Managers struggling to forecast team skill needs, report finds

“It means organisations need to build more adaptive learning systems that align with where skills conversations are ongoing, are more connected to the flow of work, and are informed by what the business and its people are actually trying to accomplish,” he added.

Skills going stale

The difficulty in forecasting comes as skills across the workforce are becoming outdated at a faster pace, according to the report.

It found that 47% of respondents say some of their job skills have become outdated within the last five years, while 36% say their skills remain fully relevant and 16% are unsure.

Managers appear to be noticing the shift sooner than employees. The report found that 21% of managers say their skills became outdated within the last year, compared with 10% of employees, while 12% of managers say this happened within the last six months, versus five per cent of employees.

Employees, on the other hand, are more likely to be uncertain about where their skills stand, with 26% saying they are not sure whether their skills are still relevant, compared with 10% of managers.