According to Questionmark, a key challenge facing firms monitoring the data literacy of their workforce is establishing who is literate and who is in need of training. Despite assessments being a vital solution to this, able to identify data literacy gaps and provide businesses with a means of measuring progress, many employers refuse to invest in this type of training.
The result for employers is that they could risk losing their top talent to other businesses that invest in upskilling. A recent study revealed that while 85% of executives surveyed believe data literacy will become as vital in the future as the ability to use a computer is today, many enterprise leaders believe it is up to individuals, rather than their current employer or educational institutions, to prepare themselves with the skills for the future workplace.
What problems faced in attempts to upskill workforce?
Yet the report goes on to highlight how employees will walk if they don’t receive enough upskilling and training opportunities. One potential challenge for large employers is the struggle to deliver effective learning programs to a wide variety of employees.
To combat this, Questionmark says that not only should employers assess the training types employees would respond to but use regular testing to check progress and effectiveness.
John Kleeman, Founder of Questionmark, said: “Training effectiveness is a concern for employers who don’t want to be investing in courses that don’t resonate with diverse workforces. But when it comes to areas such as data literacy, employers that fail to offer appropriate training could well lose employees to competitors prepared to develop courses.”
“Regular assessments can help not only work out what would work but gather data on courses as they progress, informing changes and ensuring employees are properly taught.”
How can HR streamline training processes?
To solve this problem, Questionmark has released a ready-made assessment that enables employers to measure the level of data literacy skills among teams: Questionmark Data Literacy by Cambridge Assessment. Also, to understand how assessments can be used to test training efficacy, Questionmark has published “Measuring the effectiveness of learning”.
