• 60% of surveyed respondents said that the pandemic impacted L&D initiatives centered on employee wellness, motivation, and productivity

• 52% of the total L&D budget has been allocated to ‘mid-level employees’  

• The ‘absence of organizational focus & strategy’ appeared as the biggest L&D-related challenge

Mercer|Mettl, the global leader in talent assessments, has recently launched ‘The State of Learning & Development Report 2022’. It offers a comprehensive overview of how L&D and skills requirements have evolved in the past two years. The report is a deep dive into examining what factors companies are prioritizing and their budgetary allocations for employees’ upskilling and reskilling initiatives. It also emphasizes on understanding the skills ecosystem, priorities, tools, and processes along with ROIs. The analysis and insights in the report are based on at least 10,000 personnel’s responses.

According to the study, nearly 64% of respondents said COVID-19 had the greatest impact on employee reskilling and upskilling strategies, indicating a lack of clarity on future skills. Nearly 68% of employees believed that the pandemic had a profound impact on organizational skills to interact with employees in a remote workplace.

The report further suggested that as per 52% of personnel, the attention of the organization remains on mid-level employees and companies allocate the largest share of their employee development budgets to them.

Furthermore, approximately 60% of respondents believed that COVID-19 has severely dented L&D initiatives centered on employee wellness, motivation, and productivity. Thus, implies that organizations had a difficult time decoding ways and means to ensure optimal employee motivation, thereby affecting productivity. In the future, organizations will need to give prominence to employee wellness as compared to their L&D interventions. Also, employee health will acquire completely new dimensions in the context of the remote work setup.

On the launch of the report, Siddhartha Gupta, CEO, Mercer|Mettl, said, “The past two years have altered the dynamics and the landscape of workplaces. Today, companies can only survive if they remain hinged to their employees’ growth and development through ‘reskilling and upskilling, as suggested in Mercer|Mettl’s study on L&D. Nearly 55% of respondents reported a hike in their organizational L&D budgets, indicating that companies continue to stick to L&D interventions despite facing challenges. Organizations believe that such programs are crucial for them to become future-ready enterprises. I sincerely hope these findings enable enterprises to plan themselves well ahead of time.”

The 2022 L&D study by Mettl, also offers insights such as communication, ownership, and empathy are important soft skills in a post COVID-19 workplace. Adoption of LMS and internal employee certifications are on the rise. Companies are adopting tools like 360-degree feedback for feedback and development. Moving forward, finding a balance between work and training will be crucial for companies to achieve their long-term objective of developing employees in sync with future business requirements.