- There’s no better way to build company culture: Surveyed employees listed “opportunities to learn and grow” as the number one top driver of positive work culture, when it was listed as number nine just the year before.
- Strong company cultures are magnetic for talent: Employees of organizations with highly rated work cultures are 31% more likely to recommend working for their organization and 25% more likely to report being happy working for their organization.
- It’s one of the best methods to improve retention: Employees who feel their skills are not being put to good use in their current job are 10x more likely to be looking for a new job than those who do feel their skills are being put to good use.
- Employees expect it from management: 91% of employees say it’s important for managers to inspire learning and experimentation.
- It’s more cost-effective: 79% of L&D pros agree: it’s less expensive to reskill a current employee than to hire a new one.
- It’s essential for future-proofing: The World Economic Forum predicts that 85 million jobs will go away and 97 million new ones will be created in the next four years.
Personalized: Employees count learning that’s “personalized specifically for my interests and career goals” as their second most important motivation to learn, just after “if it helps me stay up-to-date in my field.”
Connected to their true interests and goals: 92% of employees who went through Unilever’s “Discover Your Purpose” workshop, which connected employees’ jobs to the skills and ideas they were most interested in, had higher engagement levels, feel better at work, and feel more ready to learn.
Recommended by a manager or coach: 56% of employees say they would spend more time learning if their manager suggested a course to improve skills.
Help them improve at their current role: 70% of respondents said they would spend more time learning if it would help them perform better in their current role.
“If it helps me stay up to date in my field” was employees’ highest motivation factor for choosing professional development courses.
Help them acquire the skills they need to take the next step in their careers: 78% of learners expressed the need for course recommendations based on their career goals and skill gaps.
“If it is personalized specifically for my interests and career goals” was employees’ second-highest motivation factor for choosing professional development courses.
- 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career.
Help them get another job internally, be promoted, or get closer to reaching personal career goals: Companies that excel at internal mobility are able to retain employees for an average of 5.4 years. Companies that struggle with it average 2.9.
Which skills is the employee already proficient in?
Which skills are they most interested in learning?
Are there any skills they don’t possess but should?
Which skills do they need to learn to get to the next level?
Is the employee interested in management or individual-contributor career paths?
These questions will help you understand your employee’s skill gaps.
Learn more:
How to Use Skills to Build Career Paths for Your Entire Workforce
Identify Your Gaps, from Valerie Sutton’s course on “Managing Your Career”
Prioritize missing skills to be learned
Create an individualized plan for developing this skill
