The latest L&D news, reports, research and updates, personally compiled by TJ’s Editor, Jo Cook. This week: AI is everywhere, yet ROI lags. Employees stay silent about bullying and harassment. Skilled trades shortages threaten AI infrastructure growth. Facilities management modernisation is faltering because training is undervalued, yet blamed for failure.
Why a cancelled meeting feels so liberating
A Rutgers University study published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research explains why a cancelled meeting can feel like a gift of limitless time: unexpectedly gaining time alters our perception of how that time passes, which in turn affects how we spend it.
The researchers then examined how people spend windfall time. Participants reported intended and actual behaviour when they had expanded time. Across these studies, people typically chose longer activities than they otherwise would.
Employment Hero data reveals HR sector boom as employment rises 9.9% amid compliance pressures
Employment Hero, the global leader in HR, hiring and payroll software, has released new sector data from its February Jobs Report, revealing a sharp rise in employment across HR and accounting roles as small businesses prepare for major regulatory changes in the UK labour market.
Employment in the HR and accounting sector rose 9.9% year-on-year in February, signalling a significant expansion in roles focused on compliance, payroll and workforce management. The surge in hiring has been accompanied by a sharp rise in wages. Salaries for HR and accounting roles increased 16.4% year-on-year in February, compared with 8.8% wage growth across the SME economy overall, reflecting a growing demand for expertise.
Technological disruption has made skills gaps a ‘moving target’
Technological change is placing increasing pressure on financial services firms to continually adjust their skills strategies, according to a new report published by the Financial Services Skills Commission. It suggests that the rapid changes in artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies, as well as a challenging business environment, are making longer-term reskilling activities less attractive. This is creating a shift towards more rapid, and agile, upskilling interventions.
GOV.UK AI chatbot achieves 90% accuracy
The Government Digital Service has reported achieving 90% accuracy for responses generated by its in-development artificial intelligence assistant GOV.UK Chat. According to an update on the project, GOV.UK Chat has been used by more than 10,000 participants in two public pilots over the course of the last 18 months. During that time users asked around 26,000 questions about government services, from tax to benefits to visas.
Read more on our sister publication Civil Service World.
78% of UK businesses now using AI – less than a third see financial benefits
Some 78% of UK businesses claim to be using AI in some capacity. This rises to 85% for mid-sized organisations (100-249 employees), the highest of any group, according to research from Studio Graphene.
However, the research revealed that less than a third (31%) of the businesses using AI have seen a positive ROI from their investment in the technology. Almost a fifth (18%) said their AI projects have not delivered the benefits they expected, while 16% said it was too early to tell.
Research: UK employees are scared to speak up about bad behaviour in the workplace
Bullying and harassment are rife in UK workplaces, but many employees aren’t speaking up about their experiences. While over a quarter (28%) of people have experienced bullying or harassment at work over the past 12 months, almost 60% of those chose not to report it.
Culture Shift research also found a significant confidence gap between senior and junior employees, with junior colleagues twice as likely (54%) as senior leaders (27%) to say that speaking up about workplace issues is ‘pointless’ because ‘nothing meaningful will be done about it’.
AI can’t build data centres: global demand for skilled trades soars in the AI era, growing 3x faster than professional roles
New Randstad data reveals a critical bottleneck as time-to-hire for skilled trades has overtaken professional roles, threatening AI-powered growth
Hiring for skilled trades is accelerating as AI infrastructure scales, with demand for robotics technicians up 107%, HVAC engineers up 67% and construction roles up 30%
Skilled trades are the primary limiting factor to growth: for every 100 young people entering the manufacturing sector, 102 leave, and hiring a skilled tradesperson now takes longer (56 days) than a desk-based professional (54 days).
New research reveals training paradox undermining facilities management modernisation efforts
Comprehensive staff training ranks lowest among success factors at 9%, yet inadequate training is cited as a cause of failure by 64% of respondents. This disconnect represents a significant blind spot in technology implementation. Organisations would benefit from elevating training and change management in their implementation planning, treating it as a critical success factor rather than an afterthought.
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