Leadership Briefing: 24 August 2026
What this week's policy thinking means for leaders
Each week brings a fresh crop of data and reports from government, business groups and research organisations. Together, they offer useful clues about what may be coming next. This time, the picture is mixed: the jobs market is cooling, while employers are also grappling with inclusion, wellbeing, technology and how best to help young people make the transition into work.
Running through all five stories is a practical question: what happens next? Leaders cannot dictate the wider economic climate, but they do have a say in how people are supported, who gets access to opportunity and whether new technology leads to genuinely better work.
Reports and publications worth exploring
1. Job vacancies hit 5-year low
Job vacancies in the UK have fallen to their lowest level in more than five years, according to the Office for National Statistics. Early estimates for the three months to July showed vacancies declining by 6,000 to 707,000 compared with the previous three-month period. Payrolled employment also fell by 13,000 in July from the previous month. Meanwhile, early estimates for July indicate that median monthly pay increased by 4.2% from a year earlier.
For employers, a looser labour market may mean a wider choice of candidates. That is no reason to take a short-term view. Hard-to-find skills remain hard to find, and the choices organisations make now about recruitment, development and retention will leave them either ready for the next upturn or scrambling to catch up.
Read more: Vacancies and jobs in the UK: August 2026, Office for National Statistics
2. Women underrepresented in AI labour market
New research from LinkedIn shows that while AI jobs are among the fastest-growing and highest-paying roles in today's labour market, access remains uneven. Women account for just one in four new hires into AI roles and hold only 13% of C-suite AI positions at AI companies across 27 countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The report describes a “triple penalty”: lower representation in leadership roles, AI jobs and AI companies.
This is more than a question of filling the pipeline. The people who build and lead AI will help decide which problems it tackles and how it changes working life. If organisations want a broader range of voices in those decisions, they will need to be deliberate about recruitment, progression and sponsorship, as well as creating clearer routes into technical and senior roles.
Read more: The Triple Penalty: Mapping the Gender Gap in the AI Economy, LinkedIn
3. 9 in 10 UK employers would value more wellbeing and absence management support
New research from Legal & General finds that 94% of UK employers would value more support from advisers or insurers on employee wellbeing and absence management. The areas where employers most want help are early intervention and return-to-work planning (44%), alongside communicating available benefits to employees (44%).
The research also highlights a gap between what employees want and what employers currently provide. 82% of employees want proactive support when returning to work after illness, with 49% believing this should be offered as standard rather than as an additional benefit. L&G argues that providing practical, personalised support earlier in an absence can help reduce its length and make returns to work more sustainable.
The lesson for leaders is straightforward: waiting until an absence becomes prolonged is often too late. Earlier conversations, managers who know how to respond and support that is easy to find can make a real difference. They can also help organisations retain people and avoid some of the disruption and cost that comes with long-term absence.
Read more: Legal and General Research
4. UK urged to close the AI adoption gap
A new report from the CBI warns that the UK risks missing out on the productivity benefits of AI unless businesses move more quickly from experimentation to wider adoption. Only around one in six UK businesses was using AI by mid-2025, while the research identifies an emerging “execution divide” between organisations successfully deploying AI and those stuck in pilot projects. Among leading adopters, 49% are meeting or exceeding expected returns on AI investment, compared with just 15% of laggards.
The report calls for the next decade to become an “Adoption Decade”, with greater investment in workforce skills, simpler regulatory guidance and stronger support for businesses adopting AI. The Government has already committed more than £200m to help businesses and workers use AI, including £100m to expand the BridgeAI programme.
Simply having access to AI will not be enough. The organisations that benefit are likely to be those that can turn a promising pilot into part of the way work gets done. That takes useful, well-chosen applications, visible backing from leaders and people with the confidence and skills to put the technology to work.
Read more: The adoption decade: making AI work for Britain, CBI
5. Young people need more than a route into work
New DWP research looks at public attitudes towards approaches to the growing number of young people who are not in education, employment or training. It provides evidence on how people view possible responses to the issue.
Why does this matter to employers? Because it is easy to think of young people mainly as a source of new recruits. Getting someone through the door, however, is only the first step. The bigger opportunity is to help them become the capable, confident people organisations will need in the years ahead.
That means offering worthwhile early-career roles, not just entry-level vacancies. Good management, mentoring and room to learn help people build experience and judgement. With skills needs shifting quickly, that investment is likely to pay off for the individual and the organisation alike.
Read more: Young people and work report, DWP
Leadership takeaway
At first glance, this week's reports tell five different stories: fewer vacancies, an uneven path into AI careers, patchy wellbeing support, slow adoption of new technology and the struggle to help young people into work. Look closer and they have something important in common. Each asks whether organisations are building the people and management capability needed to turn change into lasting performance.
There are no easy shortcuts here. A bigger pool of applicants does not remove the need to nurture talent. Buying AI does not mean it will be used well. And making support available is not the same as making it visible, trusted or useful. What makes the difference is often less dramatic: good managers, clear decisions and day-to-day behaviour that matches the promises an organisation makes.
That should also be a source of confidence. Leaders may not be able to change the economic weather, but they can widen opportunity, step in sooner when people need support and give managers the tools to do their jobs well. They can also make sure that experiments with technology become useful changes in practice. Those choices will do much to determine who is resilient now and who is ready for what follows.
