The great attrition and today’s labor shortages have given the timeless topic of human capital new urgency. To help decision makers gain insight into how organizations can strengthen their talent base and fuel upward mobility, the McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance practice convened a virtual launch event for our report, Human capital at work: The value of experience.

The report finds that 80 percent of job changes involved people moving to new employers. This points to a big missed opportunity for organizations. Workers want and need learning and development opportunities, and organizations need to respond, particularly in today’s tight labor market. The research explores how they can do that by changing the way they evaluate talent, increasing internal mobility, and becoming great learning organizations—all priorities that can improve recruiting and retention.

Following a brief overview of the key findings with lead author Anu Madgavkar, Stephanie Flanders, Senior Executive Editor for Economics at Bloomberg and Head of Bloomberg Economics, moderated a discussion with leading experts:

• Birgit Bohle, Board member for Human Resources and Legal Affairs, Labor Director, Deutsche Telekom AG
• Beth Cobert, Chief Operating Officer, Markle Foundation
• Sir Christopher Pissarides, Nobel Laureate Professor of Economics & Political Science and Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics
• Bill Schaninger, report co-author, Leader, McKinsey's People & Organizational Performance Practice, and Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
• Sven Smit, report co-author, Chair and Director, McKinsey Global Institute, and Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Questions discussed during the webinar include:

• What are some of the wider economic implications of the findings from the report for local and national markets?
• How can organizations use learning, apprenticeships, and career pathways as a means to attract and retain employees, especially when there’s a talent shortage? Can great experience be the antidote to the great attrition? What does it take for companies to become academy companies?
• We know that someone who attended poor-quality schools and lacks any postsecondary education or training/qualifications is starting from behind in the labor market. How can individual workers harness the experience effect to level the playing field?
• Skills signaling is a major challenge when it comes to internal hiring and external non-traditional hiring. What are some ways to make skills as visible as education?
• How does this play into the ongoing discussions on the future of work, flexible/hybrid work, and well-being?

For more on this topic, please watch a replay of the launch virtual event above, watch a replay of our virtual event that specifically discussed implications for Asia-Pacific with report authors, and read the report, Human capital at work: The value of experience.