The new skill? Upskill & Reskill!

If your company does not support continuous learning, it is going to miss out

The last two years have seen massive changes to the way people work. Advances in technologies, coupled with the new realities of a pandemic-ridden and post-pandemic world, have made it necessary for many workers to integrate new tech tools into their daily work routines and lives in general. Just a couple of years back, none of us really knew what Zoom or Teams were and video conferences were the domain of high-level, C-Suite meetings: not always a part of our daily routines.

However, looking at new projects from the World Economic Forum (WEF) along with reports by groups like Statista, one fact is clear: businesses need to invest in employee training and learning programmes. Recent figures from Statista show that companies will likely spend 3.4 trillion USD on digital transformation projects by 2026. This includes, per the report, efforts to both reskill employees to take on new challenges within the workplace (e.g., Statista notes that in 2022 most persons transferring to the tech sector had administrative or business support backgrounds, while 13% came from the healthcare sector and 10% from military careers). Reskilling efforts, per businesses participating in Statista research, will focus primarily on filling talent gaps for companies working to develop future-facing solutions. For example, tech companies report they still face challenges trying to find enough sufficiently skilled human resources for roles in cyber security, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

How do we bridge the skills gap?

Businesses, due to the aforementioned talent shortages, increasingly understand that they need strategies (and programmes) in place to train and prepare future generations of skilled talent. A Global Tech Trends Survey from last year reports that over 34% of tech companies state they are already running training and reskilling activities to meet their talent needs, and they are working with employees across all business departments and who have a wide range of professional backgrounds. For example, getting non-tech employees to understand cyber security threats and mitigation processes is an increasingly common way that companies are easing non-tech staff into future information security and tech roles. Beyond that, the philosophy of career-long learning (or life-long learning) is something that needs to be institutionalised as standard business practice. Programmes like the WEF’s Reskilling Revolution initiative involve over 32 government ministers from 16 countries who are putting in place training standards that will help businesses upskill and reskill their employee teams. Current OECD estimates show that tech transformation will impact more than 1.1 billion jobs in the next decade, but only 0.5% of GDP is invested in reskilling/upskilling efforts. Meanwhile, new skills training and investment in career-long learning could boost global GDP by 6.5 trillion USD by 2030 according to a PwC/WEF study. We just need to make career evolution skills training the norm.

Reskilling and upskilling are your employee retention super power!

The reality is that employees increasingly expect learning and upskilling (or even reskilling) support from their employees. Younger generation talent (Gen Z and Millennials) tend to be values-driven in their views of meaningful employment. They seek roles where they can make an impact and constantly learn. That is why it is important for companies to assess skills acquisition as part of their career advancement programmes. WEF and OECD reports suggest current talent shortages do not afford businesses much time to retrain or reskill employees from scratch. A key motor for bridging skills gaps will be changing search mindsets inside organisations. Businesses need to move away from flat-out recruiting for skills profiles and focus instead on recruiting for potential. This means constant monitoring of employee interests and ambitions and pinpointing which talent within an organisation could thrive in different roles. For example, maybe your financial analyst in the billing department would be equally as good in a role focused on trend mapping and cyber threat analysis in the IT division. Finding the right talent will become less about what has been learned and more about what can be learned. There is no immediate cure-all to current talent transition and skills-gap filling needs, but there is a starting point focused on people. Giving your teams meaning and purpose through career-long learning that helps them advance and thrive in new or modified roles is a good first step. Trusting employees to learn new skills and take on greater responsibilities sends a clear message that their work and impacts are valued and that your business will deliver the professional and personal growth they crave.?