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LEARNING DEVELOPMENT

The great skills race: Why one in four workers have left their jobs - HR Executive

unknownMarch 6, 2025 3 min read
learning and development employee retention skills development ai upskilling workforce trends talent management onboarding hr technology

Editorial summary. This is our text summary of an article published by gnews-learning-development. Charts, figures, and the author’s full voice are at the original — read it there .

Editorial verdict

Data-aggregated journalism. The Randstad survey figures are credible at scale (26,000+ respondents, 35 markets), but the article blends multiple vendor reports without methodological scrutiny — treat the directional trends as valid, but individual statistics require primary source verification.

Executive summary

This article addresses the growing tension between employee expectations for learning and development (L&D) and employer responsiveness in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. The author's central argument is that skill-building — particularly in AI, data, and cybersecurity — has become a decisive factor in employee retention, with workers increasingly willing to leave organizations that fail to invest in their development. Key evidence is drawn from the 2025 Randstad Workmonitor (26,000+ workers, 35 markets), which reports that 40% of workers would quit without adequate L&D opportunities and that 23% have already done so — up from 16% in 2024. Supplementary data from Coursera's Industry Skills Brief highlights a 1,158% year-over-year surge in generative AI course enrollments and an 18% rise in professional certificate uptake. The article concludes that both geographic disparities in employer support and the acceleration of AI adoption are reshaping workforce development priorities, with organizations in North America and APAC outpacing those in Southern Europe and Latin America in skills support delivery.

reportRelevance: 7/10Global

Key insights

  • 140% of surveyed workers globally report willingness to leave their jobs if sufficient learning opportunities are not provided, with 23% having already done so — a significant increase from 16% in 2024.
  • 2Employer responsiveness to future-proofing has improved markedly: 64% of workers report receiving skills support, up from 52% the prior year, suggesting organizational awareness is translating into action.
  • 3Generative AI course enrollments increased 1,158% year-over-year across industries, signaling a structural shift in workforce skill demand that is outpacing traditional L&D program design.

Practical takeaways

  • Organizations in Southern Europe and Latin America show lower rates of employee-reported skills support compared to North America and APAC, indicating a geographic gap in L&D investment that may affect talent retention in those regions.
  • Poor onboarding for IT and tech talent is estimated to cost U.S. organizations $2.2 billion annually, with 25% of new IT hires leaving after a negative onboarding experience — pointing to onboarding as a high-cost failure point in the employee lifecycle.

References

  1. Randstad (2025).2025 Randstad Workmonitor.
  2. Coursera (2024).Industry Skills Brief.
  3. Bullhorn (2025).GRID 2025 Report.

Source & Provenance

Verified
Publisher / Source

gnews-learning-development

Author

Not specified

Publication Date

March 6, 2025

Article Type

News/Analysis

Geography

Global

Content Type
Unknown Source Type
Original Source

Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.

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