The UK government’s move to introduce day one paternity leave is, on the surface, a positive step as any progress in this space matters. For too long, access to paternity leave has been limited, and removing the qualifying period means that change is happening. But when you look a little closer, the reality is more complicated.

While paternity leave may now be a day one right, statutory pay is not. Fathers still need to have worked for their employer for 26 weeks to be eligible for it. And given that low pay is one of the biggest reasons fathers don’t take paternity leave in the first place, it raises an important question: how much difference will this change really make?

The gap between policy and reality

The UK already has one of the least generous paternity offers in Europe. Statutory pay sits at just over £194.32 a week, which is well below the national living wage. For many families, that just isn’t affordable.

Imagine bringing your baby home for the first time. You’re adjusting to broken sleep, figuring out feeding, and getting to know this new person who has completely changed your world. Now imagine having to choose between being there for those early days or earning enough to cover the bills – that is a reality many fathers face. 

And it doesn’t have to be this way. In countries like Spain, Norway and Denmark, fathers have access to longer periods of well-paid leave, recognising that supporting both parents early on benefits families, workplaces and the wider economy.

In practice, the recent change may benefit a relatively small group of dads, those who start a new job while their partner is pregnant and can afford to take unpaid leave. 

Why those early weeks matter

It’s easy to see paternity leave as a ‘nice to have’, but the early weeks after a child is born are anything but. This is the point where patterns start to form. Who does the majority of the childcare, who carries the financial responsibility, and how that balance plays out over time.

When dads are only able to take a short period of leave, or none at all, those roles can settle quickly. One parent becomes the default caregiver, the other returns to work. That dynamic can impact everything from career progression to future earning potential.

Those early days are full of moments that matter more than you expect. Learning how to settle your baby in the middle of the night or building the confidence to head out on your own for the first time. Without that time, many fathers can feel like they haven’t had the space to find their footing. That affects how connected they feel to their child and to family life.

taking time out to support your family is not something that will be held against you.”

It also has an impact on mental health, even if it is not always talked about. Becoming a parent is a huge adjustment for both people. Around one in five mothers and one in ten fathers experience symptoms of postnatal depression in the first year, and one contributing factor can be a lack of bonding in those early weeks.

When one parent returns to work very quickly, the other is often left to manage alone which adds pressure. At the same time, the parent who goes back can feel increasingly disconnected from what is happening at home. 

We often talk about the motherhood penalty, but paternity leave is part of that conversation too. If we want to create more equal workplaces, we need to start with what happens at home in those early days.

What employers can do now

While policy evolves, employers have an important role to play.

Many organisations are already going beyond the statutory minimum, offering enhanced paternity leave and pay. These policies make a real difference, not just to individual families but to workplace culture. They send a clear message that caregiving is valued, and that taking time out to support your family is not something that will be held against you.

Even where enhanced policies aren’t in place, there are still ways to support employees. Open conversations, flexible working, and visible encouragement from leaders can all help create an environment where fathers feel more able to take the leave that is available to them.

A moment to build on

The introduction of day one paternity leave rights is a step forward. But on its own, it is unlikely to lead the kind of change many people are hoping for.

If we want to see more fathers taking leave, more equal parenting, and better outcomes for families, we need to go further. That means looking again at pay, at duration, and at how policies work in practice.

There is already momentum behind this. Campaigns like Equal Parenting Week, taking place from 27 April, are helping to raise awareness and push for progress. Initiatives such as the Push for Paternity Leave walk, happening across multiple UK cities, are also bringing people together to call for change.

The direction is encouraging. But there is still more to do to make sure that paternity leave works in a way that reflects the realities of modern family life. Ultimately, this is not just about policy. It’s about giving parents the time and support they need at one of the most important moments in their lives and making sure that support is something they can actually afford to use.

Elliott Rae will participate in the panel: ‘Building a manifesto: What does it mean to employ parents and carers in 2026 and beyond?’ at HR Technologies UK on Thursday 30 April 11:10 – 12:50 in the Keynote Theatre 2.

HR Technologies UK 2026 will take place from 29-30 April at the Excel, London.

A few months ago, the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Work launched their AI Report on the potential benefits and obstacles of AI in the workplace. Surprisingly, it found that many believed it could enable them to do more of the ‘important things’ at work, relieving them of the more mundane aspects of their job. There were concerns, of course, over their job security, but not as worrying or serious as I had anticipated. I suspect this is because we don’t know about the extent of AI’s capabilities in the long term.

