After over a year of comfortably working from home, it stands to reason that many people are feeling bummed out by the return of office-based work. Employees might be quitting their jobs in droves but it doesn’t have to be that way. 

For years we’ve been telling businesses that in today’s hyper-transparent world, your internal culture is your brand. With consumers more digitally connected than ever, there’s no covering up an internal faux-pas or lousy office dynamics. Put a plug in The Great Resignation, boost employee morale and get those creative sparks flying once again by building these three Learning & Development trends into your 2022 action plan. 

Each of the trends featured below were originally part of a Bespoke client presentation delivered by Erick Smet, Senior Trend Analyst here at TrendWatching. Like what you see? Click here to learn more about our Bespoke services, or reach out to our Business Development Director, Matthijs Van Waveren.  

Soft Educators | The next frontier of self-improvement 

The endless quest for self-improvement arrives at a new frontier as those accustomed to – if not actively participating in – increasingly sophisticated efforts to optimize fitness, diet, productivity and more ask a question that goes deeper: how can I become a better person? Now, consumers with complex lifestyles will look to brands to teach them useful soft and future building skills to help them realize personal life goals. 

The trend in motion

• Tourist agency builds a portal to a different city to help people stay connected
• Social-emotional learning platform rolled out to UK schools 
• Amazon Alexa’s helps users practice their small talk

Superhuman Resources | The ethics of AI and automation

You already know that employees demand fairness from the people inside your business. But rising numbers of consumers are aware that AIs, algorithms and smart digital services make decisions that have profound impacts on their lives. Now, they’ll demand you ensure those Superhuman Resources are ethical, too. 

The trend in motion

• TIM’s keyboard flags LGBTQ-phobic language 
• The World Economic Forum launches The Global AI Action Alliance
• The Most Likely Machine helps pre-teens develop algorithmic literacy 

Augmented Learning | Enhancing education through interactive experiences

Amid pandemic peaks, the global economy came to a screeching halt. However, it turned out that pandemic necessity is the mother of innovation in that it accelerated the shift towards all things digital. As a result, virtual reality is finally arriving for many consumers and is supercharging them towards professional growth through immersive experiences. 

The trend in motion: 

• Minecraft’s Fintropolis teaches financial literacy in the metaverse
• Mesh recreates the magic of the office but in virtual spaces
• CREDERSI’s virtual reality training tackles skills shortages

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