Reskilling Solutions Lie in Approach More than Tech, Report Says

A recent study by Gartner Group reports that nearly two-thirds of HR leaders proactively address their organization’s skills needs at a time when the number of skills in the workplace has been increasing by a rate of 10% annually.

At the same time, dynamic business conditions make reskilling a continuously moving target.  A third of the skills that were considered necessary three years ago are no longer relevant, the firm said.  Despite training efforts and significant investments, workers apply just 54% of the new skills they learn.

Other studies reinforce reskilling challenges and inefficiencies:

• Randstad Sourceright reports that just 22% of companies take responsibility for reskilling employees when necessary, even though 92% of HR leaders believe that’s what their company should do.
• LinkedIn research indicates that 37% of L&D professionals expect to their budgets increase with 83% of executives supporting their company’s learning efforts. However, just 27% considered their CEOs to be active champions of learning.
• Gartner research reveals that 60% of HR leaders feel pressure from their CEOs to make sure their workforce will be ready for the skills needed in the future. It also found a notable jump in the number of employees who want their companies to train them for future roles.

 

Gartner research also highlighted the challenges associated with a predictive approach to anticipating future needed skills, finding that  when HR tries to forecast which skills will be needed down the road, employees use only 37% of the new skills they learn.

Gartner proposes “a dynamic skills approach” to skills-management in which HR and the wider organization is structured in a way that helps HR monitor trends and develop skills at the time they’re needed. At the same time, it allows employees to make better decisions about what training they need.

Gartner claims that the dynamic skills approach enables workers to apply 75% of their new knowledge to their jobs, as opposed to 54%. In addition, companies can see a 24% improvement in employee performance.