It is no surprise that employees are looking for career growth and development opportunities now more than ever. They are seeking guidance and support from their employers for reskilling, upskilling and ongoing learning. While companies are striving to create more equitable workplaces, there is not enough being done to encourage growth and development for all employees.
Equitable workplaces require fair and equal access to learning opportunities. With the advent of the talent marketplace phenomena, organizations can now create fair, equitable and inclusive access to learning opportunities, mentors, coaches and stretch assignments that are mapped uniquely to each employee in a hyper-personalized manner.
Democratizing learning through a talent marketplace is one of the most cost-effective ways to offer personalized learning opportunities to employees across the entire business.
The importance of reskilling for a continually changing and uncertain future has been reignited by the pandemic, calling for an increase in automation and augmentation of work by AI. Given these ever-changing times, we are seeing a gradual return to skills-based pay methodologies, with some Fuel50 clients mandating learning completion to be eligible for pay increases and promotions as our talent marketplace enables this tracking.
Our recent Global Talent Mobility Best Practice Research shows us that there is a correlation between investment in learning (spend per employee) and positive outcomes in metrics such as:
- Revenue growth
- Revenue per employee
- Market share growth
- Retention
- Engagement
- Diversity and Inclusivity
According to our research, the average spend on career development was below USD $1k per employee or between 0 and 3% of their base salary. Only 22% of employees said that they are compensated or rewarded for acquiring and developing new skills. HR leaders validated this, with only 21% saying that their organizations actively compensate or reward the acquisition of new skills, proving there is much-needed improvement in the prioritization of career development.
“35% of respondents state that their organization should be spending more on professional development.” – Fuel50 Global Talent Mobility Best Practice Research
Reskilling of the workforce is a top strategic imperative for 88% of HR leaders, according to our Global Talent Mobility research. Reskilling and learning were associated with the best-performing organizations who saw higher revenues overall, more revenue per employee, and better market share growth. Investing in learning and encouraging employees to commit to reskilling can be a competitive business advantage and help drive business results considerably.
While we don’t believe that it is necessary to mandate learning to achieve these business outcomes, we do know that most employees are craving learning opportunities, are willing to do it in their own time, and understand that reskilling and engaging in learning will help future-proof their careers. Providing them with the tools to do so will offer meaningful career development and can future-proof not just employees’ careers, but organizations too.
The single biggest driver of business impact is the strength of an organization’s learning culture. – Josh Bersin, Global Industry Analyst
Global Talent Mobility Best Practice Research
Amidst a global talent shortage and a fiercely competitive job market, understand what makes employees engaged and want to stay in organizations.
