Blanchard, a global pioneer in leadership development, consulting, and coaching for more than 40 years, released its fifth annual 2024 HR/L&D Trends Survey Report. This report includes responses from more than 1,000 leadership, learning, HR, and talent development professionals from 20 industries in 80 countries. One fourth of the respondents are from the United States.
The intent of the study is to discover from the HR and L&D perspectives the challenges companies are facing in the post-pandemic world. In addition to structured questions, participants were asked open-ended questions to capture a more complete understanding of the issues.
When asked to share, in their own words, the biggest challenge they are facing going into 2024, the top responses include attracting and retaining talent with the necessary skills and experience to be competitive in the market; strategy and measurement of aligning talent development with business objectives; skill development to increase individual capabilities to keep pace with the rate of change; managing budget, time, and resource constraints; and creating a positive employee experience and maintaining levels of engagement.
Additional findings are below.
- Approximately 87% of respondents expect that hiring in 2024 will continue to be a challenge.
- Nearly 90% of respondents believe it will be harder to retain their best people.
- More than two thirds (70%) of respondents indicate that executive development will be an important goal for their organization.
The need for ongoing, personalized, and social learning that is integrated into the work lives of leaders represents a major challenge for HR and L&D professionals. Having adequate staffing and technical resources is also top of mind for the coming year.
“We asked specifically about the most needed leadership competencies in 2024,” says Dr. Jay Campbell, chief product officer and head of research at Blanchard. “It was no surprise that engaging and developing talent remains high on the list, bu tleading and supporting change initiatives, coaching people through challenges, communicating clearly, and driving innovation all indicate the larger role that leaders will need to focus on.”
Additional data were collected on the impact that AI will have on HR and L&D, the evolution of training modalities, budget expectations, measuring the impact of training, and leadership competencies that will be needed in the future.
“The year ahead will be a one-step-at-a-time journey for HR and L&D professionals around the world,” says David Witt, director of content at Blanchard. “Executives everywhere will be exploring ways to move forward during a time of accelerated change. The war for talent, the challenge of employee retention, the uncertainty of AI, and raised expectations of today’s workforce have all combined to put a renewed interest in the role leaders play.”
