- 47 percent of employees feel supported by their organisation in their professional development.
- 43 percent of employees believe that artificial intelligence will be helpful in their work. Nearly the same amount (42 percent) think that AI will replace them in most or some of their tasks.
In a competitive and rapidly changing labor market, skills development and professional training are more important than ever. However, as revealed by the ADP’s report “People at Work 2024: A Global Workforce View”, employees worldwide are unsatisfied with how and how much their employers are investing in their development.
More than half of the respondents (60 percent) believe they have the skills needed to step up to the next career level within the next three years. At the same time, only 47 percent believe their employer is investing in the development of competencies necessary for their advancement. Almost half of the respondents worldwide agree that technological skills, even those currently considered unnecessary for a given job, will count in the future.
“It’s alarming, yet not very surprising, that in the eyes of workers, companies trivialize their professional development. Employees don’t feel like they have access to an appropriate training offer. Meanwhile, employers face many challenges, from the evolution of the work environment to constant wage pressure. The data from our new report should be a warning signal for the labour market. The possibility of professional development is desired by employees and should be equally important for employers. This is one of the key factors not only for building career paths within the organization, but also for creating an atmosphere of commitment, retention and business results. People are the backbone of any company, so prioritizing their development should be one of the pillars of every business,” claims Anna Barbachowska, HR Director at ADP Poland.
Discrepancy between generations
The assessment of one’s professional competencies varies depending on the age of the employees. In the 18-24 age group, only 43 percent of respondents believe they have the skills necessary for advancement. However, this attitude is much more optimistic among the older ones: in the 25-34 age group, 62 percent of respondents answer affirmatively. Millennials are also not hesitant to ask for training. As many as 72 percent of people aged 25-34 talk to their employers about skills and training, just like 69 percent of their younger colleagues.
Mixed opinions about artificial intelligence
A worker’s skill level goes hand in hand with their opinion about the role of artificial intelligence in their daily work. According to the ADP survey, 43 percent of workers predict that AI will help them perform various tasks. However, almost an identical percentage (42 percent) fear competition from artificial intelligence. Among people from the first group, as many as 70 percent rate their competencies and prospects for advancement within the next three years well. In contrast, people with lower self-assessments of their own competencies worry that AI will take their job away. Their concerns seem even more justified because this group perceives less employer engagement in their development (45 percent).
It is the medium-sized companies that are the leaders in competency development
Companies employing 100-249 people receive the highest ratings from employees for their contribution to their professional development. Almost 67 percent of respondents employed in medium-sized companies rate their skills and the possibility of acquiring new ones at work well, and 57 percent rate their employer’s training offer well. The problem, however, is visible in the largest companies (employing over 1000 workers). There, only 35 percent of respondents believe they are offered the training necessary for career development. They evaluate their own competencies useful for professional advancement just as harshly. Only 42 percent of respondents rate them as sufficient.
Even though workers worldwide feel a lack of support for their professional development by employers, the worst situation seems to prevail in Europe. Only one third of surveyed European workers believe their employer will help them develop the competencies needed in the future. Only 46 percent admit to talking to superiors about their career and promotion paths. This is 20 percent less than the global average.
How to turn your company into a career-friendly place?
Supporting employees’ professional development is a strategic business action that allows you to stand out from the competition and build the long-term success of the company and its employees. How do you do this with best practice?
Ask the employee. Each member of your team knows best in which direction they want to develop and what skills they lack. In cooperation with the employee, you can draw up an individual professional development plan and subsequently check its implementation periodically and make changes. This may sound like a corporate standard, but the ADP survey shows that this is precisely the approach workers lack.
What does the company need? The professional development of employees should be consistent with the current and anticipated needs of the company. It should also keep pace with market changes and ideally even anticipate them. The role of the employer is to keep a finger on the pulse.
Engage the team. In designing professional development, we often forget about the significant resource that employers already have on hand. These are experienced employees who are often willing to share their knowledge and skills, provided someone asks. A competently implemented mentoring system has many advantages: it builds a cohesive team, values long-term employees, and requires lower financial expenditures than purchasing training in the market.
Check the effects. The system for developing your employees’ professional skills should be subject to review. Regularly investigate which solutions work, and which do not and why. Verify them by asking questions: Has it reduced staff turnover? Has the company’s competitiveness improved? Are the time and cost expenses in relation to effects satisfactory?
“The skills gap, or the misalignment of an employee’s skills with professional tasks and the difficulty of acquiring them, slows down the progress of workers, but primarily that of the companies themselves,” Anna Barbachowska points out. “In today’s reality, it is increasingly difficult to find a qualified employee; we have low unemployment, and more people are leaving the labor market than entering it. That’s why many companies struggle with high staff turnover. In the survey, we asked companies about their investments in the long-term development of employees, and the word ‘investment’ is not accidental. The effort put into an employee’s development pays off – it results in greater loyalty, job satisfaction, and the engagement of the individual. Such people rarely look for a new employer, recruitment costs decrease. With less turnover in teams, steady organizational development is easier to achieve, and qualified employees are a factor that increases the company’s competitiveness. It’s definitely a win-win situation,” the expert adds.
About the study
“People at Work 2024: A Global Workforce View” studies workers’ attitudes towards the contemporary world of work and expectations and hopes related to the future of the workplace.
The study was conducted by ADP Research Institute® among 34,612 employees in 18 countries from October 22 to November 24, 2023, with at least 500 respondents on each market primarily providing short-term work.
Sample distribution:
15,383 in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom)
9 567 in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore)
5 860 in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile)
3 802 in North America (Canada, United States)
Respondents who provide short-term work were identified as those who work temporarily or seasonally, as freelancers, independent contractors, consultants, contract workers, or use the intermediation of an Internet platform to acquire work. Traditional employees were identified as those who hold a permanent position full or part-time.
The study was conducted online in local languages. The overall results are weighted to reflect the size of the working population in a given country. The weights are based on workforce data from the World Bank, derived from ILOSTAT – the central statistical database of the International Labor Organization (ILO), as of February 8, 2022.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/tylko-47-pracownikow-czuje-wsparcie-w-rozwoju-zawodowym-a-42-obawia-sie-ze-ai-zastapi-ich-w-pracy-53896
