Employers Struggle with Ill-Prepared Workforce

As the Obama administration shines a light on the training and skills workers will need for the jobs of tomorrow, a new report shows that U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared workforce, finding new hires lack crucial basic and applied skills.

For the most part, employer-sponsored readiness training is not successfully correcting these deficiencies, according to the report, “The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce: Exploring the Challenges of Employer-Provided Workforce Readiness Training,” produced by Corporate Voices for Working Families, the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), The Conference Board, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The report finds that:

>> Many companies say new hires lack crucial critical-thinking and creativity skills — but don’t offer related training.
>> Employers’ inability to detail their spending on remedial programs makes it impossible to assess the true costs of an ill-prepared workforce to their own — or the economy’s — bottom line.
>> Employers with successful workforce readiness training incorporate a culture committed to training and thorough job-readiness screening; strategic partnerships with local colleges and a focus on integrating training with job-specific skills and career development; and constant re-evaluation to align training with company needs.
>> Employers should track the cost and quality of training programs and help focus philanthropic dollars and public-policy discussions on the need to link K-12, technical-school and college education to the workforce readiness skills that employers need.

The entire report is available on the Websites of each of the participating
organizations: www.cvworkingfamilies.org,
www.astd.org, www.conference-board.org and www.shrm.org.

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