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Dec 19, 2024
Sudden layoffs, the ever-demanding environment, and the integration of AI have paved the way for employee reskilling and upskilling. According to Workable, "91% of the employers and 81% of the employees believe that upskilling or reskilling has enhanced their productivity."
This has had a positive impact on their salary and job position. The article explains the meaning of upskilling and reskilling, and the need for upskilling and reskilling employees.
Upskilling means adding more expertise to your existing skill set. These advanced skills help employees improve productivity and advance in their career paths.
Check out: Tips to Choose the Right Upskilling Course
Reskilling is acquiring additional skills to ensure a smooth transition into different organisational job roles.
Considerably, both skills are anticipated to bridge the skill gap between the employees effectively.
Upskilling and Reskilling are a powerful tool that helps individuals adapt to changing technological trends, stay competitive, and ensure career success. Here are some reasons why most employees or employers demand it.
Times have gone by since employers demanded traditional skills to bank upon. With the market evolving continuously and technologies evolving, staying relevant is crucial. Upskilling and reskilling are two of the most indispensable tools that can help you stay competitive and boost career development. Thus leading the way to a better position. According to a recent study by LinkedIn, 87% of employers believe that upskilling and reskilling their workforce is essential to meet the changing demands of the market.
72% of employees feel that acquiring new skills through reskilling programs increases their value in the job market and enhances their career prospects. This data highlights the growing need for employees to acquire new skills and stay updated with the latest technologies and industry trends.
In today's fast-paced business environment, numerous projects highlight the importance of upskilling and reskilling. For example, when a company shifts from traditional technology to cloud-based technology, employees must receive training in areas such as cybersecurity, database management, and agile development to stay relevant. Similarly, if an organisation plans to transition to a remote or hybrid work model, employees need to become proficient in tools like Zoom, Slack, Teams, and Trello to maintain productivity.
Developing these skills will not only solidify their expertise but also enable them to acquire new skills that will enhance a company's return on investment.
In today's fast-paced business environment, numerous projects highlight the importance of upskilling…
92% of the knowledge workforce in India uses AI today; hence investing in these new-generation skills is no longer a choice. Since these technologies demand specialised skill sets that traditional employees do not possess. Therefore, you must be trained to understand the AI concepts, its implementation, analytics, and how to integrate these technologies into the current system without disrupting productivity.
You must also learn the ethical and legal considerations involved in using AI, developing systems that can facilitate security, etc. You must instil new skills in your business if you want to enhance your knowledge and restructure your business. Having understood the importance of upskilling and reskilling, let's discuss the benefits of doing so
Upskilling and reskilling can offer numerous benefits for IT professionals. Some of the most relevant benefits are explained below.
As per the HR survey conducted, 95% of respondents believe that AI, market forces and other tech trends have disrupted the market. Hence, it necessitates the need for upskilling and reskilling. It makes the candidate stand out, seize new opportunities, and adapt to the latest job trends. With it, they can enhance their employability, foster innovation, and stay prepared for leadership roles.
Acquiring a new skill set diversifies your knowledge base and encourages you to take on new challenges and responsibilities with ease. Since you have all the necessary tools within your reach, you can solve the problems and seize new opportunities. This will positively impact your confidence, performance, and relationship with your seniors. Moreover, the data further reinstates our belief in this fact, it says that 81% of employees have witnessed improved work productivity after undergoing this training. It will ultimately boost their confidence in the workplace.
When combined, upskilling and reskilling promote innovation. You can leverage them to give the company a new direction, streamline the business operation, improve overall business efficiency, and become a valuable IT professional.
The skilled and reskilled force can harness the power of data technology, analytics, and insights to make informed decisions, draw meaningful conclusions, and interpret the data more effectively. This strategic approach helps companies stay relevant in the present and make prompt decisions.
Continuous learning helps you thrive in different business conditions. It makes you capable and proficient and empowers you with the tools that instil business growth. As per an article published by Forbes, 48% of leaders say that their ability to innovate has increased after learning digital skills. It can make a huge difference for the company and prevent them from falling behind.
AI has squeezed out many jobs and is in the process of thrashing out many more. By upskilling yourself, you can out-power technology and create a new role. For example, if you are an IT professional, you can learn new languages or cyber security measures to curb the challenges posed by AI within the organisation, which will become indispensable.
Happy Customers are no longer a distant reality. By upskilling and reskilling yourself as an entrepreneur, you can understand customers' pain points and struggles and find out how to satisfy them. This will eventually lead to better customer service and a great experience.
