At times of economic uncertainty, it is not surprising that employees fearful of their future employment are focusing on skills development. Redundancy is a bitter blow, and all the more so for mature employees who are likely to face an uphill struggle to gain new employment and restore their battered self-confidence. Perhaps more surprising, however, are the types of skills that employees regard as recession-beaters.
The online skills and ‘e-learning’ resource specialist, SkillSoft tested the waters recently in a survey of more than 200 employees to coincide with Campaign for Learning’s (www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk) Adult Learning Week. What came out of this research was a desire to attain ‘soft skills’ – leadership, time and people management skills – considered important in today’s economic environment by a huge majority of SkillSoft’s survey respondents.
The SkillSoft Learning at Work Day survey found that, while training in technical/business skills, such as IT, project management and communications, were considered important and received employer support in 90 per cent of cases, the need for ‘soft skills’ – people management, leadership and time management – was very strong. A huge majority (88 per cent) of respondents said that they would even be prepared to develop these skills in their own time, outside working hours.
The soft skills that respondents rated highly included: ‘people management’, with 31 per cent citing this as the most important; ‘time management’, with 23 per cent support, and ‘problem solving’, which was the first choice for 18 per cent of the respondents. However, 90 per cent believed that business pressures currently limit the time they have available to develop these skills.
In support of Learning at Work Day, which took place earlier this month as part of the Campaign for Learning’s Adult Learning Week, SkillSoft is currently offering access to courses in three popular soft skills areas, including: problem solving, project management and people management. These courses are free and will be available at www.skillsoft.com/learningatwork for the remainder of this month and throughout June.
Like marketing, training is an easy target for finance directors bent on trimming departmental budgets. While e-learning resources such as those offered by SkillSoft help stretch training budgets at a time when every penny counts, there is a strong case for maintaining investment in personnel training when times are hard.
David Lumley, director of the Leeds based training materials and products specialist, Revolution Learning and Development (www.revolutionlearning.net) says that during tough times, people who work in businesses will need very different tools to do their jobs – and this is especially true when cutbacks are being made. Yes, cutbacks save money, but what impact will they have on quality and the service that is delivered to the customer? Short-term measures could ultimately impact negatively on business and revenues.
Mr Lumley says that training and development not only provides people with the skills necessary to do their jobs, but also demonstrates an employer’s commitment to developing and improving their staff. Slashing training budgets is an easy option, but while this ultimately may not be the best course of action for an employer, possibly investing in different types of training is. Which sort of brings us back to the issues raised by SkillSoft.
Good managers are better at motivating their teams; those who spot ways of doing things more efficiently – and are able to articulate their findings and act upon them – are worth their weight in gold. Then there are those who manage their time so effectively, they are able to undertake supplementary tasks within their organisation. These skills can be learned. But it is up to the employer to see that any training given to its employees bears fruit. In other words, to ensure that newly-learned skills are put to good use in the working environment.
And employer-led organisation, the National Skills Academy for Manufacturing (The Skills Academy) weighed in last week when it declared that manufacturing companies risk their future prosperity by cutting back on training and laying off skilled staff in an effort to reduce costs during the current economic crisis.
Skills Academy managing director, Bob Gibbon, says that one of the most important lessons industry learnt from the last serious recession is the need to retain skills within manufacturing. “When somebody leaves the industry they are often lost forever and if the UK is to recover quickly from the recession it will need world-class skills to help drive the economy forward,” he said. Mr Gibbon urges business to think long and hard before considering cutting back on training and development or making unnecessary redundancies.
In the past research has shown that just four per cent of training fulfils its true potential and a typical company spending GBP10,000 on training - without a proper training programme - may lose up to GBP 6,000. The Skills Academy says it is pioneering a system that could see the same investment realise up to GBP50,000 profit.
“Many organisations treat training as a cost but they really need to see it as an investment that will lead to a competitive advantage for their company,” says Mr Gibbon. “Through our Learning Engine programme we identify the needs of the employer and match them to the most appropriate training – ensuring that the business receives the most appropriate and cost effective skills support at a time when they need it most.
“In a recession, this type of support is more important than ever because businesses may need to adjust their focus or adapt to a new pace of work. Their whole business model might need to change and they will need the right skills set to react.”
Economic recessions come and go, but good employees are well worth holding on to. The message to the employer is: retrain or up-skill your employees and you will not only have a better asset to help you through the hard times, but you will also have the wherewithal to take advantage of the recovery when it comes.
Les Hunt
Editor