The worry is that technology goes even further in undermining the in-person aspects of HR.”

So, will AI alleviate the more routine or mundane task of HR professionals and senior HR leaders over the coming years? I think, if implemented appropriately, it certainly has the potential to deliver ‘more for less’, enabling HR managers and leaders to concentrate on more strategic issues (eg talent retention and attraction, workplace culture and wellbeing, real engagement, future proofing training in an AI world, etc.). The potential downside of this is that AI just increases our reliance on technology, to the extent that the world of HR becomes a virtual world where our face-to-face relationships decline as we try to free our time and efforts. We already see how online training apps in the health and wellbeing arena have created a relationship gap between employee and HR training providers. The worry, therefore, is that technology goes even further in undermining the in-person aspects of HR, as it confronts the challenges of engaging with employees with the fast moving AI world, job security, mental wellbeing, engagement, gender issues, and the like. 

HR has a real opportunity in the AI era to help organisations engage their staff for the next decade of more rapid and substantial change in the workplace. This means greater engagement in understanding and integrating AI, and future technologies, in our everyday lives without resisting change. Giving employees ownership in technological change, engaging with them closely, is critical here, which plays nicely into HR’s major contribution in this context. 

The challenge of initiating change

Change is rarely easy in organisations, as Machiavelli wrote in his book The Prince: “It should be borne in mind that there is nothing more difficult to arrange, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through than initiating change. The innovator makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old order, and only lukewarm support is forthcoming from those who would prosper under the new.”

Senior HR leaders can be helped as early adopters of AI, so they can concentrate more on future-proofing AI and other strategic issues in the future, Leading by example, engaging staff in decision making and supporting those who are threatened is the job of HR leaders in a never fast-moving workplace. As the old euphemism goes “change is here to stay” so HR leaders have a significant role to play. Or, as Mark Twain once wrote: “If you always do what you always did – you’ll always get what you always got”.

I’ve always hated the career ladder metaphor. Often the main beneficiaries of a career ladder structure are those that fit the profile expectations of career progression. In this post pandemic, post Black Lives Matter, post MeToo, post Trump and especially Post AI – the career ladder is dead. Long live career uncertainty.  

​In the corporate vocab of the 20th century, the ‘career ladder’ was a comforting beast. It promised a predictable ascent: climb the rungs, be rewarded for effort and connections, wait your turn, and retire with a pension. That beast has been on life support for decades – especially if we view it through an Equity lens. Now, AI is preparing to pull the plug. For Human Resources often the most risk-averse species this presents a terrifying dilemma. They can continue to pantomime the rituals of old of promotion and progress – where do you see yourself in five years time – career ladder stuff. Or they can embrace a controversial truth: in the new world of work, progress is uncertain, the corporation is no longer a family. We now work in a dynamic ecosystem, uncertainty is the norm, the ladders are disappearing and AI is the new climate. 

 From my work on ‘Industry 5.0’ I would argue we are witnessing the end of the ‘job’ as a fixed bundle of duties – but now we’re moving into an even more flexible way of working. In this new landscape, relying on technical (in its broadest sense) competence alone is a fast track to obsolescence. AI has a massive impact on work – but to focus on Generative AI specifically, it really is unbundling jobs and job roles. This shift is also driven by the rapid commodification of white-collar skills. In my book Futureproof Your Career, in this world I say the goal is not to outrun the machine, but to build a relationship with it. We are moving towards Industry 5.0 an era not of replacement, but of Human-AI symbiosis.

The future of career management, then, is not about climbing a ladder, but navigating crisscross pathways.”

​Here lies the rub for HR. For years, the function has been an administrative shock-absorber, protecting the status quo of career progression – skills needed + skills in. I think this transactional approach misses the critical human element of how we workers make career changes. To survive now, HR must become an engine of ‘career resilience’. I remember last year – 2025 a very disappointed CPO of a global energy company. He was saying when he welcomed a cohort of new graduates saying in his welcome speech: “one of you may become our future CEO” but instead of thrilled faces of GenZers he met with a sea of faces that said – yeah we don’t buy into that career ladder thinking. 

The honest conversation to have with a recruit in 2026 is not, “We see a path to Director,” but rather, “We will help you build the human capabilities needed to activate your success and we respect that you need to have wellbeing in your work-life.” My research says this shift is about emphasis on empathy, ethical judgment, and complex problem-solving. As we know – these are skills that the algorithm cannot replicate.

