imc Learning, a leading European e-learning provider, commissioned ‘Research Without Barriers’ to conduct a study that investigated employee satisfaction in connection with continuing education offerings.

The trend, which was sparked by the major societal shift in personal and professional priorities post-pandemic - also known as the Great Resignation or Great Reshuffle - is now being billed as ‘The Great Upskill’.

The Great Upskill is a natural evolution of the Great Resignation, as people seek greater fulfilment and engagement with their working lives. Aside from a greater expectation of flexibility, employees now want to work for employers that help them to enrich their working experience through ‘upskilling’, training, personal and professional development, and by creating engaging career paths for the short, medium and long term. They want to achieve more, know more and generally be more engaged with the work they are doing - a move away from the traditional approach to benefits, which focused heavily on short term perks, like free fruit.

imc research has found that 52% of employees had left a role due to lack of personal or professional development opportunities. Interestingly in this context, 48% of employees have not received training in the last 12 months. The importance of creating pathways early for talent, and following through with them, can reduce the overall staff turnover, keep employees engaged, and help to nurture and retain talent in the long term.

"We've seen the right enterprise learning strategies and e-learning technologies have a direct impact on both staff retention rates and overall employee job satisfaction, particularly among our larger multinational clients." says Russell Donders, Director of International Market Development at imc.

A very considerable 86% of employees would remain with their current employer for longer if they were offered frequent L&D opportunities.

The trend isn’t only affecting junior team members.  Among managers, 22% now say they do not receive enough training in their current role. This finding chimes with the Great Resignation trend of an average of 20% of the workforce looking for new roles in 2022. In fact, 78% of managers would remain with their current employer for longer if they were offered frequent L&D opportunities. A clear development pathway is therefore key to retaining and nurturing senior team members - and now essential amid the recent talent scarcity concerns.

While economic conditions may influence some businesses to tighten their belts, the rise in demand for well-rounded and tailored training opportunities across all levels doesn’t come at the expense of business interests. Quite the opposite as 81% of managers’ report a positive impact from training on their business bottom line.

“Fosway research shows that partnering with vendors is an important part of digital learning success,” said David Wilson, CEO, Fosway Group. “imc’s customer orientation and strong partnering has helped clients deliver significant impact, helping consolidate its position as a Strategic Challenger on the 2023 9-Grid™for Digital Learning.

Europe’s leading HR analyst Fosway Group has published its latest study on learning systems. The imc AG is listed with their Learning Management System imc Learning Suite (ILS) as a Strategic Challenger for the first time.

According to Fosway Group, Strategic Challengers offer higher potential solutions, and have greater capabilities in terms of their depth and breadth than most other solutions in the market. These solutions are able to handle the complex needs of large, enterprise customers.

"The continued digital transformation of learning is being driven by rapidly evolving organisational requirements," said David Wilson, CEO, Fosway Group. "Congratulations to imc for moving into Strategic Challenger position on this year's Fosway 9-Grid™ for Learning Systems. This reflects the company’s focus on innovation to meet the changing needs of large, complex customers."

Christian Wachter, CEO of imc, is pleased with the top ranking:

"Being recognized as a Core Leader for Learning Systems in the Fosway 9-Grid™ with our LMS is of course another incentive.

The strategic enhancements in the areas of Learner Experience, User Generated Content and Learning Analytics will certainly help to improve the product's potential and continue on the path to becoming a Strategic Leader."

Fosway Group, Europe’s #1 HR industry analyst, has published its latest analysis of the Digital Learning market. The content solutions from imc were able to secure an even better place than last year. The Saarbruecken-based company thus continues to expand its positioning in the Fosway 9-Grid™ for the fourth year in a row.

For the second time, imc's learning content is ranked in the Strategic Challenger category. According to Fosway Group, Strategic Challengers offer solutions that cover a broader range of services than most other providers included in the 9-Grid™. Strategic challengers are also solid and reliable partners in the digital learning field.

Falk Hegewald, Director Content at imc, is extremely pleased about the immense improvement:

"The significant jump in the ranking reflects our impressive development over the last few years and strengthens us in our mission: to inspire and engage our customers and together create innovative learning experiences for people worldwide. This applies to our customized projects with customers such as Jägermeister, Vodafone or Porsche as well as to new learning worlds from our own product portfolio such as "Cyber Crime Time".

“As a Strategic Challenger in the 2022 Fosway 9-Grid™️ for Digital Learning, imc has developed a track record for learning design, learning solutions and services that help organisations transform their learning approach,” said David Wilson, CEO, Fosway Group.  “The Meister Academy is a great example of how imc bridges creativity, brand and global blended learning.”