What L&D Leaders Need to Know from the 2024 LinkedIn Learning Report

The 2024 LinkedIn Learning Report has dropped!

We've broken down what every L&D Leader needs to know from the 2024 LinkedIn Learning Report . Let's start with the top 5 L&D Priorities identified for 2024:

1. Aligning learning programs to business goals
2. Upskilling employees
3. Creating a culture of learning
4. Helping employees develop their careers (up from No.9 last year!)
5. Improving employee retention

Priorities 2, 3, and 4 are focused on employees having growth opportunities. By dialing in on these priorities, organizations will achieve higher retention (priority 5), which impacts overall business goals (priority 1). It's all related. Let's dig into the research.

AI, Skills, and Career Development:

1. 4 in 5 people want to learn more about how to use AI in their profession.
2. Learners who set career goals engage with learning 4x more than those who don't set goals.
3. 90% of organizations are concerned about employee retention and providing learning opportunities is the No. 1 retention strategy.

Shared development plans are the future! Let employees shape their goals and map out their career path, then managers can serve as accountability and support for them in reaching those goals. When employees are growing, they're engaged.

The C-suite and L&D:

1. The percentage of learning pros who say L&D has a seat at the executive table has increased by 5 percentage points in 2 years.
2. In the next 6 months, 9 out of 10 global executives plan to either increase or maintain their investment in L&D.

This is good news! The C-suite is seeing the link between L&D initiatives and overarching organizational goals. Let's keep providing them with clear data to prove the worth of their investment in L&D.

Learning Culture Impact on Business Outcomes:

1. Companies with strong learning cultures see higher rates of retention, more internal mobility, and a healthier management pipeline compared to those with weaker learning cultures.
2. 7 in 10 people say learning improves their sense of connection to their organization.
3. 8 in 10 people say learning adds purpose to their work.

So how do you create a culture of learning? By providing everyone with growth opportunities—not just senior executives. Employees notice when you're investing in them. Here's what one PILOT member said after their employer offered them our 6-month leader development program:

"[I'm] very excited and honored to be selected for the PILOT program. It makes me feel valued as an employee and that they care about my career development."

Skills Agility:

1. The top 3 reasons to spend more time learning in 2024 are:
2. If it helps me make progress towards my career goals
3. If it helps me stay up-to-date in my field
4. If it is personalized for my interests and career goals
5. 53% of Gen Z agree that "Through learning, I can explore potential career paths at my company," which is 16 percentage points higher compared to other generations.

Skill-building approaches need to be personalized and tailored to individual needs and motivations. Employees are hungry to learn (especially Gen Z —the future of our workforce!), and we need to provide practical opportunities for doing so.

Coaching and Mentoring:

1. Only 47% of companies invest in career mentoring and coaching to boost employee retention.

This number is disappointing. We know the impact that coaching and mentoring have on retention and engagement. Typically, the hindering factor is cost. Group coaching is a great solution to reduce costs while still providing these important opportunities!

Internal Mobility:

1. Only 33% of organizations have internal mobility programs.
2. Only 1 in 5 employees have strong confidence in making an internal move.
3. 48% of organizations have the head of HR owning or co-owning responsibility for leading mobility.
4. 87% of L&D pros say they can show business value by helping employees gain skills to move into different internal roles.

One of the biggest mistakes I've seen companies make is assuming certain desired career paths, and then "rewarding" employees by promoting them within those paths. Every employee has different skills, needs, motivations, and goals. All of these influence the types of roles that people both thrive in and desire. Identifying these factors at an individual level is the first step, followed by making internal mobility a known option.

L&D Analytics:

1. 54% more L&D pros list analytical skills on their LinkedIn profiles compared to a year ago.

L&D leaders are increasingly being pushed to present metrics beyond "employee satisfaction" and "number of trainings delivered." Other units of measurement L&D leaders are focusing on include performance reviews, employee productivity, employee retention, business impacts (deals closed, customer satisfaction), closing workforce skill gaps, and new skills per learner. Talking to our customers at PILOT, we've found that a combination of qualitative and quantitative data is most impactful for proving initiatives and getting programs approved.

Microlearning Programs:

1. 47% of L&D teams plan to deploy microlearning programs in 2024.

Microlearning is just smaller bursts of learning that are woven into an employee's day-to-day. This flexible format of learning is effective as it doesn't distract from other important tasks and can be beneficial for habit formation.

Final Thoughts:

These are our key takeaways from the 2024 LinkedIn Learning Report . We always appreciate this research to help inform our approach to development. When it comes down to it, employees at all levels are eager for learning opportunities, so providing clear and individualized plans for growth plays an important role in retention.

That's why PILOT Inc. 's emerging leader development program is scalable, affordable, and easy to deploy —so everyone can feel powerful at work. We're here to partner with you in driving your L&D goals.

Reach out if you'd like to learn more! ?? pilot.coach