Proceed with Care in 2025
WARNING!! A Perkbox survey found the number of Australians who are looking for a new job surged in 2025 amid frustrations that they aren’t supported and valued enough amid cost-of-living challenges.
CEO’s and HR Leaders are acutely aware of this key challenge in today’s dynamic business environment. Recent data indicates that 61% of Australian employees are considering new job opportunities in 2025, a significant increase from 48% in 2024 (HRD). This trend underscores the critical importance of planning out and executing an effective employee training program to attract and retain top talent.
In the service sector, labour productivity increased by 1.1% in the 2023-24 financial year, following a record decline of 3.5% in 2022-23 (abs.gov.au). This modest rebound highlights the need for continuous improvement in business practices to maintain competitiveness.
Looking ahead, 71% of industry leaders anticipate workforce shortages in 2025, affecting both lower- and higher-skilled roles (aigroup). This projection emphasises the necessity of strengthening leadership and organisational culture to ensure psychosocial well-being and optimal workforce functioning.
In this article, we delve into 5 common training priorities for 2025, providing insights to help you develop strategies that align with your business goals and appropriately address your employees’ growth and well-being needs.
5 Common training priorities in 2025
Here’s the key challenges that leadership, learning, and business professionals are focusing on, considering our ever-changing workplace dynamics. Talent acquisition, retention, and engagement issues combined with new technology and learning methodologies are underscoring the need for strategic thinking and innovative training solutions.
Challenge #1: Talent Acquisition and Retention
- Attracting qualified candidates
- Retaining skilled and high-performing employees
- Competing for talent in a tight labour market
- Addressing turnover rates and ensuring employee loyalty
In 2025, the challenge of attracting and retaining talent is expected to intensify. Identifying candidates with the right skill sets—particularly in competitive or lower-wage industries—will continue to be a struggle. This is further compounded by a growing reluctance among some employees to step into managerial positions, along with the lasting impact of remote and hybrid work arrangements.
Solution #1: Regulate talent Flow
To strengthen talent acquisition, your organisation could enhance its employer brand while showcasing its culture and benefits to attract top candidates. Collaborating with experienced training providers and implementing reskilling programs can help close skill gaps. For retention, prioritizing employee engagement through clear career progression, competitive pay, and comprehensive well-being and skill development initiatives can make a significant impact.
You must ask: Will your strategies meet the expectations of an evolving workforce?
Challenge #2: Budget Constraints and Resource Limitations
- Insufficient budgets for Learning & Development (L&D) Programs, hiring, and operational needs
- Doing more with less due to cost optimisation pressures
- Balancing ambitious organisational transformation agendas with limited resources
Budgetary restraints are frequently mentioned as a barrier to achieving L&D goals. Many leaders face the challenge of delivering impactful programs with limited resources while justifying the ROI of these initiatives to key stakeholders.
Solution #2: Follow your L&D Strategy
Maximise resource efficiency within your organisation by focusing on scalable learning solutions, such as virtual and hybrid training modes. Using advanced analytics and practical surveys to demonstrate ROI and ensuring L&D programs align with business objectives can help gain stakeholder support.
You must ask: How can your HR and L&D leaders effectively demonstrate the long-term value of their employee capability building initiatives?
Challenge #3: Leadership Development and Capability Building
- Developing leaders for future organisational needs (self-leadership; situational leadership)
- Enhancing leadership bench strength
- Addressing gaps in leadership skills and accountability
- Creating gritty leaders for managing change and fostering innovation
Building a strong leadership pipeline remains a priority for many CEOs and HR Managers this year. Your organisation may face challenges in securing leadership support for training programs, aligning leadership skills with future demands, and equipping leaders to navigate change effectively.
Solution #3: Future Proof Protection
Leadership development programs may need to emphasise enhancing emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and mental resilience within your leadership team. Utilising validated psychometric assessments to identify strengths and growth areas can help tailor professional development initiatives—an approach that consistently delivers high impact results.
You must ask: How can leadership pipelines remain robust amid fluctuating workforce dynamics?
Challenge #4: Skills Development and Workforce Readiness
- Addressing skill gaps in technical, functional, and behavioural areas
- Providing consistent upskilling and reskilling opportunities
- Aligning training programs with future workforce needs
- Preparing employees for a rapidly evolving work environment
Business leaders must prioritise employee upskilling and reskilling to keep pace with technological advancements, including AI, and shifting business objectives. The key challenge is ensuring these initiatives align with both organisational priorities and employees’ career aspirations.
Solution #4: Proactive Skill Control
Leveraging external experts will help identify or confirm skill gaps and personalise development pathways. Encouraging a culture of continuous learning and providing on-the-job training opportunities may also prove effective.
You must ask: How can we prioritise reskilling efforts while balancing immediate operational demands?
Challenge #5: Employee Engagement and Organisational Culture
- Keeping employees motivated and engaged, especially in hybrid and remote settings
- Building a strong learning and development culture
- Enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
- Fostering psychological safety and a sense of belonging
Employee engagement remains a critical concern, especially in hybrid and remote work settings. Business leaders must mitigate common challenges, including promoting collaboration, sustaining morale, and ensuring psychosocial and psychological safety within distributed teams.
Solution #5: Going with the Flow
Your organisation could invest in culture-enhancement training programs that promote collaboration and team-building, while also implementing flexible work policies and well-being initiatives. Fostering transparent communication and recognition efforts can play a key role in maintaining morale.
You must ask: How can engagement strategies be adapted to the complexities of hybrid work?
Achieve your top training priority in 2025!
Regardless of the learning and development needs of individuals or whole organisations, we’ve found there’s one common thread when chatting with people. That is… their professional challenges and aspirations are very unique.
Whether you or your organisation are prioritising employee resilience or psychosocial health training, leadership development, or a culture enhancement program this year, navigating your unique environmental complexities are key to success. Focus your efforts to improve employee engagement and address skill gaps and your organisation will maintain its competitiveness within the changing local and global landscape you operate.
We always feel privileged when we have an opportunity to sit down with motivated business leaders, to learn more about their unique workforce challenges and L&D priorities. Contact us to set up a time to meet, explore your needs with a highly experienced Workplace Psychologist, and start to explore a solution to satisfy your training wish list.