94% of employees say they'd stay with their employer if they offered more development opportunities
Are you investing enough in your L&D initiatives? Not according to your employees you’re not.
As we move further on into 2022, employers should be finally considering investing in employee L&D once again. The pandemic shifted C-suite focus towards survival and away from upskilling – something that didn’t go unnoticed by burned out staff. Now, as the pandemic finally seems on the backburner, HR leaders are embracing the future trends in development. But are you going far enough?
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“We, in the learning community, have been tasked with a significant challenge — ensuring people are ready for the future of work, whatever that may hold,” Lauren Weinstein, director of leadership development at Degreed, told HRD. “What the past few years have shown us is how everything can suddenly change, and that it’s more imperative now that we all are ready and able to embrace that change and fuel it into something good.”
For Weinstein, she told HRD that leaders should be focusing on agile learning solutions – ones that cater to all the nuanced needs of individuals. Throw out the one-size-fits-all approach and instead consider a more personalized development experience – one that allows employees to take charge of their own career trajectories.
“L&D leaders need to be able to quickly create new learning offerings as business needs evolve,” she added. “They need to have feedback mechanisms in place to adapt learning to individual needs and interests, and they need to have an open and creative mindset to find innovative ways to upskill people in critical skills, whether that’s through on-the-job experiences, mixed reality, communities of practice, or something that hasn’t even been invented yet.
“I also expect to see more L&D teams realize the value of upskilling their extended enterprise in addition to solving for specific business needs. This could include contractors, partners, suppliers, alumni, recruits and more. Upskilling your contractors, partners, and suppliers can ensure a consistent level of baseline knowledge around products and best practices. Meanwhile, upskilling your alumni and recruits can provide a pipeline of ready talent to fill skill gaps. An alum might decide to return to your organization in the future, for example, while a recruit might be more readily onboarded if they have an existing understanding of your company culture and processes.”
According to a recent LinkedIn report, 94% of employees admitted that they’d be more likely to stay with their current employer if they offered more development opportunities. However, it seems as if workers lack the necessary space to upskill – with 49% of staff claiming they don’t have any spare time to prioritize their own learning. While the need and desire for upskilling is clearly there, it’s clear that HR leaders need to help workers find that time to invest in their future.
“Having a clear learning plan that is agreed upon between employees and managers can clarify how the manager and the business is invested in someone’s career development,” advised Weinstein. “Managers play a crucial role in creating strong workplace learning cultures, with promoters being 270% more likely to say their manager supports their development by setting up development plans and goals.
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“Allow employees to nominate themselves for development opportunities and provide some guidelines on what critical skills are needed for that person to be successful in their role and in other career paths. There also needs to be a business case for the investment and employees, with their managers, can help to make that case to further their career journey aligned with business needs and objectives.”
To hear more on how you can supercharge your learning culture, download Degreed's free whitepaper here.
