Top trends in employee development

Facing lower turnover and hiring freezes, HR pros are prioritizing internal mobility and skills-based shifts in their organizations, according to a report from Careerminds, an outplacement company.

Quit rates have fallen to 2%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, leading HR teams to focus on internal reskilling and workforce redeployment rather than external hires.

“We’re seeing a clear shift in how HR leaders are approaching talent needs,” Raymond Lee, president of Careerminds, said in a statement. “Instead of defaulting to external hires, many are upskilling and reskilling their existing workforce. This not only helps to control costs in a tighter budget environment but also strengthens employee loyalty.”

The U.S. jobs market appears to be stalling, with only 22,000 jobs added in August and June’s numbers revised to reflect a loss of 13,000 jobs, according to BLS data. The slow pace may not be enough to stop unemployment from rising, economists said.

In fact, more CHROs said they expect to decrease hiring during the next six months, according to a report from The Conference Board. In response, half of HR leaders said they plan to invest in change management training for leaders and managers.

In the Careerminds survey of 600 HR managers, two-thirds said their employers have implemented hiring freezes, with 22% stopping recruitment across all roles and 44% limiting freezes to specific departments or positions.

Among those with partial freezes, 36% have paused hiring for all entry-level roles, leaving recent graduates in a lurch during the job search. Another 30% have paused mid-level hiring, while 25% have halted leadership hiring.

In terms of timing, nearly half of HR managers said recruitment will likely remain paused for the next 12 months. In addition, 16% projected a two-year pause, and 32% anticipated a six-month freeze.

HR managers said hiring freezes were primarily implemented due to cost reductions and budget restraints, pointing to reasons such as economic uncertainty, board pressure to limit headcount, automation replacing the need for new roles, a shortage of qualified talent, organizational restructuring, shifts in business priorities and regulatory uncertainty.

In response, HR managers said they’re reviewing career frameworks and looking for ways to keep workers engaged. For instance, 43% said they’re upskilling their workforce, particularly in digital and tech skills, risk management, cybersecurity, leadership and people management.

“By upskilling employees, we expect to see an uptick in not only retention rates across the market over the coming months but also overall employee satisfaction at work,” Lee said. “After all, upskilled employees are satisfied employees.”

Employers can help create and encourage “future-ready” workers through skills-based career support and clear work objectives, according to an Adecco Group report.

These workers are “proactively upskilling and adapting to new technologies,” such as artificial intelligence tools and automation, Adecco said, and can be empowered with the right training to drive growth at organizations.

To do so, employers need to focus on skill building, the report continued.

But other reports have indicated that employers may be leaving individual contributors behind when it comes to AI adoption and use. While the majority of executives and managers surveyed by Perceptyx said that they use AI, only 35% of individual contributors said they use it. 

Notably, individual contributors were also the least confident and least aware of AI adoption decisions, Perceptyx said, and were thus least aware of upskilling needs.

Workers who understand their role in company strategy, however, tend to be more loyal, Adecco said, and clarity in career development can bolster that understanding.

Additionally, more workers were considered future ready in 2025, Adecco said; 37% of workers could be classified as such, compared to only 11% from last year. More than 3 in 4 employees surveyed said that AI “enables them to perform tasks previously out of reach” — but a similar amount also said that it changed or will soon change the skills needed in their roles.

“To turn efficiency into business impact, leaders must also invest in training and engagement to unlock value,” Denis Machuel, chief executive officer of the Adecco Group, said in a statement. “Organisations must ensure that employees have the confidence and know-how to engage meaningfully with AI.”

Sponsored content

By Dartmouth College

Leading a combat helicopter company and leading a corporate team may come with vastly different stakes—but for Shannon Huffman Polson, the core principles of effective leadership remain the same. One of the first women to fly the Apache in the U.S. Army, Polson led platoons and a flight company on three continents before earning her MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and managing teams at Microsoft. Today, as the founder of The Grit Institute and a lecturer for Tuck Executive Education, she teaches leaders how to build resilience, align to purpose and lead with authenticity during times of profound change.

In this Q&A, Polson shares insights that HR professionals can take directly back to their organizations—helping leaders reconnect to meaning, strengthen engagement and guide their teams through uncertainty with clarity and confidence.

