L&D Must Prepare Workers for the Skills of Tomorrow

The skills organizations need are changing faster than traditional approaches to workforce development can keep pace. For HR and learning and development (L&D) leaders, that means the challenge is no longer identifying skills gaps and providing training to close them. Increasingly, organizations must determine which capabilities will matter next — and build them before the need becomes urgent.

A new SHRM analysis of recent job postings shows that the average number of skills required by employers has steadily increased since 2015, suggesting that jobs themselves have become a more complex mix of technical, power, and business skills.

“As skills needs continue to evolve, the role of L&D must also evolve,” said Sally Windisch, senior researcher at SHRM, reflecting on the changing skills environment.  

That evolution is becoming increasingly important as employers struggle to find people with the capabilities they need. According to SHRM’s 2026 Talent Trends report, 27% of HR professionals said the full-time positions they hired for in the past 12 months required new skills. Among that group, 77% said they had difficulty finding qualified candidates to fill those roles.

“Not only is this challenge felt within organizations, but it is also exacerbated by a broader talent market in which the skills that employers need are changing faster than the available talent pool can keep up,” Windisch said.

For HR leaders, that dynamic puts greater pressure on internal talent development. Organizations cannot assume that they can simply hire their way through emerging skills gaps, particularly when the capabilities they need are becoming scarce across the broader labor market.

Specialty Credential: AI+HI

AI Is Reshaping Jobs — Not Just Creating New Ones

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are among the fastest-growing skills areas. Since 2019, those skills have become almost three times more likely to appear in new job postings, according to the SHRM analysis.

But the AI shift is not confined to technology occupations. The Indeed Hiring Lab found that the number of occupational categories in which job postings have started mentioning “AI” in the title has more than tripled since 2022.

AI in job titles is now more prevalent outside tech than in tech, Indeed reported. Newly AI-labeled roles span sales, HR, customer service, legal, administrative, teaching, and even skilled trades. Employers are increasingly adding AI requirements to roles that have existed for decades. Recent job postings on Indeed have included “AI Autonomous Truck Test Driver,” “Physical Therapist (AI Documentation),” and “Real Estate Agent — AI Lead System Included.”

That development should change how HR thinks about AI skills. Not just how many AI specialists an organization needs, but how AI will alter the responsibilities of existing employees, and what those employees will need to learn to remain effective.

Windisch said that the changing skills mix creates an important balancing act. “L&D strategies cannot focus only on the newest technical capabilities, nor can they rely solely on the skills that have historically supported performance,” she said. “Organizations need a clearer understanding of which skills are becoming more important, which remain foundational across roles, and which skills employees may need to develop further as jobs continue to change.”

AI Experimentation to Application

The urgency around AI skills is being reinforced by employees’ growing use of AI at work.

According to Andy Kemp, research associate at Gallup in Washington, D.C., reported organizational adoption of AI grew sharply in Q2 2026. Forty-seven percent of U.S. employees now say their organization has integrated AI tools to improve productivity, efficiency, or quality, up from 41% in the last quarter, he said.

Individual use is rising as well. More than half of U.S. workers, 52%, now use AI in their role, according to Gallup. Thirty percent use it frequently, while 15% use it daily. Employees most commonly use AI for writing and editing, cited by 51% of AI users, followed by search or research at 49%, and general assistance or problem-solving at 39%.

“These applications can be used across many roles and types of work,” Kemp said. “They suggest that AI’s most common workplace role remains knowledge support — helping employees draft, revise, find information, and work through general questions or problems.”

But the most common uses are not necessarily the ones associated with the strongest productivity gains.

Kemp noted that 77% of employees using AI for coding assistance and automation or process automation said AI had an extremely or somewhat positive effect on their productivity. The figure was 76% for presentation or slide deck creation and 75% for data science or analytics. By comparison, 68% of employees using AI for writing and editing and 65% of those using it for search or research reported a positive productivity effect.

That distinction offers a useful lesson for L&D. AI literacy should not end with teaching employees how to use a chatbot for drafting or research. Organizations may see greater value when employees learn to apply AI to specific processes and functions within their jobs.

Resource: AI Enablement for HR

The Goal Is Skills Readiness, Not Just Skills Training

The challenge for HR is that skills development is often driven by what is immediately needed. Nearly three-quarters of HR professionals, 72%, said their organizations’ L&D strategies are primarily driven by current skills needs, according to SHRM.

That immediate focus is understandable. “A focus on current skills needs is important, but it may leave organizations with less visibility into the capabilities that employees will need next,” Windisch said.

The solution is to broaden the role of L&D. Organizations need learning programs that help employees perform in their current jobs while simultaneously preparing them for changing roles, technologies and business priorities.

That means connecting L&D more closely with workforce planning, job design, and business strategy. “The challenge is to move beyond simply providing learning opportunities and toward building a more intentional skills strategy,” Windisch said. “That means understanding where capability gaps exist, prioritizing the skills most critical to their organizations’ goals, and designing learning experiences that are relevant, accessible, and connected to the work that employees are doing.”