UK employees seek AI education to advance careers

New research from O’Reilly has revealed that UK employees are proactively seeking digital reskilling opportunities to boost their salaries and advance their careers, amid salary and headcount freezes over the past twelve months.

O’Reilly’s research, conducted by Censuswide in September 2024, surveyed 500 employers in large UK companies with more than 250 employees. It set out to identify how UK employers are acquiring new talent amid a widening skills gap and economic flatlining.

The new data revealed that half (50%) of UK employers have adopted a headcount and salary freeze over the past twelve months. As a result, more than three-quarters (79%) of employers have seen staff ask for digital upskilling and reskilling opportunities to accelerate their career progression.

Nontechnical staff across every level and department have sought reskilling opportunities in AI and machine learning (62%), cybersecurity (53%), data analysis (49%), and programming (31%).

Meanwhile, with generative AI being adopted more rapidly than any other technology in recent history, two-thirds (66%) of employees hired for technical roles in IT teams have proactively sought new upskilling opportunities in AI and machine learning. Additional areas requested for upskilling opportunities by technical employees included cybersecurity (52%), cloud (44%), programming (36%), and software architecture (25%).

This has been received well by UK employers. More than four in five (81%) consider digital upskilling/reskilling more cost-effective than acquiring new headcount. And those savings may be significant because UK employers are looking to enhance digital skills in AI and machine learning (61%), cybersecurity (48%), data analysis (48%), cloud (43%) and programming (32%) across their workforce over the next twelve months.

Commenting on the findings, Alexia Pedersen, SVP International at O’Reilly, said:

“Successful integration of digital technologies requires more than just deploying cutting-edge tools. It requires executive support for and investment in a culture of continuous learning to build a highly skilled workforce across every level and department that will drive ongoing innovation and growth.

“Earlier this year, we saw demand increase for AI programming (66%), data analysis (59%), and operational AI/ML (54%) learning materials on our platform, given the accelerated integration of generative AI in most enterprises. We’ve also seen soaring demand for general AI literacy (52%) as IT teams encounter the hallucinations generative AI tools can exhibit. The need for general AI literacy extends beyond IT teams. In fact, most leaders agree their workforces need to be reskilled in GenAI over the next three years, yet only 10% of workers are currently trained on GenAI tools.

“UK employers have a responsibility to prepare every individual within their workforce for the digital tech of the future. Companies must implement a continuous learning strategy that focuses on equipping staff with the skills and mindset needed to leverage these technologies effectively. In turn, this approach to workplace learning will increase employee engagement and productivity while fostering innovation and growth that improves the bottom line.”