The pressure points of 2023

For the past three years, disruption was the only constant in a company’s life, tech or otherwise.

‍First, there was the pandemic, with its surge of remote workers and supply chain disruption, where tech companies were perfectly positioned to turn the crisis into an opportunity.

Then we saw geopolitics and war take center stage, and another wave of uncertainty hit businesses, only this time, the situation also disrupted the tech sector.

From all-time highs in the final days of 2021, tech stocks have plummeted to all-time lows in November 2022, seeing their value decrease by over 90% in some notable cases.

Lay-offs and hiring freezes in tech have begun to pop in the news feed with higher frequency, with Twitter, Lyft, Meta, and other household names jumping on the bandwagon.

From stock market darlings, tech companies have lit the fire under recession talks.

To make matters even more complicated, tech workers are already prone to be diagnosed with mental health conditions like anxiety & depression.

The current context will most likely impact them even further. The year 2023 is anticipated to be one of the most challenging years for the L&D leader working in tech.

Not only will you need to continue to upgrade your company’s skill bank, but you will have to do so while under tremendous pressure.

For example, cutting costs and dealing with a fluctuating and demotivated workforce that mostly you can’t reach because they work remotely.

For this white paper, we’ve talked to industry leaders and gone through mountains of data to determine the pressure points most likely to impact the L&D strategy and the ability to deploy it successfully across the entire organization.

These problems are not trivial and easy to solve; their solutions are not tools but entirely different ways of thinking and acting together with better tools.

Working differently with the wrong tools will get us nowhere, and working the same way with better tools might push us a little forward.

History teaches that there are opportunities in every crisis and that hard times don’t last forever.And while nobody wishes for more difficulties in life, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt quote is worth remembering: “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”

So the only question is: will we steer the boat or let the sea guide us?

‍Robert Blaga, November 2022

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READ THE 2023 L&D IN TECH REPORT