Company training is inadequate, say staff

Nine out of 10 workers believe their current skills will be outdated within five years.

Approximately nine out of 10 workers in India believe that their current skills will be outdated within five years, according to a recent international workplace survey by staffing firm Kelly Services.

More than a third of the respondents believed that training presently provided by their employers will not meet their future career needs, according to the Kelly Global Workforce Index which obtained the views of nearly 100,000 people in 34 countries, including almost 5,000 in India.

“The survey highlights the significance that employees across the generational age groups place on training and skills development to sustain them in a rapidly changing labor market,” said Dhiren Shantilal, senior vice-president - Asia Pacific, Kelly Services.

Shantilal said in an increasingly competitive global economy, investing in vital human capital can become a key competitive advantage for firms.

“Training may not seem a priority in the present economic climate, but organisations that devote the resources will be more likely to see higher productivity and profitability in future,” Shantilal said.

Key findings of the survey are that baby boomers (aged 48-65 years) are most worried about the level of training they receive, with 43 per cent saying it is not sufficient to upgrade skills and advance their career; 90 per cent of both Gen Y (aged 18-29) and Gen X (aged 30-47) said that within the next five years their skills will need to be upgraded to keep pace with changes in the workplace. About 72 per cent of Gen X respondents saw the provision of training as a joint responsibility between the employer and employee.

Human resource professionals too came under scrutiny, with almost a third (32 per cent) of all respondents saying that their HR departments have not helped them achieve their employment goals.

Among the respondents, 69 per cent said training should be a joint responsibility between employer and employee.

The preference among those surveyed is for on-the-job training (52 per cent), followed by professional development courses (33 per cent), self-initiated learning (13 per cent) and formal university or college qualifications (3 per cent).

More women respondents preferred on-the-job training, while men preferred professional development courses as the best way of upgrading their skills.

“The present economic environment has made people well aware of their skills and whether they will be sufficient to survive the recession and beyond, into a period of economic recovery. As skills shortages are seen across industries, unless skills and training are enhanced, such situations may occur in future,” Shantilal said.