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Future Focus: Pet Perks, Youth Skills Decline, and Government AI

December 12, 2025 | Olivia Gebreamlak

The future of work is changing fast. Future Focus cuts through the noise with three trends each week that matter most to HR and business leaders. When everything else is in flux, stay focused with Future Focus.

Longer Leash On Life: Inside The Dog Longevity Startup (Forbes) 

What to Know: A biotech startup developing canine longevity drugs has raised $135 million, is pursuing FDA conditional approval, and is running the largest animal clinical trial with 1,300 dogs. Its first pill aims to mimic caloric restriction in senior dogs, with additional candidates targeting large-breed growth hormone pathways — potentially hitting the market as early as 2026. 
Where to Focus: Pet-related benefits are increasingly part of total rewards packages. Breakthroughs in pet health and longevity — even in early biotech spaces — could further signal rising employee expectations around pet insurance, caregiving leave, and wellness supports.

Research: 2025 Employee Benefits Survey

Why Young People are Struggling to Communicate (Time) 

What to Know: Educators report accelerating declines in teens’ writing and speaking skills, driven by reduced face-to-face interaction and heavy reliance on social media and generative AI. Research cited suggests chatbot use can reduce mental effort and creativity, further weakening original thinking and real-time communication. 
Where to Focus: The next wave of early-career hires will have sharper access to tools but shallower practice in core human skills. Leaders should expect higher demand for structured communication training, more deliberate in-person collaboration, and clearer AI-use norms — because communication, not code, remains the backbone of decision-making, client trust, and leadership pipelines.

Related article: A Guide to Leading an Effective Multi-Generational Workforce

Vibe coding has come to Washington (Fast Company) 

What to Know: Figma’s AI prototyping tool, Make, is now available to Figma for Government users. It aims to compress prototype cycles from weeks to hours as agencies race to improve services across more than 10,000 federal websites. With FedRAMP authorization and growing government adoption, AI-assisted “vibe coding” is set to influence how public-sector digital services are designed and delivered. 
Where to Focus: When the public sector standardizes on AI design workflows, expectations for speed, accessibility, and usability may rise across the economy. Vendors and enterprises that serve regulated industries could experience shorter procurement and delivery windows, prioritize compliance-ready toolchains, and upskill product and design teams to work credibly with AI because the new baseline for service quality will be set in public view.

Be the first to know what’s next. 
Get Future Focus delivered weekly through Tomorrowist — your shortcut to smarter decisions in a changing world of work.

 

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