Dive Brief:
- While employers recognize the importance of skilling up workers, HR leaders still feel that "expert, human guidance" is necessary and that employer-sponsored learning options "are still not fully inclusive," according to March 1 survey results from Randstad RiseSmart.
- Sixty-eight percent of HR pros with company learning programs said their organizations mandate that employees upskill to meet business needs; 39% said they offer skilling and training opportunities only to some employees.
- "By adopting a more democratized approach to training and development, including providing reskilling and upskilling opportunities to all team members throughout their employment journey, employers will uncover untapped skills across their workforce," Randstad RiseSmart vice president of global practice strategy and solutions Lindsay Witcher said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
The pandemic has highlighted, perhaps more than any other learning trend, the importance of continuous learning in the midst of huge change and how it can help keep companies afloat. Upskilling and reskilling the workforce presents a "competitive advantage," experts previously told HR Dive, and COVID-19 has only accelerated trends that exemplify why agility matters.
To see gains for the entire workforce, however, employers may have to shift their learning culture to be more open to employees at every level. Workers may be afraid of asking for training that they need out of a fear of looking incompetent, a 2019 study from Sitel said; to overcome that hurdle, employers should ensure communication around learning is positive and focused on lifting up employee experiences, experts said.
Overall, however, employers still struggle to get employees to complete training at all, a February survey from ThinkHR revealed. Compliance also remains a hurdle. In evaluation of training courses, cost and quality were the most important factors employers considered, followed closely by ease of use, the report said.
