Repowering The Workplace With Workforce Reskilling

Thoughts and Observations about Workplace Learning and Reskilling The Workforce:

“If retention was the buzzword of 2022, reskilling will be the talk of the HR industry in 2023. The best way to get new talent is from within and doing it at scale.” Somen Mondal – Canadian entrepreneur, served as the CEO and Co-Founder of Ideal, which was acquired by Ceridian, currently a General Manager at Ceridian.

“A study from Korn Ferry estimates that by 2030 more than 85 million jobs will go unfilled due to a lack of available talent, a talent shortage that could result in the loss of $8.5 trillion annual revenue globally. While automation may be able to fill some gaps, the study also posits that human capital will be just as important as automation in the future, leaving organizations without robust training programs subject to the whims of a talent market in short supply. (…) According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, companies have steadily dropped the ball on workforce training and upskilling since the 1970s. Oftentimes, workers are pushed to meet skills gaps without the necessary training, setting the employee and business up for potential failure. But shifts in workforce strategies in recent years have seen more companies developing strong internal training programs to reskill, upskill, and promote employees within the organization.” Reported on CIO (December 1, 2022) by Sarah K. White – U.S. journalist, senior writer for CIO covering IT careers, hiring & staffing, and diversity.

“According to The Future of Corporate Academies survey, 59% of the 515 learning leaders at large corporations polled believe hybrid learning is becoming a major part of the learning landscape, not just a temporary trend. The biggest jump in training offerings for new audiences will be digital automation workers, which will rise 23% in 2025.” Reported by Peter Crush – UK journalist, interim editor of TLNT (Talent Management and HR), one of the ERE community websites.

“More than 80 million Americans have quit their jobs since the beginning of 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (….) When companies offer mentorship programs, employee engagement and retention increase by 50%, according to a study by the Association for Talent Development (ATD).” From the ATD report “Mentoring Matters: Developing Talent With Formal Training Programs".

“Large employers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Google have announced major investments in workforce education and development programs to decrease churn and fill talent gaps. Some, like Walmart, are dovetailing these programs into their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.” Published on November 22, 2022 in Forbes by Saurabh Sanghvi – U.S. business consultant - partner at McKinsey & Company - leader in McKinsey’s Education and Economic Development practices and Marius Westhoff - U.S. business consultant, engagement manager at McKinsey & Company.

“Upskilling and soft skills were themes that gained steam across industry conversations in 2022. As we move into the New Year with economic uncertainty on the horizon, upskilling opportunities for the workforce will become a prominent retention strategy, demonstrating an organization’s desire to drive employee growth and development. Organizations today have picked up on employee’s desire for continuous learning, and so we will see unique learning and development programs set in place as they create an environment where upskilling is encouraged and also allow companies to reap the rewards of developing highly skilled teams.” Published on January 2, 2023 in Fast Company by Robert Boersma – Canadian businessman, vice president, operations for North America at Talent.com.

“The opportunity to “learn and grow” is the number one driver of a strong work culture. Companies that excel at learning and development (L&D) retain employees for an average of 5.4 years, compared to 2.9 years for companies that don’t.” From the 2022 Linkedin Workplace Learning Report – "The Transformation of L&D".

Training Magazine data from their 2022 Training Industry Report shows U.S. training expenditures passed the $100 billion-mark for the first time in 2021-2022. Average training budgets in the most recent period ranged from $341,505 for small companies to $17.5 million for large companies. 32% of companies surveyed by the publication said they increased their training budget during the period up 9% from the previous period compared to 21% who lowered their investment, down from 26% who said they reduced their budgets in the previous period.?Reported on November 16, 2022 in Training Magazine by Lorri Freifeld – U.S. journalist, editor/publisher of Training magazine.

"You have to value skills and not just degrees. You have to have new education models and new pathways to get people retrained and back into the workforce." Ginni Rometty – U.S. business executive, previously served as chairman, president and CEO of IBM, first joined IBM as a systems engineer in 1981 and subsequently headed global sales, marketing, and strategy, currently on the board of overseers and board of managers for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a council member at the Latin America Conservation Council, co-chair of the Aspen Institute’s Cyber Group, a member of the advisory board of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board International Advisory Council,?and on the board of JPMorgan Chase.

