The latest L&D news, reports, research and updates, personally compiled by TJ’s Editor, Jo Cook. This week: UK tech job hiring defies predictions, while NHS training faces reform. AI adoption races ahead of guidance, consultants seek support, digital advice gains popularity, IT spending surges and Gen Z battles Sunday anxiety.
Four trends to expect in L&D in 2027
When Gartner polled board directors on the top tasks for CHROs to get ahead of AI, L&D-related aspects — such as more employee training programs, especially around AI-related skills, and worker redeployment — took up three of the top five spots.
Only 41% consistently use a new way of working after training, while 42% still use tools or processes their manager thinks they’ve replaced
TalentLMS reports on “habit hugging”: holding onto familiar ways of working as jobs keep changing, expectations rise, and AI rewrites how work gets done. Adoption isn’t a clean shift from the old way to the new. Nearly 3 in 4 employees (73%) mix old and new ways of working to get the job done, while 29% say their company is investing in tools they’ve quietly stopped using.
The pressure to deliver can also push new ways of working aside. Almost half of employees (48%) feel rushed to adopt new ways of working, while 60% say that at their company, getting results matters more than using the new way.
PwC confirms learning records breached in attack on vendor site
PwC is investigating claims that hackers had breached a third-party vendor site the company uses to house employee learning records. The company disclosed the breach amid claims from Everest ransomware that it had stolen 590 gigabytes of employee data in an attack.
PwC has not commented on the specific ransomware claim. However, after learning of the incident, the company “acted promptly to secure the environment” and conducted a thorough review, according to a PwC Global spokesperson.
About 1 in 3 workers say they’re faking their skills
“Fake it ’til you make it” is more than an adage: 36% of the U.S. workforce, or about 64 million people, say they’ve “faked it” when it comes to their knowledge, skills or expertise, according to Addison Group’s 2026 Skill Security Report. Workers said they exaggerated because they felt pressure to appear capable and stay competitive.
This phenomenon has come up before; 10% of job seekers surveyed in May 2025 told AI Resume Builder that they lied regarding aspects of their resume, including years of experience and job responsibilities in previous roles. Work experts have a few solutions to combat workers lying to get the job and lying to keep the job, which all concern homing in on skills.
Technology “job-pocalypse” exaggerated as 86% of UK firms plan to grow or maintain their engineering teams
Nearly half of UK firms (48%) plan to increase their software developer headcount over the next two years, according to Ready for the Future?, a new report from not-for-profit tech training provider CodeYourFuture. A further 38% plan to keep teams at their current size, with only 7% having frozen hiring and 4% planning cuts.
Faster statutory and mandatory training could help free up vital NHS capacity this winter
A new initiative designed to reduce the amount of time NHS staff spend repeating statutory and mandatory (StatMand) training has been launched by Skills for Health. Up to 200,000 working days are lost each year due to unnecessary StatMand, according to NHS England, while concerns about the frequency and duplication of training remain among the most commonly reported workforce issues in the NHS’s annual staff survey.
AI is saving consultants time, but people still need support to use it well, says new survey
Elevation Learning’s report draws on a survey of 204 people in consulting-related roles to highlight four challenges and five practical moves for L&D teams. AI is widely used among respondents to Elevation Learning’s consulting survey. The findings raise a practical question for L&D teams: how can they help people use it effectively within everyday work?
The Reality of AI in Consulting, published by Elevation Learning, shares findings from a survey of 204 consultants, business partners and professionals in consulting-style roles. It finds that 72% use AI daily and 85% say it saves them time. The harder questions sit beyond adoption.
Employee AI use is moving faster than training and governance, new O’Reilly research reveals
O’Reilly, a knowledge company delivering the expertise that drives business outcomes, released new research revealing that training and governance have failed to keep pace with AI-assisted work, leaving employees exposed to costly mistakes. AI has quietly become the first place most UK workers turn for answers, overtaking colleagues, managers, and even search engines.
- 35% have received no AI training or guidance in the past year
- 50% of 25–34-year-olds (the group shaping tomorrow’s workplace habits) now go to AI before a colleague, manager, or search engine
AI outperforms friends and family for most who seek personal advice, new poll finds
A survey of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by the Social Market Foundation (carried out by Opinium) found that 1 in 5 (20.6%) use AI for personal or relationship advice, rising to 2 in 5 (41.7%) among Gen Z. Among those using it, more than half (53.7%) considered AI more helpful than family and friends when seeking out personal advice, while 3 in 10 users said the two were equally helpful.
Gartner forecasts 15% global IT spending growth, recaps top tech predictions
AI infrastructure and AI software will shape the next $1 trillion dollars in IT spending growth, according to Gartner. The research firm is anticipating a significant rise in AI-driven spending in a wildly changing tech environment.
- By 2029, 80% of new applications will be intentionally disposable—used for less than one year
- By 2030, $10 trillion in enterprise-owned energy will make Global 2000 firms unexpected power providers—selling to grids and AI data centres, reshaping the utility industry
The Gen Z Sunday scaries start at 4:13pm
The “Sunday Scaries” — the anxiety people experience as they anticipate returning to work on Monday — may be affecting Gen Z workers long before the workweek begins. New research from global healthy eating platform Lifesum reveals that the average Gen Z worker’s Sunday Scaries begin at 4:13pm, peak at 5:17pm, and can spill over into how they eat, sleep, and spend their Sunday.
The findings come as workplace stress and mental health concerns remain high among younger workers. In the US, 48% of workers typically feel tense or stressed during their workday, while 37% say their work environment has a negative impact on their mental health (American Psychological Association).
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