaders across industries in 93 countries, including Romania. In addition to the global report, Deloitte also conducted research among employees, managers, and executive teams to capture their perspectives and highlight the gaps between how leaders and employees perceive these changes.