1. In your Leading with Purpose session, you guide participants to “own their story.” Why is that such a powerful starting point for leadership?

We often assume that owning our story is something that happens naturally, simply because we’ve lived it. But the reality is that most people have never taken the time to do the deep internal work that allows them to really understand the experiences that shaped them.

When I teach in Tuck’s Leadership and Strategic Impact program, we use what I call the journey line exercise. We look at pivotal events—positive and negative—and identify what we learned from them. Then we query those events for the values that emerge: Which values do I want to carry forward? Which ones do I want to reframe or leave behind?

When people take the time to do this work, entire fields of opportunity open up. They rediscover strengths they didn’t remember they had. They see new pathways for contributing their best selves. This is why it’s such a powerful foundation for leadership.

2. Why does purpose-driven leadership matter so much today, especially at a time when employee engagement is at historic lows?

The data is unequivocal: purpose is the foundation for grit and resilience and it’s tightly connected to performance, well-being and engagement.

Employees who are connected to their purpose perform better, stay longer and are more engaged. They also have better markers of physical and mental health—everything from cardiac health to lower stress indicators. At a time when engagement is at all-time lows, this is especially important.

For leaders, doing the deep work around purpose is something we can’t afford not to do. The research even shows connections between purpose alignment and stronger organizational performance, including bottom-line impact. Purpose supports resilience, engagement and ultimately the ability to bring one’s best self to work.

3. For leaders who feel stuck or misaligned in their careers, what’s the first step to getting unstuck?

When someone feels misaligned, confused or overwhelmed by change, the most important thing is to go back to the basics. I teach the Grit Triad—a framework with three phases: Commit, Learn and Launch. When things are chaotic or uncertain, we always return to the Commit phase.

Commit is the deep internal work. It involves going back to your own story and asking: Where have I drawn strength before? What values emerged from these experiences?

After that, we explore the different paths to meaning in your life and work. Where do you find meaning? When leaders take the time to step back and return to the commit phase, the clarity that emerges is often transformative.

4. You’ve written The Grit Factor, founded The Grit Institute and host The Grit Factor Podcast. What does grit mean to you—not just as a concept but as a daily practice?

Many people think of grit as simply gutting it out. And yes, perseverance is a part of it. But I see grit as something much more holistic.

I define grit as dogged determination in the face of difficult circumstances. As a daily practice, grit means reconnecting with your values and purpose. It also requires boundaries. Grit is essential to development and success, but it’s not a sustainable operating mode. You have to rest, recharge and return stronger so you can give your best to the mission at hand.

How can HR leaders help managers and executives bring purpose and grit into their everyday leadership practices?

HR plays a critical role here. First, organizations need to create space for leaders to do deep internal work. Professional development programs can help leaders reconnect with purpose, but HR can reinforce that learning through ongoing reflection, coaching and values-based conversations.

Second, HR can model and support the behaviors that build grit: encouraging grounded optimism, normalizing learning from failure and helping leaders develop the skills of deep engagement—active listening, building trust and caring for their people.

Finally, HR can help leaders set the conditions that make grit sustainable: healthy boundaries, time for rest and renewal and clarity around what matters most. When HR champions these practices, leaders are better equipped to build resilient, purpose-aligned teams who can weather change and continue to thrive.

The U.S. workforce may be in a leadership crisis: Recent research has suggested that nobody wants to be a supervisor anymore.

More than half of surveyed job seekers who are or were managers said they have left their roles — or plan to do so — because of a lack of fulfillment or advancement. Likewise, the majority of Gen Zers surveyed said they would rather develop their individual expertise than manage fellow workers, according to the results from Express Employment Professionals.

This is a trend sometimes called “conscious unbossing,” which Jennifer Dulski, CEO and founder of Rising Team, a talent development platform provider, defines as a “growing reluctance — especially among Gen Z — to step into management roles as a way to protect their mental health and wellbeing.”

But conscious unbossing isn’t just a term from the HR side of social media. One chief people officer told HR Dive that she’s seen this on her own teams, as well as in her career coaching work. 

It’s refreshing to see talent who aren’t focused solely on moving up, but want to strengthen their expertise or try a lateral move, Jenny Shiers, CPO of Unily, an employee experience platform, told HR Dive via email. That’s because on the flip side, she said she has seen high achievers promoted to leadership positions unsuccessfully.

