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Last week,LinkedInreleased its annual Global Talent Trends report for 2020, which explores the big trends fueling the future of the workplace. Underlying all four trends is a key theme that will change the way you hire and retain talent:empathy.

The report, which combines survey results from more than 7,000 talent professionals in 35 countries, LinkedIn behavioral data, and 40 interviews with experts, states that putting human experience at the center of HR and hiring is crucial and includes actionable advice for leaders to turn insights into action.

According to the report, the 2020s will be all about putting people first:

Companies will work to understand their talent more deeply than ever before in order to better serve them. Many are well on their way. In late 2019, nearly 200 CEOs signed on to a Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation. Instead of putting shareholder value over all, they say, a companys purpose now includes investing in employees. Companies are becoming more empathetic not only to attract candidates but to retain their workforce amid increasing expectations of what employers owe to their people.

Of course, the idea of putting people first isnt new. VaynerX Chairman Gary Vaynerchuk attributes his success to his empathetic approach, even naming his head of people Chief Heart Officer. Simon Sinek believes its the most important instrument in a leaders toolbox. And Oprah Winfrey cites it as fundamental to leadership.

Yet for years, the soft skill of empathy was viewed as too squishy for business or confused with sympathy, which is feelingcompassionfor somebody. Empathy is about putting yourself in someone elses shoes and seeing things from their perspective.

In this case, your talents.

Heres a peek at how empathy factors into the years top four trends:

Companies will work for their employees (instead of just the other way around) and find new ways to cater to them. The report cites a whopping 96% of talent professionals say employee experience is becoming more important, with 77% of companies focusing on employee experience to increase retention.

This means that HR teams are going all-in on employee experience to attract and retain talent, mapping and making manageable an employees whole journey, regularly collecting feedback, and actively collaborating with employees to create an experience that works for all.

Or, as summed up by Mark Levy,former Head of Employee Experience at Airbnb and Allbirds: Employee experience is about doing things with and for your employees, not to them.

The LinkedIn report cites a 242% increase in HR professionals with data analysis skills over the last five years. And no wonder: with the proliferation and ease of accessing people analytics, companies will focus on better understanding and capitalizing on human behavior, a must-have skill in HR.

Indeed, the more a company knows about its people, the more strategic it can be in its workforce planning, predicting attrition, and evaluating employee performance. Providing insights to support better decision-making is the key purpose of people analytics, says David Green, global people analytics expert. By bringing data to the conversation, you can be more confident about your recommendations.

Talent professionals are rediscovering a key talent pool: their own people.

According to LinkedIn data, role changes within organizations (via promotion, transfer, or lateral move) have increased steadily by 10% over the last five years, and workplace learning is helping to build skills internally, so theres less need to import them from elsewhere.

Internal recruiting can be more cost-effective for organizations and one key to retaining talent. The report states a 41% longer employee tenure at companies with high internal hiring compared to those with low internal hiring.

For all the focus on mapping the external talent marketplace, the irony is that theres not enough focus placed on the talent underneath ones own roof, says Chuck Edward, Head of Recruiting at Microsoft.

The workforce is expanding like never before, heralding a new frontier for age diversity. The report states that 89% of talent professionals say a multigenerational workforce makes a company more successful, and inclusive companies stand to benefit by embracing everyones strengths, proving that good work is ageless.

To attract and retain Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, Millennials, and now Gen-Z workers, some companies are getting creative, carving out new career paths, flexible benefits, and ways to share intelligence. The key, cites the report, is for companies to eliminate generational bickering among age-diverse teams and to create conditions that encourage collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Perhaps generational expert and author Jason Dorsey sums it up best: Organizations that take the time to break through stereotypes and myths can create tremendous trust, teamwork, communication, and openness that unlock the potential of every generation.

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This Is What You Need To Focus On To Reshape The Future Of Work, Says LinkedIn Report - Forbes