The “Workplace Learning & Development Trends Research Report 2022” by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) noted the critical importance of training for both HR leaders and employees:
- More than 80% of HR managers believe that training helps to both attract and retain talent.
- 76% of employees say they are likely to stay with an organization that offers continuous training.
However, the study Accelerating the Journey to HR 3.0 led by IBM and Josh Bersin, a leading HR expert and thought leader, revealed a significant gap between what employees actually experience and what their leadership believes in regard to training: While 74% of leaders believe they have been helping employees “learn the skills needed to work in a new way,” only 38% of employees agree with that statement.
The same training challenges hold true for Federal government leaders and employees, and even more so for Human Resources professionals. The “Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey 2022” from OPM showed that only 58% of Federal government employees believe that new hires in their work unit have the right skills to do their jobs. Developing programs that focus on “hard skills” was found by SHRM to be of utmost importance to employees.
The preference for online tools that employees can access on-demand is increasingly becoming the favored training method, especially for young professionals.
What can federal government agencies do to bridge the skills gap for HR leaders and staff? SHRM identifies some critical ways that online training can help:
- Choose Topics Linked to Goals. We have all been through training that left us asking why we were “forced” to learn the topic when it had nothing to do with the current job.
- Provide Online Support and Easy Access to Supplemental Information. Training should be relevant, highly targeted, easy to use, and spark curiosity to learn more.
More importantly, leaders should look for training that focuses on the hard skills HR professionals need now so they are better equipped to recruit and hire AI, analytics, law enforcement, and other critical roles that are in high demand across government agencies effectively and efficiently.
Highly targeted learning delivered on demand can effectively augment in-person conferences and virtual education programs, helping HR organizations to support changing mission requirements. Offering multiple training options all year long can also help HR organizations to attract quality talent and retain professionals.
Need to upskill your HR team quickly and cost-effectively to address the surge in recruiting and hiring for AI and other critical positions? HR Learn offers highly targeted online courses that can help improve critical hard skills for your team, including:
- The 1-Hour Position Description
- Basics of Classification
- Intermediate Classification
“HR Learn not only provides new skills but also teaches users to apply skills to their agency environment and adapt or change processes to fully leverage new knowledge and skills.”
