Human Skills Every SME Needs for the Future of Work
We all know work is changing, but lately, it feels like it’s changing faster than we can blink. Artificial intelligence can write emails, analyse data, and even create artwork.
Climate targets are reshaping entire industries.
And our workforce, older, more diverse, and increasingly hybrid, is navigating it all while trying to keep up with the cost-of-living squeeze.
For many small and medium-sized businesses, it’s easy to feel that these global shifts are things that happen to us rather than around us. But there’s a quieter opportunity sitting right under our noses: the chance to strengthen the skills that make us human, the very ones machines can’t replace.
The world of work is changing and so are the skills we need.
According to the CIPD’s 2025 report Lifelong Learning in the Reskilling Era, three big forces are reshaping the UK labour market:
Technology – automation and AI are transforming routine tasks and changing the shape of jobs.
The green transition – the move to a low-carbon economy is creating new industries and re-defining old ones.
Demographic change – an ageing population and more diverse workforce are altering how, when, and why people work.
These shifts will create millions of new opportunities, but they’ll also require millions of people to retrain, adapt, and rethink how they add value. While some roles will disappear, many more will evolve — and the skills that matter most won’t be purely technical.
What employers increasingly need are skills that are, as the CIPD puts it, “profoundly human.”
The Essential Eight
The Skills Builder Partnership calls them the eight essential skills: listening, speaking, problem-solving, creativity, adapting, planning, leadership, and teamwork.
They sound simple, almost basic, yet they’re the very foundation of future-ready workplaces.
They’re also the ones employers consistently say are hardest to find.
Let’s be honest: we don’t always treat these as skills at all.
We treat them as personality traits or nice-to-haves, but they can be developed, refined, and strengthened over time.
Listening and speaking build understanding and trust, vital in hybrid teams or customer-facing roles.
Problem-solving and creativity help us find new ways through challenges when budgets and time are tight.
Adapting and planning enable us to flex to changing circumstances while keeping our focus clear.
Leadership and teamwork give direction and belonging, the glue that keeps small teams performing through uncertainty.
These skills don’t become outdated when software updates roll out.
They grow stronger the more they’re used, and they help businesses weather whatever comes next.
Why this matters for SMEs
Small and medium businesses make up over 99% of the UK economy.
Yet, according to the CIPD, employer investment in training has fallen by 27% since 2011.
Participation in learning drops sharply with age and income, meaning the very people most in need of development are often least likely to access it.
For SMEs, that’s a double challenge.
Without the luxury of big L&D budgets, it can feel impossible to plan for future skills while keeping up with day-to-day pressures.
But the flipside is that smaller organisations are also more agile, they can experiment, learn fast, and embed new habits quicker than large corporates.
By creating even modest opportunities to build these eight human skills, think micro-sessions, peer-learning, mentoring, or project-based development, small businesses can give their people confidence to navigate change rather than fear it.
Technology isn’t the enemy — but inaction might be
Generative AI will touch almost every job in some way.
The same CIPD report notes that while only around 3% of UK jobs are at high risk of full automation, nearly a third are exposed to AI. That means tasks will change, not necessarily vanish.
The future won’t be human or machine.
It will be human-and-machine, collaboration at its most practical.
The people who thrive will be those who know how to question, interpret, empathise, and lead alongside technology.
As the World Economic Forum puts it, success will depend on our ability to “work with technology, not against it” and to apply judgment, creativity, and emotional intelligence in ways machines can’t.
The green shift and the silver workforce
The UK’s move toward a net-zero economy will reshape jobs just as dramatically.
Around 6.3 million workers — roughly one in five — are expected to see their roles change by 2050.
Regions like the Midlands and Yorkshire (home to many manufacturing SMEs) face both the biggest disruption and the biggest opportunity.
At the same time, the workforce is ageing.
Nearly a third of UK workers are now over 50, yet training participation and career mobility drop steeply after 45.
Without fresh opportunities to learn, older workers risk being pushed out just when their experience is most valuable.
Supporting lifelong learning isn’t just good for people — it’s a survival strategy for business. When employees at all stages of their career feel supported to grow, they stay longer, share more, and drive innovation.
Building a culture of learning — one step at a time
So how can small businesses prepare without overhauling everything overnight?
Start conversations about skills.
Ask teams what skills they want to build or feel they’re missing.
Make learning bite-sized. Short, regular activities — think 15-minute discussions, shadowing, or sharing best practices build habits faster than annual workshops.
Link learning to real work.
Use live projects, client challenges or improvement tasks as development opportunities.
Model it from the top.
When leaders show curiosity, reflection and openness to feedback, learning becomes part of everyday work.
Measure the ripple. Track small wins: better collaboration, smoother communication, or ideas that save time. These are signs of human skills in action.
A final thought
Change isn’t slowing down, but fear doesn’t have to be our default response.
The UK’s future workforce will need to be adaptable, creative, and collaborative. Those qualities already exist in abundance within our small businesses.
The question is whether we’ll give people the space to strengthen them.
As the CIPD reminds us, lifelong learning is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity.
And for SMEs, the real opportunity lies in helping people build the skills that make them brilliantly, irreplaceably human.
Reference:Zemanik, M. (2025) Lifelong learning in the reskilling era: From luxury to necessity | Report London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
About Jessanol
At Jessanol, we help small businesses design practical learning that fits into real work, not around it.
From onboarding frameworks to micro-learning toolkits, we make it easier to build capability and confidence across your team.
If you’re ready to take the next step, our Resourceful Manager course gives line managers a simple, structured way to uncover hidden skills, strengthen engagement, and lead confidently — even when resources are tight.
Because the future of work won’t just be digital — it’ll be deeply human.