A labour market snapshot: what lies ahead for large organisations in 2025?

In accordance with the broader trends of the last few years, the UK labour market continues to be characterised by shifts in skills demands, economic uncertainty, and shaky political ground. While inflation has eased, struggles with the cost of living are still a reality for many, and though it remains yet to be fully seen what Labour’s budget will mean for British business, for the large organisations expected to absorb the abundance of tax increases set to come into force in 2025, concerns around the road ahead are abound.

At a glance: top workforce trends for large organisations

• Recruitment is the top anticipated challenge
• An artificial intelligence confidence crisis
• Hybrid work is still working – for now
• The rise of the ‘Great Dissatisfaction’

Our 2025 Salary & Recruiting Trends guide – a compilation of our trusted and comprehensive insights into the ever-evolving world of work – helps give employers an understanding of what challenges and opportunities are on the horizon for the coming year. As part of our research, we analyse over 10,000 salaries using information gathered from job listings, job offers and candidate registrations across our UK office network. This, combined with our survey – which this year received just under 11,000 responses, including over 5,800 from those working in large organisations – presents a highly comprehensive picture of salaries, recruiting trends and insights.

So, according to our research, what are the top workforce trends of 2025 for large organisations?

1. Recruitment tops list of expected challenges

Despite the swirling confluence of unpredictable external influences that are predicted to impact organisations in the next 12 months, finding and keeping the right talent is still expected to be the most difficult obstacle to overcome. For large organisations, recruiting the right talent is deemed the biggest external challenge they expect to face this year, followed closely by the economic environment and rising costs for businesses. Talent retention, meanwhile, is predicted to be the biggest internal challenge, followed by managing change and skills shortages within current teams.

If your organisation has plans to grow its offering in the coming year, or merely wants to stay on course against a challenging market landscape, a strategic shift may be needed to retain talent. If you’re not able to increase salaries for the time being, consider where else you can provide long-term value to your workforce. Offering flexibility, emphasising opportunities for upskilling, and showcasing your commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are all key retention strategies that can be realised with a workforce solutions partner who understands the challenges you’re facing.

2. Organisations face an AI confidence crisis

Despite doubts around its reliability, ethical reservations and lingering suspicions that it might turn out to be just a fad, AI has stayed the course and conversations around its impact on the workplace continue to evolve – though there is still a degree of uncertainty as to where it has the potential to be most and least useful. It remains to be seen exactly in what capacity business might start to lean into it on a large scale, but according to our data there is still a yawning skills gap that organisations will need to address if they’re to make full use of its potential.

In large organisations, 44% of employers say they are recommending the use of AI tools in their workplace, compared to just 34% of employers in SMEs. Despite this, 45% say they don’t have access to the skills they need to make the best use of AI technologies, while the vast majority (87%) of professionals haven’t received any AI training or upskilling support from their employer.

3. Hybrid work is winning out – for the moment

The return-to-office debate continues to make headlines – particularly in the corporate space. Retail giants Amazon are just one of a swathe of international conglomerates currently looking to bring employees back to the workplace on a more frequent basis. But according to our research, this trend is not being adopted more broadly. Over two thirds (67%) of large organisations offer hybrid working to staff, and 76% don’t expect this offering to change in the coming year.

This is a key decision as hybrid working is a crucial factor for many professionals when it comes to accepting a role, particularly those working in a corporate environment. Over half (51%) of employees in large organisations say they would not consider accepting a job in the future that didn’t offer hybrid working, compared to 40% of those working in SMEs.

4. A ‘Great Dissatisfaction’ is on the rise

Career positivity overall has seen a decline over the last year as ‘The Great Dissatisfaction’ makes itself felt amongst the wider workforce, with 45% of those working in large organisations feeling there is no scope for progression in their current role compared to 30% in 2023.

Sentiment around the long-term economic environment and its impact on job opportunities has also significantly worsened over the past year, with just 23% of employees citing optimism in comparison to 43% last year. It seems workers are feeling trapped by a lack of upward mobility at their own organisation and what they perceive as a stultifying external jobs market. However, recruitment plans may prove to be more buoyant than they anticipate, with 80% of employers from large organisations planning on hiring in the year ahead. Once confidence in the market begins to recover, we could start to see a surge in employee movement – so don’t wait until you start feeling the disruptive effects of the next ‘Great Resignation’ before taking steps to improve staff satisfaction. 

These are just some of the findings from our 2025 UK Salary & Recruiting Trends guide. Find out more about how salaries and employment trends are changing by taking a look at our research in full here.