Half of tech worker training goes to waste – survey

Companies pour billions of dollars into employee training, but in many cases, it doesn’t lead to improved performance.

Last year, employers spent over $100 billion on employee training. However, the learning platform Skillable estimates that nearly half of it goes to waste, with most training failing to actually boost employee performance on the job.

“You wouldn’t let someone fly a plane who has only read the airline manual, yet this is how we often approach tech training,” Sarah Danzl, CMO for Skillable, said.

The company’s new research, based on a survey of over 1,000 tech workers, revealed that the key skills needed to work with emerging technologies like AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) are infrastructure library, IT service management, and database management.

The tech workforce also feels the training that companies are investing in hasn’t kept pace with the rate of industry change.

“Lack of effective training is an issue for any organization, but especially in high-stakes roles in AI development, cybersecurity, and data privacy. Assessing current skill levels and job readiness is table stakes for ensuring ethical use and development of AI, data protection, and adhering to data legislation,” Skillable said.

The company’s experts suggest more hands-on training to tackle this problem as it is the “only way to truly validate that tech workers can do the required tasks.”