Dive Brief:
- Employers and employees diverged over the availability of skill and career development opportunities at organizations, according to the Nov. 29 results of a quarterly survey of HR professionals and workers conducted in September by Randstad RiseSmart.
- While 73.5% of HR respondents said they believed their organizations were offering skilling and development opportunities to employees, Randstad found the statement was valid for 52.3% of employees. Certain industries saw an even greater divide, per the firm; 90.5% of financial services employers said they were offering such opportunities but this was true for only 30% of employee respondents.
- Results from the survey also indicated that, despite relatively similar sentiments in some areas, the two sides had differing viewpoints about which skills were most in-demand. For example, 64.1% of employees viewed social skills as a top skill needed to succeed in their current and future careers, but fewer than half of employers agreed.
Dive Insight:
Organizations have been tasked with preparing their workforces for the litany of changes brought on by the pandemic, but past research has shown the topic of training is not always one on which employers and employees agree.
In September, IBM's Institute for Business Value published survey findings that 74% of employers believed their organizations were helping employees to learn skills needed to work in a new way, yet only 38% of employees agreed. This finding, taken together with other measures of worker and employer sentiment, indicated a deeper foundation of skepticism with respect to employers' commitments to support workers, according to IBM.
But employees are also cognizant of skill gaps. A Monster survey of employees conducted in August found more than half were concerned about the future of their work due to a skills gap. Commonly cited areas for improvement included technology, computer and occupation-specific training as well as managerial leadership and communication. In a separate survey learning platform edX, more than one-third of consumers admitted they lacked proficiency in at least one new skill or subject area either in a current or past job.
Measures taken to protect employee health and safety during the pandemic have contributed to some of the issues that learning and development teams now face, but sources who previously spoke to HR Dive identified fixes that allowed their programs to adjust. There are cultural considerations, too; earlier this year, a Degreed survey found employees who rated their organizational cultures positively were 53% more likely to learn in order to perform better on the job than those who rated their cultures negatively.
