November 2024
The United Kingdom Talent Trends
Data-driven insights into the changing world of work
Over the past 12 months, talent leaders have tackled one big challenge after another. Remote and hybrid working, the return to the office, hiring surges and headcount reductions, meeting the needs of a multi-generational workforce—the list goes on. And even with the increasingly significant role AI has in the workplace, one thing has remained constant—the importance of people and innately human skills.
“As experts in human potential and change management, talent leaders are uniquely positioned to help their organisations unlock human capability in this AI era of work. Just as you’d upgrade your tech stack, you’ll need to upgrade your talent playbooks to stay ahead and unleash all that’s possible.”
In this report, we surface data insights from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, the LinkedIn Executive Confidence Index survey, and our global member community of over a billion professionals to understand how the world of talent is shifting with the arrival and spread of generative AI (GAI).
Hiring rates show signs of stabilisation in the United Kingdom
From August 2023 to August 2024, the rate of hiring in the United Kingdom has improved, increasing from -25% to -15% YoY. (1) This is in line with many of the other countries in our sample where hiring has slowed but showed signs of stabilisation.
Internal mobility is also on the rise, with a reported increase of 3% in the UK, meaning more people within their organisations are moving into new positions through promotions, cross-functional projects, new role creation and more.(2) On top of this, many industries in the UK, such as tech, real estate, and accommodation and food services have shown signs of stabilisation—with only a very minimal drop-off in their rates of hiring.
This positive trend in hiring and internal mobility can be attributed to innovative strategies employed by companies. James Andrews Recruitment Solutions utilised gamification to upskill its talent acquisition team and fostered a new culture of professional development. This strategy resulted in employees becoming more likely to seek new opportunities within the company, such as promotions and cross-functional projects.
Internal mobility has increased 3% year-over-year.
What LinkedIn chief economist Karin Kimbrough says to talent leaders:
Hiring in most countries and most industries is still down year-over-year, but this slowdown has begun to show signs of moderation and even stabilisation in some cases like the technology, information, and media industry. LinkedIn data showing increasing internal mobility is encouraging and shows that companies are discovering how leveraging internal hiring can accelerate organisational agility, employee engagement and retention, and career development.
The time for organisations to welcome Generative AI (GAI) is now
About 8 in 10 UK Executives see at least one way GAI will help their employees.
reduced time spent on mundane, but necessary, job tasks
increased productivity
freeing up employees’ time for strategic and creative thinking
The many benefits of GAI are clear to see across almost every industry, from streamlining time-consuming admin tasks, to assisting in more complex elements of workflow—it’s no surprise that 82% of executives in the United Kingdom see at least one way GAI will benefit their employees.
Specifically, the top three benefits of GAI cited by executives in the UK are: ‘reduced time spent on mundane, but necessary, job tasks’; ‘increased productivity’; and ‘freeing up employees’ time for strategic and creative thinking’.(3)
What Harnham CEO, David Farmer says to talent leaders:
From the work we do with large and small organisations throughout their AI journey, we see that the key to success is both on instruction but also governance. Whilst 61% of people are using AI within their current role, only 37% of companies report having a current AI policy. This presents huge risk, and therefore alongside having the right tools in place, ensuring that the correct guard rails exist in your organisation is critical.
What Meet’s VP of Insights, Success, and Marketing, Glenn Southam says to talent leaders:
AI is shaking things up in staffing, and the real game changer isn’t just automating tasks—it’s making us question why we’re still wasting so much human talent on them. With people craving more meaningful engagement, AI lets recruiters focus on what really counts: real conversations and smart connections. Still stuck in busy work? You’re already behind.
Talent acquisition leaders will be zeroing in on soft skills
While hiring rates have slowed at varying rates across most sectors, about 84% of executives in the United Kingdom plan to make hires next year. Adaptability is one of the most sought after traits in new recruits, with 63% of executives in the UK planning to prioritise hiring candidates with strong soft skills that are transferable across roles.
