UK companies need creative approaches to meet ‘human skills for AI’ needs
Survey for learning and talent development company Hemsley Fraser shows that while companies grasp the ‘human skills’ imperative, day-to-day challenges of disrupted workplaces and age and gender differences could hold back required shifts in learning at work.
UK firms will need more creative and engaging approaches to learning at work if their workforces are to leverage the ‘human skills’ which can unlock the AI economy’s potential and to boost company performance, says a new survey of 1000 UK business decision makers.¹
Employee cynicism over workplace initiatives, emerging gender divides, and general anxiety over AI’s impact on jobs, all emerge in the research as potential obstacles to employers achieving the required shift to ‘human skills’.
Conducted by Censuswide for learning and talent developer Hemsley Fraser, the survey found that nearly three-quarters (71%) of those polled say that AI is valuable to their organisation and more than two-thirds (67%) agree that ‘human skills’, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and innovation, are essential for the AI world.
While these findings closely align with global-level studies² showing that employers urgently need to prioritise ‘human skills’, Hemsley’s research also found barriers to employers achieving such a radical shift in skills. Today’s organisations are being buffeted by regular workplace reorganisations, digitisation of business processes, and evidence that AI is recasting both organisations’ existing workflows and teams’ interactions as they go about managing them.
Cynicism over learning in disrupted workplaces
More than a third (35%) of respondents feel tired, isolated, and less effective at their job after constant workplace change, with more women (40%) feeling this way than men (31%). These findings suggest that different approaches are needed to successfully engage and motivate employee groups to embrace new ideas and ways of working.
Gender and age divides
People also have clear differences over where they gain inspiration and ideas for upskilling and performance improvement. More women (17%) than men (12%) are likely to turn to their work colleagues first for ideas, whereas men (22%) are more inclined than women (18%) to go on the Internet for learning inspiration.
The survey also found generational divides over how employees get new ideas for learning at work and improving performance. While the 45-54 age group (22%) and over 55s (23%) were most likely to say specialist learning providers are their ‘go-to’ source of inspiration, the 25-34 age group and 35-44 cohort are most likely to get ideas from big tech firms’ online offerings — (27%) and (23%) respectively.
Growing anxiety over AI’s impacts
Employee reskilling with ‘human skills’ could also be undermined by growing concerns over AI’s impacts on job security. More than one quarter (29%) of respondents says that growing AI adoption is causing more anxiety for UK workers this year than 2024 with appreciably more women (32%) than men (26%) feel this way.
Unsurprisingly, firms are divided over how to kick-start upskilling and boosting their organisation’s performance. More than one third (36%) of the survey believe that improving employee skills is the most important approach but almost as many (30%) argue that an outcomes-focused workforce performance strategy is the best way and just over one in five (21%) believes in the principle of a performance strategy but haven't executed it yet.
Emerging creativity in learning at work
Yet UK firms are proving open to ideas in upskilling their people. Just over a quarter (28%) of those questioned say their best workforce learning results come from blending online and in-person activity, ahead of the one in six (17%) that prefers on-the-job learning, and the one in seven (13%) using AI tools such as Chat GPT.
Lynsey Whitmarsh, CEO of Hemsley Fraser, commented: “Human skills are crucial, not only for people to cope with new ways of working in the emerging AI era, but also ensuring that organisations maintain their sense of connectedness and the close team interactions needed to innovate and thrive.
“However, with UK workers anxious and even disengaged after years of change and workplace reorganisations, there are questions over their people’s motivation to acquire new capabilities.
“Given the lack of consensus over where, and who to go to, to embed human and social-creative skills into their job, UK business leaders can’t rely on flooding learning platforms with content as a catch-all approach. Instead, employers will need highly creative and engaging learning options, enabled by technology, if they are to change their people’s behaviours, and motivate every one of their employees to learn effectively at work and thrive in their future role.”
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Notes
¹ Survey of 1000 business decision-makers in the UK, completed 5-10 February 2025.
² World Economic Forum forecast in 2023 that 60% of employees worldwide will need new skills training by 2027 and a Microsoft 2023 study in which 82% of global leaders said GenAI will demand new skills of their workforces.