Throughout 2025, we spoke with senior business leaders and leading voices on the future of work. Our discussions revealed how AI has moved beyond pilots into full‑scale deployment, geopolitics is shaping boardroom priorities, and inclusion, trust, and strong leadership are emerging as the foundations for sustainable change. Across our conversations, a consistent message emerged: organisations that combine technological ambition with human‑centred execution will define the next era of work. For leaders, the challenge is no longer anticipating change, it’s deciding how to lead it.
Summary of key themes from 2025
Unsurprisingly, one theme dominated our 2025 discussions: the transformative impact of AI on the future world of work. It’s the thread running through everything – reshaping how we think about jobs, skills, and the future. As AI continues to take on more routine tasks, human qualities such as curiosity, creativity and empathy are emerging as the real differentiators for the future of work. Skills and trust sit at the heart of this transition. The skills mix within roles is expected to shift rapidly, with 40% of skills across all roles changing over the next five years. This will demand deliberate reskilling, thoughtful work redesign and transparent communication about where and how AI is deployed.
Another central theme was the evolving role of leadership and management. The concept of “good work” - anchored in autonomy, voice and meaning - featured prominently, together with a candid recognition that many organisations have underinvested in the fundamentals of effective people management. One striking insight was the sharp decline in task discretion, the degree to which employees can decide how to carry out their tasks, over the last three decades. This trend is a warning sign for employers - participation mechanisms without genuine control risk eroding engagement and, ultimately, undermining performance in the longer term.
Research shows that having a more diverse workforce is likely to generate more positive outcomes for business in the medium- to long-term. However, diversity alone is not enough - without genuine inclusion, those benefits cannot be fully realised. Hybrid working has also matured, moving beyond improvised arrangements towards broader questions of fairness, coherence and role‑specific design.
Longer-term trends such as demographic change are too often overlooked. This ‘present bias’ can have lasting consequences for productivity, succession and knowledge transfer. To succeed, organisations must proactively address these trends alongside immediate challenges, ensuring they benefit from future workforce shifts and achieve more positive outcomes.
Finally, geopolitical instability has become a first‑order planning issue, demanding horizon scanning, workforce agility and resilience.
Ten priorities for business and HR leaders
Looking ahead, and building on the insights from our 2025 discussions, we’ve identified ten priority actions for organisations aiming to strengthen resilience and agility for the future:
- Proactively address long-term trends - including demographic shifts and climate change mitigation - alongside immediate challenges
These issues are often overlooked as organisations feel increasingly pushed to tackle more immediate challenges. By embedding these considerations into strategic planning now, businesses can position themselves to benefit from future workforce changes and achieve more positive outcomes.
- Train and develop leaders
Demands on leadership and line manager capabilities are having a significant impact on the ability of organisations to meet their strategic objectives and drive transformational change. Accelerate manager development across all levels of the organisation to empower employees, support wellbeing, and build inclusive, collaborative cultures.
- Leverage AI for better jobs
HR leaders must work with technologists to ensure AI is developed as a tool that creates better jobs, effectively utilises human skills, provides autonomy, and promotes wellbeing. Engaging employees in the conversation around AI implementation is crucial to collectively benefit from its potential.
- Ensure sustainable succession pipelines
Monitor AI’s impact on entry-level roles and career pathways to ensure sustainable succession pipelines. Broaden talent pools by hiring for transferable skills, leveraging AI to close role-specific technical gaps and lower barriers to entry.
- Promote fairness in flexible working
Offering a range of solutions, such as flexi-time, job sharing, annualised hours and part-time roles, helps to ensure all employees, including those whose jobs cannot be done remotely or who lack dedicated home workspaces, can access the benefits of flexible working.
- Build future-ready capabilities across the workforce
40% of skills across all roles are expected to change over the next five years. To meet this challenge, focus on developing a combination of:
- human skills: unique human capabilities such as emotional intelligence, collaboration, critical thinking, adaptability and curiosity;
- agent skills: AI knowledge, data literacy and proficiency using AI tools; and
- business skills: strategic thinking and project management.
- Personalise the employee experience
An exceptional employee experience moves beyond one size fits all solutions. It accommodates individual needs by tailoring support, resources, and enablement to each person’s role, location, and seniority. Personalisation ensures employees get what they need when they need it, in a way that truly drives engagement.
- Build organisational velocity
Lack of collaboration within organisations significantly impacts the speed of decision making. Remove friction and break down silos by clearly communicating strategy, then cascading it into team and individual goals.
- Lead with strategy first
To support long-term strategic planning, set your organisation's vision first and then translate that direction into operational steps that align with evolving regulatory requirements.
- Be proactive in scanning and responding to evolving policy and regulation
Dedicate resources to political and legal horizon scanning and building up internal capabilities so that businesses can anticipate and adapt quickly when new rules and frameworks emerge.
We will be exploring these themes and more in the Future of Work Hub’s 2026 report which will be published in February. Sign up here to receive a copy.