Hire, build or borrow: the case for building capability, not just buying it

There is no single workforce strategy for 2026. The H2 2026 Workforce Insights Report frames the year around three models: hire, build and borrow. The organisations adapting best are not the ones with the biggest budget. They are the ones making the decision role by role, instead of defaulting to “we need to hire” every time. 

We would go one step further. Of the three, build is the model most businesses under-use, and often the one with the strongest long-term return. Here is how to think about all three, and why build deserves more of your attention this year. 

Hire when the capability is scarce and permanent

Hire when a capability is strategically important, hard to replace and likely to stay core to the business for years. Specialist AI, cyber, cloud and senior data leadership all sit here, and all are getting more competitive as market confidence recovers through H2. When the capability is not going anywhere, owning it makes sense. 

The catch is cost and availability. Specialist salary inflation continues to outpace the wider market, and the best people are in short supply. Hiring is the right answer for some roles. It is an expensive answer for all of them.

Build when demand is long term and the potential is already in the room

Build when the need is ongoing, supply is constrained, and you have people with the potential to grow into it. AI literacy, cloud capability and governance understanding are all strong internal development opportunities right now, precisely because the external market for them is so tight. 

Building does more than close a skills gap. It strengthens retention. Replacement costs and hiring timelines keep rising, and people are far more likely to stay where investment in their progression is visible. Your build strategy and your retention strategy are really the same conversation. 

There is a funding point here that changes the maths. If you pay the apprenticeship levy, you already have a budget for building capability. Our AI-enhanced apprenticeships use that levy rather than net-new spend, embedding new skills into existing roles across areas like data, operations, team leadership and business administration. Each programme represents around £16,000 of levy investment. For most levy-paying organisations, that is money already committed. The only question is whether it builds capability or goes unused.

Borrow when the need is specialist and finite

Borrow when a capability is highly specialist, time-bound or tied to a specific programme. Interim leadership, specialist consulting and contract delivery remain effective for AI implementation, ERP and CRM transformation, delivery surges and specialist governance work. You need the expertise now, and you do not need it forever. 

Three questions for every capability gap

For any gap, ask three things.  

1. Will we still need this capability in three years?  

2. Is the talent available now at a sensible market cost?  

3. Is the requirement finite or ongoing? 

Most workforce planning goes wrong because these questions are never explicitly asked. Teams reach for whatever model they used last time, rather than the one that fits the problem in front of them. A CTO planning senior AI leadership and an operations lead planning a six-month rollout are answering the same three questions, and should arrive at very different answers. 

Where the Academy fits across all three

Most providers sell you one model. The Academy is unusual in that it supports all three, which is what makes it easier to match the model to the problem. 

We can help you build, through upskilling and levy-funded apprenticeships that grow capability inside your existing teams. We can help you add capability at pace, by bringing in trained, delivery-ready talent through our hire, train and embed model, with a retention plan built in for the long term. And because we sit inside the wider La Fosse group, borrow options through interim and specialist delivery are never far away. 

The report sets out live salary benchmarks across permanent, contract and Academy rates for every practice area, so you can put a real number against each of these decisions. 

Build the plan around the problem, not the habit

The organisations that get 2026 right will not be the ones with a single fixed policy. They will be the ones choosing hire, build or borrow deliberately, gap by gap, and using the levy they already pay to make build the default far more often than it is today. 

Download the full H2 2026 Workforce Insights Report.

If you want help working through your own hire, build and borrow plan for H2, get in touch. We would love to help you build it.

Sources and references 

This article draws on the La Fosse H2 2026 Workforce Insights Report, La Fosse proprietary placement and hiring data, and consultant insight from live market conversations, alongside wider workforce planning research referenced throughout the report. 

Full sources and methodology are available in the H2 2026 Workforce Insights Report.