THIS JOB IS A "TRAIN" WRECK: "Despite a healthy appetite for additional training that develops skills for the future, only 41% of employees say their employer offers this kind of development.".

• Author: Harrington, Kiyomi
• Position: The Workplace

MANY FRONTLINE employees are lacking the development opportunities they urgently want, according to Axonify's third annual State of Frontline Workplace Training Study conducted by global market research firm Ipsos. Nearly one-third do not receive any formal workplace training, a number that has remained stagnant year over year. Not surprisingly, this lack of formal training is even higher for part-time employees (36%), which has significant implications for the retail industry in particular.

Unlike many other training reports that survey human resources practitioners, learning professionals, and corporate management regarding their training practices, Ipsos engaged real frontline employees from a range of industries to find out what is most important to them when it comes to how they are supported on the job.

"The frontline employee is often an under-supported segment of the workforce," says Carol Leaman, CEO of Axonify. "With more than 2,700,000,000 people working in environments such as retail, contact centers, professional sales, finance and insurance, and manufacturing and logistics, their impact on the bottom line is crucial for most businesses."

According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of the world's workforce will need significant reskilling by 2023. While there is much uncertainty around how frontline jobs will evolve and what skills will be required to perform these new jobs, the research clearly demonstrates that employees are anticipating these changes and want training that prepares them for what lies ahead.

Some 76% of employees feel the opportunity to complete additional training designed to develop their skills for the future would make an employer (present or prospective) more ap pealing to them. When broken down by employment status, 79% of full-time employees echo this sentiment versus 66% of part-timers.

Future-focused development especially is valued by those starting out their career, with 89% of millennials saying they are interested in future-focused training compared to 81% of Gen Xers and 59% of baby boomers.

Despite a healthy appetite for additional training that develops skills for the future, only 41% of employees say their employer offers this kind of development. "Preparing the frontline workforce for the future is a win-win situation," says Leaman.

"Employees get the future-focused training they want and organizations build the future-proof workforce they need to ensure continued business success...