Upskilling and reskilling are important in today’s shifting jobs market for employees as well as organizations. Technology changes day by day, and so do industries. Therefore, there is a pressing need for an extremely skilled workforce.

Here, the article discusses the relevance of these two strategies in the event of changing workforce.

What are Upskilling and Reskilling?

Up-skilling generally involves equipping employees with new skills or enhancing existing ones so that they can work more effectively within their current roles. Take the example of a customer support employee, which may learn advanced data analytics to better understand behavioral patterns of customers.

On the other hand, reskilling represents the action of training employees to assume a new job role within the organization. This would be mentoring a marketing expert through to be able to transition seamlessly into a data analyst role. Each of these is critical because they both span existing skill gaps that most organizations struggle with during this time.

What really drives the need for such policies is informed by the evidence of projections from the World Economic Forum, which forecasted by 2025, some 85 million jobs could change because of changes in labor dynamics induced by technology.  On the other hand, the report also suggests around 97 million new jobs would be created, therefore indicating a crucial shift in the nature of job requirements.

Furthermore, it is also expected that up to 40% of core skills required to carry out different jobs would shift in these years. This will mean that millions of employees would be ill-prepared for future work unless various proactive interventions, including upskilling and reskilling, are made available.

How Technology Is Shaping Workforce Skills

This digital revolution is accelerating the rate at which new skills are required. AI, big data, and automation are transforming job functions across sectors, with sectors like manufacturing that significantly relates to job functions.

According to McKinsey & Company, “the job market is not being fast enough in keeping pace with all these structural changes and is experiencing shortages of professionals equipped with specialized technological skills.”. In this new landscape, it is critical for companies to invest in training programs that hone their current skills and equip employees to undertake completely new roles.

Statistics are now revealing that in a couple of years, there is almost one-quarter of the jobs that will be affected due to technological advancement. This will therefore mean that some jobs disappear while other new jobs appear with no previous existing skills at all. Thus, companies must appreciate the necessity of investing in their workforce through programs of upskilling and reskilling.

Benefits of Upskilling and Reskilling

Upskilling and reskilling have many benefits to the organizations; some include:

• Better Employee Retention: Organizations interested in the levels of employees’ development retain higher numbers of workers. As mentioned by LinkedIn Learning, 94% of the workers said they would stay longer in a company that genuinely helps develop their careers.
• Organizational competitiveness: Equipping employees with the latest skills helps maintain organizational competitiveness in its industry niche. This can help an organization adapt and innovate more readily.
• Cost Effectiveness: Gallup estimated that it costs up to two times an employee’s annual salary to replace that individual. Reskilling and upskilling the existing workforce are easier and cheaper than recruiting.
• Learning Culture Development: Organizations that foster constant learning create an environment in which such employees feel important and motivated to grow professionally.
• Closing the Skills Gap: Knowing the specific skill gaps for their teams, organizations would be better placed to design their training programs accordingly.

Effective Implementation

For effective implementation of upskilling and reskilling, organizations should take a series of strategic actions including:

• Current Skill Evaluation: Proper evaluation of existing employee skills will enable the company to identify gaps and utilize their current workforce to improve through further training.
• Organization by Business Objectives Training: Programs must coincide with the needs of individual development as well as organizational objectives.
• Use Technology: Applying technology in training can make learning easier and more enjoyable for the employees.
• Facilitating Constant Learning: Opportunities for continuous learning facilitate a culture of valued, encouraged learning
• Record Outcomes: Standards on outcomes would bring about routine check-ins over the effectiveness of one’s training in order to achieve what’s desired and then modify where possible

Conclusion

Upskilling and reskilling of the workforce have become significant strategies in dealing with the ever-changing dynamics of the workplace. Over the years, industries have been evolving due to continuous advancements in technology and changes in market demand. All these are designed to better prepare employees for future issues while at the same time making an organization more resilient and competitive. Such companies would be able to create a very strong labor pool that could understand the intricacies of the job market tomorrow. It is indeed time to move; embracing the strategies will help him or her perform well in this rapidly changing business environment.