The inability or unwillingness of employees to retrain and acquire new skills or change their field of work is costing the global economy billions of dollars in lost productivity and higher recruitment costs. The figures are from a study by the PwC consulting company and the world's largest professional social network LinkedIn. Adapt to Survive is the first study to analyse millions of interactions of LinkedIn users and information from over 2,600 employees in the PwC Saratoga database.
The study focused on five key indicators of talent behaviour in 11 markets worldwide. Europe was represented by France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The Netherlands proved to be the most adaptable labour market. The least adaptable labour market is in China.
The study's findings show that lack of adaptability, which makes it impossible for businesses to connect talent with the right opportunities, costs the companies in all the monitored markets a total of about $130 billion due to lower productivity. Lack of access to the right talent also increases the companies' recruitment costs, which reach up to $20 billion. Thus if the companies could occupy their vacancies with genuinely suitable employees, they would save a total of $150 billion.
Recommendations for employers and employees
According to the findings of the study, the use of modern technologies, such as professionally-oriented social networks, could contribute significantly to reducing unemployment rates. Employers with a strong presence on social networks are able to attract and retain better talent. Likewise employees who are active on social networks are more likely to find a suitable job.
The study recommends individuals interested in career development and greater possibilities on the labour market to seek employers offering training opportunities and corporate cultures supporting independent thinking of their employees. They should also build professional contacts and their reputation on social networks. They should continue working on developing the skills they see as beneficial to their future and not be afraid to gain experience in different environments.
Employers should support employees who are interested in learning new things. They should learn to use better the analytical tools that help them identify the key skills to support their business strategies both now and in the future. This involves not only training possibilities and diverse methods of recognition but also the support of internal employee mobility. They should also work with passive candidates through the professional presentation of the company on social networks.
The complete results of the study, including the possibility of download in pdf format, are available at http://www.pwc.com/talentadaptability. You can find recommendations for educational institutions and governments there as well.
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