35 of my Favorite Stats on HR Skills, Diversity, Retention, and the New World of Work

With the world of talent strategy changing so fast, it can be hard to keep up with all of the evolving trends – from quiet hiring to prioritizing human outcomes to organizational fluidity to (our favorite!) embracing skills strategies.

No matter which business priority you’ve elevated (or what fires you’re fighting), we all know that every business argument gains more credibility with hard data.

For this week’s blog, we did some of the research for you and pulled together a list of 35 new statistics and data points that might surprise you, surrounding work revolutions, talent retention efforts, Diversity and Equality initiatives, and skills rollouts.

According to my stepdaughter, the number 35 symbolizes positive change, so here’s wishing you momentum and strength as you leverage these numbers to convince your BUs and Finance teams to embrace new HR initiatives!

Diversity and Equality in Sourcing Helps Solve Talent Gaps  

Relevant on International Women’s Day, as the United States becomes increasingly diverse, the workspace is called to do the same – opening new talent pools and increasing productivity.

1. Lack of diversity in executive teams are 27% more likely to lose profits. (McKinsey, Diversity Wins)
2. Teams with more than 30% women are more likely to outperform their competitors. (Women’s Bureau: unemployment rate)
3. According to a Culture Amp survey, 85% of HR and DEI practitioners believe that their organization is building a diverse and inclusive culture.
4. That tracks with new job openings. According to Essence Magazine, by May 2020, jobs in diversity and inclusion had risen 123%. However, fast forward to 2023, budget cuts and burnout are reducing the Chief Diversity Officer layer in companies.
5. The “paper ceiling” is a major problem: Requiring college degrees eliminates 76% of Black adults and 83% of Latino adults with the right skills for a position. (Chief Executive: Talent over Credentials)
6. Unfortunately, 62% of employers still believe a college degree is necessary for hiring (Chief Executive: Talent over Credentials)
7. There is some hope, however, that firms are turning to skills-based hiring. For example, in 2011 95% of roles in IBM required a college degree, in 2021 less than 50% still do (Ginni Rometty)
8. An additional 1.4 million jobs are projected to open to workers without a degree in the next five years (HBS The Emerging Degree Reset)
9. Yet, 37% of middle-skilled jobs still require a college degree essentially reducing their candidate pool by 15.7 million people (HBS The Emerging Degree Reset)

Skills Strategy Is an Engagement, Retention and Financial Competitive Advantage.

The data is clear: Companies who invest in developing skills see major positive impacts on employees and their bottom lines. Here are just some of the stats…

10. Necessary skills are evolving all the time. In fact, around 50% of the total workforce will need reskilling within the next three years. (WeForum).
11. The number of skills required to execute day-to-day in jobs roles has increased by 10% every year. (Gartner)
12. That’s getting translated into SOP (standard operating procedure) inside the enterprise. For example, according to Workday, the number of skills tracked in their skills cloud had grown exponentially since its launch in 2018: From 25 million skills being used across all customer tenants to more than 5 billion at the end of 2022. (Workday blog)
13. Recruiters are paying attention to skills strategies. According to CNBC, 87% of recruiters believe skills are crucial as they vet candidates. A skills-based approach also creates a much broader talent pool, and diversity of talent is necessary for remaining competitive in today’s marketplace.
14. The focus on skills might not have translated down to the worker layer. In fact, less than 20% of employees report well-developed talent strategies in their companies (Gartner)
15. Meanwhile, talent is looking to grow into roles. In fact, fifty-six percent of job seekers are applying for jobs outside their area of expertise. (Gartner)
16. Another bonus for growing talent: seeking employees that match 70% – 80% of skills necessary – and then developing them further – leads to more retention (HBR)
17. Employers claim they’re looking to develop internal talent by leveraging internal training (39%), supplemented by online learning (16%), and external training (11%). (HBR)
18. Skills strategies make a lot of sense in tight fiscal cycles. According to McKinsey, Organizations that realign HR processes to match skill needs can boost employee engagement by 50 percent, lower training and development program costs by 50 percent, and raise productivity by 40 percent.
19. Which translates to hard dollar savings. According to BCG, firms can save an average of $136,000 per employee from reskilling/upskilling vs. layoffs. Something to think about before you hit the next PR news cycle.

The Revolution (of Work) Will be Digitized 

Following the pandemic, the digital workspace still continues to grow and is here to stay. Employers are still apprehensive of its benefits, however, developing a strong digital employee experience (DEX) and leveraging automation and AI to reduce manual work is crucial for a productive year.

20. 87% of employees surveyed claim they are productive in digital workspace, according to HBR.
21. However, 85% of employers think they remote work is not productive creating “productivity paranoia”.
22. Employees report they are a whopping 121% more likely to feel respected in the company when the digital workplace is of high quality. (Microsoft)
23. Meanwhile, 60% of technology leaders believe improving digital employee experience (DEX) is a top priority in 2023. (Forbes)
24. Which is important, as 54% of employees believes the need for improvement in DEX is crucial. (DEX: not good enough)
25. #Interweb woes: 95% of remote employees say they’re still struggling with software and workplace application problems which cause friction. (DEX: not good enough)
26. Still, 55% of remote employees still claim they work more hours remotely than in a physical workspace. (DEX: not good enough)
27. Estimates indicate that by 2025, 22% of the workforce will be fully remote (36.2 million Americans). (AI growth)
28. 67% of businesses have focused on adoption of AI since 2020. (AI growth)
29. For example, CGI uses AI to avert 8,000 events a month. AI bots also serve as tools for employees to increase productivity. (Forbes)

The Great Resignation Isn’t Over (but it’s got another new name!)

Employers are still struggling with employee retention, instead of the Great Resignation it’s really become the Great Reshuffling.

30. In 2023, 43% of employees in a recent survey claimed they were likely to leave within the year. (EY)
31. That stat gets even more extreme in the tech sector, where likely attrition reaches 60%. (EY)
32. For those leaving, workers cited increased pay (35%), better job advancements (25%), flexibility (19%), and overall well-being programs (17%) as the primary reasons to jump ship. (EY)
33. The grass isn’t always greener, though. Twenty percent of employees who left their jobs for those primary reasons regretted their decision (Harris Poll Survey), and were likely to return to their previous employer within 13 months.
34. Mission matters: Those seeking to resign fell to 12% if they felt their work was “positively impacting the world” (purposeful work)
35. On a study of 1.4 million employees, higher levels of engagement saw a 22% higher rate of productivity among employees. (The Gallup Organization)

And there you have it, a whole host of new data across a range of HR strategies you can drop into your March PPT decks to make your respective business case. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.