Employers expect that 44% of workers will find their current skill sets challenged, Many will require a new set of skills to remain relevant in the future job market. Amid this, companies will face serious skills shortages.
81% of recruiting specialists say that up-skilling and re-skilling employees will help companies fill these talent gaps. Amid persistent talent shortages and unprecedented changes in market requirements, this will be crucial for both employers and their teams.
Instead of a traditional hiring process that looks at external candidates, many will turn inward to find and foster top talent. Robust learning and development programs will play a crucial role in this.
They will also help promote diversity and inclusion. By providing employees with access to lifelong learning on the job, employers can boost commitment, innovation, and engagement.
Talent acquisition specialists are working more closely with learning and development teams to supply companies with the right talent. As re-skilling and internal mobility gain traction, L&D will be critical in talent retention.
So, how can your organization compete for top talent and fill the skills shortages? By implementing a well-planned learning and development strategy.
Here is why you should do it and how.
Why Is It More Difficult to Attract and Retain Top Talent?
If you’ve noticed that getting the right talent has become more difficult recently, you are not alone. Here are some reasons why attracting and retaining talent is now more challenging than ever.
Remote Work as a Game-Changer in Talent Acquisition
Companies are calling talent back into the office, but many are reluctant to return. As jobs turned remote during the pandemic, workers found a better work-life balance, saving time on commuting and gaining back their personal lives.
As a result, the gig economy is on the rise but talent retention is plummeting. People are looking for more flexibility and top talent can choose how they work. Companies looking to attract and retain talent will need to offer benefits that employees appreciate to remain competitive. In fact, 93% of workers are more likely to stay with a company if their employer invests in their professional development.
Rise of a Borderless Talent Market in the Digital Age
Increasingly, employers are looking beyond borders to hire top talent. A survey suggests that as many as 54% of companies have staff in more than one country. No longer restricted by geography, employers can look for talent everywhere. But so can talent, meaning that top professionals have a wider portfolio of clients to choose from.
Plus, cross-border hiring comes with its own challenges. Cross-border hiring requires employers to ensure cultural integration and awareness of their global teams. The right learning and development programs are crucial for borderless hiring to succeed.
The Fierce Competition for Top Talent Across Industries
Despite recent layoffs, companies are finding it challenging to fill positions.
There is a persistent mismatch between the skills offered and those available on the market. Quiet quitting is trending and workers are reluctant to return to full-time jobs.
This is creating fierce competition for top talent. And as skills gaps continue to grow amid the rise of AI and automation, organizations that fail to provide the right incentives will find themselves left behind.
Unleashing the Power of Learning and Development
So, how can learning and development help your organization bring on the best talent and keep it? Let’s take a closer look.
What Are Learning and Development Programs All About?
Learning and development or L&D is an umbrella term for various programs that offer career development for employees. The responsibility for L&D programs typically falls to human resources (HR), who align the goals of the organization with those of the employee.
L&D teams are responsible for the following.
- Needs assessment: Identifying skill gaps and training needs.
- Content development: Creating engaging training materials and resources.
- Training delivery: Coordinating and overseeing training sessions.
- Technology management: Implementing and managing learning platforms.
- Evaluation: Measuring training effectiveness and gathering feedback.
- Individual growth: Developing personalized development plans.
- Compliance and communication: Ensuring legal compliance and promoting L&D benefits.
What Does L&D Look Like in Practice?
There are different ways to implement a successful L&D program. L&D initiatives could range from informal learning to sponsoring employee’s higher education. However, here are some common types of L&D programs that employers implement.
- On-the-job training: Employees develop new skills through learning by doing. They gain knowledge through practical tasks, interactions with colleagues, and real-world challenges.
- Workshops and seminars: Workshops and seminars are short, focused sessions designed to impart specific knowledge or skills. They provide participants with concentrated learning experiences and opportunities to engage with experts and peers.
- E-Learning: E-Learning offers flexibility for learners to access materials at their own pace and convenience. These courses usually take longer to complete and may involve team huddles as part of the process.
- Mentoring and coaching: Mentoring involves pairing a less experienced employee with a more seasoned one, allowing for personalized guidance, skill sharing, and career advice. Coaching, on the other hand, focuses on helping individuals enhance specific skills or overcome challenges.
- Leadership development: This is an effective way to develop business leaders within your organization. Leadership development may include workshops, assessments, feedback sessions, and ongoing training to improve decision-making, communication, and team management skills.
Bridging the Skills Gap and Staying Ahead of the Curve
One of the key objectives of successful L&D programs today is to bridge the skills gaps that are coming on the heels of AI evolution.
Six in ten workers will need training before 2027. In terms of soft skills, employers will focus on analytical thinking, leadership and social influence, resilience and flexibility, and finally curiosity and lifelong learning. For technical skills, technological literacy will be crucial, focusing on skills like systems thinking, AI, and big data.
Employers will need to stay ahead of the curve to make sure they have the skills they need on their team. Looking ahead, it will be critical to analyze future skills requirements and upskill your existing employees to fill those gaps.
Fostering a Culture of Continuous Learning and Boosting Employee Productivity
Having a strong learning and development program isn’t just about filling gaps though. It’s also about creating a culture of learning on your team. This boosts engagement, innovation, and loyalty. It also increases your workforce productivity overall.
