Nearly three-quarters of people (73%) think it is very or somewhat important for employers to help them build the skills needed to find another job or transition to another role. Experts believe job development and retraining can yield significant returns for businesses if instituted strategically
Seventy percent of employees (70%) say they are likely to participate in an employer-provided job retraining program, according to a new survey report by Clutch, the leading B2B ratings and reviews firm.
Clutch surveyed 510 full-time employees in the U.S. to learn about their experiences with and attitudes about job development and retraining.
Experts say that most employees value job retraining opportunities for a simple reason: They want to improve at their jobs.
“Most employees don’t want to be complacent,” said Sean Pour, co-founder and marketing manager at SellMax, a nationwide cash-for-used cars selling service. “They want to keep growing. People feel bad when they feel like their skills aren’t advancing.”
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Companies Should Balance Business Priorities and Employee Preferences for Job Reskilling
Employees are most likely to wish their companies offered tuition assistance for classes outside their company (19%) and intracompany classes and workshops to learn new skills (19%).
Employees are far less likely to hope their companies provide expanded access to learning resources such as books, videos, and online courses (7%).
Companies should consider employee preferences, but must make sure they also match the business’ priorities and capabilities.
Blindly providing tuition assistance for out-of-company classes, for example, can be costly and ineffective.
“From the time the curriculum is developed until the time you get [employees] enrolled and actually applying the skills, it could be a year or two,” said Ira Wolfe, president of Success Performance Solutions, an employee recruitment consultancy.
Instead, business can follow the example of companies such as Pour’s and provide employees in-office training videos and access to other learning resources.
While companies should consider employee preferences for job reskilling, they must also ensure that their skill development offerings yield sufficient returns.
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Offering Job Retraining Improves Employee Satisfaction and Morale
Most employees (70%) who are offered job retraining say they are satisfied with the programs their employer provides.
Experts believe that job retraining allows companies to improve their overall direction by improving employee retention and maximizing worker output.
“[Companies] have not been able to say why people stay, why people go, what makes them succeed,” said Joe Carella, Assistant Dean for Executive Education at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.
Carella says that a happy workforce is a motivated workforce. Retraining is an opportunity for companies to think about their larger strategy and bridge two priorities: the future of the company and the future of the people who work for it.
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