Digital learning remains a hot topic - expect more acquistions in the learning market as 2023 rolls on.
Are you a cliche? Don't let your age define you - that's the message as our editor looks at job tenure changes over the last four decades.
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A few days ago, we here in HR publishing awoke to the news of Go1’s acquisition of Anders Pink, the first big M&A transaction in the HR space of 2023. It won’t be the last.
Go1’s expansion is a statement of intent to other learning providers that despite uncertain market conditions and global instability, learning never stops and the big players are coming out swinging.
From Go1’s inception back in 2015, it represented a challenge to the more established players in the HR and learning tech space. And thanks to shrewd dealings and strategizing from the founders, Go1 now find themselves rubbing shoulders with the very HR and learning tech industry titans they once tried to disrupt – and it’s no bad thing.
Now, in Anders Pink they have a world class curation tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to add to their stable at a time when the frenzy around the potential of artificial intelligence is peaking.
But, this is no rushed deal. Go1 have bought diligently and will no doubt reap the benefits, as co-founder and CEO Andrew Barnes noted; “The acquisition accelerates our ability to deliver and discover the world’s best learning content for individuals, teams, and organizations, helping them achieve their learning goals. Go1’s vision is to engage a billion learners and this represents an important milestone on this journey”.
Anders Pink co-founder Stephen Walsh, previously a founder of both digital learning provider Kineo and search tool Buzzsumo doesn’t seem like a man to rest on his laurels; after the acquisition, many in our industry will watch his next move with interest.
Do you play the generation game?
Recent research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute goes some way to shattering the illusion of the (stereotypes of the) multi-generational workplace. It turns out that the average job tenure among under 25s in 2022 was pretty much the same as it was in 1983: five years. This is music to the ears of this writer, at least.
I can’t deny that the multi-generational workforce exists, because it does, but the attitudes we ascribe to our workers based on their generational cohort is, in my opinion anyway, in error.
Young people move jobs more often, look for purpose and ethical alignment more, not because they are Gen Z, but because they are YOUNG. We all did, or have you just forgotten?
It’s fun and convenient to label people based on their age. It acts as an explainer, a way to make sense of humanity; but it removes nuance and it’s sometimes disempowering to attribute co-workers’ behavior based entirely or even partly on how old they are.
We live in an age of data hyper-analysis and, while that can be incredibly helpful for all manner of reasons, sometimes it leads to people looking for patterns when they aren’t there – or more accurately they ARE there but are merely echoes of previously similar tropes and behaviors.
I’ve commented on this topic before, and I guess I can’t be fully certain of my position: the Gen Z/Millennials/Gen X argument is a persuasive one after all, but I think human nature is more complex than that.
Now, I’m off for a breakfast of smashed avocado on toast (despite being resolutely Generation X).
Crystal balls at the ready…
And finally, it’s the return of the Global Sentiment Survey (GSS). Yes, that industry veteran and fellow Gen X-er Donald H Taylor’s annual survey of what HR and learning leaders think will be hot in 2023.
The interest for this is two pronged: based on what leaders thought would be hot the previous year, how did it actually play out? And, what do you think will be hot for the coming year ahead?
Obviously the biggest disparity you could imagine was probably the GSS 2020, and you have to wonder, will people’s predictions be so similarly wide of the mark?
The obvious disruptor in recent weeks is a certain chatbot. How can far can that go and what are the implications for us here in HR tech?
