Employees feel current skills will be obsolete in future; support additional training

HR solutions company Kelly ServicesAccording to an employee-specific survey conducted by HR solutions company Kelly Services, 90 percent of the employees, questioned about the future value of their current skills, felt that the highly-competitive job market demanded additional training, as the skills they possess now will become obsolete in the next-five year period.

The survey, spread over 34 countries, polled 100,000 employees; 5,000 of which were from India.

In addition, nearly one-third of the employees surveyed in India, opined that the present-day training offered by the companies would fail to meet the requirements of their careers in the coming years.

In a statemnt, Dhiren Shantilal, the Asia Pacific Senior VP of Kelly Services, said: "The current economic environment has made people well aware of their skills and whether they will be sufficient to survive the recession and beyond, into a period of economic recovery."

While 72 percent of the respondents in the 30-47 years' age-group said that training is a combined responsibility of the employer and the employee; nearly 32 percent felt that their HR departments not helped them realize their employment goals.

On questions pertaining to the type of training that they supported, 52 percent respondents mentioned on-the-job training; 33 percent preferred professional development courses; 13 percent favored self-initiated learning; and 3 percent chose formal university or college qualifications.