“Employees cannot become more productive in every sense of the word unless they are provided with continuous on-the-job training.” Gregory Balestrero – U.S. industrial engineer, CEO emeritus of the Project Management Institute.

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” Peter Drucker – Austrian-U.S. management consultant, educator, author.

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” Alvin Toffler – U.S. writer, futurist, businessman.

“Life is a classroom. Only those willing to be lifelong learners will move to the head of the class. (…) If you continue training the same way you’ve always trained, don’t expect better results.” Zig Ziglar – U.S. author, salesman, and motivational speaker.

“It is well-established that upskilling and reskilling are effective tools for attracting, retaining and developing talent. “This strategy became more pronounced in 2022 given the significant increase in resignations.?In the high-end domain and technical work, there is a distinct supply gap of talent. Hence, building our talent development framework becomes significant.”?Rajesh Kumar Singh – Indian businessman, global head of HR at KPIT Technologies.

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” William Pollard – U.K. writer, minister.

“If you continue training the same way you’ve always trained, don’t expect to get better results.” Jim Crapko – U.S. training/coaching professional.

“Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late.” Seth Godin – U.S. marketing consultant, author.

“Talent leaders are feeling pressure to pull back on hiring and improve retention to reduce costs. Meanwhile, the skills shortage that has plagued many companies hasn’t abated. In fact, 68% of global leaders believe skills gaps will widen during an economic downturn, according to a recent survey from YouGov commissioned by LinkedIn.” Posted December 6, 2022 by Linkedin Talent Solutions.

“Mentorship may begin to take a foothold this year, according to a Jan. 3 report by the Association for Talent Development. About half of the organizations ATD surveyed said they had a formal mentorship program in place and of those who didn’t, 42% said they’re planning to implement one in the next few years. (…) Researchers found that mentoring programs primarily focused on career development and leadership. Additionally, 23% of respondents offering mentorship programs had four or more in motion. (…) These findings — indicating a modest but notable increase in employer interest — are on par with previous research from ATD. In its 2022 State of the Industry report, published last month, researchers noted that spending on learning and development increased slightly between 2020 and 2021. ATD’s data suggests that instructor-led classroom learning — think one 8-hour-long day of training — makes up a third of L&D available to employees and accessed by talent (28% and 30%, respectively). Both metrics were up in 2021 after a dip in 2020. In turn, virtual instructor-led classroom training, both that which was available and accessed by staff, was down 35% year over year. This may be due in part to return-to-work mandates, as well as the slow return of on-site retreats or the occasional all-hands work day within a hybrid work arrangement. Reported in HRDive by Carloine Colvin – U.S. journalist, reporter for HR Dive.

“According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025 as adoption of technology increases, and 40% of workers will require reskilling of six months or less. The Forum also estimates that by 2025, nearly 100 million jobs may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms. According to a 2020 McKinsey Global Survey, "companies lack the talent they will need in the future: 44% of respondents say their organizations will face skill gaps within the next five years, and another 43% report existing skill gaps. In other words, 87% say they either are experiencing gaps now or expect them within a few years." Michael Timmes -U.S. human resources consultant at Insperity.

“65% of workers said employer-provided upskilling was an "extremely" or "very" important factor when evaluating a potential new job. 61% cited upskilling as important when weighing the decision to remain at their current job. 48% of American workers would switch to a new job if offered skills training opportunities. 30% of workers said they were able to move into new, higher-paying jobs after gaining new skills, and 39% said they advanced in their current job. (…) For workers, upskilling generated an additional 8.6% in annual income (about $8,000 on average). (…) 71% of workers who upskilled said upskilling led to greater job satisfaction.” From The American Upskilling Study by Gallup, commissioned by Amazon.

“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so that they don’t want to.” Richard Branson – U.K. entrepreneur.

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” Henry Ford – U.S. entrepreneur, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production.

“Employees making internal moves are more likely to stay at their organization longer than those who stay in the same role. In expanding employees’ skills, businesses also widen their talent pools, granting themselves more flexibility to hire internally depending on current business needs. However, a perceived lack of employee growth opportunities and skill use threatens businesses, as employees are 10 times more likely to be job-hunting if they feel their skills are not being put to good use … (while) employees with an internal move are 75% more likely to stay at a company after two years.” From the Linkedin Global Trends Report released October, 2022.

