It's who you know, not what you know

With the cost of recruitment so high and the global talent shortage showing no sign of abating, businesses are turning their attention inwards – but how successful are development programmes?

It's who you know, not what you know

With the cost of recruitment so high and the global talent shortage showing no sign of abating, many businesses have acknowledged the need to turn their attention inwards – focusing on developing the skillsets and capabilities of their existing workforce instead of recruiting externally.

However, our research tells us that 60% of business leaders think their high-potential development programmes are only “somewhat successful”, while more than 1 in 10 leaders admit that they’re failing.

leaders believe their high potential development programmes are failing

Whilst 27% of employees believe decisions around who to develop are made based on data, 1 in 5 think they’re based on who you know, not what you know – and a further 1 in 5 say they’re down to personal opinions of who will fit in.

In contrast, 57% of leaders say these decisions are based on data and nearly 30% say they’re based on the number of years someone has worked at the company.

This paints a patchy picture when it comes to the development of the leaders of tomorrow. Whether these decisions are truly biased or only perceived to be, having unclear or inconsistent processes for developing future talent is unlikely to encourage younger workers to stay.

Two types of people are at a greater risk of burning out than everyone else: women and workers under 30. Nearly half (48%) of 18-to-29-year-olds said they feel drained.

Research shows that during the average 40-hour workweek, employees have only 24 minutes to learn.

Half of employees 'don't have the time' to upskill at work - with 49% of staff claiming they don’t have any spare time to prioritise their own learning.