The latest L&D news, reports, research and updates, personally compiled by TJ’s Editor, Jo Cook. This week: Young people embrace robots, AI reshapes how workers develop expertise, self-employed skills demand grows and older freelancers face barriers. Salary transparency matters, the CIPD urges youth employment action and DemoFest returns to DevLearn.
Nearly one in three workers say office presence affects promotions
Nearly one in three UK workers believed being present in the office was rewarded in promotion decisions, research from HiBob found. When asked what is rewarded in promotion decisions, visibility to senior leaders was cited by 34%, while 33% pointed to constant availability.
More than a quarter said greater visibility to their manager made office work appealing. 13% said they had been left out of an important decision because they were not in the office.
Owl Labs’ 2026 State of Hybrid Work Report finds UK employees are caught between visibility pressure and AI-driven workloads
AI use is now near-universal across the UK workforce, office policies are continuing to shift, and employees are reporting higher levels of stress, according to hybrid meeting technology leader Owl Labs’ 10th annual State of Hybrid Work Report, which launches today. The report is based on a nationally representative survey of 2,014 full-time employees across the UK, as part of a global survey of over 8,000 respondents.
- 86% of UK employees now use AI at work, with 57% saying it has increased how much they are expected to get done in a day
- 92% say the right incentives would bring them into the office more often, though 60% would prefer to work in a hybrid model
- 59% say their employer uses monitoring software, and 82% want disclosure to become a legal requirement
One in four senior leaders expect employees to simply adapt to organisational change, CoachHub research finds
One in four senior leaders believe employees should simply adapt when they resist organisational change, according to new global research from digital coaching platform CoachHub.
The findings, from CoachHub’s new report Make Change Stick, are based on a survey of 800 senior transformation, business and people leaders across seven markets in Europe and North America. They reveal a disconnect between organisations’ recognition that people determine the success of transformation and how they respond when employees struggle with change.
Just 21% of organisations describe their most significant recent transformation as a clear success. And while 79% say their transformation created measurable business value, only 64% say that value was sustained after implementation.
AI fluency emerging as a new workplace resilience advantage
British workers may be missing out on a growing workplace advantage as new research suggests AI fluency is becoming an increasingly important marker of resilience, adaptability and preparedness for change.
The findings come from Zurich’s Global People Resilience Study 2026, developed in collaboration with Oxford Research & Development Partners (Oxford) and based on responses from more than 11,000 workers across 16 countries, including 1,065 in the UK. The first of its kind study introduces a new Personal Resilience Index, a framework developed with Oxford to measure resilience and the factors that shape it across the psychological, physical, social, financial and digital domains.
Using the index, researchers found resilience rises steadily alongside AI usage, with workers who use generative AI most frequently reporting the highest resilience levels. This correlation remained consistent across all countries – even after accounting for factors such as age, income and education – suggesting AI fluency is increasingly associated with the ability to adapt confidently to change.
The first generation to grow up with AI has higher expectations of robots, Hexagon study finds
New data from an international study from Hexagon, the global leader in measurement technologies, suggests the world’s first “Robot Generation” has arrived. Across nine countries, children are growing up with fundamentally different expectations of robotics than today’s adults, shaped by growing up with AI and new experiences of intelligent technology.
Four in five children (80%) say they are excited about robots, compared with 59% of adults. However, that generation gap varies dramatically around the world.
AI changes how skilled workers build workplace expertise
AI is changing not only the tasks performed in skilled occupations but how early-career workers acquire the practical knowledge needed to do them safely and effectively. New Pearson research examines skilled trade, technical and service occupations in the UK, US and China, with detailed work on pharmacy technicians and industrial machinery mechanics.
Much of the expertise required in skilled occupations develops through supervised practice, observation, mentoring and hands-on experience. Workers move from understanding procedures to developing situational judgement, adaptability and tacit knowledge through doing the work.
Britain’s most in demand self-employed skills revealed
Research from business insurance provider Protectivity shows that in some of Britain’s most popular trades, customer demand is rising faster than the supply of people able to meet it, creating a widening opportunity for anyone considering starting a business this autumn, traditionally one of the busiest periods of the year for new business enquiries.
The findings come as Britain’s self-employed economy continues to grow. The number of sole traders is up 5% in the past year alone and 17% since 2010, while small businesses now employ 16.9 million people and turn over £2.8 trillion a year.
Older workers struggle to showcase their true skills on freelancing platforms, study says
As older workers look to transition out of full-time work into flexible labour, the freelance employment platforms through which they submit applications may not adequately recognise their credentials.
These findings come from a study in the Journal of Administrative Science Quarterly — conducted by academics at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Cambridge Judge Business School — that observed older workers engaging with Upwork as a case study.
Nearly a third of jobseekers avoid job adverts without salary bands, Gi Group finds
Nearly a third (31.8%) of jobseekers were put off applying for roles where no salary band was shown, research from Gi Group found. 81% said including salary information in an advert was a sign of a fair and progressive employer.
Milburn Review must back Apprenticeship Guarantee and flexible zero hours jobs for young people
The CIPD is calling on the Government to introduce an Apprenticeship Guarantee for 16 to 17-year-olds, to start to reverse a long-term decline in vocational training and job opportunities for this age group. The call comes from the professional body for HR and people development ahead of the final report from the Milburn Review into youth unemployment and inactivity, expected in the coming weeks.
At the same time, the CIPD is warning that poorly designed zero-hours contract reforms risk reducing the availability of flexible entry-level jobs relied on by many young people and students, undermining wider efforts to improve youth employment.
DemoFest returns to DevLearn 2026 with new community-led learning solutions
The Learning Guild has announced its lineup of DemoFest eLearning solutions at the DevLearn Conference & Expo on Nov. 5. Now in its 22nd year, DemoFest is a learning technologies showcase focused on practical technology solutions to today’s learning challenges.
Sponsored by Articulate, DemoFest forms a popular part of the program at DevLearn Conference & Expo, taking place Nov. 4 – 6 at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. DevLearn brings learning professionals together through 160+ conference sessions, hands-on experiences, and an expo, exploring trends and challenges across the industry.
Projects featured at DemoFest are presented in an interactive, science fair-style setting, giving attendees the opportunity to see how solutions were made, are being used in practice and speak directly with their creators.
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