Your people are quitting over a lack of training — here's what HR can do

Training existing staff has been overlooked in favour of recruitment

BY Dexter Tilo 09 Aug 2022

Employers may be too reliant on recruitment to fill the skills gap in their workforce – so much so that they're neglecting the potential of current employees. That’s according to a new report which found that workers are very much willing to learn new skills.

The data from Go1 found that 82% of employees aged 25 to 34 are happy to learn new skills whenever they can during the working day. This is also the case for 80% of employees aged 35 to 44, 77% of employees aged 45 to 54, 76% of employees aged 16 to 24, and 70% of employees above 50 years old.

Similarly, 65% of employees between 16 and 24 years old are happy to learn on the go, such as while commuting to work. Another 61% of employees aged 24 to 34 also said this, as did 56% of employees aged 35 to 44, 43% of employees aged 45 to 54, and 36% of employees aged 55 and older.

This eagerness to learn and get trained is also a factor on employees deciding to switch employers, according to the report, as 60% of workers aged between 16 and 24 said they have left a previous job because of limited growth opportunities.

"On-the-job training is one of the most important aspects of any employment, not least for the output but also for the wellbeing that it provides employees," said Chris Eigeland, CRO and Co-founder of Go1. "This study shows that Brits are crying out to be upskilled but too many businesses are overlooking this need in favour of recruitment rather than prioritising retention."

What can employers do?

According to Eigeland, this is the best time for employers to start training their current staff to help empower them.

"With such a wealth of educational content available online and in person, there really is no better time to focus energy as an employer on empowering, upskilling and rewarding loyal employees by giving them the crucial training they so clearly want," said the CRO.

Based on the report, these are approaches on training and development that workers said their employers could take:

Holding regular 1-2-1 sessions with each team member to review development (36%)
Investing more time in training and developing employees' soft skills
Providing more time and budget for each employee to learn (34%)
Providing a greater choice of learning courses and formats (32%)
Designating and protecting time during a working day or week for learning and development (31%)
Providing more clarity on what training is needed to address skills gaps (29%)

"It's vital that HR leaders, as well as their employers, adapt their training methods and solutions to best empower their workforce, making skill development more effective and attainable for their employees," read a blog post from Go1 on the report.

"It's also now down to employers to take active responsibility in ensuring they retain staff. After all, employees are a company's biggest asset, and investing in talent is essential to business growth and success."