Learning & Development

from Both Sides of the Table

21 Insights to Maximize Your L&D Investment
It’s time for a wake-up
call in L&D.
Learning and Development is on a roll these days.
Budgets are up and responsibilities are growing. The
number of resources for upskilling workers is at an
all-time high. Mobile, social, and cloud technologies
are reinventing how employees learn, adding more
flexibility and autonomy to the experience.

And yet, learners aren’t happy. Their satisfaction

levels don’t reflect the brighter industry picture.
To understand why, we surveyed hundreds of L&D
professionals and learners about their goals, priorities,
and challenges.

We uncovered both sides of the story to see where

you’re aligned with employees and where you may be
missing the mark. With 21 fresh insights, this report
helps you take a hard look at your approach so you can
bridge the gaps and get more bang for your L&D buck.

2
 1 L&D budgets are on the rise.
2 You have more ways to delight your learners than ever before.
3 Bold ideas are moving you forward.
4 Something’s broken — employees aren’t satisfied.
5 Both parties agree L&D is a two-way street.
6 Employees are hungry to learn.
7 Employees don’t learn so they can leave, they learn so they can stay.
8 Helping employees grow is L&D’s top goal.

21 insights 9 Hard skills beat soft skills in the battle for L&D dollars.
10 Learners have their eyes on soft skills, too.
to maximize 11 L&D starts and stops with quality for learning leaders.

your L&D 12 Only half of employees are satisfied with quality.

13 You have to worry about quality so your employees don’t have to.

investment 14 Content relevance is what matters most to employees.

15 L&D isn’t delivering relevant content.
16 Everyone agrees: there’s not enough time to learn.
17 Most employees want to learn in bite-sized increments.
18 Employees want a better mobile experience and credentials that count.
19 The classroom isn’t dead, but online learning has the edge.
20 Online degrees: the future is already here.
21 Specializations prove skills have been mastered.
BONUS 4 tips to maximize your L&D investment
3
L&D budgets L&D’s rosy outlook for 2018

are on the rise.

Let’s start with some good news. Our data show 69%
learning budgets are climbing this year, with over expect to support
half of L&D leaders expecting an increase. That’s more employees
a win if you’re looking to expand your efforts,
but more dollars also means more accountability
for making an impact. Nearly seven out of 10
learning leaders report an increase in the number
of employees they’re supporting too, further
51%
expect a
raising the stakes of L&D decision-making.
budget increase
If there were ever a time to use your budget
wisely, it’s now.

4
 Also good news: the majority of L&D leaders feel they
have a rich selection of learning content. With dozens
of tech-based tools emerging on top of traditional
classroom techniques, you have more options than
ever before.

You have more ways to But more content doesn’t necessarily equal more
learning. In fact, it means you have to cut through

delight your learners more clutter to get to the best solutions. That said,
a rich selection of content is a good problem to have.

than ever before.

of L&D professionals

63% say the training content

available is very rich

5
 Most followed trends in L&D

Bold ideas are moving Building a culture of continual learning 51%

you forward. Mentoring to accelerate learning 45%

We asked L&D leaders about which industry

Big data to analyze learning outcomes 35%
trends they follow, and the results show a forward-
thinking mindset. From big data and virtual reality
to gamification and artificial intelligence, many Virtual/augmented reality to improve training 33%
learning leaders are staying on top of the ideas
and technologies that will reshape workplace Design thinking to reimagine learning experiences 33%
learning. But the hottest trend of all, building a
culture of continual learning, is the holy grail.
Your learning culture runs deeper than any one
New learning credentials 27%
course or technology — it’s the very fabric of your
organization and biggest driver of your success. Gamification to motivate learners 26%
Coming in at #1 shows L&D leaders are paying
attention where it matters most. Artificial intelligence to guide development plans 24%

Crowdsourcing content 24%

6
 Something’s broken —
employees aren’t satisfied.
You’d think bigger budgets and richer content would ONLY

48%
mean greater learner satisfaction, but our data tell a more
somber story. Organizations are falling short on delivering
great learning experiences with more than half of
employees dissatisfied. Considering how important L&D is
to employee engagement and productivity, and ultimately
corporate growth, this is especially alarming. And we’re not
the only ones with this grim finding. A recent Deloitte study
found employees gave their L&D departments a dismal Net
Promoter Score (NPS) of -8. So while the arsenal of learning
of employees are satisfied with
tools is growing fast, inside of companies, employees aren’t
necessarily reaping the benefits.1
their current learning experience

