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The urgency for upskilling comes at a time when emerging skill sets are scarce and the talent market is tight—making it prudent to keep people even if they don’t currently have the right skills
Michael Hughes
Managing Director
METHODOLOGY
In 2019, West Monroe, in partnership with the Human Capital Media Research and Advisory Group, surveyed 432 employers and 1,000 employees on their attitudes toward upskilling and employee enablement technologies. The survey was conducted online.
EMPLOYEE
B2B vs. B2C
EMPLOYER
KEY FINDINGS
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To successfully upskill a workforce, employers must consider the needs and preferences of their employees—before implementing a technology.
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WHAT WE'VE FOUND
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As automation technology becomes more ingrained into the workplace, employee training becomes critical to direct employees’ time toward higher-value work. We surveyed 432 leaders and 1,000 employees on their perceptions around skills gaps and upskilling and found a crisis looming. A majority of leaders say their organization’s skills gap is moderate to severe and an equal amount of employees feel their skills will become outdated in the next three to five years.
Half of our respondents said they always include digital value creation as part of their investment thesis, and another 34% said they often include it.
Only 42% of respondents to our survey said their firm has a standard definition of digital that everyone aligns to. And 40% said half or fewer of the companies they own have a documented digital strategy.
50% of PE executives said that making improvements quickly enough to have an impact is the greatest barrier to digital investment.
2-Minute Takedown
What keeps employees up at night regarding their skills?
Tech being used
to drive efficiency
How efficiencies
are found
Within six months after acquisition Within a year after acquistion
Within two years after acquistion
Additional Resources
And, take our digital maturity quiz
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The Productivity Imperative: Gaining Ground in Economic Booms and Recessions
Brad Haller
Director, Mergers & Acquisitions
bhaller@wmp.com
AUTHORS
Nick Hahn
Director, Digital
nhahn@wmp.com
38%
Director/
Senior
Director
6%
Board Member
30%
President
or C-level
26%
VP/SVP/EVP
50%
B2B
50%
B2C
75%
Deal side
25%
Operating
side
82% said they view mature digital investments at a portfolio company as a value driver at exit and 75% said they make digital investments to improve the exit price without the expectation of performance gains before the sale.
PE firms appreciate the value of digital.
Not everyone lays the groundwork necessary for digital success.
Driving change and value over the hold period represents a top challenge.
Digital investment improves a portfolio company’s exit price.
61% of survey respondents agree that technology helps them deliver a higher quality of work output, but with employee adoption listed as the number one roadblock—that output can’t be recognized without upskilling.
New skills are necessary to ensure profitability:
84% of leaders say they sometimes or never redesign the employee journey before onboarding new enablement technology. This can cause a disconnect in experience and resistance to change.
Employees need to be at the center of upskilling strategies—not technology:
Enabling managers will be key to addressing adoption, disruption, and upskilling challenges—63% of survey respondents say their organization has not equipped its managers with upskilling resources.
Managers are vital to team development and need upskilling themselves:
2-Minute Takedown
Mazen Ghalayini
Managing Director, Customer Experience
mghalayini@wmp.com
Michael Orehowsky
Senior Principal, Operations Excellence
morehowsky@wmp.com
Michael Hughes
Managing Director, Operations Excellence mfhughes@wmp.com
AUTHORS
Current efficiency ratio
*BARS REPRESENT % OF RESPONDENTS
TARGET efficiency ratio
*BARS REPRESENT % OF RESPONDENTS
Target
Target
Current
Current
ROADBLOCKS TO IMPLEMENTING EMPLOYEE ENABLEMENT TECHNOLOGIES
METHODS EMPLOYEES PREFER TO PREPARE FOR TECHNOLOGY USE
To successfully upskill, employers should consider the needs and preferences of their employees—especially before implementing a technology.
What stands in the way of upskilling success?
How do employees prefer to learn?
Why are managers struggling to effectively upskill their employees?
Why will your skill set become outdated in the next 3 to 5 years?
The skillset needed in my role is becoming more complex
My industry is being disrupted by technology and/or market changes
My skillset is/will be outsourced
I need to learn new technologies to remain competitive in my skillset
My skillset is being replaced by automation
24%
19%
20%
55%
31%
What keeps employees up at night regarding their skills?
What stands in the way of upskilling success?
How do employees prefer to learn?
Why are managers struggling to effectively upskill their employees?
Roadblocks to managers upskilling line-level employees
of managers don’t have time to upskill and reskill
of managers don’t know how to upskill and reskill
of managers need upskilling and reskilling themselves
39%
43%
65%
Employees expect that their employers will invest in their upskilling. Over half of respondents preferred in-person classroom training over digital training options.
The responsibility to train falls on the organization—and methods matter:
20%
1,000
to
5,000
EMPLOYER
TITLE
25%
5,000
or more
EMPLOYER
ORGANIZATION SIZE
50%
Less
than
1,000
Below
Manager
Level
59%
41%
Manager
Level
EMPLOYEE
AGE
EMPLOYEE
TITLE
Lack of employee adoption
Our organization’s culture resists change
Ineffective training/onboarding
Leadership resistance
Inability to identify/communicate need for new technology
45%
44%
32%
26%
24%
51%
13%
13%
12%
3%
In-person classroom training
Virtual instructor-led training
Online app/portal/self-study
Formal mentoring/coaching
Vendor-provided training
*number of employees