At The Hub Events, we have expert trainers working with thousands of businesses and individuals, spending time in organisations to understand their challenges. Each trainer brings lived, in-role experience, sector expertise, and a big-picture view of UK business trends, issues, and opportunities.
We spoke to some of our trainers to get their take on what’s coming up this year in the world of training and development.
From these, valuable real-world insights to the industry reporting, national trends and data, we’re seeing seven key themes impacting businesses that leaders and founders will need to pay attention to. And the common thread – human capability in a time of rapid change. Learning, transformation and development have never been more critical, no matter your role or level, from leaders and board level, through to management and individuals in the rapidly changing workforce.
Read on to find out more.
The Seven Key Themes Impacting UK businesses and their workforce in 2026 – 2027
- AI integration: the opportunity and the big workforce change challenge
- Doing more with less: resource constraints & workload pressure
- Hybrid working and team connection
- A leadership development crisis and manager capability gap?
- Mental health and wellbeing as business priority
- Role evolution and succession planning
- Change: geopolitical and economic uncertainty
AI Integration: the opportunity and the big workforce change challenge
IBM’s Business and Technology Trends for 2026 highlights that 61% of employees expect their job role to change significantly in 2026 due to emerging technologies like AI and that by 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, with AI emerging as a catalyst.
“2026 is the year business has to get serious about AI. Any business not incorporating it in a meaningful way will be losing ground to all their competitors and new startups that are AI-first companies.
Hub Events trainer Mike Garde, our AI and automation specialist, runs our increasingly popular course: Demystifying AI, Your Business Advantage. It’s designed to help businesses understand and embrace AI.
How to adopt and adapt to AI is an issue at the front-of-mind for individuals as well as business leaders, with 40% of employees fearing entry-level roles will disappear in the next five years due to AI investment (PRSA 6 Workplace Trends Shaping 2026). However, adapting and integrating AI can allow roles to supercharge their strengths – the human skills that really matter, as experienced EA and PA trainer Heather Baker explains,
“The trending discussions around the Assistant role this year have been how the perception of the role can be enhanced. Too many see it as task-based, easily replaced by AI, when, in many, particularly senior, roles, it is about emotional intelligence and working strategically with managers for the success of the organisation. My sessions include how to achieve this, and also how AI can save you time.”
Our Personal and Executive Assistant expert, Heather, shared her predictions for the trends for EAs and PAs this year. Heather’s Executive Support courses include The Proactive Assistant: 2 Day Development Programme, Meetings and Minute Taking and The Exceptional Assistant. They are designed to upskill Assistants to meet the demands of today’s business landscape. Heather debunks some of the outdated theories surrounding the role, ensuring that Assistants are operating as valuable business associates to their managers.
It’s clear with AI that the pace of change is only going to increase. Deloitte’s research shows that only 1% of IT leaders reported having no major operating model changes underway due to AI plans. Which means that AI is an opportunity, but probably the biggest workforce change challenge we will see.
“The jury’s still out on AI Agents. The technology is exciting but unreliable at the moment. 2026 could be the year that all that changes.”
Mike is adept at helping individuals and businesses not just prepare for but thrive through AI. Through straightforward discussions and relevant demonstrations, you’ll gain the knowledge to make informed decisions about AI in your business context. You don’t need any technical background knowledge, just your business acumen and an open mind! Leave with practical ideas to give your business a competitive edge in the digital economy. Mike empowers you to capitalise on AI advancements to make sure you don’t get left behind in the competitive market.
Doing more with less – resource constraints and workload pressure
Whether through AI, automation or process change, data trends show that organisations are continuing to try to increase output without increasing headcount.
