The most important part of a business is not necessarily what it sells or how much money it earns — it’s the employees who drive the company’s success. For employees to be innovative and productive, they must be happy. When morale is low, retention issues surface and employees look to other companies for new jobs, or even quit their careers entirely.
Many businesses are now suffering from these losses. Without digitally skilled workers, projects fall behind schedule and any type of competitive digital transformation is left by the wayside. Companies that can’t compete with others in the digital space are left to rot.
It’s important to understand what the consequences are for businesses that do not invest in learning and development (L&D) for their workers. To do this, Udacity partnered with IPSOS to gather and analyze data about talent transformation around the world.
Project & Business Goals Suffer When Talent Transformation is Ignored
When companies prioritize talent transformation, they are putting their employees first. High quality talent transformation programs typically involve fully paid, on-the-job L&D for workers where employees can prioritize what they want to learn based on their career trajectory. Employees with access to these benefits often report an increased morale, a better ability to perform their work, and more productive days.
In the Talent Transformation report, many enterprise businesses reported experiencing disruptions to projects, achieving business goals, and retaining employees in the past six months. 44% of companies interviewed said that high levels of employee turnover stopped them from accomplishing all they planned to. While 44% of enterprise businesses said projects were delayed or left incomplete due to a lack of available talent, 34% of businesses said they lost some of their best, highly skilled employees to other tech companies. Businesses that continually suffer blows like this will eventually fall behind and be unable to compete with other companies that prioritize their workers’ needs.
Employees Are Dissatisfied Without Learning and Development
Most workers, especially in the 18-39 age range, expect their employers to offer skill training at work. When employees feel like their employer is investing in them, they are inspired to invest their talents back into their job. Without that kind of L&D investment from the company, many workers begin to feel hopeless about the future, both in their career trajectory and potential earnings. This kind of pessimism, in turn, leads to overall job dissatisfaction.
According to the Talent Transformation report, only 39% of employees in the US feel satisfied with their job. Only 31% feel positive about their opportunities for career advancement at their company and only 34% feel good about the future earnings. When levels of morale are this low, productivity drops, causing projects and business goals to suffer.
Lack of Upskilling Opportunities Impacts Business’ Success
Offering L&D opportunities for workers to increase their digital skills while at work is a small investment with a big payoff. On the flip side, companies that ignore dedicating resources to this critical employee benefit often take hits, like losing employees and failing to transform digitally.
Responses from the Talent Transformation report found that many enterprise businesses felt the impacts of unhappy workers in the past six months. 47% of businesses experienced high turnover rates and 55% found they were not able to hire enough digitally skilled workers to complete their business goals. At the same time, 48% of enterprise companies experienced a lack of infrastructure, tools, and data analysis investment. In comparison, 47% reported a lack of progress towards the digital transformation they needed to compete with other companies.
Empower Your Business and Your Workers
The best way to breathe new life into a dying business is to invest wholeheartedly in your workers. This includes driving innovative programs, upgrading to the digital realm, and most importantly, providing high-quality L&D opportunities to your employees.
Check out the full Talent Transformation Global Impact Report to get more information on enterprise and employee insights in a digital-first world. Learn more about Udacity’s work to upskill enterprise workforces today.