 This is where the argument becomes thorny. If HR merely uses AI to optimise hiring and promotion based on historical data, it automates jobs and not careers. The future of career management, then, is not about climbing a ladder, but navigating crisscross pathways. It’s all about shifting patterns where (my research shows) agility and adaptive skill under uncertainty matters. 

​For HR, the mandate is clear but demanding. Stop nurturing the illusion of stability. Instead, build an infrastructure of psychological safety where workers feel secure enough to experiment, fail, and relearn in order to progress in the matrix. Embrace the uncertainty too. You do not futureproof a career by hiding from change, but by building a relationship with it. Honestly speaking the ladder is gone. The safety net is gone. HR’s job is enable people manage themselves in this matrix/maze/crisscross career pathways – and to ensure the footing is fair.

For decades, the talent strategy Genesis has been recruitment. When capability gaps appear organisations recruit. When performance lags, the assumption is that the ‘right people’ aren’t in place. When the business changes direction, the reflex is to go back to the market in search of new skills.

But it’s starting to feel like that logic needs a reset.

What if the most effective talent strategies don’t start with a job requisition – but with a much deeper understanding of the people already inside the organisation?

This question is becoming increasingly hard for senior HR leaders to ignore. Not because it’s intellectually interesting, but because the operating environment has shifted. Hiring budgets are tighter. Productivity increases are being demanded. Headcount growth is constrained. And HR is under growing pressure to justify talent decisions with evidence, not narrative.

Ironically, HR functions are sitting on more data about their people than ever before – yet many still struggle to access it, connect it, or turn it into insight that genuinely informs decisions.

When HR Has Data – But Loses Sight of the Human Story

Most HR teams are not short of information. Applicant tracking systems hold years of hiring history. HRIS platforms contain job, tenure and movement data. Performance systems record appraisals. Engagement surveys capture sentiment. Learning platforms log development activity. Exit interviews explain why people leave.

The issue isn’t data volume. It’s data fragmentation.

These data sources rarely talk to each other. And even when they do, few teams have the analytical frameworks or confidence to extract insight that goes beyond reporting what already happened.

This isn’t a critique of HR capability. It simply reflects how HR technology and operating models evolved over the last twenty years. But in 2026, those limitations are no longer benign. They’re becoming real liabilities.

It’s No Biggie: Other Functions Made This Shift Years Ago and HR Is Simply Catching Up

There is a reassuring perspective here. Other business functions have already navigated this transition. Marketing no longer operates on disconnected customer data. Finance doesn’t allocate capital without integrated forecasting and modelling. Supply chain relies on real-time data and predictive insight to manage risk. Customer service analyses every interaction to improve experience.

HR, by contrast, has been slower to unify its data and embed analytics into everyday decision-making. As a result, some of the most expensive and strategically consequential decisions organisations make – people decisions – are still too often driven by intuition and incomplete information. 

That gap now matters more than ever: when hiring was cheap and growth unconstrained, inefficiency could be absorbed. When talent markets were buoyant, attrition felt like a nuisance rather than a risk. Mobility, engagement and role fit mattered less – because talent was treated as replaceable.

The reality of 2026 is that none of those conditions apply anymore.

Why Hiring First Is No Longer a Sustainable Strategy

When HR lacks a joined-up understanding of its workforce, hiring becomes a blunt instrument. Organisations recruit externally without knowing whether capability already exists internally. They assess candidates without understanding which traits truly predict success in a specific role context. They repeat hiring patterns that generate churn, mis-fit or burnout – because outcomes are never connected back to long-term performance, mobility and retention data.

Graduate recruitment assesses potential through CVs and assessment centres. Succession planning relies heavily on managerial opinion. Leadership development builds capability that is rarely tracked or redeployed. Redeployment decisions are made without real insight into who can adapt, who can grow, and who is at risk against new role demands. HR isn’t short of processes – it’s short of corroborating evidence.

Without a unified, data-driven view of capability, hiring becomes the default response to uncertainty rather than the final lever in a well-understood talent strategy.

The most effective organisations we’re seeing today are starting to invert this logic. They begin by deeply, continuously and predictively understanding their workforce – and only then deciding where hiring, redeployment or development is genuinely required.

The Role of Integrated Talent Analytics

This is where HR has the opportunity to move from a reporting function to vital strategic infrastructure. By bringing together data across the talent lifecycle – recruitment, performance, engagement, learning, mobility and attrition – into analytical frameworks designed to answer real workforce questions.

