The latest L&D news, reports, research and updates, personally compiled by TJ’s Editor, Jo Cook. This week: Emotional awareness shapes entrepreneurial success, while workplace technology surveillance raises concerns. New research highlights future skills challenges, and upcoming L&D conferences explore AI, evidence-informed practice and the changing demands on people development professionals.
AI literacy is the most critical skill gap
Docebo Inc., the enterprise platform for the AI-era workforce, unifying skills intelligence, learning, and knowledge in one closed loop, announced the release of The 2027 Skills Intelligence Report, a study of what HR and L&D leaders believe about their skills strategy, and what the data shows is true.
HR and L&D leaders are confident in their skills strategies: 75% say they are prepared to reskill or upskill their workforce, and 96% say role-specific skill requirements are at least somewhat defined. But the systems behind that confidence tell a different story. Only 62% say those requirements are clearly defined, 43% review skills data only once a quarter, and conflicting priorities (45%) are the top-cited barrier to a functioning skills strategy, more than double any other answer. 53% say that AI literacy is the most critical skill gap.
AI risks widening the workplace divide, new report finds
PA Consulting, a Jacobs company, has released a new report revealing that AI risks widening existing workplace divides. A survey of 2,000 U.K. employees found senior leaders are pulling significantly ahead in their ability to turn AI into meaningful results.
Seven in ten senior leaders (70%) say AI helps them achieve things they could not have done before, compared with just 38% of employees in entry-level and junior roles. Meanwhile, almost a third of the workforce (32%) say they have yet to see meaningful benefits from the technology.
Apprentices being let down by tick-box training
The UK is suffering from an eye-watering apprenticeships dropout rate, and new research by the Sutton Trust sets out why so many young people are falling out of the system. 35% of apprentices do not complete their course, and this rises to 36% of 16-18 year olds and 38% of those from disadvantaged areas of the country.
The social mobility charity interviewed over 300 apprentices aged under 30, including 100 who had dropped out of their course. These young people frequently argued that their course did not function as a coherent programme, with a lack of alignment between their work with their employer and what they were learning with their provider.
Poor quality training was often cited as a reason for dissatisfaction. Some described their training as a ‘box-ticking’ exercise, rather than equipping them with workplace knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Mentimeter report reveals overlooked business value amid AI adoption
Based on more than 40 hours of in-depth interviews with HR and talent leaders, alongside global workplace research and organizational psychology, the Employee Engagement Crisis Report found recurring patterns: employees often know more than leaders hear, people become less willing to contribute when their input goes nowhere, and managers are expected to engage their teams while facing many of the same pressures themselves.
The findings come as employee engagement has fallen to 20% globally, its lowest level since 2020. Gallup estimates that low engagement cost the global economy around $10 trillion in lost productivity last year.
Entrepreneurs who struggle to understand their emotions are less committed to business goals, study finds
Entrepreneurs who struggle to recognise and make sense of their own emotions are less likely to feel attached to their businesses and less committed to achieving their goals, particularly in high-stress periods, according to new research from the University of Bath School of Management.
The study focuses on alexithymia, a personality trait that makes it difficult for people to recognise, understand and describe their own emotions. People with alexithymia experience emotions, but they may struggle to identify exactly what they are feeling or put those feelings into words.
Employees say more bosses are using tracking software — and want it to be publicly declared
New research has claimed almost three in five (59%) UK workers say their company is using monitoring software to track their activity both across basic attendance but also computer activity like mouse movements, keyboard usage and meeting participation. And a further four in five (82%) believe that employers should have to disclose their use of monitoring software – something that’s not currently required by law.
Owl Labs also revealed some losses in efficiency as a result of hybrid working, but ironically, having workers placed across multiple locations isn’t the issue. It’s the tech they’re being handed out.
Future skills A-Z
AI and climate are both inevitable risks to your business. Understood well, both bring commercial rewards, according to a curated research report from Sustained Futures.
- US$670k Added cost of a data breach for organisations with high levels of shadow AI
- 39% Of workers’ core skills are expected to change by 2030
- 63% Of employers say skills gaps are the biggest barrier to transforming their business
Connect 2026 conference panels announced
The Learning Network is excited to announce the two panels that will take to the stage at Connect 2026, its annual conference, which arrives at The Eastside Rooms in Birmingham on Friday 27th November. Six expert panellists will take on two of the biggest conversations in L&D today: how AI is reshaping the skills people need at work, and what it takes to build more evidence-informed ways of working.
The first panel turns to AI and the effect this enormous technological shift is having on workplace skills. The second panel explores evidence-informed practice: what it means for us as people and as professionals, and how we go about adopting more evidence-informed ways of working.
Speexx releases agenda for Speexx Exchange 2026: The New Frontier for HR and L&D
Speexx has announced the agenda for Speexx Exchange 2026, bringing senior HR and L&D professionals together at Hotel InterContinental Berlin and online on December 2. Organised together with 360Learning, the event will explore the theme “The New Frontier for HR and L&D,” examining how AI is changing work and the decisions organizations face in developing their people.
Speakers from organizations including Baker Hughes, Schneider Electric, and Deutsche Bahn will join international researchers and industry experts to connect enterprise experience with emerging evidence. The program gives leaders responsible for people development an opportunity to compare approaches, challenge assumptions, and discuss implementation with peers facing similar responsibilities.
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