Discover how Advania (formerly Content + Cloud) prioritised developing new ways to upskill employees, and implement a culture of continuous learning at the heart of the business
What LinkedIn VP & Head of Global Talent Acquisition Erin Scruggs says to talent leaders:
AI has the potential to lead to major shifts in how we hire and who we hire. As AI increasingly takes on the less complex, more repeatable tasks being done by the workforce, companies will need to hire talent who have broader, uniquely human skills. We’re seeing increasing demand for skills like problem-solving, adaptability, and collaboration—skills that spur organisational agility. And more and more, TA teams that are looking to hire quality talent faster should consistently scour their current employee base as a source of hire alongside potential external talent.
AI adoption goes hand-in-hand with broad skill development
Though companies generally adopt AI to improve efficiency and productivity, they also see tangible improvements in their employees’ learning and skills development.
Companies around the world that have more employees skilled at using GAI see a 4x higher leadership promotion rate and 5x higher overall promotion rate compared to companies with fewer such employees. (4) Employees in the United Kingdom skilled at using GAI are 2x more likely to develop skills like critical thinking and strategic thinking. (5)
What LinkedIn Senior Director, Talent Development Stephanie Conway says to talent leaders:
Today, companies that embrace AI adoption are also reaping the benefits of skill development. It is more important than ever to foster a culture of continuous learning for everyone in your organisation, from new hires to senior executives, and to invest in learning that is aligned to key business goals. “Learning to learn” will become a critical skill for organisations as they develop talent who can adapt to the evolving workplace. I encourage talent leaders to continue experimenting with this new technology by integrating it into learning experiences and exploring how AI tools can scale learning across their organisations
We are just at the beginning of this journey together
On top of the improvement in the United Kingdom hiring rates, there are plenty more opportunities and reasons for talent acquisition professionals to be optimistic. The swift escalation of generative AI is a blessing disguised as a challenge. Companies that embrace GAI by securing the right tools, applying them intelligently, and supporting and guiding their teams in learning how to best use them will reap a windfall in increased engagement and productivity.
Even as workforces become more GAI savvy, they will simultaneously need to sharpen their particular human skills —think problem-solving, communication, creativity, and compassion. LinkedIn will be there each step of the way, with timely thought leadership and one-of-a-kind data insights as well as the talent tools and skill-building content you’ll need.
Methodology
(1) The LinkedIn Hiring Rate (LHR) is the number of LinkedIn members who added a new employer to their profile in the same month the new job began, divided by the total number of LinkedIn members in that country. By only analysing the timeliest data, we can make month-to-month comparisons and account for any potential lags in members updating their profiles.
(2) “Internal mobility” is defined as any point in which an employee took a new position at the same company and includes both lateral moves and promotions. Companies with fewer than 100 transitions were excluded.
(3) The LinkedIn Executive Confidence Index (ECI) survey is taken every quarter by ~5,000 LinkedIn members at the VP-level or above in the following 11 Countries: US, India, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Brazil, France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. ECI survey data cited in this report is from June 12-26, 2024. Members are randomly sampled and must be opted into research to participate. We analyse data in aggregate and will always respect member privacy. Data is weighted by Seniority and Industry to ensure fair representation of executives on the platform. The results represent the world as seen through the lens of LinkedIn’s membership; variances between LinkedIn’s membership and the overall market population are not accounted for.
(4) Employees skilled at using GAI are measured by members who have added at least one GAI skill, such as ChatGPT, to their LinkedIn profiles. Overall promotion rate is measured using the median ratio of total promotions by total average headcount and leadership promotion rate is measured using the median ratio of total managerial level promotions by total average headcount, both in the last 12 months. Only full-time employees are considered in companies with > 100 employees.
(5) The likelihood of developing a soft skill is determined by dividing the proportion of GAI skilled members who upskilled by the proportion of non-GAI skilled members who upskilled a given soft skill in the last 12 months.
Explore the translated Global Talent Trends.
Explore the regional Global Talent Trends.
France | The Netherlands | Germany | Australia | India | Southeast Asia
Questions? Comments? Feedback? Reach out to the report lead, Becki Murphy
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