{"id":61809,"date":"2022-08-30T17:45:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T17:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explore.local\/2022\/08\/30\/four-key-traits-of-lifelong-learning-your-business-differentiator\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T20:02:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T20:02:02","slug":"four-key-traits-of-lifelong-learning-your-business-differentiator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/degreed.com\/experience\/blog\/four-key-traits-of-lifelong-learning-your-business-differentiator\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Key Traits of Lifelong Learning, Your Business Differentiator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Traditionally-career-minded people are the type of employee motivated to work full time for competitive compensation and perks. And while they care about work-life balance, they\u2019re willing to make tradeoffs for the sake of their jobs, according to new research from McKinsey & Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet even the most risk-averse stalwarts of the labor pool have acquiesced again and again to the pressures and enticements of the Great Resignation. The same goes for idealistic student- and part-time workers concerned largely with flexibility and community \u2014 and for other people sitting out the COVID-19 era world of work, the McKinsey study found. \u201cIt\u2019s the quitting trend that just won\u2019t quit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When analysts at the global management consulting firm took a look at record levels of voluntary attrition from April 2021 to April 2022, they found people moved on for several key reasons. Some sought a better boss or more pay. Others left to care for their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the top of the list? People quit their jobs due to inadequate career development and advancement.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These findings echo a 2021 Gallup survey<\/a>. A majority of U.S.-based Gen Z workers ranked \u201clearning new skills\u201d among the key drivers they used to evaluate job opportunities. That same year, Degreed found<\/a> nearly half of workers around the world were more likely to leave their jobs if they didn\u2019t see a commitment to upskilling and reskilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are hungry to acquire new skills<\/a>. They seek companies with cultures focused on workforce development \u2014 and they\u2019re ditching those that don\u2019t. All this presents L&D with a red-hot opportunity: Make continual, lifelong learning<\/a> a pillar of your company culture and reap the benefits of a happy, loyal workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lifelong Learning Is Multimodal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Degreed was created on a simple premise: Education is too important to stay the way it is<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-founders David Blake and Eric Sharp set out to jailbreak the college degree. \u201cIt should be our skills, irrespective of how or where we develop them, that should be what determines our opportunities, and I wanted to be part of the solution,\u201d Blake said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inherent in that sentiment is the concept that learning never ends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is people develop skills every day, often without realizing it. Maybe they\u2019re figuring out how to do something in Excel or enlisting the help of a coworker to find data in Salesforce. It all counts, because learning isn\u2019t limited to formal courses, workshops or lectures \u2014 and doesn\u2019t need to take a lot of time. It can come from a podcast or even a conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, we\u2019ve found that workers need and more importantly want guidance, diverse experiences, feedback, insights and experiential learning opportunities<\/a>. In this fast-paced world, it\u2019s vital to invest in your people and create the right conditions for learning. For example, employers that excel at internal mobility<\/a> retain people for an average of 5.4 years, nearly twice as long as companies that struggle with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProfessional development has become a top priority for workers when determining their interest in or loyalty to a company,\u201d said Janice Burns, Chief People Officer at Degreed. \u201cSpecifically, workers are yearning for more educational options that align with their professional purpose and growth. Companies that provide these types of benefits will attract, engage and retain the best workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lifelong Learning Is a Habit<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a world that is constantly changing, there is no subject or set of subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn<\/em>.\u201d \u2013 John Naisbitt, author and futurist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To survive and get ahead, people need to sharpen the skill of learning<\/strong>. How can you help them find the time to develop and become lifelong learners? The first step is recognizing the importance of development and then prioritizing it across your organization. In other words, make learning a daily practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help make and reinforce lifelong learning as a habit, it\u2019s important that you: <\/p>\n\n\n\n