Dive Brief:
- Hiring pauses and layoffs are impeding upskilling initiatives, according to a Monday Pluralsight report. The software company surveyed 1,216 IT executives and technologists.
- Hiring freezes have burdened nearly half of tech workers with tasks outside of their job function, the report found. Two-thirds of tech managers said layoffs in software, IT and data have pushed their teams to take on additional responsibilities, cutting into time that might otherwise be allotted to training.
- Despite budget constraints, companies haven’t cut back on investments in tech training. Nearly two-thirds of tech leaders have been asked to cut costs, yet almost three-quarters still plan to increase spending on tech skill development this year.
Dive Insight:
Training workers to fill skill gaps is more cost-effective than recruiting new talent, according to the report, which surveyed workers from various industries, including those in the beleaguered tech sector.
In a stubbornly tight tech talent market, upskilling in AI, cloud, cybersecurity, data science and other key technologies may be the only practical solution.
While leaders recognize the importance of workforce development, they struggle with implementation.
Four in 5 tech managers prioritize training for their teams, despite economic constraints, the report found. While most technologists reported receiving some training at work, 2 in 5 said they were too busy to add necessary skills.
Spurred by unemployment that remains below the national rate and rising salaries, organizations have turned to training as a bulwark against the mounting retention crisis.
The ratio of available talent to enterprise demand is “very low compared to what we would think of as abundant,” Lily Mok, VP analyst at Gartner, told CIO Dive.
For cybersecurity, data science and other highly sought engineering skills, there are roughly two job openings for every available candidate, Mok said, citing Gartner research. Even a one-to-one ratio would be unfavorable for talent starved companies.
Nearly half of technologists in the Pluralsight study — 48% — said they consider leaving their current position at least once a month, which is unchanged from last year’s survey.
Adding skills and responsibilities were the top reason for scouting the job market, cited by 47% of respondents, up significantly from 2022, when only one-third of respondents listed it as their top complaint. Nearly three-quarters of respondents plan to leave their current employer within the next year.