For example, Company Z, a leading tech firm, faced continuous customer dissatisfaction despite delivering high-quality and innovative products. Making some changes in their working style and implementing some upskilling programs for their IT teams helped them witness a drastic change in terms of enhanced empathy providing effective communication skills.
The effects of this change are that the employees are now able to swiftly grasp customers' pain points and deliver them with tailored and more appreciable solutions. This proactive shift resulted in a notable uptick in satisfaction scores, cementing Company Z's reputation for exceptional customer service and experience.
HR professionals face a lot of problems when hiring candidates. Sometimes, the candidate has the necessary skills for a specific role but lacks the associated skills.
For example, a digital marketer might have strong SEO/Social and social media skills but lack the associated skills like graphic design, copywriting, and HTML/CSS.
To address it, companies like IBM and HubSpot have implemented extensive upskilling/reskilling training programs that equip marketers with content marketing, inbound marketing, and other analytical skills to stay relevant in the digital space.
This gap can become a hindrance to their career development. By upskilling and/or reskilling yourself, you can bring overall effectiveness to the role.
HR onboarding can be overwhelming. Following the collection and analysis of data, recruitment and negotiation are conducted. A report evaluating the candidate's relevance to the job is also prepared. This, however, costs time, money, and other operational expenses. The organisation can either reskill or upskill its employees instead of looking for new talent. As a result, the interviews will take less time and cost less money.
Regular training or workshops boost employee confidence, help them handle projects incredibly well, and make them more committed. As per Accenture, 74% of the workforce feels overwhelmed when it comes to working with data. Upskilling them with data handling skills would reduce employee anxiety and increase client engagement, benefiting the overall organisation.
When an IT employee resigns, the organisation incurs a lot of loss, especially in terms of knowledge that they have been imparting over the months. Even the best-designed HR policy and a highly culture-oriented company cannot stop attrition from rising.
So, to retain talent and keep up with these valuable assets, you can reward your employees with upskilling and reskilling programs. These programs will arm them with the necessary skills to facilitate internal promotions and encourage employees to remain committed. This way, you can move to the gears.
Unlike in the olden days, when work was restricted and repetitive, the employees did not find a reason to reskill themselves. However, in the modern competitive era, employees do not want to lag but want to stay abreast of state-of-the-art technologies; hence, upskilling/reskilling becomes important.
Moreover, these opportunities help the employees grow and ensure the organisation stays relevant and agile, even during difficult times.
Upskilling and reskilling drive the candidates' literacy, cushioning them from the rapidly changing technology landscape and preparing them for the future. This scales up your organisation and lets them achieve their goals.
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Many conglomerates are using Upskilling and Reskilling to promote growth and dedication. Some of the popular companies that have used and are still using upskilling and reskilling strategies include:
Before upskilling and reskilling the employees, the company faced many challenges, like skill mismatches, especially in cloud computing and networking. However, the company did not give up and invested $1 billion in employee education. To everyone's great surprise, this led to significant employee productivity, retention, and overall growth.
The leading store, Walmart, struggled with the introduction of new retail technology. Hence, to succumb to the challenges, the company invested in the Walmart Academy, which offered advanced training skills to the employees to make them more efficient. The results were remarkable. The company became effective in supply chain management, and customer satisfaction improved.
The leading operating system provider Microsoft also encountered challenges in adapting to modern cloud technologies; after that, Microsoft initiated free interactive learning classes that helped the employees with enhanced product development and overall customer satisfaction.
Now that we have a brief understanding of the ways companies leverage the benefits of upskilling and reskilling, let us see how these skills can be implemented.
To remain in a prime position and effectively address new customer demands and emerging business challenges, you must do the following things.
The skill analysis test helps you understand what role your employees are suited for. For this, the organisation needs to clarify business goals, identify the skills, measure the skills, identify the gaps, and create a plan to address those gaps using employee Soft Skill training, workshops, or other resources.
Skill assessment should not be standardised annually; the more briefly you evaluate, the better you stand. It alleviates the pressure and makes the employees more responsible.
On-site training is the best way to fill the skill gaps. With it, you can reinforce hands-on learning and enhance skill development.
You can try the following methods:
Upskilling and reskilling are practices that can help employees and companies stay motivated and committed. They yield positive outcomes and promote a culture of learning and nurturing which is necessary to help the company pick up the pace. These skills also empower employees to respond to emerging challenges. Investing in them is no longer an option; they are a necessity that facilitates success in modern times.
