In a worldwide survey, 73% of employers are endeavor or contemplating layoffs in 2024, pointing to causes similar to efficiency points, a misalignment in worker expertise, and monetary pressures, in line with an Aug. 13 report from LHH, a expertise options supplier beneath the Adecco Group.
Amid these layoffs, HR leaders are more and more utilizing redeployment methods to handle expertise gaps and investing in outplacement companies to help outgoing employees as they transition.
“Our findings underscore that HR leaders are conscious about how know-how is impacting the abilities wanted for organizational success,” Russell Williams, senior vp of profession transition and mobility in North America at LHH, mentioned in a press release.
“Within the face of financial challenges, employers are more and more reassessing whether or not their workforces are assembly these evolving wants, whereas additionally taking a look at how know-how might be harnessed to help their staff’ progress each inside the group and as they depart,” he mentioned.
Primarily based on a survey of greater than 3,000 HR leaders and eight,100 white-collar employees throughout 9 international locations, the first drivers for layoffs have “considerably” shifted from over-hiring to poor efficiency (30.2%) and lack of acceptable ability units (29.7%).
Redeployment applications — which deal with retaining and reskilling expertise — have gained traction, with 82% of HR leaders saying they’re contemplating redeployment as a substitute for layoffs. The shift towards redeployment has been notable previously yr, LHH mentioned, because the proportion of HR leaders with redeployment initiatives has elevated by 25 share factors since 2023, now reaching 47%.
Layoff help has additionally elevated in reputation, with 43% of HR leaders saying they supply profession teaching companies and 45% saying they supply entry to outplacement companies. Nonetheless, solely 10% of employees mentioned their employer supplies profession teaching and 9% mentioned their employer supplies outplacement companies, which signifies a scarcity of worker consciousness and wish for extra communication.
Important employee burnout worldwide may additionally result in reskilling alternatives. About 69% of employees mentioned their groups are burned out, and 25% of HR leaders mentioned they’re frightened about elevated workloads resulting in burnout, up from 6% in 2023. This opens the door for reskilling and redeploying throughout inner roles, in addition to management improvement alternatives to drive retention, LHH mentioned.