“The over 10 million open jobs in the U.S. right now are spread across all industries and occupations. (…) Nearly 40% of all unemployed individuals in October 2022 previously worked in service and sales and office occupations. A quarter worked in the wholesale and retail trade and leisure and hospitality sectors.?These occupations and industries encompass many entry-level jobs that require minimal training and education. Individuals who previously worked in these occupations can quickly move between other entry level occupations in varied industries.?Right now, nearly all industries, no matter the skill level needed, are experiencing a worker shortage. However, occupations and industries that require specialized skills and training are experiencing even more severe labor shortages. The financial activities, information technology, and transportation industries often require a labor force with specialized skills and training. Only a combined 10% of the unemployed population has experience in these three industries, meaning there are not enough individuals in the labor market with the skills required to fill these jobs.??For jobs in those industries to be filled, the current labor force and those close to entering the labor force will need to be recruited and trained to fill these jobs.?However, the degrees undergraduate and graduate students are pursuing are not necessarily aligned with the projected jobs that will be available over the next ten years.?A Master’s in Business Administration was the most conferred Master’s degree over the last decade. Yet, none of the top projected jobs over the next ten years will require an MBA.?Among jobs that will require a Master’s degree, nurse practitioners will be in high demand. It is anticipated that more than 50,000 nurse practitioners jobs will be created over the next decade. Physician assistants and occupational therapists are also projected to be among the highest growing occupations for Master’s degree earners. The good news: Degrees in health professions are popular. If health professional degrees continue to be pursued at the rate at which they are now, there will be a strong pipeline of talent for these professions.?But that’s not the case for all industries. For example, marriage and family therapists; substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors; tutors, teachers, and instructors will all be in high demand over the next ten years. However, psychology and education degrees are not being pursued at equally high rates.?(…)?According to more than 9,000 business and HR leaders surveyed by Deloitte, 73% agreed that organizations are responsible for developing their workforce, followed by individuals themselves (54%).??Employers can consider reskilling or upskilling any person in their workforce despite experience, age, or education level. Workers in higher risk jobs like those in the service industries are the most inclined to reskill, but even those in historically safe jobs, like law, social work, and health care, are willing to reskill or upskill.?The same holds true across all education levels. College educated individuals are nearly equally interested in reskilling and upskilling as those without formal education. Likewise, individuals of all ages are willing to upskill and reskill while the desire decreases with age.”?U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Our research shows us that jobs emerging in the global economy span a wide range of professions and skills. They will provide opportunities for workers of all backgrounds and educational levels. But for all of the opportunities that the new economy will bring, the stark skills and gender gaps that exist today – especially in these fast-growing and emerging jobs – must be addressed now if we want to ensure that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is an equitable one." Allen Blue -?U.S. entrepreneur, co-founder and vice-president, products for LinkedIn.

“If you think education is expensive, try estimating the cost of ignorance.” Howard Gardner – U.S. developmental psychologist, the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs research professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

"We’re not necessarily looking at a negative future in terms of jobs, but what we are looking at is a major shift in terms of the set of skills within each job and the types of jobs that will exist in the future – whether that is in the care economy or the education sector or the IT sector, there are a number of growing roles." Saadia Zahidi – Pakistani business executive, managing director at the World Economic Forum, heads the Forum's Centre for the New Economy and Society, co-authors the Forum's Future of Jobs, Global Gender Gap, Re-Skilling Revolution, and Global Human Capital Reports.

“Technological change, the COVID-19 pandemic and the green transition pose great risks to people’s livelihoods. (…) The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade) estimates that 1.1 billion jobs are liable to be radically transformed by technology in the next decade. The Forum predicts an overall net positive between job growth and decline. However, if current trends continue, outdated learning programs will further exacerbate the skills mismatch in the future. Only 0.5% of global GDP is invested toward adult lifelong learning. This is while Forum research done in collaboration with PwC shows that wide-scale investment in reskilling and upskilling has the potential to boost GDP by $6.5 trillion by 2030.” World Economic Forum.

"With new technologies and trends impacting the world of work, companies are facing genuine challenges in recruiting people with the skillsets needed to capture the opportunities ahead. Therefore, in order to equip individuals to successfully participate in the world of work and enable businesses to find the skills they need to be competitive, we must focus on upskilling and reskilling. We fully support a ‘reskilling revolution’ and pledge to upskill and reskill 5 million people globally by 2030." Alain Dehaze - Belgian business executive, previously CEO of The Adecco Group.

