This year has already proven to be one of change for workplaces – what’s expected of workers, of employers, and how people collect and act on information have all shifted. As a result, we’ve got increasing clarity on the 2025 training trends impacting organisations and their L&D teams.
Numerous factors have contributed to these trends. Among other legal and regulatory changes, the Worker Protection Act now gives UK employers a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Meanwhile, polarisation continues to influence various workplace issues – most notably how diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is handled.
The rapid pace of AI development also continues to impact training and development. Allied to this (or as part of this) is the buzz around big data generating calls for actionable insights. In dynamic environments, the ability to implement strategies and adapt to new information quickly is becoming paramount.
And there’s a growing appreciation for how human behaviour, psychology, and neuroscience all influence workplace effectiveness.
With these factors in mind, multiple organisations have come to us recently for help ‘closing the knowing-doing gap’ – turning knowledge into action and delivering real changes in human behaviour.
The five 2025 training trends we list here are all related to bridging that gap, and tell us much about the current workplace landscape:
Training trend one: Equipping responsible leaders
Now is not an easy time to manage people: geopolitics, tariffs (or no tariffs), wars, rearmament and more all create distractions and uncertainty. To help people managers navigate growing responsibilities and rapid change, there’s been an increasing focus on governance and conduct training.
Proactive workplaces are responding by enabling people managers to do the right thing and create a leadership culture of responsible growth. This is about helping teams navigate change and overcome any barriers to implementing all the knowledge that’s available to them.
More than ever, leaders need to build strong human connections. As AI developments rapidly unfold, and concerns about its impact multiply, a reassuring presence is critical. Leaders also need to equip employees to adapt to the AI world – a responsibility that has largely been overlooked. According to a 2025 KPMG study, 73% of people in the UK have not had any AI education or training.
Training trend two: Creating strong cultures to prevent misconduct and ensure accountability
A strong culture can protect an organisation in so many ways. This trend is, in part, a reaction to the greater scrutiny on employers following legislation placing the onus on them to eradicate sexual harassment.
Many workplaces are now combining training on respectful workplace behaviour with sexual harassment prevention. Last year, there was a sense that the new Act would have limited impact because it lacked teeth. What we’ve seen has been very different.
There has also been a greater focus on specialist training for harassment – for first responders, investigators and decision-makers. And the message that training alone is not enough to absolve employers also appears to be getting through. We’re seeing employers undertake risk assessments and think about their channels for reporting problems.
Training trend three: Encouraging openness and challenge
The strongest of cultures are those in which individuals feel safe challenging the status quo.
Recognising this, and facing increasing regulatory pressure from bodies such as the FCA to prevent misconduct, more organisations are focusing on building environments where people feel able to speak up.
One of the solutions firms are turning to include training on reframing how all levels of employees conceptualise speaking up. This involves using immersive learning techniques such as drama-based learning with actors to show how it’s not about making trouble, it’s about protecting colleagues and the wider organisation from significant risk.
This training is supplemented with recommunicating the firm’s policies and process for taking action. Anonymous digital platforms for raising concerns are also becoming more widespread.
Again, this is not just about training: it’s about having the right infrastructure, prioritising role modelling and creating an environment where people trust their leaders.
Training trend four: Creating an inclusive and values-led workplace
Despite widespread rhetoric on DEI rollbacks at the start of 2025, we have not experienced clients in wholesale retreat from diversity and inclusion initiatives. In fact, this year we have delivered robust work behaviour programmes.
Beyond training on unconscious bias, organisations have been helping their employees explore the impact of automatic assumptions. They’ve also arranged inclusion allies workshops – where actors help allies perform their role effectively – and inclusive leadership sessions – where leaders explore how their role and influence can be used to bring significant change.
We have also helped organisations reflect on their ethos, what they stand for, and how they present their purpose to stakeholders in a polarising world.
The proactive targeting of DEI by politicians is real. A recent survey of 965 US companies has found that one in five eliminated their DEI programs entirely since Trump’s 2024 election. However, the same survey found that nearly half of those have seen a decline in employee morale, more than a third have observed a drop in the retention of diverse employees, and a quarter suffered reputational damage as a result of cutting DEI.
Investing in DEI is still a strategic business imperative to ensure a productive and successful workforce.
Trend five: Supporting resilience and wellbeing
There is increasing recognition of the business need to tackle the 12 billion working days and $1 trillion lost to depression and anxiety, and capitalise on the strong positive correlation between employee wellbeing and a company’s value and profitability.
As such, training on stress management and resilience building remains a popular option to provide teams with the tools to stay well under pressure.
As ever, proactively building a wider culture that supports mental health and wellbeing is essential to closing that all-important knowing-doing gap. Organisations doing this well have:
- A committed senior leadership team that role model the right behaviours convincingly,
- Well-resourced line managers trained in the pivotal role they play,
- More open and honest cross-company discussions about work design,
- A user-friendly toolbox of resources and support for employees.
2025 training trends: Final thoughts
In 2025, organisations have focused their training efforts on preventing misconduct, supporting employees with their mental health, and making inclusion a cornerstone of working life – all to make their business run as successfully as possible.
Beyond targeted training, infrastructure investments and culture-shaping are some of the primary ways workplaces are turning that knowledge into action, and empowering employees to ‘do’.
