New Yoh Survey Shows 73% of Americans Who Were Employed In The Past Year Admit They Did Not Grow Professionally During That Time

By HRTech News Desk On Mar 2, 2021

The COVID-19 Pandemic Posed New Challenges in the Workplace, But Employees Also Found New Ways to Be More Flexible and Adaptable in 2020

According to a new Yoh survey, nearly 3 in 4 (73 percent) of Americans who were employed in the past year say they have not grown professionally during that time. The survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Yoh, a leading international talent and outsourcing company and part of Day & Zimmermann, among over 1,300 U.S. adults who were employed in the past year.

While 2020 posed new obstacles in the workplace such as stunting professional growth, the news wasn’t all negative. In fact, 76 percent of Americans who were employed in the past year report they did not find it a challenge to do their job at the same level as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, nearly 2 in 5 (39 percent) of those who were employed say they have found new ways to be more flexible and adaptable to their job in the past year.

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“2020 presented organizations and their employees with a new onset of challenges, but the resiliency of Americans to adapt to the changes and continue to perform their jobs at the same level is extremely commendable,” said Emmett McGrath, President of Yoh. “Now, as the world moves closer to a slow return to normal, it is crucial for managers to recognize their teams’ efforts and begin to reevaluate their teams for talent gaps so they can continue to maintain the level of skill needed to succeed in the post-COVID world.”

Among the skill-building tactics Americans who were employed in the past year accomplished in 2020, the results found that:

Nearly 2 in 5 (39 percent) say they have found new ways to be more flexible and adaptable in their job during the past year.
Over 3 in 4 (76 percent) say they have not found it a challenge to do their job at the same level during the past year as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
36 percent of those aged 18-34 say they have grown professionally. That is the highest rating of all the age groups (vs. 25 percent aged 35-54, 19 percent aged 55-64, and 15 percent aged 65+), indicating younger professionals are more likely to have experienced growth in their careers in the past year.
33 percent of college graduates say they have added new skills to their professional repertoire during the past year. Those with a college education are more likely to indicate they learned new professional skills in the past year compared to those with lower levels of education (vs. 22 percent with some college and 21 percent with high school or less education).

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Among the biggest challenges Americans who were employed in the past year faced professionally in 2020, results found that:

Only 27 percent grew professionally during that time.
Roughly 1 in 4 (24 percent) say they have found it a challenge to do their job at the same level they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
44 percent of those with household incomes of $100K+ say they have found ways to be more flexible and adaptable in their jobs during the past year. Those with higher household incomes were more likely to say they found ways to be more flexible and adaptable in their jobs compared to Americans with lower household incomes (vs. 32 percent with household income less than $50k).

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