Aon report: 2026 Human Capital Trends Study
Cultural resistance to AI is remarkably low in the UK (17% vs. 30% globally), making legal, regulatory and institutional factors, rather than employee pushback, the primary bottlenecks.
UK companies lead global peers in adopting AI tools and hiring specialised talent, yet lag significantly in using technology to identify future skill requirements or understanding their own tech infrastructure.
Aon's 2026 Human Capital Trends Study shows that UK employers invest heavily and early in employee support, such as employee assistance programmes (88% vs. 60% globally) and hybrid work models (83% vs. 60% globally).
While UK benefit offerings and sustainability practices lead globally, value is lost through poor strategy and communication. Most employers lack a total rewards communication strategy (57%) or fail to measure ROI, leaving three quarters (75%) reporting no measurable impact on absenteeism or productivity from wellbeing spend.
