As talent shortages persist throughout the country, a new survey by The Conference Board reveals that professional development opportunities are critical for retaining employees.
In fact, nearly 6 in 10 (58%) respondents say they are likely to leave their company without professional development or continuing education and career training to develop new skills and drive career advancement. This dynamic is especially true among women, people of color and Millennials. The survey also found, however, that there may be gaps in access to these opportunities, as more people of color report a lack of opportunities and resources for professional development than their white counterparts do.
When asked how likely they are to leave their employer if they don’t receive development opportunities, women, people of color and Millennials reported being more likely to leave. According to the findings, 61% of women and 55% of men would leave. In addition, 68% of black, 70% of Hispanic and 80% of Asian respondents indicated they would leave, compared with 53% of white respondents. By generation, 66% of Millennials and 63% of Gen X indicated they would leave, while 47% of Baby Boomers would.
“These survey results reveal that, in the midst of a talent shortage, providing and promoting opportunities for career and skills development can be a critical way to attract candidates,” stated Rebecca Ray, Executive Vice President of Human Capital at The Conference Board. “In order to retain and grow the diversity of thought and experience within your organization, it is critical to ensure that all employees have access to rich professional development opportunities.”
These latest workforce findings are based on the views of more than 1,200 individuals—predominantly professional office workers—from May 16-31, 2022. Respondents weighed in on the importance, access, reasons and barriers to professional development.
Skills Development
Most employees highly value the opportunity to develop work-related skills. When asked how important it is to continuously develop their skills, nearly all (96%) respondents say it is either “important” or “very important.”
Once again, the percentages trended higher by race, with 87% of black respondents, 86% of Hispanics and 78% of Asians saying that continuously developing skills is “very important,” compared with 73% of whites. Women were also more likely than men to say it is “very important,” registering at 80% versus 70%.
Yet, despite the high value placed on professional development opportunities, people of color report a greater lack of access to these opportunities and resources. When asked what barriers or challenges they experience in developing their skills, blacks (38%), Hispanics (35%) and Asians (40%) were more likely than whites (28%) to cite a lack of resources. Similar percentages also cited a lack of opportunities.
The greatest barrier to developing skills overall was a lack of time, with nearly 80% of respondents saying that prevents them from doing so. To that end, time off for training and development (54%) and improved access to career development opportunities (54%) were the top two ways that employees feel their employers can support their development. Fewer than a quarter (22%) thought that an internal career center/job board for job openings and opportunities would be helpful.
Asked which non-technical personal skills will be important for future job opportunities and career success, employees cited leadership (40%), critical thinking (36%) and adaptability and agility (35%). Women said adaptability and agility will be more important (39%) than men did (30%).
Meanwhile, personal growth was found to be the top driver of developing work-related skills. When asked why they want to develop their work-related skills, expanding their personal growth and development was cited by 70% of respondents, while 60% cited wanting to perform at a higher level in their current role. Only 31% wanted to do so to get a promotion.
Employee Resources
When asked about resources they use most often to develop work-related skills, employees said they are learning from free online resources, but don’t necessarily find them effective. Here, the survey found that free external resources—such as TED Talks, YouTube and LinkedIn Learning—are used most often (65%), but only 44% of respondents find them effective.
Similarly, 58% of respondents use employer-provided training resources (courses, simulations and materials), but only 46% find them effective. Moreover, fewer than a quarter (23%) use employer-provided experiential development (gigs, projects and rotations), but 35% find them effective.
Senior-level staff are also less likely to use employer-provided resources and less likely to find them effective. In fact, the perceived effectiveness of employer-provided resources decreases dramatically as you move up in the organization—56% of individual contributors find employer-provided resources effective, compared with only 17% of CEOs.
