Training Wish List – Approach with Care

WARNING! A recent Perkbox survey found that more Australians are actively seeking new job opportunities in 2025 due to feeling undervalued and unsupported – especially in the face of persistent cost-of-living pressures. According to HRD Australia, 61% of Australian employees are considering a job move this year, up from 48% in 2024.

For CEOs, HR leaders, and People & Culture professionals, this trend highlights the urgent need to prioritise employee support, capability building, and a compelling value proposition. Strategic and well-executed training programs are essential to retain top talent and build a thriving, productive workforce.

Workforce productivity remains a concern too. While the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported a modest 1.1% increase in service sector productivity in 2023–24, this only partially offsets the previous year’s record 3.5% decline. Continuous improvement must now be embedded into business and learning practices.

Looking ahead, the Ai Group reports that 71% of industry leaders expect workforce shortages in 2025, impacting both high- and lower-skilled roles. Strengthening leadership capabilities and fostering supportive, high-functioning team cultures are non-negotiables.

Get Your Training Priorities Right

So what’s on your training wish list in 2025? Below are five common workforce capability priorities we’re seeing across the country, along with insights on how to approach them.

1. Talent Acquisition and Retention

Key Challenge:

  • Attracting and keeping the right talent
  • Navigating a highly competitive labour market
  • Addressing high turnover and disengagement

Strategic Response: Regulate Talent Flow Build a compelling employer brand that communicates your values, purpose, and employee support offerings. Offer internal mobility pathways and practical upskilling programs to help existing staff grow. Work with expert training partners to close critical skill gaps and support employee wellbeing.

Ask yourself: Are your people strategies aligned with the expectations of an evolving workforce?

2. Budget Constraints and Resource Limitations

Key Challenge:

  • Limited budget for L&D and transformation
  • Pressures to do more with less
  • ROI expectations from senior stakeholders

Strategic Response: Follow Your L&D Strategy Maximise efficiency with scalable solutions like hybrid workshops or micro-learning. Ensure every dollar spent on training links back to clear business outcomes. Demonstrate value through capability audits, feedback loops, and performance metrics that tell a compelling story.

Ask yourself: Are your learning investments visibly shifting performance and engagement?

3. Leadership Development and Capability Building

Key Challenge:

  • Preparing leaders to manage change and drive innovation
  • Lifting accountability and emotional intelligence
  • Building a resilient leadership bench

Strategic Response: Futureproof Protection Leverage emotional intelligence frameworks, 360 feedback tools, and psychometric profiling to identify development gaps and deliver targeted coaching. Leaders with strong self-awareness and adaptability create safer, more productive teams and ensure strategic alignment.

Ask yourself: Are your future leaders equipped for tomorrow’s complexities?

4. Skills Development and Workforce Readiness

Key Challenge:

  • Addressing technical, digital, and behavioural skill gaps
  • Preparing staff for emerging technologies
  • Aligning learning with both individual and organisational goals

Strategic Response: Proactive Skill Control Partner with external facilitators to diagnose capability gaps and design customised learning paths. Foster a culture of learning with incentives, mentorship, and team-based knowledge sharing. Provide flexible options like asynchronous e-learning and real-time coaching.

Ask yourself: Are your learning programs agile enough to keep up with market demands?

5. Employee Engagement and Organisational Culture

Key Challenge:

  • Sustaining engagement in hybrid or high-pressure environments
  • Building cultures of safety, inclusion, and innovation
  • Strengthening trust and belonging at work

Strategic Response: Going With the Flow Embed engagement and culture-building into your L&D strategy. Offer training that focuses on psychological safety, trust-building, inclusive leadership, and communication. Recognise effort and celebrate wins, especially during periods of change or high demand.

Ask yourself: Is your culture helping people to grow and connect – or just exist?

Achieve Your Top Training Priority this Year

At Get Mentally Fit, we know that your organisation’s training needs aren’t generic – they’re unique. Whether your focus is on leadership development, employee resilience and/or psychosocial wellbeing, or team culture transformation, we collaborate with you to create fit-for-purpose solutions.

What sets us apart is our clinical-meets-practical approach. We combine the rigour of organisational psychology with real-world insight to craft strategic training programs that shift behaviour, build skills, and boost performance.

Let’s design your training plan

Explore our Workplace Solutions or Get in touch to book a discovery conversation with an experienced Workplace Psychologist.

Together, we’ll prioritise what matters most – everyone’s success.

More articles

An overhead close-up shot of multiple hands working collaboratively around a wooden table to fit together large interlocking gears made of light natural wood, bright yellow, and vibrant pink.
Staff Harmony: The Case for External Psychological Intervention
The Hidden Fuse: Why Internal Workplace Conflict Resolution Fails By the time an interpersonal conflict or role dispute lands on…
A professional double-exposure photograph combining a business meeting and a scene of personal life. The dominant image shows corporate professionals working together around a light wooden conference table with a man in a navy blazer pointing at a document. Seamlessly blended over the right side is a translucent silhouette of a family - a parent and two young children - running joyfully along a sunny beach, representing work-life integration.
Employee Value Proposition: Success from the Inside-Out
More than a talent attraction tool In today’s ever-evolving world of work, a thoughtful, well-articulated Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is…
A vibrant line of ten monochrome LEGO minifigures arranged in a spectrum of rainbow colors against matching vertical stripes. In the foreground, an orange minifigure stands out slightly out of line, while a blue minifigure near the center steps forward, symbolising individuality, diversity, and shifting dynamics within a structured group.
How to Assess Psychosocial Risks: A Practical Guide for SMEs
Assessing Psychosocial Risks: A Guide for Modern Leaders In today’s fast-paced business environment, assessing psychosocial risks isn't just a legal…