Only 17 percent of Philippine employers say they are able to recruit and retain enough workers with artificial intelligence (AI) skills, underscoring a growing talent crunch even as local companies accelerate the adoption of AI across their organizations, according to global professional services firm Aon.

That figure is seven percentage points (ppts) below the 24-percent global average, signaling that while Philippine firms are moving quickly to deploy AI, many are struggling to secure the talent needed to maximize the technology’s potential, Aon’s inaugural 2026 Human Capital Trends Study released on Tuesday, April 28, showed.

“Organizations in the Philippines are confidently keeping pace with global trends on AI and deployment, echoing other fast-growing Asian economies. AI reskilling and upskilling rates are particularly high, but AI talent remains a challenge,” said Cris Rosenthal, strategic advisory lead for human capital solutions at Aon.

The study showed that 47 percent of Philippine firms have already fully deployed AI, while 25 percent are piloting the technology, and 22 percent remain in the pre-implementation stage. Only seven percent are not actively using AI.

Despite the rapid rollout, workforce readiness remains uneven.

Aon found that despite high AI reskilling and upskilling rates in the Philippines, many firms continue to prioritize efficiency and automation over talent development. The top three objectives for AI deployment among Philippine employers are automating routine tasks, increasing operational efficiency, and driving innovation.

At the same time, 94 percent of respondents said AI will create new opportunities and require new skills in their field, while 92 percent believe AI will automate some tasks but existing roles will still be necessary. Only 29 percent think AI will significantly replace jobs.

This suggests employers broadly view AI as an augmentation tool rather than a full substitute for human workers.

To remain competitive, Aon said firms should invest more heavily in compensation transparency and market benchmarking to attract and retain scarce AI talent.

Yet only 13 percent of Philippine companies rated their pay transparency practices as mature or very mature, while 55 percent admitted they had not benchmarked compensation in the past year. Both figures lag global norms.

“Greater focus on pay transparency and compensation benchmarking may be critical to solving this challenge,” Aon said.

The study also found that only one-fifth of companies in the Philippines have an employee value proposition (EVP) that is clearly defined and well understood by employees, while just one-fourth described leadership’s commitment to employee wellbeing as strong and visible. Still, 77 percent said they are confident their organization’s wellbeing strategy is meeting workforce needs.

Broader people strategies remain focused on long-term transformation and retention. Philippine employers ranked accelerating digital transformation in human resources (HR) processes as their top people strategy priority, followed by strengthening leadership and succession planning, and improving employee engagement and retention.

On total rewards, the top objectives cited by employers were retaining high performers, attracting top talent, and driving business performance. The top communication channels for benefits and rewards were email, company benefits portals, and one-on-one meetings.

Aon also highlighted a persistent disconnect between what employers believe they should provide and what employees say they actually receive.

For instance, 97 percent of employers said they should support workers through financial education, but only 17 percent of employees said they receive such support. Similarly, 84 percent of employers said they should provide women’s health benefits, but only 13 percent of employees confirmed receiving them.

The same gap was evident in childcare, where 72 percent of employers said support should be provided versus only 12 percent of employees who said they receive it; in family-forming and fertility support, where the gap was 60 percent versus five percent; and in financial advice, where 83 percent of employers believed they should provide it, but only 15 percent of employees said they actually receive it.

The gap extends to customized benefits. While 71 percent of employees in the Philippines said it is important or extremely important to customize employee benefits, only nine percent of employers currently offer customized benefits—suggesting a disconnect between workforce expectations and company offerings.

Meanwhile, 34 percent of Philippine firms said they are putting in place initiatives to address the gender retirement savings gap, and only 15 percent said they are not concerned about employees not being able to afford retirement.

The report said companies can address these gaps by using data more effectively to align compensation, benefits, and human capital strategies with business objectives.

Aon recommended that Philippine companies collect, analyze, and utilize data for effective compensation benchmarking, build robust job architecture aligned with business strategy to attract and retain talent, and introduce customizable benefits to meet the expectations of an evolving and diverse workforce.

The survey was conducted from November 2025 to January 2026 and covered 2,361 board directors and senior business and people leaders worldwide. Of the total, 60 respondents came from the Philippines, one of the larger respondent pools in the Asia-Pacific region.