OVI is the AI-native ATS where you chat to hire. Two AI agents — Sora for sourcing and Milo for screening — find candidates, score every CV, and run AI interviews, all controlled from a single chat.

What does "chat to hire" mean?

Chat to hire is OVI's AI-native hiring workflow: instead of clicking through a traditional ATS, you describe what you need in chat and OVI's AI agents source candidates, screen applicants, run AI interviews, and send outreach for you.

What is an AI-native ATS?

An AI-native ATS is an applicant tracking system built around AI agents rather than forms and pipelines. OVI's AI chat ATS lets recruiters source, screen, interview, and follow up through conversation — the agents do the work and surface only the candidates worth meeting.

Who are Sora and Milo?

Sora is OVI's AI sourcing agent — she scans LinkedIn, the open web, and your ATS history to find best-fit candidates and reach out in your name. Milo is OVI's AI screening agent — he scores every applicant against your rubric and surfaces a ranked shortlist.

How do OVI's AI interviews work?

OVI runs async AI interviews for every shortlisted candidate and returns scores, transcripts, and recordings — so your team only meets the people worth meeting.

Worker Thriving Hits a Post-COVID Low of 44% — and AI Anxiety Is the Root Cause HR Leaders Are Missing

2026-06-19

Worker Thriving Hits a Post-COVID Low of 44% — and AI Anxiety Is the Root Cause HR Leaders Are Missing

Something significant has broken in the relationship between employees and their work — and it happened fast.

According to Mercer's Global Talent Trends 2026 report, published February 25, 2026, only 44% of workers describe themselves as thriving. That is down from 66% just two years ago in 2024, and below the lows recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mercer frames this as a historic collapse — and the data points clearly to AI anxiety as the central driver.

The 11th annual report surveyed approximately 12,000 C-suite executives, HR leaders, investors, and employees globally. Its findings are a wake-up call for HR strategy in 2026.

AI Fear Has More Than Doubled in Two Years

The most striking trend in the data is the acceleration of AI-related job insecurity. In 2024, 28% of employees reported fear of job loss due to AI. By 2026, that figure has risen to 40% — a 12-percentage-point increase in two years.

This is not a slow, gradual shift. It reflects the pace at which AI has moved from a distant concept to a daily workplace reality. Employees are watching their tools change, their roles evolve, and their futures become uncertain — all at a speed that organizations have not kept up with.

What makes this doubly serious is that the anxiety is not just about job displacement. It's about the feeling that leadership doesn't understand, or doesn't care about, what that uncertainty does to people.

The HR Leadership Gap: 62% vs. 19%

Here is the structural problem at the heart of Mercer's findings: 62% of employees say their leaders are underestimating the emotional impact of AI on the workforce. And yet only 19% of HR leaders say they factor AI's emotional impact into their digital strategy.

That gap — 62% versus 19% — is not a minor disconnect. It is the operating condition under which most organizations are trying to execute AI transformation. Employees feel the pressure, they feel unsupported, and leadership is largely building digital strategy as if the human dimension is a secondary concern.

This is a structural problem that no amount of AI adoption investment will fix on its own. The Mercer data suggests that organizations deploying AI without a corresponding people strategy are actively eroding the wellbeing of their workforce in the process.

C-suite readiness is also declining. Only 51% of C-suite executives say they feel prepared for the human-machine era — down from 65% in 2024. The leaders responsible for driving transformation are themselves less confident than they were two years ago.

What Workers Actually Want: Upskilling Over Pay

One of the most instructive data points in the Mercer report is this: 63% of employees say they would trade a 10% pay raise for access to AI and digital upskilling.

Read that again. Workers are not primarily asking for more money. They are asking for the tools and training that will make them relevant in an AI-transformed workplace. They understand the shift is coming. They want help navigating it.

This is a significant signal for HR strategy. Compensation and benefits remain important, but in 2026 they are not sufficient as a retention or engagement lever. Employees want investment in their future employability — and organizations that provide it will have a meaningful advantage.

Mercer's data reinforces this: 65% of executives expect that 11–30% of their workforce will be redeployed or reskilled within the next two years. The scale of workforce change anticipated at leadership level is substantial. The question is whether organizations are building the infrastructure to manage that transition in a way that preserves, rather than destroys, employee wellbeing.

Implications for HR Strategy

The Mercer findings collectively point to one conclusion: AI transformation cannot be treated as a technology rollout. It is a human transformation, and it requires HR leaders to be more intentional about the emotional and psychological dimensions of the work.

Concretely, this means:

Incorporating AI's emotional impact into digital strategy. The 19% figure needs to move — significantly. HR leaders who are building AI transformation plans without a wellbeing and change-management component are flying blind on a critical risk.
Prioritizing visible upskilling investment. Employees are telling organizations what they need. The upskilling trade-off data (63% willing to exchange a pay raise) is a rare, direct signal. Organizations that act on it will see returns in engagement and retention.
Closing the leadership credibility gap. The fact that 62% of employees feel their leaders are underestimating AI's emotional toll is a trust problem. Rebuilding that trust requires leaders to name the anxiety, engage with it openly, and demonstrate that they are accounting for it.

The headline number — 44% thriving — is the lowest Mercer has recorded in the eleven-year history of this report. It arrived during a period of intense organizational AI investment. That is not a coincidence. The relationship between AI acceleration and workforce wellbeing is direct, documented, and now quantified.

HR leaders who treat this as someone else's problem are taking on significant organizational risk.

Sources:

Mercer Global Talent Trends 2026 — Newsroom: https://www.mercer.com/about/newsroom/mercer-s-global-talent-trends-2026-report/
BusinessWire — Mercer GTT 2026 release: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260225391406/en/Investors-Say-Companies-Combining-Human-and-AI-Capabilities-Gain-a-Competitive-Advantage-According-to-Mercers-Global-Talent-Trends-2026-Report
Mercer Insights — Global Talent Trends: https://www.mercer.com/insights/people-strategy/future-of-work/global-talent-trends/
Mercer Newsroom — Empower Talent: https://www.mercer.com/about/newsroom/as-organizations-race-to-adopt-ai-in-2026-marsh-s-mercer-says-empower-talent-and-redesign-work-to-achieve-meaningful-gains/
Marsh McLennan — GTT 2026: https://www.corporate.marsh.com/news-events/2026/february/mercers-global-talent-trends-2026-report.html