“A strong individual contributor doesn’t always make for a strong manager or leader of people,” Shiers continued. “The skill sets are different, which is why organizations must invest development dollars on manager capability.”

When the ROI isn’t worth the stress

Employees may be reluctant to become a supervisor because today's workforce prioritizes mental health, flexibility, and autonomy over the traditional hierarchical management, Express Employment International’s director of talent acquisition and retention, Alisha Chappell, told HR Dive via email.

That’s because they see traditional supervisory roles as high stress and low reward, she said. Supervisors deal with budget cuts, demands to increase productivity, low engagement and the imperative to bridge the generational workplace gaps, “all for a slight bump in pay,” Chappell said.

Dulski’s take on the situation echoed Chappell’s: “Many people are hesitant to step into leadership roles right now because, frankly, it’s harder than ever to be a manager. Organizations are asking managers to lead larger teams with fewer layers of support and fewer tools to help them succeed.” 

And when companies do provide support, the methods are outdated, said Dulski, who is also a lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Her view is also that most manager trainings are designed for executives — not frontline supervisors — and require lots of valuable time. 

While the trend may be generational, many feel reluctant to lead

The trend is at least somewhat driven by more junior workers who are willing to question legacy structures and don’t automatically tie success to a job title, Shiers said. “But it’s not just Gen Z. Plenty of experienced professionals are opting out of management roles after seeing first-hand how draining they can be,” she continued; it’s “less about age and more about shared values.”

The adoption of remote and hybrid models early in the COVID-19 pandemic gave workers a taste of autonomy, she continued, saying that many would prefer to not give up that flexibility.

Dulski agreed about the nuances of conscious unbossing being a “generational” trend: Gen Z has survived the COVID-19 pandemic, political polarization, the rise of AI in the workplace and employers valuing their workers much less. “That cumulative experience has shaped how Gen Z views leadership,” she said. “It makes sense that they’re questioning whether traditional management roles are worth stepping into.”

“I see it less as a rejection of leadership and more as a rejection of outdated systems. Gen Z wants to lead in ways that prioritize connection, trust, and inclusion, and they don’t see the support structures in place today that would allow them to do that,” she continued. If companies start supporting supervisors differently, she said, younger workers will step up toward leadership more often. 

What HR can do

When promotions aren’t the carrot they used to be, HR professionals may need to rethink how they approach development and workforce planning.

Engagement requires a new lens

To approach employee engagement in this new era, HR practitioners may need to broaden what “career growth” means at their company. “That could be building out parallel tracks for subject matter experts, investing in lateral opportunities or rewarding contribution and innovation as much as people management,” Shiers said.

“HR also needs to evolve, and stop selling leadership roles as the ultimate prize. They’re one path — and a valuable one — but leadership is not for everyone,” she said. “The more that is normalized, the healthier organizations will be.”

Conscious unbossing doesn’t mean the death of leadership

When it comes to workforce planning, better systems and team alignment on skills — in a way that’s conscious of everyone’s time — are Dulski’s main recommendation. 

Improved support for leaders can make the role more attractive, too. “Conscious unbossing is telling us that managers don’t want to step into roles that feel isolating, overwhelming, and under-supported,” Dulski said. “HR leaders need to move past outdated approaches and give managers innovative tools that make leadership easier and more rewarding.” 

Shiers’ vision for the future is a more collaborative workforce, which she believes is more aligned for the way people work today. Her view is that companies that cling to rigid hierarchies will find it increasingly difficult to attract and retain talent, she said.

“What’s most exciting about conscious unbossing is that it doesn’t mean we end up with fewer leaders: It means we end up with better ones,” Shiers said. “When people choose leadership, rather than stumble into it because it was the only option, they show up with more energy, empathy and commitment.”

As workers seek training to remain competitive, 55% say they have paid for it themselves, according to the results of a University of Phoenix survey conducted by The Harris Poll. Among those workers, nearly a quarter say they have more than once paid out of pocket for training their employer didn’t cover.

At the same time, nearly three-quarters of workers surveyed said they turned down professional development opportunities, either because of cost (35%), scheduling conflicts (32%) or a lack of employer support (18%). 

