The 2025 Global Learning & Skills Trends Report highlights key trends in skills development and validation, with increased focus on practical applications of GenAI and continued investment in soft skills and leadership development
Udemy, a leading online skills marketplace and learning platform, released its 2025 Global Learning & Skills Trends Report. Leveraging data from nearly 17,000 of Udemy’s enterprise customers, this annual study explores the top themes and most in-demand skills shaping the future of learning and work. This year’s report found that as organizations continue to lean into generative AI (GenAI), they’re more invested in its specific, practical applications that will help maximize productivity, with a dual focus on soft skills development and leadership to guide employees through this shift successfully.
“In 2025, we’re all continuing to watch GenAI closely, expecting it to drive significant productivity gains, speed up skill-building, and fuel business growth faster than ever before”
“In 2025, we’re all continuing to watch GenAI closely, expecting it to drive significant productivity gains, speed up skill-building, and fuel business growth faster than ever before,” said Greg Brown, President and CEO at Udemy. “Our data shows enterprises are looking for practical GenAI solutions that can be applied to daily operations, while also investing in soft skills and leadership development to help support the massive behavior change that this technology represents. Organizations best positioned for success will be those who embrace GenAI’s positive impact on business outcomes, accelerating human potential, and closing key skills gaps to stay competitive.”
Read More on Hrtech : HRTech Interview with Edward Greene, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at…
Udemy identified three key areas of investment as companies begin assessing learning and development priorities for the year ahead:
1. Enterprises should build practical GenAI skills that drive applicable solutions. Organizations are shifting their learning from GenAI’s fundamentals to practical applications so teams can implement the technology across operations, moving beyond its novelty to focus on more practical, real-world integrations into the daily flow of work.
- GenAI for productivity learning grew by 859% year-over-year.
- LangChain, a framework enabling the integration of large language models into applications, surged 3,949%.
- Multiple AI certification courses increased in consumption, including Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate (311%) and Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (197%).
- To date, GenAI courses on the Udemy platform have attracted more than four million enrollments, with eight new enrollments occurring every minute.
2. Soft skills must grow alongside GenAI competencies to supercharge creativity and collaboration. By developing key soft skills in tandem with GenAI’s growth, enterprises can ensure new technologies are paired with human creativity and innovation.
- Enterprises are investing in skill sets like problem-solving (103%), team building (79%), and business communication (41%), equipping employees to focus their newfound time saved by GenAI for more strategic, human-centric work.
- Not only do soft skills help workers unlock technology’s greatest potential, but as more enterprises encourage employees to return to the office in 2025, these skills can bridge communication gaps, increase collaboration, and foster in-person mentorship opportunities as teams adjust to in-person work, some for the very first time.
3. Leading by example will improve leadership’s role in change management and how employees perceive their guidance. Leaders need to invest in these areas of change management and soft skills development, coupled with GenAI skills, to successfully lead employees in the AI-enabled era of work.
- Foundational leadership is one of the top ten business skills consumed on Udemy this year.
- Udemy’s research shows that nearly nine out of 10 employees believe their leadership team is critical to making GenAI transformation initiatives successful, but fewer than half (48%) believe their leaders are ready to lead these initiatives.
“Learning and development leaders are moving beyond whether or not GenAI will transform enterprise learning; now, we’re focused on how we can harness the power of GenAI across diverse use cases to realize immediate business impact and uncover each employee’s potential,” said Jim Hemgen, Principal and Director of Talent Development at technology company Booz Allen Hamilton. “Investing in key skills like applying GenAI and leadership will help AI and human expertise work together to accelerate upskilling, make informed strategic decisions, and empower our workforce to thrive in a rapidly changing world.”
Catch more HRTech Insights: HRTech Interview with Meg Donovan, Chief People Officer at Nexthink
[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]