What We’re Reading: New Skills, Talent and Development [November 1, 2024]

Corporate Learning and Development News

• A new survey finds that 81% of retail employers are cross training employees ahead of the holiday season. The sector faces its own labor shortage, with 85% of retailers saying that their ability to meet customer demands will be impacted by a lack of workers. [HR Dive]
• A recent survey of executives has found that 55% view “cognitive diversity” as the skill set that is most crucial for future leaders (i.e., an ability to employ different methods of problem solving). Experts suggest honing in on candidates with soft skills like strategic thinking and agility during the hiring process; the study recommends rotational programs to develop executives’ soft and hard skill sets. [Fortune, subscription model]

Apprenticeships and Skills-First Talent Management

• The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced last week its latest cohort of Apprenticeship Ambassadors , organizations that partner with the DOL to promote Registered Apprenticeships and make specific commitments to sponsor and launch apprenticeship programs. The 138 new organizations—which span a number of industries including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, healthcare, and financial services—have collectively committed to developing over 500 new Registered Apprenticeships in the next year and employing over 6,000 new apprentices. Information on how to apply to become an ambassador is here .

Future of Work and General HR News

• Roughly a third of mid- and large-sized U.S. companies plan to expand their workforce globally, according to new ADP data. ADP chief talent acquisition officer Jason Delserro believes that companies are looking out of the country for talent as they expand their operations globally, and want workers on the ground to support this growth. Delserro also noted that hiring internationally can be an effective cost-cutting measure for U.S. businesses. [HR Brew]
• At least one in five American workers will be an English learner by 2025, according to EnGen data. Penn Foster Group CLO Andy Shean and EnGen founder Katie Brown argue that incorporating online language learning programs into high schools is key to serving and integrating this growing workforce demographic, as well as to eliminating existing graduation disparities for English learners. Read more in District Administration here .

Partnerships, Investments, and Company Innovation

• HR generative AI platform Cascade AI secured $3.75 million in a seed investment round led by Gradient, Google’s early stage AI fund. Myriad Venture Partners and Success Venture Partners also participated in the round. Cascade AI, which provides personalized HR support for employees in a number of areas through an AI assistant, will use the funding to improve its suite of features and expand its platform.
• Pearson announced a new multi-year collaboration with ServiceNow to improve skills development opportunities for emerging technologies like AI. This effort aims to address a growing skills gap: according to the World Economic Forum, a billion people will require reskilling by 2030 due to rapid technological advancement.
• LinkedIn is launching a new AI assistant to help recruiters match candidates to job postings. Recruiters will be able to supply job descriptions and preferred qualifications to the AI assistant, which will then generate a shortlist of LinkedIn users that may be a good fit, automating a tedious, manual-search process. This feature has been rolled out to select employers, including Canva, Siemens, and Zurich Insurance; LinkedIn plans to push out the feature to other users within the next few weeks. [Fast Company, subscription model]

Macroeconomic Trends and Public Policy

• The EEOC is interested in bringing back a polarizing data collection. In 2017-2018, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) required employers to submit additional information about workers’ W-2 income earnings (within pay bands), race/ethnicity, gender, and job category. The additional data collection quantified the pay gaps that many predicted would exist across demographic lines (e.g., gender, race). The data collection was somewhat controversial (opposed by the Trump Administration at the time), and was not continued in 2019. Now, the EEOC is interested in collecting this data again. Supporters note that the collection may make it easier for employers to comply with pay transparency regulations. [HR Dive]

Other Reading

• 45 companies in Germany tried a four-day workweek this year, representing the second-largest pilot of the schedule to date. After the pilot concluded, most employees (83%) wanted the schedule to be permanent , and the majority (73%) of participating organizations said they planned to keep the schedule. Also, employers did not experience notable changes in absenteeism, financial performance, or productivity during the pilot, and 90% of employees reported that their overall well-being improved. [HR Brew]

This week’s edition of “New Skills, Talent, and Development” was drafted by Zoe Almeida and Julia Pasette-Seamon and edited by Julia Pasette-Seamon and Erica Price Burns.

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