Ninety percent of employees said they spend time each month learning or developing new skills at work, and 18% spend more than 20 hours monthly, on average.

Access to training continues to be a struggle for workers, yet employers ranked training lower on their priority lists, according to HR Dive’s 2025 Identity of HR survey.

Even as artificial intelligence adoption increases in the workplace, more than half of companies say they don’t have the resources to train employees to use it effectively, according to an Oct. 22 report from Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll.

Meanwhile, half of workers may have undergone some training in the past year, but only 12% received training on AI, a Pew Research Center report from February found.

Generation Z workers are facing a major lack of confidence in their careers, with 1 in 3 reporting overwhelming uncertainty about their future, mental health, work-life balance and finances, according to a report from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and The Harris Poll.

Notably, young workers said they feel isolated and hesitate to seek advice, with 74% saying they lack access to the type of mentorship that could improve their career confidence.

“Despite having the highest educational achievement rates in history, our youth are facing a confidence crisis,” Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at The Harris Poll, said in a statement. “This isn’t about work ethic — it’s about a generation that needs guidance.”

In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults between ages 18-25, only 41% said they feel confident about navigating the job market, which drops significantly among those without mentorship.

Overall, Gen Z workers said they don’t know where to turn for guidance, feel uncomfortable reaching out to others, and worry they’ll burden other busy adults.

However, 84% said mentorship opens the doors to possibilities they wouldn’t have seen on their own, and 83% said a mentor can bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world success.

When asked what they desire in a mentor, young workers highlighted soft skills such as communication, empathy and honesty, which all ranked higher than professional success or industry expertise.

“Mentorship rooted in durable and soft skills is a true game-changer,” Ginneh Baugh, chief impact officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, said in a statement. “When young people have mentors who model durable skills like empathy, honesty, communication and resilience, they gain the confidence to overcome challenges and thrive — not just in their careers, but in every aspect of their lives.”

After growing up in a world of rapid change, Gen Z workers may be floundering as they enter the labor market, experts told HR Dive. To help struggling employees, HR pros can use strong onboarding to strengthen culture, belonging and understanding of job expectations.

Learning and development benefits can help, too, with half of Gen Z workers saying they want “growth mindset” roles that offer personal development opportunities, according to a Flexa report. More job postings have mentioned mentorship, coaching and study sabbaticals since early 2025, the report found.

Workers who used generative artificial intelligence daily in the past year reported greater productivity (92% versus 58%), more job security (58% versus 36%) and higher salaries (52% versus 32%) compared to infrequent users, according to PwC’s 2025 Global Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey.

Notably, 75% of daily AI users said they have access to the resources they need for L&D, while only 59% of infrequent users do. However, of the nearly 50,000 workers surveyed globally, only 14% said they use generative AI daily, up from the 12% who said so in 2024. Likewise, only 6% said they use agentic AI on a daily basis.

“This isn't just a technology story; it’s a people story,” Nicki Wakefield, global clients and industries leader at PwC, said in a statement. “In a year of rising financial strain and many feeling overwhelmed, leaders must redesign work and provide clarity and confidence: simple everyday use cases, strong guardrails, and the skills, trust and support that turn AI from hype into real help.”

A little more than half of workers said they have used AI at work in the past year, but frequent use remains low, “suggesting ample opportunity for growth and access to the tangible benefits,” according to the report. 

For instance, organizations can better support employee development, the report found. While 72% of senior executives and 66% of managers said they have access to the learning and development opportunities they need, only 51% of non-managers said the same. 

An October Perceptyx report had similar findings. As many as 82% of executives and 68% of managers surveyed across North America and Europe said they use AI, but only 35% of individual contributors said they do. 

“Organizations that ignore gaps in trust, fairness, and manager enablement risk disengaging employees, especially those closest to day-to-day execution,” the global head of workforce insights and innovation at Perceptyx said in a statement at the time. 

Per the PwC report, daily generative AI users reported feeling more optimistic about the future of their roles in the next year (69%) compared to infrequent users (51%) and those who don’t use the technology at all (44%).

“Based on current trends, those who are already using AI look set to extend their lead over the rest of the workforce,” the PwC report said.