Today we announce 2026''s Winter Badge winners.

Badges are determined by HC Score, our transparent algorithm that measures merit through kudos, business cases, and verification.

Why are badges so important right now?

Agents are here. Close to three-quarters of companies plan to deploy agentic AI within two years.¹ Josh Bersin just published his HR 2030 vision calling this era "agentic human resources."²

But an agentic workforce needs the right human workforce.

Just ask Atlassian. In March 2026, they cut 1,600 roles then re-hired 800 AI positions in the same quarter.³ Or Amazon. In March 2026, a string of outages took down checkout, login, and pricing for thousands of customers. In response, they now require a senior engineer to review and approve every AI-generated code change.⁴

Badges are how you find the right human layer for your agentic workforce. Here is a sample:

See all 47 badges →

What Goes Into Each Badge

Every badge is earned through HC Score, our transparent, merit-based ranking algorithm. Four inputs feed the score:

Kudos: Thumbs up/down votes from customers
Reviews: Text or video feedback from people who have actually used the solution
Business Cases: Documented project completions with measurable outcomes
First-Party Data: Buyer behavior patterns on the platform

The full methodology is public at app.humancloud.com/insights/hc-score. No black box.

Platform Pulse: 165% Month-over-Month Growth

Platform Growth Chart

March closed at 7,514 unique visitors, up 165% from February''s 2,835. April is already at 2,226 visitors through the first 12 days, pacing for another strong month.

New categories emerging: Customer Experience, Events, Sales, and Manufacturing are all trending this quarter. Buyers are expanding their research well beyond traditional staffing into specialized, outcome-driven functions.
Search signals shifting: LATAM, Asia, and Legal are emerging as significant search categories. Companies are not just looking for talent. They are looking for talent in specific regions with specific compliance requirements.
Global reach expanding: Traffic from 10+ countries this week, with India, Singapore, Brazil, and the UK all showing consistent presence. Buyers are researching workforce solutions globally, not just domestically.

Top Developers Badge In Action: Joao Lucio, beecrowd

Joao Lucio

Joao spent 30+ years at global system integrators including Accenture and Cognizant, where he led Cognizant''s Latin American operations spanning 5,000+ employees across seven countries.

He saw the same problem everywhere: companies win deals, then scramble to assemble capable teams. beecrowd''s answer: replace resumes with objective proof of what developers can actually do.

Through gamification and competitive programming, they have built a platform with 1.2 million users, 93% placement accuracy, and zero performance-based replacements over five years. beecrowd ranks in the Top 1% of Human Cloud solutions, earned through verified customer outcomes, not marketing spend.

Listen to the full episode →

Industry Intel

1. Josh Bersin introduces "HR 2030" - the vision for agentic human resources

Josh Bersin published his HR 2030 framework this month, arguing that agentic AI will fundamentally reshape how companies manage people.² The vision: AI agents will have comprehensive data about every employee - roles, skills, salary, credentials, and licenses, plus external benchmarks on pay, competitor skills, and regulatory data. But Bersin is clear that human oversight is "non-negotiable." The best AI deployments are not human-in-the-loop. They are "human-at-the-helm." Humans directing and governing all agentic activity.

2. PwC: The org chart is becoming a diamond, not a pyramid

PwC''s latest workforce analysis describes a diamond-shaped organizational structure emerging from agentic AI adoption.⁵ Companies are reducing the pyramid''s "base" of entry-level workers and repurposing the middle tier to train, oversee, and manage AI agents. The result: a small leadership team, a strong middle layer, and a narrow base of new talent. For companies evaluating workforce solutions, this means the bar for talent quality goes up.

3. Deloitte: 75% plan agentic AI, but only 21% have governance

Deloitte''s 2026 Tech Trends report finds that close to three-quarters of companies plan to deploy agentic AI within two years, yet only 21% report mature governance models for these systems.¹ The governance gap is where verified talent solutions become essential. Companies need partners with proven compliance and delivery track records, not untested vendors. Badges and HC Score exist to close exactly this trust gap.

4. Worksome: Freelancers and AI agents are complementary, not competitive

The 6% of companies generating real EBIT impact from AI are not replacing external talent with agents.⁶ They are hiring freelancers to build the systems, manage the agentic output, and provide "the strategic last mile of quality that AI cannot reach alone." The critical infrastructure need: freelance management systems that can keep pace with the rate at which companies need to onboard AI-augmented talent.

5. Digital credentials explode: 1.85 million and counting, badges now majority

A new count from WCET identifies 1,850,034 unique credentials across seven categories, and badges now represent more than half of all credentials in the marketplace.⁷ The entire credentialing ecosystem is shifting from degrees and certificates to verifiable, skills-based badges. Over 50% of employers report difficulty confirming what candidates actually know or have done.

6. Disney cuts up to 1,000 roles under new CEO, marketing hit hardest

Disney is cutting up to 1,000 employees in the first layoffs under new CEO Josh D''Amaro, with most cuts targeting marketing after the company consolidated film, TV, and streaming marketing under one executive and promoted AI-powered ad tools.⁸ Since Bob Iger returned in 2022, Disney has already cut 8,000+ roles. The pattern is now familiar: consolidate, automate, then redeploy budget toward specialized talent and technology.

Sources

Explore the Winter 2026 badges →

Introducing Winter 2026 Badges: The Top Flexible Workforce Solutions