UK employers are facing mounting pressure to rethink how they recruit, train and develop staff as forecasts suggest a substantial share of workplace skills will evolve within the next five years.
While several labour market reports have warned that around a fifth of the workforce could be significantly underskilled by 2030, projections from the World Economic Forum suggest the challenge may be broader, with around 40 percent of core skills expected to change over the same period.
The figures point to a growing need for adaptability across organisations, particularly as economic uncertainty, digital transformation and shifting employee expectations reshape traditional job roles.
Rethinking what makes a future ready workforce
Bruce Fecheyr Lippens, chief people officer at SD Worx, a European human resources and payroll services provider supporting more than five million employees across 150,000 organisations, argued that the issue went beyond technical training.
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He said the debate about future skills was often too narrowly framed around hard capabilities. “If 40% of skills will change by 2030, the real crisis isn’t just about learning new technical tricks, it’s about whether we have the courage to rethink what it means to be a leader, a colleague, and a human at work.”
He went on to challenge the assumption that technology skills alone would determine success.
“The biggest myth about the future of work is that it’s all about technical skills; in reality, the winners will be those who can adapt, move laterally, and bring fresh perspectives from different sectors and life experiences.”
According to Lippens, transferable capabilities such as communication, curiosity and stakeholder management may become increasingly important as roles evolve. “Transferable skills, like communication, curiosity, stakeholder management, and the ability to thrive in new environments are the real currency of tomorrow’s workforce.”
Hiring for potential rather than titles
The warning for HR departments is that traditional recruitment models may no longer be fit for purpose. Lippens suggested that organisations risk falling behind if they continue to prioritise fixed job descriptions over broader capability.
“If companies keep hiring for yesterday’s job titles instead of tomorrow’s potential, they’ll be left behind,” he said.
He also argued that organisational culture would play a decisive role in determining whether reskilling efforts succeed. “If we don’t radically shift our mindset from pampering employees to empowering them, from building trust to giving trust we’ll end up with a workforce that’s technically trained but fundamentally unprepared for the future.”
He maintained that the challenge was as much psychological as practical. “The skills gap is real, but the mindset gap is even bigger. The future belongs to the endlessly adaptable, not just the endlessly technical.”
Employer response under scrutiny
The wider question for employers is how quickly they can redesign workforce planning strategies to reflect changing capability demands. That may include investing in internal mobility programmes, expanding cross functional training, and placing greater emphasis on behavioural competencies in recruitment and promotion decisions.
The World Economic Forum’s projection that 40 percent of skills may change by 2030 reinforces the urgency for HR teams to embed adaptability into leadership development, succession planning and performance management frameworks.
Without a strategic response, organisations risk widening both skills and engagement gaps, particularly if employees feel unprepared for shifting expectations.
