Randstad US Study Reveals Disconnect Between Employers and Employees in Upskilling Outlook

Randstad US Study Reveals Disconnect Between Employers and Employees in Upskilling Outlook

Markets Insider: 10.10.2017

Randstad US today announced the findings from its quarterly Randstad Workmonitor survey (Q3 2017). According to the survey data, there exists a discrepancy between employers' and employees' attitudes toward upskilling. While over 80 percent of employees feel they have a responsibility to upskill, many U.S. employers and employees are not taking action for upskilling opportunities in the workplace. In fact, over a third of U.S. employees report they have done nothing to upskill in the past 12 months, where upskilling is defined as attending workshops, completing online courses, receiving consultation from a specialist, participating in personal coaching sessions or pursuing further education.

The Upskilling Disconnect

When asked to consider a variety of types of upskilling opportunities over the last 12 months, survey respondents revealed:

➤ 67 percent of U.S. employees say they feel they need more training and skills to stay up-to-date.

➤ Nearly 40 percent of U.S. employees say their employers have not offered and paid for anything related to upskilling.

➤ 40 percent of U.S. employees say they wouldn't arrange for and pay out of their own pockets to upskill themselves.

Value of Skills Balance
The study also explored the types of skills employees seek to improve and revealed that prioritizing personal versus vocational skills runs along a generational divide:

➤66 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds feel they need to strengthen their personal skills.

➤Only 28 percent of those 45 years and older said they needed to boost their personal skills, with 70 percent reporting vocational upskilling was critical to their development.  READ MORE >>