Prioritize L&D to thrive in a recession
Says LinkedIn.
Why You Should Care
Retention is top of mind for businesses, particularly as a recession looms.
And L&D is key to keeping attrition rates low.
LinkedIn gives some advice on how to improve learning in 2023.
Despite a looming recession, the ‘Great Resignation’ is going nowhere .This explains why businesses are re-focusing on retaining the employees they have.
According to LinkedIn’s survey of almost 3,000 global C-Suite executives, 93% of businesses are very concerned about retention in the current hiring climate. Their number one solution is learning opportunities.
This makes sense as LinkedIn’s research found that three of the top five reasons why employees consider looking for new jobs is their desire for learning and development (L&D) opportunities – this is particularly true for younger workers.
LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report.
Businesses are responding in 2023 by prioritizing upskilling and reskilling (44%) and retaining learning budgets despite financial difficulties.
Predictions for L&D spending power in 2023 was the third most optimistic since 2017, with only 8% of leaders expecting their budget to decrease this year.
LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report.
Given the link between L&D and retention, this is great news. Even better news is that LinkedIn’s report found that employers know that HR and L&D teams are the key to success.
82% of the C-Suite executives told LinkedIn that the HR function is more critical than ever.
As industry analyst Josh Bersin wrote in the report: “Your ability to hire, retain, train, and redeploy people is not going to be easy going forward. That’s why HR is so important.”
HR must seize the opportunity
While 2022 saw this shift in the importance of L&D to retention, as well as HR leaders working more closely with CEOs and C-Suite executives, LinkedIn’s data found that there was only gradual progress in the reskilling and upskilling programs.
To really reap the retention and engagement benefits of L&D, HR leaders need to have a re-think. It’s time to map learning goals to business goals – what are the future-focused skills that the organization needs to thrive now and in the long-term? How does learning help the business be more agile and resilient? – as well as create a culture of learning in the organization.
A people-centric learning culture is key, according to 83% of the 1,500 L&D leaders that LinkedIn surveyed, while nine in ten agreed on the need for the proactive building of future-focused skills.
Ultimately, according to LinkedIn’s vice-president of talent solutions for EMEA and LATAM Olivier Sabella, “to create the most impact in the year ahead, L&D teams will need to prioritize building cross-functional relationships, improve data literacy to showcase their success to the C-suite, and work with people managers to effectively promote learning programs and encourage uptake.”
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