Its research found that, despite 80% of British employees feeling their organisation has taken steps to improve learning and development over the past year, in many cases these efforts have failed to hit the mark.
Only 13% of employees would rate the L&D opportunities in their organisation over the past year as very effective, and just 21% said they feel well equipped to do their job to the best possible standard.
UK workers seem to be bored with the current learning provision available to them, with more than two-thirds (69%) saying that training content is not always exciting or engaging. This proportion stands significantly higher than the global average of 59%.
UK employees want their employers to provide a much more curated and tailored approach to training to better equip them with the skills needed for the future, researchers noted.
Employees want to see more engaging (37%), personalised (35%) and better-quality (29%) content, as well as shorter micro-learning (23%) methods available at work.
While employers reported being fairly confident they have the budgets (81%) and resources (82%) to invest in staff training, the research highlights that they need to make opportunities far more accessible. A worrying 80% of UK employees cite facing some sort of trouble accessing L&D activity in their workplace, with lack of time being the most significant barrier (24%).
John Yates, managing director of corporate learning at City & Guilds Group, said that the results paint a worrying picture of learning and development at work.
“The nature of work is evolving rapidly and consequently learning and development has never been more important. While employers are making concerted efforts to upskill their workforce for the future it’s concerning that current training may not be hitting the mark,” he said.
“Our findings clearly show that employees in the UK are crying out for new ways to learn and train; that truly cater to their individual interests and career paths.”
Yates suggested that if businesses focus on improving technology they can make learning materials more accessible.
“Even if budgets and strategy for learning and development are in place, businesses won’t see a real return on investment until training and learning are fully accessible to all,” he said.
“Employers need to deliver training in a way that makes it easier for employees to learn on their own terms, fitting around their schedules by harnessing technologies that enable a ‘Netflix-style' experience of L&D. Only by listening to the expectations of their workforce, and taking inspiration from global counterparts to develop an approach to learning and development that is both accessible and inspiring, can employers prevent this significant investment from going to waste.”
The study, conducted by City & Guilds Group business Kineo, surveyed 500 employees and 100 employers in the UK, and a further 6,000 employees and 1,200 employers across 12 other global markets.
