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For businesses to be “agile” in the uncertain waters of 2023, a new report recommended businesses put more emphasis on providing learning opportunities for their employees.
LinkedIn’s seventh annual Workplace Learning report showed that even with the waves of layoffs in major industries in recent months, turnover and the skills shortage remain a struggle for businesses.
Data showed that 93 per cent of organisations are concerned about employee retention.
To address this pain point, the report advocated for prioritising learning and development (L&D), pointing out that 89 per cent of the surveyed 1,579 global L&D and human resources professionals believe that actively improving employees’ skills will be crucial for successfully adapting to the changing landscape of work.
“Amid today’s macroeconomic uncertainty, companies are shifting their talent strategies to focus on skills,” Linda Jingfang Cai, vice president of talent development at LinkedIn, stated.
“Learning and development leaders are core to this work, empowering employees to close skills gaps, helping redeploy talent to the most strategic areas of the business, and ultimately, building workforce agility,” she added.
But there seems to be a disconnect between employees and employers when it comes to L&D initiatives in the workplace.
When employees were asked about their experiences in the past six months, only 15 per cent reported that their organisation encouraged them to move to a new role, while only 26 per cent said their organisation challenged them to learn a new skill.
A dismal 14 per cent of the surveyed respondents also revealed that their organisation encouraged them to build a new career development plan.
The report warned that with three of the top five factors that people consider when pursuing new jobs reflect their desire to stretch, grow, and develop new skills, employees who aren’t learning will leave.
“This matters because today what the average employee wants and values is fundamentally different from just three or five years ago,” Ms Jingfang Cai said. “Workers’ values are changing on us, even if we’re not changing workers.”
When it comes to finding a new job, findings showed that employees’ top five considerations were: compensation and benefits, flexibility, challenging and impactful work, opportunities for career growth within the company and opportunities to learn and develop new skills.
Notably, motivations for job-seeking differ across age groups. Younger workers aged 18 to 34 tend to place a high value on opportunities for career growth, learning, and skill-building.
Those who are aged 35 to 49 are more likely than other age groups to prioritise support for achieving work-life balance, while individuals aged 50 and above tend to prioritise challenging and impactful work more than other age groups.
On the upside, the report noted that 82 per cent of global leaders agree that the human resources function is more critical now than it has ever been, Ms Jingfang Cai said.
Additionally, more than two-thirds of L&D pros (68 per cent) are now working with an organisation to navigate economic challenges, according to the report.
“Forward-thinking organisations need to create environments that embrace and unlock the potential of the whole employee,” Ms Jingfang Cai stated.
Soft skills growing in demand
The report also included the skills that employers and recruiters prioritise when recruiting, posting and hiring for jobs on the company’s platform in the last six months.
While hard skills (such as coding or graphic design) are still in-demand among employers and recruiters, the report highlighted that the demand for soft skills (less quantifiable skills such as multitasking and problem-solving) is growing as well.
While soft skills are sought every year, especially in today’s hybrid work environment, “hirers are investing in employees that have the soft skills they need to effectively connect with colleagues across different timezones and platforms,” Ms Jingfang Cai said.
According to the report, the top 10 skills companies need right now based on paid job postings, as well as the standout skills of professionals who received a note from a recruiter on LinkedIn or were hired in the past six months, are:
- Management
- Communication
- Customer service
- Leadership
- Sales
- Project management
- Research
- Analytics
- Marketing
- Teamwork
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