What is Upskilling & How it Can Help You Bridge the Talent Gap
Upskilling, at its core, is an investment in people. The pandemic fast-tracked the need for many employees to learn new skills, or reskill. Upskilling, in comparison, is a longer-term commitment to both employee and company advancement. Those who have capitalized on this concept of providing education and training to enhance their employee’s skills in targeted areas are seeing higher retention rates and increased productivity, in addition to bridging the talent gap at a faster rate.
A recent study from Workplace Intelligence and Amazon found that 74% of employees who identify as Millennials or Gen Z may leave their jobs within the next calendar year due to lack of skills-development opportunities. Creating workplaces that are purpose-driven is an integral piece of employee productivity and retention, yet this study also proves just how hungry today’s employees are to continue learning and growing their skill sets.
Streamlining professional development and education programming, in a way that benefits both the employee and the employer, is at the heart of why upskilling is so integral to the future of your business. It encourages cross-department collaboration, and a deep dive into assessing the needs and future of your organization. Spend some time determining specific projects or initiatives that need to be implemented in order for your business to reach its goals, then evaluate your current workforce : who can help you deliver on those initiatives?
A solid upskill program does not necessarily need to be expensive or overly time-consuming, although several content providers do exist to help you build an effective program for your organization. To start from scratch, consider redefining training initiatives that already exist within your organization; how can they be tweaked or offered to employees across departments/business sectors. Content-rich resources, workshops, and webinars can be found on sites such as LinkedIn as well. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but you should be able to provide employees with a road map of where their time and upskill efforts will lead them. The skills an employee is learning should be relevant to their job, but also other roles they may want to try or are interested in pursuing in the future. By investing in your employees skill development, you are also showing you are invested in their future with the organization.
And investing in your people pays off. 93% of CEOs who introduce upskilling programs have reported seeing increased productivity, an improvement in talent acquisition and retention, and a more resilient workforce. Think of upskilling as a way to also build a talent pipeline. While the need for hiring new talent will always remain, upskilling can help you minimize how often and how hard you need to look to fill positions; engaging and developing current employees creates a pool of savvy, fresh talent who are already invested in your organization.
Consider upskilling initiatives for the current employees within your organization. The investment, empowerment, and creativity it can yield will reverberate within and around your company, setting not just your employees, but your entire company, up for success.
