Only 24% of employees feel they have skills to advance in their careers
Employers across the world appear to be falling short in upskilling employees as per the latest "People at Work" report from the ADP Research.
The report found that only 24% of the global workforce feel confident that they have the skills needed to advance to the next job level.
Only 17% of workers also agreed that their employers are investing in the skills they need for career advancement. In fact, only 3.8% of workers said they learned new skills on the job within two years of being hired.
The findings come as the skills gap emerges as the top barrier to organisational transformation in the next five years, according to the latest World Economic Forum report.
The WEF found that this skill challenge persists in almost all industries and geographies, having been cited as the top barrier for organisational transformation in 52 out of the 55 economies covered in the report.
"The world of work is changing at light speed, and organisations need to do their part to close the skills gap," said Mary Hayes, research director of People & Performance at ADP Research, in a statement.
Rewards of upskilling
Closing the skills gap will not only reward employers with more productivity, according to the ADP report, as it also noted that upskilled employees are more likely to be loyal to their organisations.
Employees who feel that their employers are providing needed training are 3.3 times more likely than others to describe themselves as productive.
Not only that, but more than half of knowledge workers, skilled task workers, and cycle workers have no intentions of leaving because they receive further investment from their employer.
The report further found that employees who feel that their employer is providing training are nearly six times more likely than others to recommend their company as a great place to work.
"Our research shows that a skilled workforce is more loyal to their employers. Yet only a small fraction of workers are upskilled within two years of being hired," said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP, in a statement.
"If companies want to benefit from the enormous technological advancement to come, they must start with investing in the skills and career progression of their workers."
