As 2025 draws to a close, many human resource (HR) teams are left reflecting on a labour market that feels stuck.
In this article, Donal Laverty, consulting partner at Baker Tilly Mooney Moore, unpacks the ‘Great Freeze’, highlighting ways HR teams can break the market’s current standstill.
The Great Freeze
Employers and jobseekers describe an atmosphere marked by contradiction and frustration.
Graduates report struggling to secure their first meaningful role, while older workers speak of feeling sidelined despite a desire to contribute.
Even those in stable jobs often feel a sense of uncertainty about their work.
The post-pandemic optimism around redesigning work seems to have ebbed away. What was once described as a period of reinvention now feels more like a period of suspension.
Some analysts are referring to this as a period of the ‘Great Freeze’.
Although the dynamics differ across global regions, the phrase captures the mood of a market in which movement is limited, and progression feels harder to achieve.
What workers need vs how organisations are responding
Many of the priorities that gained momentum between 2020 and 2022 have begun to wane.
Flexible and hybrid working, once framed as a strategic imperative, is being quietly scaled back. Organisations cite productivity concerns, yet employees increasingly see this retreat as a loss of trust.
Diversity, equality and inclusion, which briefly held a central place in boardroom discussions, has slipped down the agenda even though staff continue to look for fairness, belonging and representation.
At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is accelerating.
Recruitment technology has quickly shifted from being an efficiency tool to acting as the structural backbone of hiring. Agencies and internal talent teams are relying heavily on automated systems that filter, rank and shortlist with minimal human involvement. Candidates sense the disappearance of personal connection and employers risk losing insight into qualities that rarely show up in algorithmic assessments.
The result is a widening disconnect
Jobseekers insist that there is work to be done and talent to offer.
Employers insist that the talent is not there.
Both perspectives are true within their own contexts, yet the gap between them continues to grow because the mechanisms meant to connect them are increasingly impersonal.
In some regions, this is particularly visible in sectors that depend on early career talent and on experienced specialists.
Graduates often cannot access pathways that allow them to prove themselves, while seasoned workers report feeling overlooked.
The sense that something fundamental is missing from the recruitment ecosystem is widespread.
Talent retention has become equally complex
Workers who remain in roles often feel overextended as organisations hesitate to hire. Many describe a culture that has become more transactional, with reduced communication and increased pressure.
At the same time, employers face a workforce that wants clarity, appreciation and a sense of purpose. Corporate responsibility, once a talking point, is now a credibility test. Employees and customers alike expect organisations to behave with authenticity and consistency. Those that cut commitments too sharply risk eroding trust.
Restoring the human element
As we look towards 2026, HR leaders may need to restore the human element that has been diluted.
Technology will remain central, but genuine connection, transparent expectations and thoughtful workforce planning will determine whether organisations can rebuild confidence.
The labour market is not frozen beyond repair. It simply requires a renewed focus on people, not processes, to begin to move again.
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