Bosses want more skilled workers. Employees want more skills. Somehow nobody is happy.
According to the University of Phoenix Career Institute’s latest annual Career Optimism Index study, more than half of the 5,000 U.S. workers surveyed said they feel easily replaceable in their workplace. Almost two thirds said their company did not offer them any opportunities for advancement. About a third of workers said they felt like management didn’t recognize their contributions, leaving them feeling powerless and often leading to lower productivity.
In a tight talent market and a period of persistently high inflation, companies are looking for ways to reduce expenses and, in turn, “focus on the next best thing available to them outside of their organization to drive growth,” says John Woods, provost and chief academic officer of the University of Phoenix, wrote in the report. This perspective perpetuates what he calls a “stagnant talent environment,” but there remains a major disconnect between how companies view their workers and how workers view themselves.
Almost half of the more than 500 bosses surveyed said they were unable to find talented new employees last year due to a lack of qualified applicants. Clearly something was lost in the translation. “By providing clearer and more flexible opportunities for internal development of their existing workforce, employers have the opportunity to develop the dynamic talent they need from within, serving employees’ business goals and career ambitions,” it said Report.
The new index – the fourth edition of Phoenix – suggests that most business leaders are overlooking the “immense potential” that their existing workforce could bring if given the necessary opportunities for advancement. “These workers have a strong desire to advance and acquire the skills employers are looking for to strengthen their companies for the future,” Woods wrote.
Bosses may not see it that way. Over 60% of employers believe their companies offer numerous growth opportunities to their existing workforce. But only just over a third of workers agreed with this opinion. This gap should be a call to action for employers: The vast majority of workers said they know they need more skills to stay at the top, and they are consistently grateful for any company that offers them the opportunity to acquire these skills and support their growth. But instead, companies are looking for external workers with existing skills, leaving their current employees feeling stagnant.
This lackluster feeling can be far more damaging to the bottom line than a simple lack of skills. Without opportunities for advancement, employees are twice as likely to look for a new job – and it’s well-documented that filling a departing employee is more costly and time-consuming than meeting them halfway.
Then there is the feeling of being undervalued. Of course, several years of layoffs, strikes and a frightening macro economy have made many workers nervous. 42 percent said they were worried that a weak economy could cost them their job, and 38 percent said their salary had not kept up with inflation – bad news considering a similar proportion states that he can no longer afford things that he was only able to afford for two years ago.
However, stagnation is far from a death sentence for companies. Nearly 80% of Americans remain confident about their career prospects, and a similar percentage feel in control of their future. For companies themselves, the picture is a little bleaker: If U.S. companies don’t commit to developing existing talent instead of looking for external hires, the University of Phoenix estimates they will lose up to $1.35 in cumulative savings Lost trillions of dollars.
That certainly costs more than a coding seminar.
This story was originally published on Fortune.com