HR is understandably trepidatious about the year ahead. Inflation and the cost-of-living crisis has meant the jobs market has continued to fluctuate. In spite of the harsh economic reality, employers are still showing a willingness to advance their people and invest in employee development. This infographic shines a light on employee development trends and speaks to thought leaders paving the way for their people.
Who we surveyed
Introduction
The world of work is changing before our eyes, and with a switch to more automated workflows and increased demand for digital skills, upskilling or reskilling will be more important than ever in 2023.
Challenging external circumstances have put employers in a tough spot, yet skills development has remained a strong focus post-pandemic.
Developing skills and reskilling
Employee development is so much more than an annual sitdown to discuss highlights and shortcomings. Instead, it offers HR the opportunity to map their organisations' skills competencies, promotes long-term engagement and develops organisational culture.
Yet there was a whole host of opinions on the value of employee development tools across our survey.
Employee development tools will play a key part
With the UK officially in recession, the cost of living crisis is anticipated to worsen in 2023. Employees are understandably concerned about their jobs, pay and benefits. After having dealt with soaring energy bills and pay freezes, employees will be wondering what their organisation has to offer.
Our survey found concerns around cost of living was one of the most popular trends for employers, with some looking to employee development in lieu of a pay rise.
Cost of living crisis deepens
The phrase quiet quitting was included in Collins Dictionary's top 10 words of year for 2022.
And it's not going away anytime soon.
There is nothing wrong with employees doing the job they are asked to do and nothing more, in many cases that's a positive workplace culture and counteracts a toxic 'hustle' culture before it becomes burnout.
But HR professionals are concerned about employee engagement levels for 2023. Therefore measureable performance metrics, development tools and more one-to-ones should be a top priority for the people profession in the year ahead.
Quiet quitting
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels results in a higher quality of work and innovation. There has been much conversation on the topic, and things appear to be approving in some sectors. Yet there were still examples of our surveyed professionals witnessing someone not being hired because of their gender, age or ethnicity.
Diverse recruitment
and hiring
It is well established that the UK has a skills gap, particularly in tech and digital.
But a large proportion of business leaders think they have a good understanding
of employee needs when it comes
to development.
Our business leaders found having a good development plan in action also leads to more trust in the organisation and better
business performance.
• Resilience
• Learning agility
• Creativity
• Being curious
• Having the confidence to challenge
• Collaboration
• Leadership and social skills
Liz Sebag-Montefiore,
founder of HR consultancy 10Eighty
Would you like to learn how to grow an retain your people through science-based development tools?
Developing people is a no brainer,
can you imagine keeping disengaged people in your business and the cost associated with ignorance?
Anonymous survey respondent
86%
either agree or completely agree that employees with a development plan are motivated and perform better
66%
said they predicted there would be a growing trend of reskilling towards more technical skills over the next 12 months
Click to learn more
69%
said they would be increasing the speed of developing internal skills to remain competitive
80%
either agree or completely agree that employees with a development plan have more trust in their company
99%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
37%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
99%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
37%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
already have an employee development tool
39%
blamed budget constraints for not introducing one
36%
plan to introduce one soon
14%
had a lack of C-suite engagement in employee development tools
11%
have no plans to introduce one in 2023
33%
What do business leaders make of employee development tools?
have no capacity to take on new projects
34%
"Talking about personal finances and the current impact
of the cost of living crisis can feel embarrassing or difficult in the workplace.
"Organisations that are transparent about the financial health of the business are not only
doing the right thing in regards to communicating effectively, they're also
providing their people with a greater sense of job security.
"Sharing regular finance updates costs nothing to provide but can have a positive impact
by reducing financial concerns, in turn supporting mental health."
Nebel Crowhurst, global HR director, Reward Gateway
Start at the beginning.
Check whether your induction process covers workplace pensions for new joiners.
Embrace technology.
Pension providers often have apps and online tools which show the potential effect
of increasing or decreasing payments.
Offer financial education.
Hosting financial education seminars is agood way to get people thinking about their future.
Tell them, and then tell them again.
Keep employees switched onto the benefits their workplace scheme offers
by reminding them of the facts on a regular basis.
Emma Douglas, director of workplace savings and retirement, Aviva
Internal skills employers need to develop:
•Resilience
•Learning agility
•Creativity
•Being curious
•Having the confidence to challenge
•Collaboration
•Leadership and social skills
Liz Sebag-Montefiore, founder of
HR consultancy 10Eighty
In Autumn 2022, HR magazine asked over 400 readers about their employee development intentions in 2023. We looked at how socio-political events may influence development, whether your gender or race has an impact and the link between employee development and motivation and retention.