It’s about seeing patterns across systems and enabling different conversations: which hiring profiles correlate with long-term performance; where internal mobility is failing silently; where burnout or attrition risk is emerging; where leadership potential actually shows up; and which gaps reflect true skill shortages versus misalignment between people, roles and work.

This level of insight allows HR to act earlier, intervene more precisely and align talent decisions directly to business outcomes.

The Journey from Cost Centre to Growth Enabler

One of the most persistent frustrations for senior HR leaders is being viewed as a cost centre rather than a value creator. That perception won’t change through narrative alone – it can only changes through evidence.

When HR can demonstrate how talent decisions affect productivity, risk, retention and performance, the conversation shifts. Talent investment starts to look like capital investment. Workforce planning becomes predictive. Hiring becomes a strategic lever – not a default response.

This isn’t about making HR more technically literate. It’s about equipping HR with the same analytical discipline other functions already rely on, while preserving the human judgement and ethical context that make people decisions nuanced.

AI Is Raising the Stakes – and the Opportunity

AI makes this inflection point even more critical. Not because it will replace HR, but because it will expose what HR truly understands about its people. AI won’t fix poor data – it will amplify it. Shallow, siloed or biased inputs will simply produce faster, more seemingly confident wrong decisions.

But when AI is applied to a strong foundation of integrated talent data, grounded in human science and behavioural insight, it becomes a powerful multiplier. It can surface patterns humans miss, predict risk earlier and support fairer, more objective decisions.

HR Transformation that’s a Natural Evolution – Not a Leap of Faith

For many HR leaders, embracing Talent Analytics can feel daunting. Concerns around capability, data quality and change are real. But this isn’t about a big-bang transformation.        

See it as a journey: some organisations start with hiring or mobility analytics. Others focus on attrition, burnout or leadership readiness. Many begin with targeted diagnostics before scaling data integration. The important point is this: there are now mature, proven providers like Cognisess who can support HR at every stage of their journey.

Why 2026 Will Be a Turning Point

The pressures facing HR aren’t going to ease. Organisations want fewer mis-hires, higher productivity, stronger leadership pipelines and better use of internal talent – whilst controlling cost and risk.

These outcomes won’t come from incremental improvement or better storytelling. They require a step change in how HR understands and manages its most valuable asset: its talent data.

2026 won’t be the year human judgement disappears. It will be the year it is finally augmented with clarity, confidence and evidence. And yes, the best talent strategies will still hire – but the smart work will have started way before the job is ever posted.

Colin Minto has 20+ years’ experience as a HR Leader in Talent Acquisition and HR Tech within some of the UKs biggest employers. He is currently is Chief of Staff at Cognisess – a pioneer in Talent Analytics and AI who work with some of the world’s biggest employers. From this unique perspective, Colin has observed that 2026 will be the year that separates out those organisations that manage talent from those that truly understand it.          

For years, workplace security has been treated as a back-office issue – keycards, PIN codes and sign-in sheets quietly doing their job in the background. Yet these familiar tools have long influenced how we manage people, time and trust. They’ve also created hidden challenges for HR teams responsible for fairness, compliance and employee experience.

It’s time to view security differently – not as a barrier, but as a partner that helps HR protect people and strengthen workplace culture. Artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics are transforming human capital management. While some worry that this feels like “Big Brother,” I see it as “Little Brother” – a supportive guardian that ensures people are who they say they are, safeguards sensitive data and promotes fairness across the workforce. This isn’t just about new technology; it’s about building a culture of trust.

More problems than solutions

Many HR teams still rely on keycards and PIN codes to track attendance, manage access and process payroll. But these outdated systems often create more problems than they solve. When cards are lost, shared or “buddy punched,” businesses lose both money and trust. Time fraud alone costs organisations up to 7% of payroll each year – funds that could otherwise support wellbeing initiatives, development programmes or culture-building activities. Beyond the financial hit, outdated methods expose organisations to risk. A cloned keycard or shared password can compromise not only data but employee safety. For HR, that risk strikes at the core of its mission: protecting people.

No one can borrow time or access privileges, and everyone is recognised for their actual contribution.

Biometric technology, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, links identity directly to the individual, making it nearly impossible for someone to misrepresent themselves. For HR, this creates a foundation of fairness and accuracy. No one can borrow time or access privileges, and everyone is recognised for their actual contribution. Payroll accuracy improves, compliance is simplified and administration is reduced. In this way, security becomes an enabler – helping HR ensure consistency and fairness for all.

