Learn to Earn
6.1. Key Finding
Training will become vital in a knowledge economy. To succeed in the workplace of 2020 workers will have to continually develop skills to retain their elite status. Through providing training employers will have power over their workforce. The rising cost of training means that employees will have to give something in return – loyalty and even financial contributions.
6.2. Training on a New Course
Training will be one of the principal changes in the relationship between employer and elite worker. While skilled employees enjoy higher salaries and more flexible ways of working, they are still largely dependent on employers as facilitators of training. This gives employers a considerable advantage and goes some way towards rebalancing the relationship with their staff. Employees may become competitive in acquiring training – recognising that it is essential to advancement. The quality of training offered is a consideration for anyone thinking about either joining or leaving the organisation. How companies offer training could become an important and motivating part of the employment package. Life-long learning will become accepted and then welcomed, not just as a means of advancement but as an integral part of working life.
6.3. A Training Day in 2020
The training our future worker receives is enjoyable and completely tailored to his own job – new software installed on his computer and smart-phone allows the skills acquired to be used and measured by his employer. Today’s training is largely technical – focusing on core competencies for this job. An additional training course, on managing and engaging subordinates, has been running regularly this year and integrates with this more technical session.
6.4. We Need to Train
Among our Delphi Panel 83% of experts anticipate that the UK education system will be able to provide graduates with the right skills for the demands of a knowledge economy. Some of the skills will be transferable but we also see increasing specialisation becoming a feature of working life with some very specific skills required. All of our Delphi Panel experts agree that working life will become more specialist and will therefore require training specific to each job. The successful worker of 2020 will need to combine both specialist and general skills.
The people with the least security of tenure – contractors – feel the need for training most acutely. Among a number of contractors we spoke to in the IT sector, there was a clear feeling that skills had to be updated as simple tasks are easily out-sourced to cheaper countries. Investing in your own skills and working in more specialist and sophisticated areas makes jobs more secure and is emblematic of the UK’s move to a high-skill knowledge economy.
Human capital theory - the idea that people invest in themselves in order to earn more over the course of their working lives - is evident here. Among many there is a feeling that it is the responsibility of the individual to maximise their own potential and to be proactive in learning new skills. For a younger generation growing up now the principal of human capital is nothing new – it’s the argument that lay behind the introduction of university top-up fees. This way of thinking will become more prevalent.
“Would you like to be able to attend more training courses at work?”
By gender, age and social grade
“Across all working generations you will probably see two things; one is for the upcoming generations to have a strong expectation for ongoing learning and wanting to be retrained to make themselves more marketable and [secondly] people coming to terms with the fact that they’ll have to work for longer and… …the older generation (55 plus) are warming to the idea of retraining even at that age.”
Michael Jenkins, CEO, Roffey Park Management School.
As working life extends and people work for longer, it’s very likely that older people will see greater value in training. Thoughts of ‘winding down’ when workers reach their mid-fifties are less likely as they’ll still have more than a decade of work ahead of them. There is also the ‘cohort’ effect as, in ten years time, a new group will be in their fifties – a group that will have a different, younger and more positive approach to training.
6.5. The Economy of Training
In the survey conducted for this report we found that only 36% of workers feel that they are offered all the training they need. A further 11% are offered no training at all. While there is a demand for training our findings indicate that not enough is being supplied. The most obvious reason for this is cost.
On the subject of who pays for training, new thinking is emerging. There is a move towards the individual contributing towards the cost of education and training. At the undergraduate level tuition fees will rise significantly as soon as this year as students bear a greater part of the cost. Even salaried employees might find that workplace training may come with conditions.
“I think the issue now is that young people are much more [career] aware, so in other words they will move from organisation to organisation. Therefore if a company invests in the individual through training and education, they will ensure that employees will continue to work for them for a certain number of years after that. So I think the idea is that more employers will expect them to pay for their own training…”
Adrian Furnham
Clearly human capital theory has an application here. From our own research we know that one in eight employees are motivated to attend training courses as it will improve their chances of getting another job. Employers will need a quid pro quo from employees in return for their development.
The nature of training is likely to change too. There was consensus among our Delphi Panel - five out of six perceive future training courses to be continuous and frequent, delivered in short ‘bite-size’ chunks. The other change will be that training will be much more tailored to job roles and organisations. The CBI believes that the quality of training required will inevitably force companies to look much harder at the return on investment they receive. We can expect providers of training to put more effort into monitoring effectiveness.
“Businesses will become much more proactive in their approach to talent management, placing greater focus on skill development and increasing returns on investment on training.
Businesses will secure greater return on investment in training employees in a number of ways. Training to enhance business productivity will be the priority: for training activity to be funded, it will need to be clear where and how it will add value to the business.”
The Shape of Business The Next Ten Years, published by the CBI in November 2009.