Around 70% of L&D leaders now rate internal mobility as a top priority, reflecting a move to fill roles from within and stretch existing talent rather than rely on external hiring (LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report)
Emma Walker-Cotton, expert in leadership and lead on our courses designed specifically for women, explains,
“A huge theme for the individuals and businesses I work with is how to do more with less, how to motivate teams that are stretched, and deal with increasing customer demands”
CIPD reports cite better people management (performance practices, line manager capability, flexible work design) as a key route to lifting productivity in the coming years, especially in cost‑constrained organisations like public services.
How we’re empowering our teams and individuals matters. Associates (62%) and entry-level employees (61%) are most likely to report reduced engagement from burnout, versus just 38% of C-suite leaders. While 85% of UK workers say they have experienced symptoms of burnout or exhaustion (Harvard Business School)
Emma shared what the teams, leaders, managers and businesses she works with are talking about, and what the focus will be to support the upcoming challenges. Emma runs a number of our courses, including Women Advancing in Leadership, Transform from Manager to Leader, Confidence to Succeed: Assertiveness for Women and many more.
- “So there’s lots of focus on effective delegation and saying no (in a positive way) is a theme we’ll see more of in the coming year.”
Doing more with less isn’t just perception. With absence at 15-year highs, burnout is a common theme, and economic pressures are real. Dedicated leadership training and courses to support positive delegation, assertiveness, and resilience directly address this.
Hybrid working and team connection
64% of employees say their company currently operates on a hybrid model (IESE Business School) and three days in the office seems to be the most popular pattern in Fortune 100 firms (Accountability Now). Whether you’re a large multinational or a small business, remote and hybrid working is a key theme for the year ahead. Shona Ward, our expert trainer with specialisms in resilience, unpacks the theme as she sees it:
“For me, the trends and challenges that I see lying ahead for 2026 are around hybrid working. How to engage colleagues with their teams. How to develop their capacity to collaborate and be creative together. How to build strong, resilient team relationships.”
And it’s strong, resilient relationships that are front of mind for leaders and organisations, with 43% of leaders saying that relationship building is the greatest challenge of hybrid work. Whereas only 36% of managers feel they have the skills necessary to lead a hybrid team effectively (LinkedIn Business Trends 2026)
Shona highlights that organisations need to be ready to manage continued and shifting hybrid working practices and the challenges this can sometimes present to team relationships within organisations. Reporting and data shows that, although there is a downward shift in the number of remote roles being advertised, the hybrid working demand is not going away and it is important to build in practices that enhance wellbeing and productivity with 38% of workers reporting reduced wellbeing due to fear of being forced back into the office (Harvard Business School).
Shona delivers a number of our courses that help delegates with productivity and resilience in the workplace, including Building Your Resilience at Work and How to be a High-Impact Introvert at Work.
A leadership development crisis and manager capability gap?
Research shows that managers have impact on engagement, mental health, and retention more than any other factor, yet they’re often undertrained and under-supported. Leadership and management are a critical indicator of organisational culture, capacity and productivity but the trends and data show increasing ‘crises’ of leadership and management for the years ahead with leaders under pressure to do more with less, adapt to rapid change and manage fluid and hybrid workforce environments.
James Perryman explains,
“What are some of the things I see businesses, leaders and teams talking about more than anything? Managing different generations and cultures, the increased importance of values in business, maintaining positivity during big changes and building resilience in today’s hybrid working environment.”
James let us in on some of the most popular topics of conversation he’s hearing at the moment, indicating the kinds of unified challenges people are facing in this year. And leadership and management development is a key theme that organisations need to pay attention to. Managers influence 70% of employee engagement, yet reports show that their own engagement is falling (PRSA), with leaders facing ‘quiet cracking’, the latest wave of disengagement and burnout that’s happening in silence. Unlike ‘quiet quitting’, where disengaged leaders voted with their feet, ‘quiet crackers’ are often still high performing but are mentally struggling, potentially leading to long-term burnout. (DDI Leadership Trends 2026)
Supporting your leaders and managers is a critical theme for 2026 – 2027, and the trickle-down of the impact spreads throughout the workforce. In fact, nearly 70% of employees say their manager affects their mental health as much as their partner, and more than their doctors (51%) (Vistage Business Trends for 2026 and Beyond)
James is one of a number of our trainers who deliver The New Manager Bootcamp course. It’s an intensive, one-day course to equip you with the practical and management skills and the confidence you need to succeed as a first-time manager. Whether you have new managers or established leaders, ensure your managers and leadership teams are in the best possible position to lead, drive performance and support growth. Courses such as Seriously Excellent Management, Director Refresh and Reboot and Step up to Leadership support people to lead with clarity, confidence and impact.