Josh Bersin. “Watch Out, Corporate Learning: Here Comes Disruption.” Forbes, March 28, 2017.
1 7
 Learning is a shared responsibility

Both parties agree L&D

is a two-way street. 78%
of L&D leaders
Despite the disconnect between L&D resources and
employee satisfaction, the picture is not all bad. For
one, there’s consensus around learning responsibility
between employees and employers. Nearly 8 out of
10 employees and L&D leaders agree that the onus 77%
is on employees to keep their skills sharp, and it’s on of employees
companies to provide the right resources to do so.

Both sides know this give-and-take is what advances

individual careers and helps organizations thrive.
... agree it’s the employee’s responsibility to keep
skills updated and the company’s responsibility
to provide learning opportunities to do so.

8
 How often employees seek out learning
new skills or topics

Employees are
40% 38% 18% 5%
hungry to learn.
Also in your favor is the fact that nearly 8 out of 10
employees seek out learning opportunities at least always occasionally when not a
occasionally and six out of 10 plan to do so this year. required priority
Overall, they’re an interested bunch. The 40% of
employees with the biggest learning appetite may
get the most out of training,3 but there’s also a huge
opportunity to turn the 38% “occasional learners”
into more continuous learners. By boosting their The year ahead
satisfaction, you’ll entice them to come back for more
and spread the word to colleagues, strengthening your
learning culture even more.
of employees plan to
62% learn a new skill or topic

3
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Mara Swan. “It’s the Company’s Job to Help Employees Learn.”
Harvard Business Review, July 18, 2016. 9
 Top reasons employees want to learn

Do current job better 42%

Employees don’t learn

Build on existing skill at current job 42%

Learn skills for future jobs 36%

so they can leave, they Increase credibility and expertise 36%

learn so they can stay. Stay up-to-date in industry 31%

Feel more confident professionally 28%

Less than 10% of employees learn skills so that
they can jump ship. For the majority, much of Learn new skill to complete a task 23%
workplace learning is about excelling at the
Explore alternative career path 10%
current job — doing tasks faster or better — not
about future employability. In fact, employees Get a new job 9%
say that receiving high-quality training makes
them more likely to stay. This is especially true for
Millennials, whose most sought-after job benefit is
training and development, a perk they prefer even
over cash bonuses.4
of employees say receiving
63% quality training makes
them more likely to stay

Mary Meeker. “Internet Trends 2015.” Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers. May 26, 2015.
4 10
Helping employees
grow is L&D’s top goal.
L&D leaders strive for employee growth more than
anything, according to our data. This makes business
#1 reason
sense, and it aligns with what employees are after
organizations offer learning
too — improving their job performance. Having
more skilled and knowledgeable employees allows
teams to work faster, more creatively, and/or with
fewer mistakes, directly impacting the bottom line.
To support employee
career development
Developing talent internally also avoids the costly
alternative of hiring more experienced workers to
fill skills gaps.

11
Hard skills beat soft
Reasons organizations offer learning
skills in the battle for
L&D dollars.
With technology changing increasingly fast, the shelf
life of technical skills keeps shrinking. Organizations
are feeling the heat knowing these coveted skills may
41% 23%
soon be obsolete. Thus it makes sense that boosting
technical skills is a top reason L&D leaders provide
learning. In contrast, improving soft skills is less of a
driver according to our data. This overall difference
To improve To improve
in focus between hard and soft skills may start to
technical skills soft skills
explain some of the divide in L&D.

12
 Learners have their eyes Learning areas in order of interest
on soft skills, too.
L&D Leaders Employees
Learners are similarly interested in technical skills, but they
care more about soft skills relative to L&D leaders. Not only
do learners want it, but soft skills training leads to 12% greater
1. Hard skills 1. Hard skills
productivity and 256% return on investment.5
2. Non-tech business skills 2. Soft skills
Skills like persuading and perspective-taking are difficult
to automate too, so employees will need them even when 3. Soft skills 3. Non-tech business skills
their tech skills become outdated. Also note that the average
employee starts getting leadership training in her mid-40s, but
the average new manager is in her early 30s.6 This calls for an
Hard skills include technology, engineering, coding and analytics skills.
earlier and more continuous investment in soft skills.
Non-technical business skills include accounting, marketing and finance skills.
Soft skills include leadership and management skills.

