Two-plus years into the pandemic and with the Great Resignation an ongoing reality, employers are sharpening their focus on learning and development as a strategy to take on the talent shortage and close skills gaps.

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That’s according to a survey of U.S. HR managers and employees from Epignosis and its LMS provider, TalentLMS, along with SHRM. The research found that 67% of HR managers have an increased L&D budget in 2022, while 46% already have specific training in place for new graduates who are entering the workforce and 42% offer training to support the re-entry of formerly retired employees.

See also: What the new federal report on the labor market means for HR

“While we’re going through what’s considered the biggest talent shortage in decades, with half of companies facing a skills gap, HR managers recognize the importance of bringing different generations of workers together, and of training on both hard and soft skills,” says Christina Gialleli, director of people operations at Epignosis, a software provider in learning technology.

According to Gialleli, the joint report also uncovers the rising importance of mental health and wellbeing training for the employee experience in the post-pandemic workplace. Seventy-two percent of HR managers would invest in mental health and wellbeing training if they had a higher L&D budget, and 77% of HR managers are likely to focus on life skills within the next 12 months. Also, self-management will be among the top in-demand skills in 2022, with 83% of organizations focusing training initiatives in this area.

On the employee perspective side of the equation, the organizations found that, while employees are overall satisfied with the L&D in their companies (75%), gaps exist in today’s workforce.

According to employees:

  • 55% say they need additional training to perform better in their roles
  • 38% advise companies to better align training with job responsibilities
  • 32% believe it’s important to update training content more frequently
  • 32% believe training should be more social
  • More than 8 in 10 say it is important to get training on soft skills and self-management skills, while 78% find life-skills training important

Finally, and importantly, half of employees say they are pursuing learning opportunities on their own, outside of training at work.

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Related: How upskilling and learning can help neutralize the Great Resignation

“These statistics prove how critical it is for today’s leaders to focus on talent development. The growth of our businesses depend on pushing people beyond their boundaries,” says Jeanne Morris, vice president of Education at SHRM.

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