Employee Upskilling Is Vital in Rapidly Evolving Job Market

Ready for a sobering statistic?

Seventy-two percent of Fortune 500 CHROs predict AI will begin replacing roles in their organization within the next three years.

What this means for companies is that in this era of increased focus on AI and technology, the demand for new skills is higher than ever. The time to act on upskilling the workforce is now.

However, the latest data on the current state of upskilling across organizations show that employees are not adequately encouraged to learn new skills and that recognition for learning new skills is not common.

Gallup and Workhuman have identified three key trends that leaders can use to ensure their organization stays ahead of the upskilling deficit. By understanding and addressing these trends, organizations can create a culture that promotes continuous learning and development, ultimately leading to a more engaged and capable workforce.

Encouragement to Upskill

According to a recent study from Gallup and Workhuman, 26% of U.S. employees strongly agree that their organization encourages them to learn new skills. Another study by Gallup shows that less than half of employees (47%) strongly agree they have the skills they need to be exceptional at their current job.

Taken together, many employees feel they are not skilled enough to do their jobs well today and are not getting the encouragement they need to be ready for the future.

This lack of encouragement may stem from many factors, including insufficient training programs, limited access to learning resources, and a lack of clear communication about the expectations of upskilling within an organization.

For example, 93% of Fortune 500 CHROs say they have begun using AI in their organization, but only 15% of employees say their organization has communicated a clear plan or strategy for integrating AI technology into current business practices.

Naturally, employees who have been at their organization for less than one year (36%) are more likely to strongly agree that their organization encourages them to learn new skills compared with employees who have been at their organization for one to less than three years (30%) or for three years or more (24%).

We also find that senior leaders (43%) are more likely to strongly agree that their organization encourages them to learn new skills compared with managers (25%), project managers (24%) and individual contributors (26%).

Mid-level and mid-tenure employees, who represent the majority in most organizations, may not be getting the encouragement to upskill needed to grow -- or even maintain -- the success of their organization.

The encouragement to upskill that employees are receiving falls short of what is needed. To address this challenge, organizations must prioritize upskilling initiatives and create an environment that supports continuous learning and development for all employees, regardless of tenure or level. By doing so, they can ensure their workforce is equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in an increasingly competitive and technologically advanced market.

Reasons for Upskilling

Employees’ most common reasons for learning new skills are to perform their job more effectively and to pursue personal growth. Gallup and Workhuman find that 60% of workers who recently learned a new skill did so because it helped them do their job more effectively, and 51% saw it as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Despite some leaders’ concerns that upskilling a top performer could risk making them more marketable to competitors, these findings show that employees are much less likely to say the reason they recently learned a new skill for work was to change their career path or secure a job elsewhere than to say it was to improve their performance at their current job.

In fact, only 4% of employees say that the last time they learned a new skill for work was because they needed it to get a job at a different organization.

When looking at the relationship between encouragement to upskill and turnover intentions, employees who strongly agree that their organization encourages them to learn new skills are 47% less likely to be searching or watching for another job. This suggests that the benefits of upskilling tend to outweigh the risks associated with employees potentially leaving the organization. In the end, fostering a culture of continuous learning and providing encouragement to upskill ultimately benefits both employees and the organization as a whole.

Recognition for Upskilling

Previous Gallup and Workhuman research has shown that recognition can significantly enhance employee engagement, productivity and retention. Recognition is also a powerful tool to demonstrate to employees what values and behaviors are important at work.

Only 14% of U.S. workers report that learning a new skill is one of the most common reasons why employees at their organization receive recognition.

In an era of technological transformation in the workplace, it is an oversight that more leaders aren’t using the transformative power of recognition to boost upskilling across the organization. Gallup and Workhuman find that the effect of recognizing employees for learning new skills can be profound.

Employees who say that learning a new skill is commonly recognized in their workplace are 75% more likely to strongly agree that their organization encourages them to do so. And this encouragement translates directly into more tangible intentions to upskill: When learning a new skill is commonly recognized in a workplace, employees are 56% more likely to strongly agree that they are motivated to learn new skills.

By intentionally recognizing or celebrating employees' efforts and achievements in upskilling, organizations can create a positive learning culture that promotes continuous development and growth -- and contributes to the overall success of the organization.