Employees are handing in their notices faster than their employers can keep up with. This growing issue, soon to be an existential crisis that many employers will face, has been dubbed ‘The Great Resignation’, or as one HR professional dubbed it, ‘a resignami’.
In 2021, job site Monster polled over 600 US workers to gain insight into the job market and break down silos between candidates and recruiters. The survey found that 95% are thinking about finding a new job, and 92% would even consider switching industries for a new position.
When looking at some of the trends, the results are pretty telling: employees feel less connected to their colleagues as a result of the pandemic (77%), they’re feeling burned out (61%), and are concerned about lack of growth opportunities (29%). This is becoming a serious issue for organisations.
Can L&D Help Solve The Problem of Employee Retention?
Opportunities to upskill and reskill are becoming increasingly important to employees, and employers that aren’t providing them with the skills they need to develop in their careers are paying the price. Josh Bersin’s study of LinkedIn professionals found evidence to support the view that workplace learning leads to a more positive employee mindset. 47% of employees engaged in ongoing learning within the workplace reported that they were less likely to feel stressed and 21% stated that they were more likely to feel happy and confident. In an environment where employees are increasingly becoming disengaged and disconnected, these figures clearly indicate the positive impact that learning can have.
The problems associated with the lack of a learning culture or a poorly implemented learning strategy don’t end with a poorly engaged workforce plodding on in their roles. Go2HR research tells us that 40% of employees who receive poor training will leave their company within the first year. They cite lack of training and development as the primary reason for looking elsewhere.
Looking at the data, it seems that creating a culture of learning within your company can help to create a more positive company culture and help improve retention.
How to Create a Culture of Learning
A culture of learning is one that values ongoing learning and development opportunities. Here are three simple ways to prioritise employee learning.
1. Tie Learning Into Performance Goals
According to The Future of Jobs Report 2020, half of all employees will need to be reskilled by 2025. This massive skills gap can be lessened by encouraging your employees to play an active role in their own learning.
Integrating learning and skills development into your performance management process means more incentive for your employees to achieve their goals and this benefits your organisation too. This means more power to address any skills gaps and more opportunities for employees to achieve business goals.
2. Personalise Employee Learning
Your learning strategy shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach–employees should be provided with their own learning and performance plans specific to their skills and learning desires. Investing in a learning management system can help you to create and deliver targeted training to different teams and departments, onboarding programmes and can track and monitor progress. Having access to learning in one place can make the process easier for businesses to track.
3. Reward Ongoing Learning and Development
It’s important to both recognise and reward your employees for their learning development. Not only does it incentivise the whole process for the employee but it also motivates improvements in performance. Rewarding learning and development as part of your annual review process can help to underpin the importance of a learning culture within your organisation.
How Can Bridge Help?
If you’re looking for a simple way to deliver effective learning and development, having the right tool is vital.
Bridge’s Skill and Career Development Platform helps you evaluate company-wide skill mastery through self, peer, and manager assessments, using those insights to help employees build career development plans that align with their desired skills and career vision.
Encouraging your employees to play an active role in their own career development helps organisations close the skills gap by uncovering which skills are lacking, delivering impactful learning to improve those skills, and helping employees articulate and achieve their goals. Bridge helps your employees advance in their careers by equipping them with the skills they need when they need them.
Find out more and get a Bridge demo.
