Employee Training & Development: Future-Proofing Your Workforce with Upskilling and Reskilling

In today’s fast changing world, where technology is evolving in a blink of an eye, and industries vanished and reshaped overnight, one this is very clear, the only way to keep alive and stay ahead is learning. In the current era, continuous learning is not a ‘nice to have’ anymore, it’s imperative to one’s career and also the business itself.

Be it with artificial intelligence or process automation, or other productivity tools, the way we work is changing. And it’s better to ride the wave of change by upskilling and reskilling rather than being swept away by it.

If you are wondering how urgent this need is, consider this. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, 44% of workers’ core skills are expected to change within the next five years. Now that means half of what they know is going to be of no use in the next five years. And it further says that 6 out of 10 workers will require training before 2027, however, only half of them will get access to it.

Picture: illustration showing people in a training session

Upskilling vs. Reskilling

So, what are you planning? Upskilling or Reskilling? Are they the same? The answer is no. There is difference between upskilling and reskilling. Let’s understand that in detail.

Upskilling: It is about an employee learning new skills to enhance their current job roles. Consider a Marketing Executive learning Data Analysis to better strategize the products.

Reskilling: It is about learning a completely new skill which is not related to what you already know. It is often needed when one’s job is slowly becoming obsolete or when one wishes to switch the job to a new role.

When upskilling helps you be on top of your job, reskilling helps you prepare for what’s next, probably for an entirely different job role.

Benefits of investing in Training and Development

1. Closing the skill gap: According to LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2024, 91 % if the learning and development professionals agree that continuous learning is of utmost importance for preparing for the future of work. Hiring externally every time for business changes and needs may not feasible. So, nurturing the existing talent itself is the best way to go.
2. Employee Retention: According to the same survey, 88% of the organizations are concerned about employee retention. However, the respondents gave ‘Providing learning opportunities’ as the no. 1 retention strategy. That means the current set of employees are not only looking for paycheck, but they also need purpose and progress. Some studies also suggests that companies with a strong learning culture also have a higher employee retention rate as well. Naturally, it is understood that when employees feel that the employer is investing in them, they are more likely to stick around for long.
3. Agility and Adaptability: Continuous learning and an organization with a strong learning culture will make its employees dynamic enough to face disruptions better and take new roles and challenges coming their way.
4. Overall Productivity: I believe it is needless to say that continuous learning program and upskilling/reskilling will certainly improve the productivity of employees and in turn the overall productivity of the organization.

Another major shift in the process of learning and development is the adoption of technology-driven learning and role of digital platforms. Since the world was hit by COVID-19, almost everyone were pushed to work remotely and that led to a significant increase in online training programs and many training companies also developed their own Learning Management Systems (LMS) as well.

Building a culture of leaning

Providing upskilling and reskilling to the employees and investing in training and development is not just about giving employees access to the courses and resources, but also about taking conscious effort in building a learning environment and culture, that is supported by the leadership and aligning with the business goals as well. We will see what the key aspects are in building a learning culture in an organization.

1. Support from Top Leadership: The buy-in from the top leadership is crucial to foster a learning culture and prioritize it as one of the strategic initiatives.
2. Clarity in Learning Path: The employees should be given proper learning path for their upskilling or reskilling which should certainly be aligned with the business goals.
3. Personalized Learning Path: The employees also should be given a fair chance to select their learning path which they think best suits their interests and abilities, although it should be aligned with the overall business goals.
4. Recognition and incentives: The management should ensure that they acknowledge the progress and achievements of the employees in their skilling process.
5. Time Allocation: The leaders should encourage the employees to dedicate time for upskilling on a very regular basis like every week or so. Also, the leaning path also should be designed with a specific timeline.

Conclusion

If there’s one strategic move every business leader should make right now, it is to start treating training and development as a growth engine, not just as an HR function. Because when your people grow, your business grows — it’s as simple as that.

About CloudThat