Only one third of business and HR leaders feel their current training programs are meeting their development needs, according to Waggl’s newest “Voice of the Workplace” pulse survey. The survey was conducted on hundreds of business and HR leaders from August-October 2016, only 34 percent said that their current training programs are meeting business development needs.

By way of contrast, 89 percent of the respondents said that they are taking active steps to improve employee engagement and 86 percent said that they could be doing more to attract top talent. 54 percent of the respondents said that they effectively execute on their strategic goals and plans.

Waggl also asked participants, “Where are you going to be focusing your people and talent budget in 2017?” and distilled their crowd sourced responses into a ranked list. The most common themes from the responses were:

• Adopting new initiatives faster and more effectively
• Making sure everyone feels informed through better 2-way internal communication
• Discovering and resolving problems areas quicker
• Improving execution through better prioritization
• Increasing transparency
• Talent development

See: Future of IT in 2017 for HR Professionals and Business Leaders

“These results clearly illustrate that hiring, retention, and communication are on top of mind for HR and business leaders right now,” said Michael Papay, CEO, Waggl. “Employers who manage their culture and their brand to have a shot at attracting top talent, and it needs to be really authentic.”

“The power has shifted to the employee, where 10 years ago it was the employer. Because of the on-demand world we live in, where feedback is accessible in real-time on websites like Glassdoor, where employees can voice their thoughts on what it’s like to work at a particular company, potential employees get a real-time look at what it’s like to work at an organization.”

However, there also appears to be a huge need for better training, with 34 percent of the respondents saying that their current programs don’t meet their development needs. Of course, all of these areas of focus are interdependent.

“Recruiting may be the hot button right now, but once the talent is secured, engagement and training are essential to building the type of team culture that can effectively execute on strategic goals – especially in our current business climate, which is rife with constant change and disruption.”

Also read: Top 11 Predictions Transforming the World of Work, HRM and People Practices in 2017

Image credit: saba.com