May 13, 2025 - We polled 1,000 senior leaders of privately held companies spanning industry sectors across the nation to take stock of actions, concerns, and challenges in key areas including workforce challenges. Our 2025 Private Company Performance Report sheds light on the growth trends and challenges reported by our survey respondents and reveals that the hard work of closing the workforce digital skills gap continues.

• 34% report significant progress in upskilling programs that develop technical and digital skills.
• 65% of companies still offer hybrid or remote work to enhance employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention.
• 63% report some or very little progress in establishing programs that develop technical and digital skills.
• 55+% rely on training and continuous learning as the top internal skills gap solution.
• Nearly 1 in 5 (17%) expect to resolve the lion’s share of the skills gap outside the organization.

Technology Upskilling Progress And Programs

On the positive side of the data, 97% of private company respondents have made progress in establishing upskilling programs. Yet only 1 in 3 organizations say the progress is significant. Most, or 49% say they have made some progress with upskilling programs. Which means most believe the solution to the problem remains a work in progress.

The Outside in Workforce Upskilling Solution

Eight in ten private companies (83%) believe hiring from outside the organization can resolve up to half of the skills gap challenge. The remaining 17% say they expect more than half of the problem to be solved with outside hiring.

As technology and AI continue to play a larger role in today’s work environment, more rote tasks are being automated and the emphasis shifts to more value-add and higher-level responsibilities. Upskilling can be achieved through internal training or augmenting the existing back-office with internal outsourced support, who often have a higher level of technical skill.

Industries that have more technical expertise in their back office, like manufacturing and distribution factors including cost accounting, product segmentation, and gross margin analysis, will be more inclined to focus on upskilling. Industries that are more transactional in nature, like real estate, will likely focus more on automation.

There continues to be a growing trend in outsourcing as companies see the value of utilizing fractional support. Not only does outsourcing provide companies with more flexibility in today’s uncertain economic environment, it provides a high level of technical expertise, opportunities to upskill in-house employees, and provide stability in an area (finance and accounting) that is prone to turnover. Larger companies with more mature finance and accounting functions have already been using outsourcing as an option and have the luxury of investing more in technology and automation. Closely held and mid-size companies are now turning to outsourcing support at a greater rate to support growth and improve their back-office function.

With the increase in interest rates, private equity has often turned to smaller deals, with a less sophisticated back-office. Post close, there is then a need to stand up the acquired companies onto the existing platform, usually a more complex ERP, and other post transaction support (purchase price allocation, opening balance sheet, audit support, establish a timely month-end close, etc.). Private equity is turning toward outsourced solutions to support these post-transaction responsibilities.

The top three ways companies are upskilling the workforce for competitive advantage in the digital age are:

• In-house training or third-party digital learning platforms (58%)
• Building a culture of continuous learning and rewards (55%)
• Utilizing managed services providers to outsource positions or entire departments (47%)

Citrin Cooperman’s Private Company Performance Report

Upskilling the workforce is top of mind for business leaders, and Citrin Cooperman is well-equipped with the knowledge and insights to help your business achieve its goals. Citrin Cooperman has been serving and advising middle-market, private companies and high net worth individuals for over 40 years and created an annual Private Company Performance Report to discuss what is top of mind for business leaders across the country. Access our report to discover valuable insights into the trends, opportunities, and challenges facing businesses today.

Access the 2025 Private Company Performance Report