The Great Resignation has had an impact on each and every industry, globally. With a staggering 40% of employees reporting that they are likely to switch jobs in the coming year, it has taught employers to not take their team for granted. Job vacancies have never been higher, and businesses across the globe are struggling to recruit new talent and retain the ones they already have. 

While a pay increase is the main motivator for employees looking to change jobs, almost half prioritised being able to choose where they work, according to a PWC Workforce: Hopes and Fears study. With such an apparent discontent, companies need to look internally and find ways to improve their organisational culture to ensure that they are not only attracting the top talent but retaining their best employees. 

An inspired, and continuously learning and developing team improves employee retention, with 93% of employees stating that they will stay with a company longer if their current employer invests in their career development. Though employee retention is a crucial aspect of future-proofing a business, learning and development offer many other benefits that directly impact a company’s bottom line, with companies reporting anywhere from 14 to 29% increase in profit due to upskilling current employees and closing the skills gap.

Organisations worldwide must now share the responsibility of creating a quality learning environment. With 50% of all jobs predicted to require upskilling, reskilling or cross-skilling within the next two years to meet the needs of the market, and with only 40% of businesses investing in upskilling their employees, it is clear that there is a lot of training to be done. New tools, methods, mindsets, processes, skills, qualifications, certifications – it all requires hard work, commitment and a clear effort from both employers and employees. 

Below we list a few solutions organisations can implement to aid their learning and development strategies in order to retain the perfect talent:

Skills Portal
A professional skills portal is an internal application or software for employees to monitor their own skills development. Here HR should also be able to search for skills-matching vacancies in order to fill the skills gap internally, before searching for new employees. The skills portal also enables employees to rank and select IT technologies, according to personal knowledge and preferences. Because of this, Team Leaders can later form project teams, relying on pre-selection. 

Career Path
Setting up a skills matrix aids in defining attributes, responsibilities, and experience expectations for all organisational roles. This helps employees realise and rationalise the direction they want their career to head towards and develop their skills accordingly. 

Reassignment Program
According to a Udemy study, 43% of employees are bored with their job. Bored employees are frustrated by the lack of opportunities to grow within their organisation. Their engagement decreases and, consequently, their performance. The above study further finds that these same bored employees are twice more likely to leave their current company. 

Offering the opportunity to employees to be able to change teams or projects, or even roles within the organisation, ensure that they are staying engaged and interested in what they are currently busy with.

Coaching and Mentoring
Providing access to coaching or mentor programs in order to stimulate long-term development for individuals within the organisation offers many benefits. Not only are employees trained with the expertise needed within the immediate operational processes of the company, but they are provided with real-life case studies and practices by leaders and managers who have dealt with company-specific obstacles and challenges. With 69% of employers struggling to find skilled workers, it is imperative that organisations start to train the next generation of employees they require. 

Learning
According to a LinkedIn report, 79% of employees expect companies to spend more on online training. This guarantees better accessibility, higher engagement, and better opportunities for all employees. Companies now have the chance to not only train their employees by using third-party content but to create content of their own. Offering a library of self-study materials to employees provide them with the opportunity to learn in their own time. 

Even though the future of work was forged by the pandemic, the work patterns that were formed during the crisis have become the new normal. For many of the challenges we are facing with this new change, learning is the answer. It symbolises the difference between an organisation’s significance or dissolution within an industry.

It is clear that the continuous learning and development of staff plays an important role in the transformation of the working world. This function will undoubtedly be confronted with many more changes that need to be deployed in order for an organisation to thrive in the future of talent retention. Companies need to constantly work towards progression. The transformation that the learning and development function offers will force organisations globally to take risks, but, ultimately, reap great rewards for years to come.