Friday Read

Closing the Post-Pandemic Skills Gap Through Cutting-Edge Online Learning

The “skills gap” – the widening disconnect between the skills employers need and those that applicants and employees actually possess – is a pressing issue for human resources executives all around the world. It has been a growing problem for at least a decade, driven by technological disruptions and, until recently, most severely impacting industries like manufacturing and healthcare that are highly dependent on “middle skills” jobs – positions requiring a level of education and training somewhere between a high school diploma and a four-year degree[1].

Rapid advancements in areas like robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, and the Internet-of-Things (IoT) have seen jobs in those industries and many others shift away from a dynamic in which employees work alongside technology and towards one in which more employees instead manage technology. And on top of the relentless forward march of technological progress, the decade leading up to 2020 also saw up to 60% of middle-skill workers in certain industries hit retirement age[2]. The result of those two concurrent phenomena has been a shrinking pool of qualified, skilled workers available to fill positions in industries ranging from agriculture to aerospace and beyond.

How the Post-COVID “New Normal” is Impacting the Skills Gap

The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we know it for people all over the globe. The businesses lucky enough to avoid outright closures were forced to rapidly adjust to the “new normal” to keep operating, in most cases through more digitised business models and initiatives like ad hoc work-from-home arrangements. From ecommerce to Zoom meetings to telephone medicine, the pandemic ushered in what some have dubbed the “distance economy” or “touchless economy” – a world in which everything we do, including our jobs, has been spaced out.

That distance has introduced an entirely new set of disruptions and challenges that have significantly reshaped and accelerated the growth of the skills gap. With connected tech now driving everything from weekly meetings to customer interactions to higher education, a steeper learning curve in the digital skills employees need to thrive was inevitable. But the problem goes well beyond technology. The distance created by initiatives like full-time remote work has also introduced a variety of human challenges as well, ranging from how to manage a team effectively from afar to how to foster resilience and emotional health in a workforce suddenly deprived of face-to-face interaction. Unsurprisingly, most companies have shifted the focus of their learning and development efforts towards soft skills, prioritising evergreen areas like leadership, creative problem solving, and communication[3].

Addressing the Skills Gap and Banking on Engagement

In a 2020 Global Survey, McKinsey found that 43% of executives and managers were already suffering from skill gaps, and an additional 44% expected to feel their effects within the following five years[4]. By 2029, a shortage of as many as 9.3 million workers in the United States alone could result in a $1.2 trillion drain on their economy, and Europe would certainly see a similarly dire impact[5].

With skill deficiencies a top-of-mind problem for nearly 9 in 10 managers and trillions of pounds in economic output at stake, it’s crucial that companies take a proactive approach to combating the skills gap, and that means creating work environments that both promote and enable reskilling and continuous professional development.

A strong emphasis on professional development, reskilling, and constant learning not only helps companies head off internal skill shortages as their technology and processes evolve, but it also makes it easier to recruit top talent from the ever-shrinking pool of skilled candidates. Professional development is the most important factor in accepting a new job offer for a third of all candidates, second only to compensation, and a whopping 91% of Generation Z workers consider it an important factor in choosing an employer[6][7]. Those numbers are not surprising, since professional development and ongoing learning are potent fuels for employee engagement, and top talent, particularly among millennials and Gen Z, craves an engaging work life.

In addition to recruiting and retention, high employee engagement comes with a variety of other benefits as well, just a few of which include:

·??????Companies in the top quartile of employee engagement enjoy 21% higher profitability than those in the bottom quartile.[8]

·??????Absenteeism drops by as much as 41% in highly engaged workforces.[9]

·??????Engaged, collaborative employees have a greater commitment to quality and a direct impact on customer satisfaction, boosting customer ratings by 10% and sales by up to 20%.[10] [11]

The value engaged employees add to both the workplace and the customer experience, and the need to constantly reskill employees to stay ahead of the widening and evolving skills gap make it clear that learning is the competitive advantage of tomorrow. What has traditionally been less clear is how to best deliver that continuing education to employees in a way that is engaging, cost-effective, and outcome oriented.

?Modernising E-learning to Meet the Needs of Modern Employees

?LinkedIn Learning’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report found that 68% of employees prefer to learn at work, 58% prefer to learn at their own pace, and 49% prefer to learn a new skill only when the need arises[12]. Those preferences mean that, while live, scheduled courses and seminars have a place in professional development, they aren’t an ideal match for learner needs and can’t deliver the same type of engagement, convenience, or control that self-guided online learning can.

But, while e-learning gives employees the ability to control the timing and pace of their own professional development, traditional online courseware suffers from its own drawbacks – namely, poor to non-exist consideration for the individual. E-learning courses running on traditional learning management systems – even the most well-produced – are static in nature; at best, created in an attempt to serve all learning styles at once and unable to adequately adjust to a learner’s growth as they either absorb or struggle with material. The result is often underwhelming engagement, outright boredom, and unreliable learning outcomes – factors that undermine the point of continuous professional development and the focus on employee engagement entirely.

Luckily, today, there is a better way to provide employees with dynamic, engaging, cost-effective, and outcome-oriented professional development without any of the drawbacks of legacy e-learning systems as we move away from traditional e-learning and recognise that true personal development comes from embracing a growth mind set and the world is now your oyster!

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[1] https://www.hbs.edu/competitiveness/research/Pages/middle-skills.aspx

[2] https://hbr.org/2012/12/who-can-fix-the-middle-skills-gap

[3] https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report-2020#

[4] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/beyond-hiring-how-companies-are-reskilling-to-address-talent-gaps

[5] https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/projecting-future-skill-shortages-through-2029/?utm_source=American+Action+Forum+Emails&utm_campaign=46aef0acb1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_17_04_34&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_64783a8335-46aef0acb1-267115201

[6] https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_us/c/pdfs/Ultimate-List-of-Hiring-Stats-v02.04.pdf

[7] https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/management-tips/the-importance-of-upskilling-your-employees

[8] https://news.gallup.com/poll/241649/employee-engagement-rise.aspx

[9] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236366/right-culture-not-employee-satisfaction.aspx

[10] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organization-blog/linking-employee-engagement-to-customer-satisfaction-at-starwood

[11] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236366/right-culture-not-employee-satisfaction.aspx

[12] https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report-2018#