In an increasingly competitive workforce, where the most talented and knowledgeable often have the upper hand, more Americans are staying in school longer for advanced degrees. Some are returning to their former collegiate stomping grounds to further hone their expertise.
Whether doing so because it's desired or it being required, a newly released poll suggests it may more often be the latter. And, as it happens, employers' exacting demands appear to be paying off.
Over the last five years, approximately one-third of employers have increased their educational requirements, based on a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of online job search provider CareerBuilder. In fact, it's gotten to the point where many of the positions that formerly required a four-year degree are now being filled with a graduate degree as a minimum. More than 1 in 4 indicated as much. Additionally, nearly 40 percent said they were hiring staff with a college diploma as a prerequisite for the same positions that used to require finishing high school.
Ongoing training all the rage
Others business owners, meanwhile, are providing some of the tools their current workers need to sharpen their skills or fine tune their mastery of a topic or job function. Last year, for instance, 35 percent of businesses trained low-skill workers in order to prepare them for high-skill tasks, CareerBuilder reported from its poll. At 33 percent, virtually the same percentage of employers intend to do something similar this year.
Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder, indicated that ongoing training is tantamount to employee benefits, in that it's an intangible tool that serve workers' interests.
"[Continuous training] gives them the confidence that they are up-to-date with new developments in their industry and have a stronger understanding of the company's future," Haefner explained. "One of the biggest excuses to not putting a training program in place is often the perception that it will take too much time. However, there is no investment that you can make that will do more to improve productivity in your company."
Great expectations yielding improved results
Employers' more stringent requirements are resulting in added returns – in more ways than one. Among companies who have "raised the bar," almost 60 percent said they've witnessed a higher caliber of work, the survey found. Additionally, 43 percent indicated productivity has been enhanced and 32 percent have seen retention improve.
Debra Wheatman, a career and personal branding expert and contributor at CEO.com, recently noted that a key component to keeping workers loyal comes from recognizing for all their hard work.
"People want to know that their work has a greater sense of purpose than merely checking off items on a list of tasks," Wheatman wrote. "Do you have a mentoring program? Do you offer opportunities for continued education? Do you offer your employees temporary assignments in other departments? All of these things convey to your employees that they matter [and] that their work matters."
