The Importance of Continuous Learning in Today’s Workplace

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast – Interview Series, I’m joined by Amanda Mountain, Global Vice President of eCommerce at SAP, for a fascinating and timely conversation on the topic of continuous learning. August marks the start of Back-to-School season. For students, it’s an exciting time that kicks off another year of learning and growth. But we’d like to take the time to focus on the importance of continuous learning for businesses. Now is as good a time as ever to prioritize continued education. The future of work is going to take skills many people don’t have – where can they learn them? In fact, a World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report found that “50% of employees will need reskilling by 2025 to keep pace with emerging technologies.” Addressing the prevalence of disengaged employees as well as the skills shortage organizations are facing today is an imperative across industries, from retail to the public sector. So what can organizations do to address the current situation? That’s just what Amanda and I are going to be discussing. Our conversation covered: The current state of the workforce, as we are seeing an unprecedented number of people leaving jobs in search of something more fulfilling. At the same time, employers are struggling to fill empty positions leaving a heavy burden on the remaining employees to cover positions they might not have been hired for. We explored data from SHRM that showed a whopping 47.8 million workers quit their jobs, an average of nearly 4 million a month. We also explored research from Pew Research Center on the top reasons U.S. workers left a job in 2021, in which low pay and no advancement opportunities and feeling disrespected at work topped the list. We explored why people leave jobs and the important role that creating a culture of continuous learning plays in both talent acquisition and talent retention. We discussed today’s workplace landscape and how it is unlike anything we’ve encountered before. As a result of the monumental shifts the pandemic has ushered in, companies are combatting both talent retention challenges and an ever-growing IT skills gap. It has become increasingly apparent that education and training must evolve with the landscape. Today’s learners want – and need — different solutions than L&D leaders have relied on in the past. Amanda shared some of the SAP offerings on that front as well as some insights on how learning behaviors and desires have changed, and what technology solutions are doing to address those changes. Amanda shared how SAP is responding to the need with solutions like the Go1 Learning solution, which provides SAP SuccessFactors customers access to the largest marketplace of off-the-shelf content ready to use via the Open Content Network and SAP Enable Now, which is a comprehensive digital adoption tool that delivers time-of-need learning to help people develop the skills they need to do their job effectively. What’s an organization to do? When strategizing about how to mitigate the skills gap, who is responsible for implementing continuous learning measures? Is it organizations or individual employees? We have thoughts! What exactly is the CURIOSITY mindset and insights from Amanda on things she’s doing on her team to encourage this and how you can implement programs like this too. Amanda shared details about how some of SAP’s partners are addressing these needs and some of the innovative solutions that are available in the SAP store, including the following: Centrical for Enterprise Learning Solutions from SAP BLEND - Learning Experience Platform (LxP) by TalenTeam The Immerse Platform Collaborative Learning Platform Global Business Skills from Hardskills SAP Litmos You can find more information on SAP’s wide range of learning and development offerings at the SAP store, and I hope you’ll pop over and take a look. You’ll likely be amazed at what’s available for you and your organization to help get your learning and development programs dialed in to what today’s workers want and need.