How the pandemic has affected salaries, attitudes, hybrid working and career objectives in L&D

Nick Bate, Co-founder of Blue Eskimo, joined us last week to host a webinar discussing the impact of the pandemic on careers in the L&D sector. He shared some great insights from the L&D salary and workplace survey ran by Blue Eskimo in late 2021. Here are the key takeaways. 

Despite the pandemic adversely impacted L&D budgets, 2021 saw a significant increase in confidence throughout this buoyant market, especially within digital learning and learning tech.  

There are more jobs available than people looking for new roles in this space, with the average interview cycle shortening from 4 weeks to 2. Blue Eskimo have seen a 260% increase in vacancy volumes last year compared to 2020. So far in 2022, their vacancies have increased by 73% compared to that growth of last year.  

It’s also notable that more people are changing jobs in 2022 compared to 2021, seeking flexible working roles, higher salaries and more challenging and creative roles. 

Nearly half of the professionals involved in the survey stated they work longer hours remotely than previously. Despite this, 93% of respondents felt they managed to maintain a social connection with colleagues during the pandemic, demonstrating a resilience amount people to stay connected an harness technology such as Microsoft Teams to collaborate effectively. Additionally, 30% felt that the treatment they received from their employers had improved as a result of the new working conditions created during the pandemic. 

Nearly half of those surveyed have received pay increases in the last year, indicating the demand in the market for, and relatively short supply of, digital learning skills.

Of those who did receive pay rises, over 60% got an increase of 1-5% and over 20% got a rise of 21% or above. Note that the biggest rises although they were across the board, were more in the fields of digital learning design & sales.  

57% of people are content with their level of pay, but only 15% think that they’re getting paid more than the majority of their industry peers. 

Nearly half of respondents said that they are likely to change employers in the next year. 

This draws parallels with Microsoft’s 2021 Work trend index, which stated that 41% of 30,000 people surveyed are likely to consider leaving their jobs within the next year. 

That might be due to the renewed confidence in searching for a new job as people have had the time and space to reflect on their personal and professional lives. Simply, it could just be that they don’t want to go back in the office, accelerate their career growth, or look for better pay. 

We would like to express our thanks to Nick Bate for sharing his knowledge & insights with us. If you would like to see the full recording contact us here.