There has never been a more challenging time to be in charge of people development in organisations, according to David Perring, director of research at Fosway Group.
Speaking on Personnel Today and SumTotal’s webinar Is your L&D strategy good enough to retain talent in 2023?, Perring explained how learning teams were dealing with a complex range of internal and external factors.
“There are disruptions in the workplace, from residual issues created by the pandemic to getting used to flexible and hybrid working,” he said. “We’re seeing multi-generational workplaces where you have people in their late teens to those in their 70s, and more people have decided they don’t want to work anymore so there’s a reduction in the available workforce.”
External societal factors such as the impact of inflation and war in Ukraine and the increased speed of digital transformation, and it can be difficult for L&D leaders to know whether they are offering the right mix of skills development that will attract and retain talent.
At the same time, 95% of respondents to Fosways’ recent survey on talent priorities said the availability of talent was their most significant business challenge, so developing learning that not only upskills but retains employees is crucial.
He added: “Organisations need to see these disruptors as opportunities, a way to create a sense of belonging and purpose. Thinking about how we work as teams, we’re more project or ‘gig’ focused, and considering the skills we need to survive in current and future roles.”
A key priority for organisations in the coming year will be to create a skills inventory so they can see where skills are in the business and identify where gaps may be in the future, he explained. When polled on the webinar, just 6% had compiled a skills inventory in the last year, although just under a third plan to do so in 2023.
Mike Smith, learning operations manager at Direct Line Group, explained that the insurance company had built a “future skills inventory” in a bid to identify and hone the skills it needs to survive in the coming five years.
One of the top skills priorities is data, and the company is curating a suite of content around this for all roles, on top of apprenticeship investment in the area.
A challenge for DLG’s learning team has been to demonstrate the positive impact of a shift to virtual learning, said Smith.
“We’re quite an old-fashioned business so we’ve been trying to persuade people that not being in a classroom does not mean it doesn’t work,” he explained. “We showed the business that in certain roles, speed to competence happened a week quicker than when the learning happened in the classroom. Showing the business in figures they understand can help.”
Moving to a more “self-serve” model rather than mandating courses has helped change the mindset for many learners, Smith added.
“We’re marketing our learning more and letting it loose to see who applies. The advantage with that is they come to the learning because they want to, and see the benefits before they start.”
DLG is among many businesses moving towards becoming a learning organisation, as Fosway’s HR Realities Research for this year has shown. Being a learning organisation ranked top of companies’ priorities, even higher than being a strategic business partner or reskilling and upskilling, Fosway found.
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