5 Trends for 2025

December 2024

Ever wondered what happens when you ask an AI about the big new employment trends for 2025? 👀 👇🏻

Well, anyone who knows me can confirm I’m not known for my IT wizardry. But with a bit of prompting, below is mine and Perplexity AI’s list of the top ‘five for 2025’ insights, with a deliberate step away from economics and politics.

One to three are about the workplace, whilst four and five are bigger picture.

1️⃣ Fractional mandates - like a job share but different as it involves splitting an important senior role across several junior people. Great for motivating and developing people, and a smart way to meet demands for flexible working. Plus can help manage costs. Will we see more of it in 2025, and it works well with #2. 👫

2️⃣⁠ ⁠Reverse mentoring - creating a buddy system for older staff with younger colleagues to stay across new technologies, trends, and even cultural reference points. Builds cross-generation networks, knowledge transfer, continuous learning ethos, and trust. And it also helps keeps valued older workers in the workplace.  🤝

3️⃣ ⁠AI integration - how will employers formalise the use of AI in the workplace - and manage the risks of employees using ChatGPT or similar to draft a letter of engagement, or write some code, or even creating ‘5 for 25 lists’. Bosses can’t put the genie back into the bottle - embracing it within a framework has to be the way forward. 🤖

4️⃣ Ok, I said I’d step away from politics, but here’s a counter-factual: the UK becomes a ’safe haven’ for new jobs as companies prefer it to the political chaos of France and Germany, or the riskiness of Trump’s America. The UK has a stable government with a big majority, and the economic fundamentals are sound whilst the comms are improving and there’s less talking-down of the economy I hope. 🇬🇧

5️⃣ ⁠The return of offshoring - greater use of overseas ‘Employers-of-Record’ will become a big thing in 2025. Many white collar tech, professional services, or creative roles are already outsourced to trusted service companies in South Africa, South East Asia, or Eastern Europe, where skills are abundant and employment costs are a lot lower. It's a trend that'll grow a lot faster I think, especially given the Budget and employee rights bill. ✈️

What do you think of my top five? What’s missing? What do you disagree with? Or do you agree?