The new realities of work are creating long-term impacts — good and bad — for your organization and people. The organizations finding their path through the wilderness are succeeding because they focus on developing the skills of their people. Cornerstone's Jennifer Whitmer, Director of Product Marketing, and Mike Bollinger, VP of Strategic Initiatives, sat down to discuss the rising skills development trend and share concrete steps you can start taking today to improve your company’s skills development program.
Jennifer and Mike discussed the five practical ways to modernize your skills development approach and close the skills gap at your organization.
Jennifer posed the question to Mike, “Everyone is talking about skills development in the workplace these days. Do you think it’s a fad or a long-term focus area in HR that’s here to stay?” Mike said, "I talk to our customers and our customer success teams all the time, and the majority are keenly aware of the importance of helping their workforce re-skill and up-skill so they can adapt to changes in their industries quickly." Jennifer agreed and added that most companies understand the value and urgency of reskilling and upskilling but wondered if organizations know how to do it effectively.
Mike explained that The Cornerstone People Research Lab recently surveyed more than 3,000 people worldwide and found that most employers felt they were doing a good job providing skills development programs and initiatives to their employees. But far fewer employees agreed – only 55%. As they start to unwrap the confidence gap, overall organizations believe they can develop their people and provide the relevant skills training needed to be successful, but employees don't share that same confidence. And this “confidence gap” is growing.
And the most important part, is anyone getting skills development right?
Mike explained that within our survey, we were able to identify respondents in 3 success categories – those in High-Performing Organizations (or HPOs), Average Organizations, and Laggard Organizations:
What we found is that High-Performing Organizations were those that led their industry in profitability, experienced low turnover, and had higher employee NPS scores.
What we also found is that HPO employers not only rated themselves highly in skills development, but their people did too! The HPO Skills Confidence Gap was significantly lower than their counterparts – about 11%.
- 72% prioritized skills development initiatives within the next year.
Tune into the recording and learn more about how successful organizations worldwide use skills to navigate uncharted territory and help themselves and their people thrive in a new world of work.