Mental health and wellbeing as a business priority
Issues of poor mental health are the leading cause of long-term absence and the second most common cause of short-term absence (Deloitte). However, only 45% of managers have been trained to have mental health conversations.
As both Shona and James highlight in their trend predictions, ‘resilience’ is going to be one of the most valuable assets for individuals and organisations. But confidence around mental health is something that leaders and managers need to be equipped to support when it comes to wellbeing. Headlines show 20% increase in UK workforce absence due to poor mental health (Mental Health UK) and organisations are seeing the positive impact a focus on wellbeing has on the wider productivity of the business.
In workplaces that offer mental health resources, employees are significantly less likely to report that their productivity has suffered (21% with access vs. 38% without) (Centre for Leadership Studies, Leadership Trends 2026).
Training and development that helps your people thrive individually and support the development of others is key. Courses focused on this include Building Your Resilience at Work, Coaching Skills for Leaders, Courageous Conversations and Dealing with Difficult People and Challenging Behaviour at Work.
Role evolution and succession planning
Professionals entering the workforce today are on pace to hold twice as many jobs over their careers compared to 15 years ago (IBM’s Business and Technology Trends for 2026). The pace and shape of roles and skills is changing. As Dan Masters explains,
“I’m doing some work on future-ready leadership, specifically around succession planning and role design/evolution. This will naturally become a leadership challenge as AI & automation shape the make-up of teams. Replacing staff on a like-for-like basis when they leave isn’t the default option now!”
Expert trainer and development consultant, Dan, shared how he’s helping leaders evolve their roles and responsibilities and future-proof their organisations this year. All our trainers research their specialisms constantly. Which means our courses are always up to date, relevant and entirely practical.
Since 2022, the rate at which LinkedIn members add new skills to their profiles has increased by 140% (IBM) By 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change (IBM) Reports predicted that in 2026, we’ll see more than 1.4 million workers needing to reskill and at pace, and that six out of ten workers will need training before 2027 (Accountability now).
Change: wider world impact and uncertainty
Last but certainly not least, the wider impact of significant national and global change means that uncertainty is still a theme high on organisations’ agendas for the year ahead, as trainer and Courageous Conversations expert, Larry Reynolds, unpacks:
“We saw the dot.com bubble burst in 2000, the financial crash of 2008 and a global pandemic in 2019. Organisations will always need to have some consideration of what might happen on the world stage over the next five years, whether that is political change, economic crises or population health.”
Politics, policies and economic impact all contribute to the increasing sense of change and uncertainty. And 49% of leaders cite uncertain economic conditions as their top concern for 2026.
As each of our trainers has cited, equipping your people with the skills and resilience to manage change is key, and as James Perryman puts it, “maintaining positivity during big changes and building resilience” is going to be a key theme for the year ahead and beyond.
What does all this tell us?
One thing is clear: while tools, technologies and ways of working may be evolving rapidly, the need for confident, capable and adaptable people has never been greater. From AI adoption and future-ready leadership to resilience, collaboration and redefining key roles, the challenges facing organisations in 2026 are complex, but full of opportunity.
We work hard with our trainers to design and deliver courses that don’t just respond to trends, but help you stay ahead of them. Whether you’re developing your leaders, supporting your teams through change or honing your own skills, now is the time to invest in training and development that prepares you for what’s on the horizon this year. Get in touch today to find out more.