Of course, trust remains essential. Employees need to understand how their personal data is used and protected. Biometric systems don’t store images; they store encrypted mathematical patterns that can’t be reverse-engineered into photos. Combined with transparent communication and clear consent processes, biometrics becomes a tool for protection, not surveillance. When HR leads open conversations about how and why the technology is used, scepticism turns into confidence. People feel reassured that their information is safe and that fairness is the goal.

AI at the edge

AI is taking biometrics and HR technology even further. At the hardware level, ‘AI at the edge’ allows devices to process data locally, so systems continue to operate securely even if connectivity is lost. On the software side, AI can analyse large volumes of HCM data to uncover insights in real time. Imagine asking your HR system natural-language questions like “Which departments have the highest overtime?” or “Where are we seeing attendance anomalies?” and getting clear, immediate answers. This reduces administrative burden and frees HR leaders to focus on engagement, development and culture – the work that truly drives organisational success.

At its best, AI-powered biometrics help HR achieve its most fundamental goals: ensuring fairness, maintaining compliance and protecting people. It supports data security regulations, ensures payroll accuracy and strengthens workplace safety – all while reinforcing trust as a shared responsibility between employer and employee. That’s what I mean by ‘Little Brother’. It’s not about control; it’s about care. It gives HR the tools to build workplaces where security and trust go hand in hand.

The future of HR belongs to those who embrace this balance – where people feel protected, processes are fair and technology quietly supports the best of human potential.

The Responsible AI Summit, which I’ve attended since 2023, has grown from a small gathering of less than 100 people into a global event. What started out as a fringe notion for turning AI ethics into business language is now coming together as a full-blown Responsible AI (RAI) profession.

For HR leaders, trying to define clearly what skills and qualifications are needed could feel like an annoying burden. But I’m seeing RAI professionals as important allies for HR leaders, providing ammunition for why the whole gamut of policies and practices that support people are not ‘woke nonsense’ but actually vital for business success.

This year some companies that had embraced Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles are facing significant pressure to scale back these initiatives. We’re seeing some organisations quietly remove ESG from their communications – Currys recently scrapped their Board level ESG Committee – whilst others are scaling back DEI programs in response to the US administration’s changed remit.

If you are concerned that this is a retrograde step, seek out RAI professionals to collaborate with. They can provide the necessary data and assurance to demonstrate why these initiatives are not just ‘feel-good’ exercises, but critical to identifying and reducing risks associated with AI use.

Expertise on tap

By cultivating a strong RAI function the HR department will also benefit from having expertise on tap as you increasingly rely on AI tools to save your team time, reduce human bias in hiring, and improve the overall candidate experience. Your RAI professional can help evaluate and ensure that your AI-powered recruitment tools, for example, are genuinely fair and transparent, rather than reinforcing existing biases. This strengthens the integrity of your HR processes and boosts employee trust in the organisation’s commitment to fairness. This is a pragmatic, business-critical approach.

But who are these RAI folk? It’s a melting pot of backgrounds – from law to computer science, social sciences to data science. This diversity is a major strength, bringing different perspectives to the complex challenges of ethical AI implementation. However, it also means there are no clear career paths or standardised training yet. It’s a bit like data protection was 20 years ago. As a profession, RAI is still finding its formal structure and boundaries. This means RAI professionals needs you help because most organisations lack consensus on where RAI functions should sit, what authority they should hold, and how they should interact with development teams. This creates inconsistent implementation and makes accountability difficult to establish.

Formal certifications emerging

The good news is that we are starting to see the development of formal certifications to address these gaps. Bodies like the IAPP and IEEE have created certifications for AI governance and AI ethics. These programmes aim to provide a more structured pathway into the profession by offering training on everything from ethical frameworks to regulatory compliance. Some of these certifications are designed to align with global regulations, including the EU AI Act and the UK’s approach to AI governance.

If you are recruiting people into AI governance-related roles, look for people who can combine technical literacy with strong analytical skills, and the ability to build consensus and influence organisational culture. An RAI professional isn’t just a gatekeeper; they need to be an orchestrator who brings together experts from different departments to ensure AI is used responsibly. You can help them by establishing a clear mandate and a direct reporting line to senior leadership, giving them the authority they need to drive change.

