Upskilling Your Talent Is Not Even a Question

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Is your credit union investing in your most valuable resource – your people? Developing your people by improving their skills and engaging them in learning is not an option. Hiring alone cannot fill talent needs, as employees with the right skills are becoming increasingly scarce. Low unemployment rates, limited mobility across labor markets and an aging and retiring workforce are all at work to shrink the candidate pool. Everyone seeks technical skills combined with the people skills of leadership, creativity, empathy and collaboration. Talent demand outpaces supply.

Yet, most companies are not investing enough to boost the capabilities of their employees. Leaders are aware, however, that their organizations must do more. Indeed, for several years the PwC annual CEO survey listed availability of talent as among the top concerns. PwC’s 2020 CEO survey report makes clear that leaders know talent must be developed from within. But awareness is not enough. PwC uncovered that only 18% of CEOs globally and less than 10% in North America believe that their organization has made “significant progress” in establishing needed upskilling programs. In the important area of digital skills, a separate PwC employee study found that only a third of those surveyed thought they had opportunities to develop them.