The Great Reshuffle: A Look at Reskilling and Upskilling
This article was previously published on the Intellezy blog.
We are collectively experiencing a truly unprecedented time of Industry 4.0 (also referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution), a time in which rapid change to technology, industries, and societal patterns and processes has emerged due to increasing interconnectivity, AI, digital transformation, and smart automation. The ever-increasing speed of these changes brings the need for reskilling and upskilling to the forefront of corporate discussion. With skills now having a half-life of five years, and some technical skills only having a half-life of two-and-a-half years, business leaders must prioritize agility in their learning and development as we move from an age of production to an age of information and imagination.
Shifting Demographics in the Workforce
As Baby Boomers head towards retirement and birth rates continue to decline, many companies have not yet captured the knowledge that these older workers possess and have also not transferred this information to younger cohorts that are coming in. Combine this with a global labor shortage in nearly all industries, and organizations can no longer simply hire the perfect candidate to fill the skills gap.
And as more and more Millennials and Gen Z workers participate in the workforce, these younger workers acknowledge that their skills are going to need to be refreshed and updated continuously throughout the course of their career. In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll, 87% of Millennials said that career growth opportunities and professional development are incredibly important to them. If organizations are not clearly offering these workers upskilling and reskilling opportunities, then these Millennial workers are highly likely to leave.
The Great Resignation (The Great Reshuffle)
In 2021, more than 38 million Americans quit or changed their jobs, with more than two-thirds of workers in 190 countries looking for skills in new roles. This highlights the tremendous possibilities for movement across workplaces for individuals who are seeking different opportunities, particularly those looking to learn new skills. If your company isn’t offering new skills acquisition to employees, you run the risk of having those workers look elsewhere.
Additional statistics highlight further issues facing organizations looking to hire and retain quality, skilled employees:
And even if organizations can indeed find candidates, they may not be able to simply hire the “perfect” candidate with the robust skill set needed and may have to choose a candidate that is “just okay,” but can function in the position:
Given this information, organizations cannot necessarily rely on hiring for skills any longer. They must integrate reskilling and upskilling opportunities into their organization’s strategy in order to increase employee retention.
Previous approaches alone aren’t sufficient. Bachelor’s degrees are increasingly required for middle class jobs, but only one-third of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher and today’s students are paying at least 2x more for their degrees. Some skills also now need upgrading within 2-3 years, making them obsolete before students graduate and well before these students have paid for acquiring them. Additional eye-opening statistics on the skills gap include:
Overall, organizations can no longer rely on higher education to adequately prepare workers for a workforce that requires ever-increasing upskilling and reskilling to keep up with the pace of change. This will fall on those in Learning and Development, in IT, and in HR at these organizations, to prioritize and implement both reskilling and upskilling as needed to retain employees and empower them to learn, change, and grow.
Reskilling vs. Upskilling: What’s the Difference?
With such a massive focus on reskilling and upskilling in today’s business landscape, it’s critical to differentiate between the two terms and understand some examples of each.
Reskilling: Occurs when employees learn new skills that replace existing skills. For example:
Upskilling: Occurs when employees learn new skills to progress within their current role or career track. For example:
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Cross-Skilling and New Skilling
In addition to reskilling and upskilling, cross-skilling and new skilling are two related practices that are extremely valuable for organizations to utilize in today’s Industry 4.0 ecosystem.
Cross-skilling: Describes the process of developing valuable skills across multiple functions. Examples are:
New-skilling: Describes a continuous, lifelong learning approach with an assumption that corporate programs, tools, and practices progress over time too. Some examples are:
In this new era of “no normal,” learning will need to become part of our jobs, not something that interferes with our jobs. As organizations increasingly emphasize the need for new-skilling, workers will be constantly adding to and updating their skill sets, year after year. Given the global labor shortage and massive turnover during the past year, organizations will now also need to look inward and assess how they can develop talent for themselves, and how much of this they can do.
Why Upskill/Reskill Instead of Hire for Skills?
The cost of hiring and onboarding a new employee has always been expensive, and with the long hiring cycles that organizations are now seeing, this cost is boosted even further. Because of the labor shortage, workers can command higher salaries, and this can cut into the bottom line. By hiring a candidate with the intent of upskilling and/or reskilling, companies can keep hiring costs lower, and appropriate knowledge can be transferred and cultivated.
An additional way that upskilling and reskilling can benefit a company is by showcasing internal mobility to employees. These companies can retain employees by showing the possibility for internal mobility, which also increases employee engagement. If a company shows employees that there are opportunities for learning and growth within their current organization, those employees are less likely to seek out those opportunities elsewhere.
If organizations give staff members growth opportunities where they are, these staff members will be less likely to want to leave.
Reimagining Corporate Learning and Development
If businesses know that skills are going extinct as soon as two-and-a-half years after they are acquired, these businesses should be continuously running a needs analysis, understanding what new business needs are, and what skills will have to be acquired by staff to address those needs.
In combination with this, a tighter alignment with business partners is crucial. Really forging strong bonds with business partners to anticipate future adaptability will help ensure success, taking a look at what the needs of each area are.
Ensuring that learning and development is at the forefront of the work that your organization is doing is important so that leadership can prepare staff for further changes that are coming. Yet, many executives often overlook this aspect of their organization. In fact, according to a study by the Brandon Hall Group:
What Does it All Mean?
As the business ecosystem and world at large continue to evolve and advance at an ever-increasing speed, companies and organizations must make learning and development a continuous part of their staff’s daily lives. Reskilling and upskilling must be offered in some capacity to both new and old hires in order to increase employee retention and keep the organization up to date with the latest industry trends and best practices.
At Intellezy, we are champions of the ‘people side’ of change, creatively designing, developing, and executing all stages of training. We know what it takes to pull off a successful technology rollout – and it involves much more than a smooth deployment. It takes a human-centric approach to ensure that no user is left behind. Every team member deserves the opportunity to broaden their skillset, feel happier at work, and add value to your organization. From end-users to managers and stakeholders, our certified consultants guide organizations toward success for all.
Whether you need a full-scale, robust training program or smaller-scale assistance with executing your learning and development plan, enjoy the flexibility to choose how involved you’d like us to be. Are you ready for a change partner that’s wholly invested in your success?
Contact [email protected] to discuss your company’s unique needs and how we can implement them into your organization.