"We need to make sure the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings everyone along with the education and skills to succeed, That’s why as part of the Reskilling Revolution, Salesforce will help train 1 million people with resume-worthy skills and reach 10 million active users on Trailhead, our free online learning platform, within the next five years." Marc Benioff – U.S. entrepreneur, chairman, CEO and Founder of Salesforce.

“Every enterprise is a learning and teaching institution. Training and development must be built into it on all levels; training and development that never stop.” Peter Drucker - Austrian-U.S. management consultant, educator, author.

“The skill sets needed for jobs has changed by around 25% since 2015 and this number is expected to double by 2027. By understanding the skills your employees have today, and the skills your company needs in the future, companies can hire or redeploy talent into growth areas.?(…) The future lies with learning that doesn’t end at high school or college but lasts throughout their career. ?To create a future-proof, agile workforce, organizations should invest in continuous training for their employees, arming them with the new skills they’ll need to stay competitive. (…) Employees who feel their skills are not being put to good use in their current job are 10 times more likely to look for a new job. According to a recent LinkedIn survey, employees say opportunities to learn and grow is the number one driver of great work.” Published January 4, 2022 in the Linkedin ‘In The Loop’ Newsletter.

“I think people understand that if you're going to have a successful economy, you need people's potential to be realized. That means education. It means university education, sure, but it also means training, apprenticeships and various kinds of skills diplomas that we know are necessary.” Justin Trudeau - Canadian politician, the current prime minister of Canada.

“…the Great Resignation (….) calls for a shift in corporate culture around employee education. This is the best upskilling and reskilling opportunity in a generation. Nearly 7 in 10 workers globally are willing to retrain and learn new skills on the job. Yet many of these workers are leaving their current jobs to pursue advancement elsewhere according to a Pew Research Center survey. Clearly, businesses need to develop and promote their workplaces as an avenue to skill development, allowing employees to cultivate new areas of expertise and develop new proficiencies without leaving. By implementing skills training programs and promoting them as a core benefit, companies can emerge from this period with a highly skilled workforce. Adopting an education mindset can transform the “Great Resignation” into the “Reskilling Revolution.” Published in Forbes July 15, 2022 by Daphne Kis – U.S. business executive, CEO at WorldQuaint University.

“Facilitating a shift in skills through training?and education will require a complex set of policy measures, including massive investment in reskilling. Private sector and active labour market policies are required to generate positive transformation for different sectors. (…) Discussions also need to take into account the cycles of and speed at which education and?training?curricula are updated to meet skills demands. Curriculum development takes time, but the private sector needs to integrate into the changing economy rapidly. Interim measures must be taken so that we can bridge this gap and anticipate the skills that will be needed." Alice Vozza – South African skills and lifelong learning specialist at the International Labor Organization (ILO).

“The essence of training is to allow error without consequence.” Orson Scott Card – U.S. writer, best-known for his science fiction novels.

"Training sessions are vital to the learning process, but they are only one step in the learning process and this should never be forgotten. (…) Training alone is rarely the answer to ensuring successful behavior change in the work environment.” Ravinder Tulsiani – Canadian learning & development executive, director of learning at SE Health.

“A shift in mindset is required to thrive in the current era and this cannot be achieve at an academic level, social latitude or political sphere but at a personal level. (…) There is no such thing as job security. Winning or losing is now happening faster than ever before. (…) Personal disruption is the vehicle through which success and economic growth travels.” Nicky Verd – South African writer, podcaster, author of “Disrupt Yourself Or Be Disrupted”.

“The current tight market has created a challenge for employers to attract the best talent, making it crucial for both employees and employers to be aware of, or close, any skill gaps. Offering the opportunity to job seekers and employees to develop or learn new skills is a solution for employers hoping to remain competitive in the market and increase the efficiency of their current team. Additionally, soft skills in particular are invaluable to an organization and possessing these skills often sets top leaders apart. Interpersonal communication, decision-making, time management and collaboration are all soft skills for employees and job seekers alike to focus on in the new year, to increase their value in the workforce.” Published on January 2, 2023 in Fast Company by Robert Boersma – Canadian businessman, vice president, operations for North America at Talent.com.