Grow your own

And there aren’t enough people with these skills so you may need to ‘grow your own’ by cultivating talent in-house. Avoid only looking to compliance or IT and instead give opportunities to employees with diverse backgrounds from data science, project management or customer-facing roles, who possess strong skills in influencing colleagues. A critical step is to provide them with structured training programmes and invest in educational pathways that develop both technical and ethical competencies. By allowing employees to take on RAI duties in hybrid roles, you can build a resilient in-house capability and empower individuals to become the orchestrators who bridge the gap between technical teams and ethical principles.

I am certain that, for the UK to become a global leader in AI, we must cultivate a robust RAI professional community. And HR is at the heart of this. By investing in educational pathways and talent pipelines, you’ll be building the human infrastructure that ensures AI development is not only innovative but also aligned with our societal values.

Inclusion at work is all about the human experience: how people feel when they show up, how they navigate your culture, whether they feel part of your values and yes, as overused as the phrase is – whether they can bring their whole selves to work.

Whenever I talk about the commercial benefits of DE&I, I always land on the biggest cost. Recruitment, talent acquisition, hiring… and ultimately retention.

I always kick off with a simple question:

Think back to a time you weren’t seen, heard or respected. Maybe you worked in a toxic environment. What happened to your mindset, your mental health, your commitment, your performance?

It’s the same story every time: inefficiency, quiet quitting, declining health and if you had the privilege, an eventual sharp exit.

I say privilege intentionally. Not everyone can afford their ‘stuff this’ moment and throw their office keys at the toxic boss. For many, circumstances keep them stuck. And for those with a marginalised identity, who probably fought harder than their majority colleagues just to get into the room, the risk of starting over can feel greater.

The grass isn’t always greener, and getting to those greener pastures can be a battle.

Great workplaces don’t happen by accident – why knew! 

They’re carefully curated: values, ethics, policies and behaviours all pulling in the same direction.

What do the best inclusive employers have in common?

Better tenure, higher levels of employee confidence, productivity, innovation and loyalty backed by engagement surveys consistently show that people recognise the culture is smashing it.

It doesn’t take a genius to connect this to DE&I and belonging, there’s a mountain of evidenced research to back it up:

• Belonging halves turnover risk. High belonging is consistently linked to around 50% lower turnover, better performance and fewer sick days.
• Where fairness and inclusion are visible, employees report less stigma when discussing mental health, higher trust and less burnout.
• Inclusion reduces chronic stressors (bias, microaggressions, unfairness, workload without control), which lowers burnout and improves intent to stay.

And it isn’t just about ‘the vibe’. It’s about the foundations: workplace wellbeing, flexible or hybrid working, family-building benefits, equal pay, policies that protect and benefits that create equity.

People stay when they feel respected.
People stay when they feel accepted.
People stay when they see a future.

FACTS and all of this is built through an organisation’s DE&I strategy.

Why aren’t employers joining the dots?

Because too many still treat DE&I like a couple of lunch-and-learns and a sprinkling of cultural-awareness days. Out-of-touch wellness webinars and ERGs with zero budget or authority have never shifted the dial on equity and equality, IMO.

Plus nobody is showing the money, now I am not one for maths, but here goes…

Company of 1,000 people, average salary £50k, annual voluntary turnover 20% that’s 200 leavers.

Conservative replacement cost at 0.5× salary = £25k each (recruitment, lost productivity, impact on team), that’s £5 million a year out the door.

If serious belonging and DE&I design cuts attrition by 25% (i.e. 50 fewer leavers), you bank £1.25 million, before you even count fewer sick days and better performance.

That’s the business case right there!

Six powerful actions leaders can take

So, what can leaders actually do beyond a token lunch-and-learn and a few rainbow-coloured LinkedIn posts? Here are six powerful actions that don’t just tick a DE&I box, they keep your best people from quietly updating their CVs.

Inclusion → psychological safety → better mental health → lower intent to leave → actual retention.

1. Listen first
Short term: run listening sessions or anonymous surveys to understand employee experience with a focus on inclusion, psychological safety and equity
Long term: use the data to build DE&I-informed people strategies that address barriers, create accountability and align with your goals

2. Make managers your DE&I allies
Short term: upskill managers in inclusive leadership, bias awareness and equitable decision making
Long term: bake DE&I into performance management and leadership frameworks, linking it to progression, development and reward

Review your career pathways
People don’t leave companies, they leave stagnant roles, unfair systems and poor line managers.
Short term: audit who is progressing, who isn’t and why, look at access to development, stretch opportunities and mentoring
Long term: build equitable progression pathways, address barriers such as bias in promotion processes and track outcomes by demographic