Greta Guest. “Soft Skills Training Boosts Productivity.” Michigan News, University of Michigan. January 19, 2017.
5

6
David J. Deming. “The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
132,4. November 2017. 13
L&D starts and
stops with quality What matters most to L&D leaders
for learning leaders. when choosing resources
51%
Quality is by far the most important factor L&D leaders
consider when choosing learning resources. Quality content
is more likely to keep learners’ attention and impact their
productivity. It also builds your own credibility. When
employees complete first-rate courses and work smarter
as a result, they’ll trust you more. Cost is the next-largest 29%
priority but still ranks far below quality. Implementation 22% 20%
ease, measurement capabilities, and user-friendliness are
19%
top priorities for about one in five L&D leaders.

Quality Cost Ease of Ability to User-

implementation assess friendliness
employee
learning

14
Only half of employees Employee satisfaction with the
quality of their learning content
are satisfied with quality.
You curate tools to bring the highest-quality resources
to your organization, and yet only half of employees are

53%
satisfied with that quality. That’s a big problem, especially
because employees expect a certain level of excellence from
satisfied
employer-provided training — you sanctioned it after all.
One of the fastest ways to lose credibility and disengage
employees is provide them with poor-quality resources.

15
You have to worry about Where L&D leaders prefer to source content
quality so your employees
don’t have to. 12%
Source of content
To find the best quality, source of content is a great place isn’t important 51%
to start. High-quality sources tend to produce high-quality Either renowned
content. Our survey found that 88% of L&D leaders value university or well-
content more if it comes from a renowned university or 16% known commercial
well-known commercial organization. There’s no denying a Renowned organization
course from Yale or Google has a certain cachet and unofficial university
quality seal. Interestingly half of learning leaders don’t
discriminate between university or commercial organizations, 21%
so long as they’re highly-regarded institutions. Well-known commercial
organization

16
Content relevance
What matters most to employees
is what matters
most to employees. Content is relevant 49%

Employees care most about the applicability

of what they’re learning. For learning to be Learning fits schedule 32%
purposeful, you need to do your homework on
both your employees and your resources. You
Content is valued by colleagues 28%
need to carefully consider the needs of your
organization and work with subject matter
experts to create custom learning plans. Big Can earn a valuable credential 23%
data can be useful in making these decisions,
but avoiding one-size-fits-all learning requires Content is provided by employer 20%
human collaboration and a depth and breadth
of content from which to choose.

17
 Employee satisfaction with different
aspects of learning
L&D isn’t delivering
relevant content.
Here’s a sobering statistic: less than half of 70%
employees are satisfied with the relevance Fits schedule
of the learning content provided by their
employers. They are even less happy (only
32%) with tailored learning plans, or lack
thereof. But with adequate depth and breadth 46%
of content, you can map the needs of your Relevance of content
workforce to that content. The good news is
organizations are doing a relatively better job
of providing flexible learning opportunities,
perhaps due to the growing number of online
learning options.
32%
Tailored plans

18
 Everyone agrees that the ultimate obstacle to learning is lack of time.
As an L&D leader, you can’t make an impact on your organization
if employees don’t have a chance to engage with your resources,
no matter how amazing they are. But let’s be real: no one ever
has enough time for everything they want to do. It comes down to
tradeoffs. So if you can boost the quality and relevance of what you

Everyone agrees: offer, employees will make time for it at the expense of something
else because it’s that good, or that valuable to their careers.

there’s not enough

time to learn.
65% 69%

of employees of learning leaders

Agree that lack of time

hinders learning

19
 Top 3 ways employees like to learn
Most employees
want to learn in
1 UNDER 45 MINUTES
bite-sized increments.
With so many things competing for their time, employees
need to be able to fit learning into the nooks and crannies 2 45 MIN – 2 HOURS
of their lives. They may not have a whole day to devote to
training, but they can watch a 20-minute video on the way
to work. But the benefit of shorter learning increments
isn’t just to fit jammed schedules. Research shows that a 3 HALF-DAY OR LONGER
bite-size approach to learning results in greater transfer
of knowledge.7 So while learning a new skill can take time,
breaking it into snackable pieces is a true win-win.

Jessica Stillman. “Science Says This is the Most Effective Way to Learn.” Inc. March 22, 2017.
7 20
Employees want a better Top employee learning challenges

mobile experience and What employees say What L&D leaders say
credentials that count.
Time Time
The time problem aside, L&D leaders and employees
face different struggles. Employees see learning on
the go and earning credentials as top challenges, while Career growth Career growth
learning leaders do less so, relatively. But your employees’
challenges are your challenges too. If you’re not Mobile access Tailored plans
empowering them with the smoothest mobile experience
nor giving them the chance to obtain credentials that have
value beyond your own walls, then you may be part of the Valued credentials Training relevance
problem, not the solution.

21
 Top actions employees take to grow professionally
The classroom isn’t
dead, but online Take online course 50%
learning has the edge. Attend in-class training 49%
Employees today count on getting information
when and where they want, not at a set time and
Study training materials 45%
place. Thus it’s no surprise that online courses
provided by employers is the top way employees Read books, blogs, or magazines 42%
acquire skills. Many employees already spend
much of their days on computers and mobile Attend conferences 39%
devices, so organizations are meeting them
where they are — online. Traditional classroom Attend webinars 39%
learning is still popular, but will likely decline
further as online learning proves to be more Consult friend, colleague, or mentor 34%
cost-effective and convenient.

22
 L&D leaders “very likely” to offer
master’s degrees this year

Online degrees: the 40% online 33% on-campus

future is already here.

You can do anything online these days, and
earning a master’s degree from a well-respected
Employees at least “somewhat
university is no exception. We’ve reached a point
interested” in pursuing master’s degree
where the difference between an online degree
and a campus degree is negligible. According
to our survey, L&D leaders are now more likely
than ever to offer online degrees. Online degrees 43% online 47% on-campus

are less expensive, and they encourage your

employees to continue to work as they learn.
Employees want to break out of the classroom,
too — research shows high levels of interest in
online degrees.
9 out of 10
L&D leaders say a master’s degree is at least “somewhat valuable”
regardless of online or on-campus

23
 Interest in certificates and Specializations
Specializations prove skills
have been mastered.
Since a degree takes time, some employees will be

76% 66%
interested in credentials that they can earn more quickly.
In these cases a university certificate is a good alternative
as it will still be recognized and valued throughout their
careers. A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that
helps employees master a skill and earn such a certificate.

of L&D leaders say of learners are

they are “very valuable” interested in them

24
4 tips to maximize
your L&D investment
After reading this report, you have a better sense of
why employees are unhappy with workplace learning.
They want better-quality and more relevant training
that they can easily engage anytime, anywhere. They
want to learn soft skills as much as technical skills.
They want to earn credentials that matter. You have
the power to act on this information and drive more
impactful learning experiences for your organization.
The tips to the right will help you do just that.
Make your content
Raise your bar on quality. more relevant.
With so much dissatisfaction
Knowing how important ‘fit’ is to
around learning quality, it’s time
employee engagement, tap external
to be more selective. Choosing
partners with a depth and breadth
content from only the most
of content that you can build tailored
reputable institutions is one way to
plans around based on the needs of
up those standards.
your workforce.

Offer credentials
Let learners decide when
that count.
and where.
With online learning just as
Choose resources with mobile
acceptable to employees as the
experiences that cater to the on-the-
classroom, consider offering
go employee who wants to learn in
degrees and certificates from top
small pockets of time.
universities that can be earned
online.

25
About the
survey
We surveyed over 750 L&D leaders
and enterprise learners in the
United States from organizations
with more than 1,000 employees.
L&D leaders were defined as those
who make purchasing decisions for
their corporate learning programs.
Respondents were contacted via
email and completed the survey in
November 2017.

26
Coursera for Business helps companies around the world transform their
workforces through curated online learning experiences. With over 2,500
courses and Specializations developed by top universities and organizations,
Coursera’s topic areas span business, technology, leadership, social sciences,
and health. Coursera for Business lets companies design a world-class
learning program without having to develop original content, and empowers
learners to achieve their career, educational, and personal enrichment goals.

Learn more at coursera.org/business