“At Intuit, we use reskilling programs as a way to hire and retain top, diverse talent. Our reskilling programs include our Intuit Again Returnship, which enables tech workers to on-ramp back into roles by revamping their skill sets, and our Apprenticeship Pathway Program, which springboards individuals from underrepresented groups into long and prosperous careers as technologists. The way to measure these reskilling programs is to measure conversion from program participant to a full-time employee (acceptance rate), as well as engagement rates of individuals going through the programs. We also measure program growth, which helps us gauge the desire of our business units to invest in upskilling; a 4x growth rate tells us our hiring managers and teams are satisfied with the quality of candidates these reskilling programs have moved through the pipeline into roles on their team. Beyond measuring the success of our initiatives, we aim to have an impact beyond Intuit, aligned to our goal of propelling top, diverse talent into prosperous careers. To measure this, we consider data at the individual level, such as salary and benefit increase (quality of life) compared to participants’ previous career and percentage of participants that desire to continue learning, whether that means exploring other areas of tech or pursuing a degree in computer science. We also track and measure Intuit’s impact on underrepresented groups overall with data such as how much we’ve invested in education and exposure of tech, and the overall percentage of women of color in the tech industry.”?Tracy Gossett Stone – U.S. business executive, director of diversity, equity & inclusion in tech at Intuit.

“We want to make it easy for people to have access to the skills they need to grow their careers. And we’re making two big investments to help make that happen by 2025. First, we’re committing more than $1.2 billion to provide free education and skills training opportunities to more than 300,000 of our own employees in the U.S. to help them secure new, high-growth jobs. We are also investing hundreds of millions of dollars to provide free cloud computing skills training to 29 million people around the world with programs for the public.” From the Upskilling Commitments Statement at Amazon.

“It is estimated that half of all employees will need reskilling by 2025 as adoption of technology increases, according to the World Economic Forum. Over two-thirds of critical skills listed for job openings will change, with new skills such as active learning and resilience becoming highly sought after.” From “Data Deep Dive: Upskilling and Reskilling Our Workforce”, published December 16, 2022 by Makinizi Hoover – U.S. business consultant, ?strategic advocacy manager for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“From a talent attraction perspective, many job seekers consider professional development opportunities a major selling point when deciding to work. If a company invests in employees’ careers, 94% said they would stay at the company longer. Beyond improving retention, coupling professional development support with clear pathways can also produce a loyal, skilled, and motivated team.” From “Data Deep Dive: Upskilling and Reskilling Our Workforce”, published December 16, 2022 by Jaimie Francis – U.S. business consultant, vice president of policy and programs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.” Brian Tracy - U.S. writer, business coach.

“Training programs shouldn't be designed to deliver competence; they must be dedicated to producing excellence. Serious organizations don't aspire to be comfortably above average.” Brandon Webb – U.S. soldier, SEAL trainer/educator, CEO of Force12 Media.

According to more than 9,000 business and HR leaders, 73% agreed that organizations are responsible for developing their workforce, followed by 54% who added that individuals themselves are responsible for maintaining their abilities and skills. Survey conducted by Deloitte.

“Innovation, creativity and an ability to solve real life problems remain the most prized skills in today’s economy. (…) “What you were taught 10-20 years ago is fast becoming obsolete. Upskill yourself and recreate your world.” (…) The future is closer than you think. You can pay attention now or watch the transformation happen right in front of your eyes.” Nicky Verd – South African writer, podcaster, author of “Disrupt Yourself Or Be Disrupted”.?

“Knowledge is ‘live, learn, train, upgrade, reskill and upskill’.” Sachin Ramdas Bharatiya – Hindu diplomat.

“Hire for passion and intensity; there is training for everything else.” Nolan Bushnell – U.S. businessman, electrical engineer, established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain.

“As many as 80% of respondents in a McKinsey study of 1,240 business leaders from around the world said that capacity building is a key factor in an organization's long-term success. Developing upskilling plans should ensure that various personnel have the ideal mix of skills. (…) In 2023, look for organizations to ramp up investment on their own employees through upskilling opportunities. This can include training programs to create a deeper knowledge of their career path or opportunities that fosters?growth across?the organization. (…) Between job cuts and an uncertain economy, look for more companies to pour resources into their own workers in 2023 as they seek to build strength from within.” Geoffrey Alphonso – UAE business executive, CEO at Alef Education.

“Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.” Mark Twain (pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens) – U.S. writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, lecturer.

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