4. Centre belonging in your EVP
Short term: refresh internal messaging and onboarding to reflect inclusion, community and equity in a real, meaningful way
Long term: co-create and evolve your EVP with employees, showcasing stories about lived experience, benefits that reflect different needs and clear commitments

5. Track, measure and tell the whole story
Short term: set clear DE&I-linked retention KPIs, turnover by demographic, inclusion scores, exit themes and share insights internally – be bold!
Long term: regularly publish DE&I and retention data, and link it to business performance to show why inclusion drives results

6. Design policies and benefits that reflect real lives
Short term: audit existing policies, benefits and working conditions through a DE&I lens. Check for outdated language, gaps or one-size-fits-all thinking
Long term: co-develop inclusive policies and benefits that support different identities and life stages, from flexible working and parental leave to menopause support, neurodiversity adjustments and equitable pay

Final thoughts

Retention isn’t a mystery, it’s a choice. Build inclusion into the way you lead and the way you work or keep writing those cheques to replace the people walking out the door. And please, let’s stop treating DE&I like a side hustle, it’s the engine of performance and profit

There is an old Chinese proverb: “if you are planning for one year, plant rice; if you are planning for ten years, plant trees; but if you are planning for a hundred years, plant people”. For any organisation, whether in the private or public sector, the most important resource they have is their people, if they want to achieve any measure of success. Yet in difficult global economic times, many organisations seem to forget this most basic doctrine of ‘successful workplaces’, moving toward downsizing to keep their labour costs down in a survival mode stance. Moreover, with two significant wars, a global cost of living and energy crisis and various important world leaders pulling back into a protectionist and confrontational mode, the future of these organisations requires them to retain and develop their talent, and not dispense with them in a frenzied attempt to balance the books!

There are many things that organisations can do to retain and develop their staff. First, to provide them with a sense of purpose in their job, and a feeling of being part of something important, a sense of community. This is not easy to do but is fundamental to many people, a feeling of belonging to something bigger than themselves. 

Engaging work

Second, engage with them in more professional training and development of their skills. This means spending time with them to see what they might want to do in terms of upskilling. This is particularly important during difficult times when people are worried about their job security. 

Third, spend ‘quality time’ with them in terms of finding out how they feel about their job security, the organisations future and anything else that may be troubling them. This is difficult for many managers, but it is vital if you want to find out how people perceive and react to their job and the organisation more generally. A real problem we have in many organisations is: ‘many managers just don’t have effective social skills in relating to their staff’. This may be an opportunity to do something about this problem, in terms of providing the training for line managers to enhance their ‘emotional intelligence’ or social skills.

Work for meaning and for bread

Fourth, giving people more autonomy and control over their job, such as more flexible working and/or giving them more authority to take on more challenging work, in fact, anything that gives staff a sense of some control over their work. As Studs Terkel said in his book Working: “work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor, in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying”.

Creating a healthy and engaging culture in the workplace is what most GenZ and young millennials want, so anything that gets people up in the morning ‘bright-eyed and bushy tailed’ and eager to get to work, is what young and old alike want from their employer.

Feeling great at work

Retaining talent at work is not very complicated, it’s about being sensitive to people’s needs, and what they want to get out of their job and life in general. This means engaging them, finding the right kind of work for them and making them feel needed and valued. As Mark Twain once wrote: “keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can somehow become great”. 

Management is not just about making just-in-time decisions and demonstrating authoritative behaviour, it is about understanding and meeting the needs of those you work with and making them feel you care and understand them and their contribution. 

Professor Cooper’s latest book is Healthy High Performance: Unlocking Business Success Through Employee Wellbeing (Routledge Books, 2025).

As we enter the age of human-machine collaboration, the world of work is changing beyond all recognition. With technology – and AI in particular – continuing to advance at such a rapid pace impacting businesses so much, it is a daily challenge just to keep up. But in the race to stay ahead and adopt innovative technology, are leaders in danger of losing focus and forgetting about people and purpose? Have business ethics and responsible usage been overlooked in favour of quick wins and efficiency gains?

These were some of the big questions debated in our recent Leadership Futures conference, hosted by the World of Work Institute. And as referenced by all of our speakers, purpose and the impact of technology on people are more crucial than ever to ensure business success. For all the benefits that AI can bring, unless its implemented responsibly and with a ‘humans-in-the-loop’ design application, it can do more harm than good.

