Attitudes to employability and talent
This report aims to explore the attitudes towards employability and responsibilities for career development in the UK. It draws on data from focus groups with individuals working or looking for work, as well as surveys of HR practitioners and line managers from organisations of a range of sectors and sizes.
To explore individuals’ views on employability, online focus groups were conducted with key employee segments from a mix of industries and locations.
The following groups of participants were recruited from the YouGov online panel:
- employed in roles requiring in-demand skills (defined using UK National Shortage Occupation List, for example engineers, software development professionals, medical practitioners)
- employed in roles not requiring in-demand skills
- self-employed (currently working as a freelancer or in own business)
- short-term unemployed (unemployed for six months or less and looking for work)
- long-term unemployed (unemployed for over 12 months and looking for work).
To understand employers’ views on employability two surveys were conducted. The first survey collected 1,078 responses from HR practitioners in the UK, asking the participants to reflect on organisation-wide policies in talent management, career development and other areas.
The second survey included 1,014 individuals with line management responsibilities working in UK organisations. It focused on the practice of talent management, as seen by those dealing with day-to-day management of staff performance and development needs.
HR practitioners were recruited from the YouGov online panel and from the CIPD membership base, and line managers accessed via the YouGov panel.
