A large portion of jobs and roles in organizations will be disrupted over the next couple of years, thanks to evolving businesses, economic shifts, demographics, and burgeoning technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).

The stakes are high.
 

If your organization fails to “future-proof” its workforce, it risks its ability to grow or, for that matter, even survive.

And, yet most organizations lack the necessary learning and development (L&D) capabilities to address this urgency, as per the findings of HR.com’s “Future of Upskilling and Employee Learning 2024” research report.

Forbes, too, in its latest research, found that half of the skills required to perform current jobs will become irrelevant in two short years. They also claim 47% of our workforce will be unprepared for the future of work.

Failure to future-proof the workforce jeopardizes growth and survival. The need to upskill/reskill will compel our L&D functions to reimagine their approach to employee development learning.

Given the sheer volume of employees who will require upskilling and reskilling, L&D will need to transform the nature of jobs/skill sets, create innovative approaches to career pathing, rely more heavily on learning analytics, and create personalized learning experiences.

In this study, we take a close look at both the state of reskilling/upskilling and the overall learning function now, and in the near future. We examine the drivers, barriers, and impact of the market and technology (such as AI) on L&D function.

Here are the major findings from the study.

The Current State of Learning

Finding: Today’s organizations have a lot to improve in terms of L&D quality

Only 21% of respondents give what we consider high marks to the quality of learning and development in their organizations (that is, eight or above on a 10-point scale). The remaining respondents (79%) consider the overall quality of L&D to be average or worse. Of course, if the overall quality of learning is low, upskilling will suffer, and, ultimately, so will business performance.

Finding: Employees want to learn, but organizations often fail in several key learning areas

Successful upskilling is highly dependent on the quality of learning and development within their organizations. To better understand the state of learning today, we asked respondents to weigh in on six indicators relative to high-quality L&D.

On a positive note, we found that 84% of respondents agree/strongly agree that employees want to develop their skills. Any lack of workforce skills does not appear to be due to a lack of employee motivation to learn. This finding is identical to our previous study on this topic last year.

However, few organizations have what we call “cultures of learning,” meaning that they support learning by providing an environment in which learning can thrive. We found that only one in three employees is satisfied with the organization’s learning culture, and only 43% agree or strongly agree that employees are given dedicated time for learning.

Less than half (45%) feel managers encourage employees to develop their skills, and only 48% provide employees with identifiable career paths for growth and promotion opportunities. Finding: When designing learning processes, organizations use a wide variety of practices but to a minimal degree

We looked at the prevalence of ten learning practices, but none stands out as something most organizations have embraced. In fact, in all cases but one, less than half of respondents indicate they use these practices. The one exception is ensuring remote learning is possible, as cited by 51% of our respondents. This is likely driven by the rise in hybrid work arrangements.

Close to half (48%) choose “matching learning to future talent management needs” as the second most common practice. This practice underlies upskilling, ensuring that learning begins to close gaps and matches what is likely to be rapidly changing future requirements. Another 47% picked “considering employee professional development goals and interests” as a key practice in designing or implementing learning processes. Employees are likely to be more engaged and motivated to learn when learning is centered on their own objectives.

Other practices chosen by more than four out of 10 respondents include developing career paths/competencies (44%), developing measurable objectives for learning programs (41%), and providing feedback to employees on their progress (40%).

Upskilling Today

Finding: Upskilling is a top organizational priority across employee groups

Many organizations have placed a high priority on upskilling although there are differences between employee segments. Close to two-fifths of employees (36%) of respondents reported that upskilling is the highest or one of the top three priorities for their organizations' top leaders, which is relatively consistent with the findings in our 2023 report.

Close to half (47%) consider it the highest or one of the top three priorities for employees. Interestingly, 49% of respondents considered upskilling the top or one of the top three priorities for HR professionals.

Finding: A majority of organizations support a culture of learning by providing access to all employees

At the top of this list is allowing everyone access to learning, a practice used by 59% of the respondents. Gone are the days when HR controlled what needed to be learned and delivered it. Rather, L&D must provide the technologies and tools to allow employees to seek out learning they know will help them in the pursuit of better skills.

In second place, chosen by 51% of respondents, is a culture that can support upskilling by encouraging more peer teaching and sharing of knowledge. This type of learning may be informal and done on the job, or it may be created and shared via technology. Finding: Upskilling tends to be a continuous process

IBM research estimates that the half-life of workforce skills sits at five years while the half-life of a subset —technical skills—is only two and a half years. It wouldn’t be surprising if the pace of skill obsolescence increases in the coming years. The implication is that = upskilling and reskilling will need to be a continuous process.

Half of our respondents agree with that assessment, indicating that the upskilling process should be continuous. Another 26% feel employees will need to be upskilled multiple times a year. Of course, these percentages are likely to vary considerably depending on the nature of the business and the type of job or role.

To learn more about The Upskilling and Employee Learning 2024 survey and to get strategic outcomes and 9 key takeaways from this exclusive HR.com Research Institute research, please read the complete report here:
 
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