L&D can’t be put on the backburner

Talent shortages have been pinpointed as a focal point for organisations heading into FY2024–25. To combat this, companies have been leaning towards more training, learning and development, but these can often be depleted if costs get tight.

Retaining or attracting talent is an age-old issue for organisations, and heading into FY24–25, businesses are implementing new strategies in an attempt to keep their talent in-house.

Organisations have been leaning towards implementing training, learning, and development programs, as many workers prioritise their career development as the main reason for residing at a company. If that is disregarded in any capacity, they often already have one foot out the door.

HR Leader recently spoke to the founder and chief executive of Women Rising, Megan Dalla-Camina, about the effect that prioritising training, learning and development can have on an organisation.

“[Development] programs have been scaling very quickly over the last couple of years, so we’re seeing a lot of investment. But I also know that in the industry, more broadly, when things get tight in organisations, learning and development is one of those buckets that seem to be depleted quite quickly or get put on hold. And I’m hearing about that in various industries as well,” Dalla-Camina said.

This disregard can lead to serious consequences, as a high percentage of workers have admitted that if development or training opportunities were not presented, they would feel inclined to leave that organisation. Women workers were especially staunch on this ultimatum.

“A very high percentage of women told us that if their career development is not invested in, they will seriously consider leaving their organisation in the next 18 months. That number was around 74 per cent.

“But only 40 per cent of women said that they had actually had investment in their career development from their organisation in the last 18 months. So, there’s a significant attrition risk for organisations if they don’t do development and there’s a gap in terms of how much development is actually going on, specifically for women in their careers,” said Dalla-Camina.

Dalla-Camina holds strong optimism towards this space as she’s seen organisations really put their best foot forward in an attempt to offer that development and investment for both men and women workers. But at the same time, when push comes to shove, it can become a seesaw affair.

“As I said, we’re still seeing significant growth and investment coming from organisations for their women and also now for their men. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many organisations are really putting their money where their mouth is,” she said.

“But then again, I also know that there are other areas and other organisations out there that are struggling with that investment. So it’s swings and roundabouts. But I do think that given the stats that we see and what we see in our community of thousands and thousands of women, that organisations and leaders need to be very mindful and intentional about making sure that they are investing in development even when times are tough, or budgets are pressing.”

Tightening budgets, especially in the current economic climate, can be a roadblock for a wide range of organisational goals and values. However, even though the cost-of-living crisis and other financial determinants may prove to be hurdles, there are other approaches that organisations can deploy to ensure that they aren’t completely disregarding development and investment in their employees.

“What I always recommend is that you have to take a mid- to long-term view. What we don’t always have time and space to think about as leaders is that if I don’t invest in my people this quarter, what’s the flow-on effect of that? And we know that it makes perfect sense that we’re going to have a mid- to long-term issue around attrition or disengagement, but we don’t always act to support the mid to long term. I’m always trying to guide leaders, managers, HR specifically to have that mid- to long-term view,” Dalla-Camina said.

Investing in employees makes them feel heard and seen, which often can be more rewarding than simply receiving their pay cheque. By developing the skills of your employees, you’re, without a doubt, creating better workers, which all around is a win-win.

“Making sure that they [employees] feel seen and valued [can be] more important than what they get paid. For the vast majority of people, they want to have a good relationship with their manager, they want to be invested in, they want to be seen, they want to be valued,” Dalla-Camina said.

“When we strip away things like development, it can send a negative signal to people that, ‘we’re just going to buckle down on the bottom line, and we don’t care about you that much at the moment,’ even though we know that is mostly not true, that’s the signal it sends, and signals are really important.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Megan Dalla-Camina, click below: