To help build AI literacy in the enterprise, LinkedIn is offering 250 AI courses for free through April 5 alongside its 2024 Annual Workplace Learning Report, which highlights the state of learning and development and the skills needed for the future.
There's no doubt that employees want to develop critical AI skills: Four in five people want to learn more about how to use AI in their profession, according to the LinkedIn Learning report (Figure A). That high number was one of the report's surprising findings, Jill Raines, LinkedIn's director of product management, told TechRepublic in an email interview.
How to access free AI courses through LinkedIn Learning
All 250 free AI courses are available on LinkedIn's Learning Hub, but until April 5 they will be free to everyone, whether someone has a Learning subscription or not. These AI courses cover seven languages: English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish.
“Jobs are changing for us, even if we're not changing jobs,” Raines explained about why these AI courses are offered for free. “Our data shows that the skills needed to do the average job globally are projected to change by 51% by 2030 compared to 2016, and the rise of generative AI is expected to accelerate this change to 68%. “Talent leaders have a huge role to play in helping people develop the skills they need to keep pace with this change and thrive in the age of AI.”
The goal was to ensure that LinkedIn's free AI courses covered multiple levels of proficiency, Raines added. “So whether your goal is to develop general fluency in generative AI, empower your teams to make GAI-powered business investments, or upskill engineers to maintain and train AI models, there's content for you.”
Not surprisingly, the company has seen courses on generative AI “skyrocket in popularity,” he said; year after year, the number of students interacting with AI content has increased five-fold. Some of the most popular AI courses on LinkedIn this year are:
Companies with a strong learning culture see higher retention rates
Employers must understand that providing career and skills development opportunities is not just a “perk” – it is a business necessity, a powerful retention strategy, and the key to ensuring employees develop the right skills at the right time for roles. correct, Raines said. . Employers should create a culture of learning and utilize training and development professionals, she added.
And yet, recent LinkedIn surveys of American executives found that only 38% of companies say they are currently helping their employees become knowledgeable about AI. At the same time, 90% of organizations are concerned about employee retention and are providing learning opportunities, as 85% of respondents are looking to change jobs this year.
“We can now link desirable business outcomes to a strong learning culture, a powerful tool for (learning and development) professionals and executives who champion learning,” he said.
SEE: LinkedIn: 93% of organizations are concerned about employee retention
Raines pointed to the LinkedIn report's findings that companies with strong learning cultures see:
- Higher retention rates (+57%).
- More internal mobility (+23%).
- A healthier management portfolio (+7%) compared to those with lower levels of commitment.
Additionally, Raines said, “As the skills needed for jobs change, it is critical that employees invest in developing their own skills and have a say in their own professional development.”
Only a third of organizations offer internal mobility programs
Another significant finding from the LinkedIn report is that only 33% of organizations offer internal programs to help people advance their careers (Figure B). This may be the case because, although the benefits of creating cultures that encourage internal mobility are clear, “it is a challenge to get it right for many organizations,” Raines said. “In fact, only one in five employees has high confidence in their ability to make an internal move.”
There are several reasons, he added. According to recent research from LinkedIn, hiring managers say the top three barriers to internal mobility are:
- Talent hoarding (40%).
- Lack of learning and development opportunities to equip people with the skills necessary to advance their careers (39%).
- The organization lacks an effective process to manage internal mobility (35%).
“The reality is that a change of mentality is necessary. Creating a culture that encourages internal movements is of all work, from executives to managers and the employees themselves.”+
New internal mobility and professional development features in LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn is “evolving” its products to better support internal mobility, bringing together the company's learning and recruiting tools to help employees raise their hands for internal jobs and help them get discovered by internal recruiters, Raines said.
LinkedIn also launched new career development and internal mobility features in its LinkedIn Learning Hub, designed to help talent leaders develop the skills their organizations need most. Features are Next Role Explorer, Role Guides and Learning Plans.
“We've learned that the most effective approach to helping organizations develop the right skills is to tie learning to employees' individual career motivations,” Raines said. “In fact, students who set career goals put in four times more learning than those who don't set goals.”
With the new Next Role Explorer, “students can see potential next roles they should explore based on common transitions we see LinkedIn members make with their current (job) role,” Raines said. They will then be able to understand the skills needed to transition into those roles and tailor their learning journey based on specific career goals.
For example, the Next Role Explorer visualization can show students the path to promotion, from “data analyst” to “senior data analyst” and the skills they need to learn to advance, he said.
“Employees can also understand what a career pivot would look like, as we recommend new roles based on LinkedIn members who have made a similar job change. So if you are a data analyst and wondering what skill gaps you need to fill to become a software engineer, we can help you on that journey,” Raines said.
Next Role Explorer also directs employees to customizable role guides to help them understand the specific skills needed to succeed in a position, Raines said. From there, employees will be able to get personalized learning plans designed to help them track their progress and close the most critical skill gaps to advance their careers.
Additionally, the company is offering employees new ways to opt-in to share their interest in open internal positions on LinkedIn Jobs, LinkedIn Learning, and on mobile devices. From LinkedIn Jobs, employees can now receive alerts about new internal roles opening up and expressing interest. All of these signals go directly into LinkedIn's recruiting tool, so hiring teams can see internal candidate interest right away, he said.
On LinkedIn Learning, employees can now find all of their employers' open internal roles and be directed to the top skills they'll need, as well as recommended courses to develop them, Raines said.
LinkedIn Learning Hub is available to organizations with 20 or more seats and prices vary depending on your needs.
Methodology for LinkedIn's 2024 Workplace Learning Report
LinkedIn said it collected billions of data points generated by its 900 million members in more than 200 countries on the site today. Part of the analysis came from LinkedIn's fastest growing skills and the impact of learning culture data.
