April 21, 2022
Why upskilling and reskilling the workforce is important?
Reskilling and upskilling: Which one is about versatility and which one is about specialization?
Do you know that? Are these important to advance your career?
Can these (upskilling and reskilling) improve employee retention?
Ohh sorry. I forgot to include one more question.
What do upskilling and reskilling mean?
Ohh, sorry, I need to add one more.
Why upskilling and reskilling the workforce is important?
Today, we will find the answers to these questions in this article.
If you are the boss of an organization or an employee, this article will benefit you.
Not only this.
Those who are job seekers will also be benefitted reading this article.
Let's read on.
Don't have enough time to read the whole article now?
No problem. I understand. Sometimes we don't have enough time.
Look at the table of contents (have a look below).
Click on the specific point you want to know most and read that.
It will save you time.
Table of contents
- What is upskilling and reskilling
- Why upskilling and reskilling the workforce is important?
- How to Upskill and Reskill employees
- Wrap up
What is upskilling and reskilling
No doubt, upskilling and reskilling the workforce is crucial.
These enable companies to remain competitive.
But what is actually upskilling and reskilling?
Patience, please. Look at the below.
Upskilling
Upskilling means learning advanced skills related to the current job.
Very simple definition, right? What do you think?
In other words, upskilling means teaching advanced skills to the employees for their present position.
What’s the benefit?
Employees do not need to change their career position. Upskilled employees typically only improve their present performance in the same role.
Still confused? Okay, no problem.
Let’s read the example.
You are a marketing manager. You know, traditional marketing.
But you are not skilled with the present trend. I mean, you don't know digital marketing.
So sad.
If you learn digital marketing means you are upskilling. I mean, you are updating your present marketing skill.
So, upskilling is about specialization.
I hope I have made things clear up now.
Now let’s talk about reskilling.
Reskilling
The term reskilling has been popularized in recent years as the world of work has changed dramatically.
With the advent of new technologies and the rise of artificial intelligence, many jobs that humans previously performed are now done by machines.
This means that workers need to be constantly retrained and reskilled in order to keep up with the changing demands of the workplace.
The term "reskilling" refers to the process of acquiring new skills to perform a completely different job.
For example, your salespeople are experts in face-to-face customer support. But they are not experts in online customer support. If you train them to work as remote customer service agents, you are reskilling them.
Why upskilling and reskilling the workforce is important?
Automation
Technological growth is replacing many manual jobs and low-skilled jobs.
It is true automation has been overgrowing for many years, but it will increase much more in the coming years.
According to the BBC, "by 2030, robots could replace up to 20 million manufacturing jobs throughout the world."
Are you shocked?
So be prepared for reskilling and upskilling yourself.
New job roles
New job positions are being created as a result of digitalization.
No doubt.
App developers, and cloud computing experts, are an example of this.
And there's a lot of demand for these occupations right now. As a result, more people are seeking to acquire these skills and work in the booming tech industry.
Improve retention
You will not want to work for a company that doesn't invest in its employees' career development.
I think no one wants to work for such type of company.
Your employees' skillsets won't become obsolete if you invest in them for upskilling.
It will improve employee retention, and your workforce will feel you care about them.
Saves Time and Money
Yes, upskilling and reskilling can save time and money.
How?
Talents are right before you in the form of employees in your company.
Train them (employees) and save your time, energy, and resources.
The job posting and interviewing are all time-consuming.
No doubt.
Look in front of you. Consider the talents (employees) you already have to upskill and reskill.
Attract talent
Suppose talented candidates find upskilling and reskilling content when researching your company.
It will make your organization more attractive to them, especially those who want to work in an organization that prioritizes employee education.
By this time, things are clear enough to you why upskilling and reskilling are important.
What do you think?
How to Upskill and Reskill employees
- Online courses (for example, upskilling courses from Udemy)), workshops, seminars, and lectures are excellent ways to keep your staff learning while performing their jobs.
- A casual educational style can help—for example, peer coaching. A mentor will teach the employees new skills. He will show them how to use those skills for specific tasks.
- You can expand the employees' current roles. If you do so, employees will get the opportunity to manage their projects without a supervisor. It will boost their work engagement and improve their experience. It allows them to learn a broad and diverse set of skills.
- You can use the job rotation technique. They will earn skills in rotating job roles.
So, how do upskill and reskill the employees? I think now you know the answer.
Wrap up
Satisfied employees don't leave their jobs and work more for the company goal. And upskilling and reskilling improve employees' job satisfaction. It creates sustainable workforces.
If you feel your employees need to upgrade their skill sets, conduct a skill gap analysis.
Why?
A skill gap analysis report will help you identify where to upgrade the entire workforce.
That's why upskilling and reskilling the workforce is important.
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