33%
said people who resigned criticise the lack or quality of their employee development tool
50%
will offer more development opportunities to stop people from resigning
48%
plan to transform development-planning into a digital offering
62%
will offer more opportunities to motivate and stop people from quiet quitting
99%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
37%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
99%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
37%
ont une probabilité élevée de changer d'employeur dans les 12 prochains mois.
How employers can have sensitive conversations
about the cost of living:
Find out more
Appropriate D&I action could be inclusion trainingand workshops to reduce bias and foster healthier working cultures, as well as mentoring programmes
and sponsorship to bring together emerging diverse talent and senior business leaders.
Suki Sandhu, founder of D&I consultancy INvolve
© Copyright 2022 Mark Allen Group | Registered in England No. 02120366
1-499
500-9,999
10,000+
Size of organisation (by no. of people)
20
40
60
80
100
%
27%
40%
38%
28%
27%
44%
47%
34%
19%
Will Apply
Not Sure
Won't Apply
1-499
500-9,999
10,000+
Size of organisation
(by no. of people)
20
40
60
80
100
%
48%
64%
69%
10%
9%
0%
33%
26%
31%
Will Apply
Not Sure
Won't Apply
Employers offering more development opportunities in response to increasing need of pay rises due to cost of living
Employers planning to freeze or reduce investment in development to save costs
%
21
witnessed someone not being hired or promoted because they were over 50
%
17
witnessed someone not being hired or promoted because they were a woman
witnessed someone not being hired or promoted because of their racial background
%
16
Race
Gender
Age
%
82
think people of all age groups have the same development opportunities
%
90
think men and women have the same development opportunities
think people from all ethnic backgrounds have the same development opportunities
%
89
Race
Gender
Age
Discrimination in the workplace
Development opportunities
based on protected characteristics
The UK's skills gap
Internal skills employers need to develop:
78%
Find out more
Find out more
of employers said their employee
development tool was easy to use
80%
think an employee development tool
is a crucial to retaining talent
of leadership teams are in support of their employee development tools
78%
Cost of
living
Employee development tools
Transforming skills
Quiet
quitting
Diversity and
inclusion
The cost of living crisis deepens
The cost of living is defined as the amount of money required to cover necessary expenses to maintain a certain lifestyle standard in a particular place and time. Employees up and down the country are grappling with the rising cost of living, amid souring energy bills and inflation rates. As the UK faces recession in 2023, more employees are expected to be plunged into poverty.
Employee development tools will play a key part in business success
Employee development is one of the biggest drivers of employee engagement. Directly linked to motivation and retention, employee development can critically impact both individual satisfaction and business performance, with digital tools helping to monitor progress and identify new challenges.
Tranforming skills will create business edge
Demand for new capabilities in an ever-growing digital world means developing skills and upskilling is essential for organisations to remain competitive. Upskilling is the process of learning new skills or teaching workers new skills, whereas reskilling is the process of learning new skills so you can do a different job, or train other people to do a different job.
Quiet quitting continues to be a problem
This is when employees do the minimum requirements and are psychologically detached from their job. The idea went viral on social media, but it can be problematic in its terminology and impact. Many argue that working more than your job description requires should not be an expectation put onto employees. For this infographic, we are using the term to describe a lack of employee engagement.
Diversity remains fundamental to recruitment and progression
There has been lots of positive work to improve the hiring and promotion of workers traditionally overlooked in the workplace, such as women and ethnic minorities. However, there’s still a way to go before workplaces are completely inclusive spaces, making diversity and inclusion a key priority for business leaders in for 2023.
Top tips
Find out more
Pay
Tools
Skills
Retention
Diversity
Employee development is one of the biggest drivers of employee engagement. Directly linked to motivation and retention, employee development can critically impact both individual satisfaction and business performance, with digital tools helping to monitor progress and identify new challenges.
Employee development tools will play a key part in business success
Demand for new capabilities in an ever-growing digital world means developing skills and upskilling is essential for organisations to remain competitive. Upskilling is the process of learning new skills or teaching workers new skills, whereas reskilling is the process of learning new skills so you can do a different job, or train other people to do a different job.
Tranforming skills will create business edge
This is when employees do the minimum requirements and are psychologically detached from their job. The idea went viral on social media, but it can be problematic in its terminology and impact. Many argue that working more than your job description requires should not be an expectation put onto employees. For this infographic, we are using the term to describe a lack of employee engagement.
Quiet quitting continues to be a problem
There has been lots of positive work to improve the hiring and promotion of workers traditionally overlooked in the workplace, such as women and ethnic minorities. However, there’s still a way to go before workplaces are completely inclusive spaces, making diversity and inclusion a key priority for business leaders in for 2023.
Diversity remains fundamental to recruitment and progression