By having an L&D strategy that matches the needs of your organization and your staff you can achieve many important goals.
- Attract and retain top talent: Offering robust learning and development opportunities makes your organization an appealing choice for top talent. Top performers seek employers who invest in their professional growth and offer opportunities for advancement.
- Show commitment to employee growth and success: L&D programs demonstrate your dedication to employees' long-term success. This fosters loyalty and engagement while reinforcing a positive employer-employee relationship.
- Build an agile and skilled workforce: Continuous learning equips employees with adaptable skills. This flexibility enables them to quickly respond to changing industry trends and business needs.
- Improve productivity across your team: Well-trained employees are more proficient and confident in their roles. This leads to increased efficiency and effectiveness, which in turn drives higher levels of workplace productivity.
- Fast-track the acquisition of critical, in-demand skills: L&D initiatives focused on key skills accelerate employees' development. As an organization, this will help you stay competitive by accessing skills that are currently in high demand.
- Boost your organization’s performance: A well-trained workforce excels collectively, leading to improved overall performance metrics.
- Drive innovation and out-of-the-box thinking: Learning and development programs that encourage creative problem-solving and expose employees to new ideas foster a culture of innovation. As a result, your teams gain fresh perspectives and develop inventive solutions to challenges.
Avoid These Common L&D Pitfalls
Before we look at how to design the perfect L&D program for your company, keep some of these common mistakes in mind.
Failing to Allocate the Right Budget and Resources
L&D programs require both time and money. It’s not just about finding a MOOC or allocating some money for training. You’ll need to ensure that employee training goes beyond the classroom and brings advantages to your organization.
To do so, you’ll need someone to take on the responsibilities of the learning function within your organization. For larger companies, this will be a dedicated role. You’ll also need to set a reasonable budget for L&D.
Remember, that this can be a crucial part of your benefits package for employees.
Offering Training That Isn’t Aligned with In-Demand Skills
There are thousands of training opportunities out there. And let’s be honest, not all of them are great or even relevant. Make sure to offer training that is going to benefit your business performance and your employee’s career growth.
Also, don’t forget that skills training isn't the only part of an L&D strategy. Personal well-being goes hand-in-hand with top performance. So, training on cultural integration, mental health, and physical health should factor into your professional development strategies.
Employing a "One-Size-Fits-All" Approach to Learning
Your employees aren’t all the same and neither are their needs. Not everyone will succeed in learning through a single training format like an online course or in-person classes.
As such, your L&D strategy should be multi-faceted and account for the diversity on your team.
Crafting Your Learning and Development Strategy
Ready to design your L&D strategy and attract, retain, and engage more productive employees? Here is how to get started.
Identify Gaps and Analyze the Future Skillscape
The first thing you need to do is figure out what skills you want your team to have and learn. Whether you are looking to simply improve employee productivity or increase the know-how among your workforce, identify what training can help you reach these objectives.
You shouldn’t just look at today’s needs. Instead, project into the future when you define your learning and development plan. If the goal is to stay ahead of the competition, then learning now for the future will be a critical aspect of your learning plan.
Conduct Thorough Skills Assessments
Next, understand what skills your team already has. To do so, you can run thorough skills assessments among your team members.
It’s important to do so without making employees feel like it’s a competition though. Communicate clearly that it’s an assessment to benchmark where the organization is right now and how you want to define your future L&D goals.
Align Your Learning Initiatives to Business Goals
Don’t forget that your learning initiatives should always be in line with the organization’s business strategy. While there are many fun things to learn, a business L&D strategy is all about business success.
So, sift through the various proposals on learning and development, and focus on what your business needs most.
Tailor Learning Programs to the Needs of All Employees
Once you have a strong understanding of the baseline you are starting from, think about what all your employees need and want. It’s important to consider different learning styles and preferences.
- How does an employee learn?
- When is the best time for them to learn?
- What skills will be important for the future of their career?
- How can you align these needs with those of your organization?
These are just some of the important questions to ask yourself when building your L&D program.
Empower Employees to Drive Their Learning
A top-down approach to L&D is unlikely to create an integral culture of learning. Your learning and development team should guide L&D but not completely own it. Employees should be encouraged to lead their professional development.
This will create a culture of informal learning and engagement. When responsible for their own tasks in L&D, employees will feel empowered and in control of their professional growth.
Measure the Impact of L&D Initiatives
What may look great on paper, doesn’t always work in real life. So, implementing L&D once and for all will likely fail. Make sure to measure how L&D programs are impacting your organization.
You can do so by developing through KPIs. These may include:
- Completion Rate
- Training Effectiveness
- Time-to-Competency
- Skills Acquisition
- Employee Satisfaction
- Manager Satisfaction
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Training Completion Time
- Learner Engagement
- Career Development Progress
- Promotions and Internal Mobility
- Knowledge Retention
Improve Existing Programs Based on KPIs and Feedback
Once you’ve measured impact, take the KPIs and feedback you receive from staff and implement changes to improve your L&D initiatives. In an ever-evolving world of HR and talent retention, it will be crucial for organizations to remain agile as they deploy L&D programs.
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Disclaimer
Borderless does not provide legal services or legal advice to anyone. This includes customers, contractors, employees, partners, and the general public. We are not lawyers or paralegals. Please read our full disclaimer here.