But we all agreed that this is the tricky part. It requires businesses to be agile and adaptive in their leadership approach. It becomes a balancing act between risk and reward. What is the impact on people, reputation, trust – the list goes on. The late Charles Handy, pioneer on management education and leadership put it well when he said:

“The companies that survive longest are the ones that work out what they uniquely can give to the world, not just growth or money but their excellence, their respect for others, or their ability to make people happy. Some call those things a soul.”

This perfectly captures the belief that a company’s true essence and longevity come from its purpose and positive contribution to society. And this is something that AI should not eradicate. Instead it calls for leaders to double-down on creating true psychological safety for workers and the inspirational vision necessary for their teams to perform in an increasingly AI-centric world.

Optimistic but overwhelmed

The importance of leading from the top was brought into stark reality by the findings of our recent survey into feelings about AI in the workplace. Despite more than half (56%) of full-time workers in the UK feeling optimistic about the benefits of AI at work, just under two-thirds (61%) find it overwhelming to keep up with the rapid pace of AI technology advancements. This was a view largely shared across the ages and sectors we surveyed. It is clear that future of work is not about choosing between humans and machines but about moving to a strong focus on how to create effective synergy between the two.

Indeed, as AI and automation begin to master the ‘science’ of optimising processes, tracking metrics, and allocating resources, the uniquely human ‘art’ of leadership becomes paramount. As routine work becomes consumed by AI, people need to understand the impact it has on their roles and how to use it effectively. Transparency and responsible usage will be key as human roles evolve to possibly become more complex, more creative, more emotionally demanding and require more critical thinking. 

Ensuring responsible AI integration

AI is here to stay whether we like it or not. What will make the difference between success and failure is ensuring it serves people and meets business purpose. 

As covered during our conference and in the Leadership Futures report ‘Harnessing Technology for Human Progress’, the current pace around AI has led many to dive into implementation without proper planning or considering organisational needs. You could say purpose and people are being pushed out in favour of profit.

But identifying and articulating the need for AI, and making the business case are critical. Without a clearly defined use case, projects risk creating problems that don’t exist or not aligning with organisational priorities. The consequences of this can be far reaching – from damaging worker trust and loyalty, impacting external reputation or even leading to data security issues. 

Leaders must therefore focus on areas where AI can address specific challenges or unlock opportunities, ensuring that the technology supports real and pressing business needs. With a tangible use case for AI, leaders can lay the foundations for organisation-wide acceptance and success as well as demonstrate AI’s value to all stakeholders – from employees to customers. 

Bringing clarity to change

When people see clear, practical benefits, that align with their values and expectations they are more likely to embrace change and support new ways of working. Articulating an effective use case can mitigate strategic risk and allow leaders to deploy AI sustainably and responsibly. Finding the right use case is both a technical decision and, importantly, a strategic imperative. It helps leaders to ensure that AI adoption is purposeful, impactful and aligned with both the organisation and workers’ needs.

We know that the potential for technology to unlock human creativity is immense, but it needs to be done with consideration and a conscience. True strategic leadership will be defined by the ability to navigate this duality to embrace technological opportunity with ambition while building the ethical and resilient frameworks needed to defend against its inherent risks. Putting people and purpose at the centre will be crucial to success, and ensure AI becomes a true business enabler rather than inhibiter.

Albert Einstein once wrote: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction the world will have a generation of idiots.” This fear is now a reality, particularly with the introduction of AI. Decisions are being made, in almost every aspect of business, the public sector and the third sector, about the speedy introduction of these advanced technologies without, in many cases, considering the profound impact it will have on employees. Because AI and other recent technologies are moving at speed, decisions by senior managers are being taken without HR professionals having involved. HR is being told to implement the introduction of the technology in the ‘least disruptive’ way, to reconfigure the workforce strategy and to ensure the smooth transformation of change without considering the impact on the workforce in terms of transparent communications, job insecurity, staff retention, etc. 

HR has to be at the top table when introducing the technologies of the future, if they want to avoid ‘regrettable turnover’ of key staff, the resistance to the change, stress-related sickness absence, ‘quiet quitting’, a drop in productivity and a negative brand in talent attraction. It is important for HR to be more assertive with senior management about the importance of their involvement in technological change, rather than accept the decisions reached without their input. The successful introduction of technological change can enhance employee health and wellbeing, increase productivity and attract future talent, but HR professionals must advocate for a greater voice in these managerial decisions. As Mark Twain once wrote: “If you aways do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got”.