The appetite for global hiring is accelerating in 2026 despite ongoing regulatory volatility, but employee engagement is under strain and AI is rapidly reshaping workforce strategy, according to the newly released The Global Atlas Report: 2026 from Atlas HXM. Based on a survey of senior HR, legal, finance and operations leaders across North America and Europe, the report reveals major shifts in how organizations approach international expansion, talent access, and distributed workforce management.
For years, global expansion has been defined by operational hurdles like navigating visas, managing payroll across borders, and mitigating compliance risks. In 2026, however, the challenge has evolved. Nearly half (49%) of organizations with an international workforce say attracting and retaining international talent is very or extremely challenging — on par with managing operational complexity across countries (49%) and ahead of high international workforce costs (48%) and visa and immigration complexity (47%). In the United States specifically, 37% of respondents cited attracting and retaining international talent as highly challenging, nearly identical to concerns around operational complexity and immigration management.
Contrary to expectations, immigration and regulatory uncertainties are not deterring expansion. They are accelerating it. 68% of organizations globally — and 67% in the US specifically — say changing immigration policies are accelerating workforce expansion and hiring decisions. Fewer than one in five report delays. Meanwhile, 52% of organizations plan to expand their international presence in the next 18 months, compared to just 16% maintaining current structures. 90% of respondents say they feel prepared to navigate new or changing immigration policies, including 92% of US organizations.
The Global Atlas Report 2026 also highlights the accelerating impact of AI across international workforce management. One in ten decision-makers now report fully automating certain tasks using AI. At least 80% of HR leaders use AI for employment law research, regulatory monitoring, and report summarization. Rather than eliminating work, AI appears to be reshaping skill demand, with 53% reporting increased demand for creativity and innovation, 52% for risk assessment, and 51% for human–AI collaboration. At the same time, 51% of organizations report widening skills gaps within their workforce.
As global expansion and AI adoption accelerate, employee engagement is emerging as a major fault line. 69% of leaders say they find it challenging to keep their international workforce engaged across borders. Organizations report increases in higher turnover and job-hopping (50%), cultural friction impacting collaboration (50%), burnout (48%), and quiet quitting (48%). Meanwhile, 54% report an increase in employees using AI-assisted workarounds. Despite expanding globally, 77% of organizations say return-to-office mandates are "good to enforce," rising to 83% in the US — highlighting a growing tension between global hiring ambitions and location-based workforce policies.
The findings point to a fundamental transformation in global expansion strategy where talent strategy has become a board-level issue. Organizations are building flexible workforce models that allow them to move confidently even when regulations shift, but distributed work requires deliberate design as employee engagement doesn't scale automatically. The infrastructure to hire globally has matured, and now the differentiator is how strategically organizations design their workforce architecture. More information about the report can be found at https://www.atlashxm.com.
