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Palmer Group survey: Iowa employers prioritize technology – Business Record

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Iowa Employers Pivot Toward Technology and Retention as 2027 Planning Takes Shape

“Companies are trying to find efficiencies, ways to improve how they’re doing it.” That is how David Leto, president and CEO of the Palmer Group, sums up the mindset of business leaders across Central and Eastern Iowa heading into the next year. As companies prepare their operational strategies, a new survey from the West Des Moines-based staffing and employment firm shows a notable shift away from aggressive staff expansion toward workflow technology and workforce retention.

The annual survey conducted by the Palmer Group—in partnership with the Greater Des Moines Partnership, Cedar Rapids Economic Alliance, and the Central Iowa Society for Human Resource Management—reveals that 22% of responding business leaders identified implementing new technologies as their top priority for 2027. That figure represents a sharp jump, exactly double the 11% who selected technology as their primary focus a year earlier. Meanwhile, employee retention remains the leading overall priority, cited by 34% of respondents, down only slightly from 37% last year.

Rather than looking to technology primarily as a mechanism for eliminating jobs, employers are deploying these tools to make existing teams more productive. Artificial intelligence, workflow automation, and modernized operational platforms are entering the daily conversation across corporate offices and industrial floors alike. The full survey results are scheduled for release on November 2, offering deeper insight into regional compensation and hiring trends.

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Shifting Priorities in Training and Compensation

With new software packages and operational platforms on the horizon, the focus on internal training has experienced an interesting shift. In last year’s survey, training ranked as the second-highest business priority for respondents. In the newly released findings, training lands as the fourth-most important priority.

Chris Lorenz, the Palmer Group’s executive vice president, points out that the temporary dip likely reflects the current phase of adoption. Once leadership teams finalize decisions on which specific technology packages to implement, companies will inevitably pivot back toward large-scale workforce training to get employees up to speed.

Salary plans for the upcoming year reflect a similarly cautious, yet steady, approach. The survey indicates that 95% of respondents plan to provide employees with pay increases in 2027. While robust, that number marks a slight cooling from a year ago, when 97% of employers planned on giving raises. When asked about the minor dip, Leto noted that companies have raised salary baselines significantly over the past five or six years, leading some to question the long-term sustainability of maintaining that exact pace of increase.

Among those planning raises for 2027, the breakdown reveals moderate adjustments:

  • 20% of respondents plan raises of 1% to 2%
  • 70% plan raises of 3% to 4%
  • 5% plan raises of 5% or higher

Hiring plans mirror this tempered optimism. A total of 44% of respondents indicated plans to increase staff sizes, dropping from 49% in the previous survey. Concurrently, 5% of businesses anticipate decreasing their headcount, up slightly from 4% last year.

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