Upskill - and keep your costs down

When the World Economic Forum gets together with Boston Consulting Group to produce a 93-page report on re-skilling to coincide with its Annual Meeting in Davos, you know the issue is a hot one.

All sorts of technologies are taking over traditional jobs in the workplace. Fact. It’s not a vague or distant threat. It’s happening right now, and has been for some time.

So broad-ranging is this take-over that no market sector will escape untouched. If your workplace hasn’t yet been affected, the chances are it soon will be.

Unsurprisingly then, attention is turning to the longer-term effects of this trend. Economists are looking at factors such as increased dependency on welfare systems and reduced tax receipts, while sociologists are concerned about the wider social implications of mass loss of emotional wellbeing.

As businesses, however, we need to take a good look at the talent we have and consider what we need to do to match it to the challenges we face.

We need to think about what roles our organisation needs its people to perform – and how we can reskill our people to perform them.

It’s a worthwhile exercise. According to the aforementioned report, which is titled Towards a Reskilling Revolution – Industry-Led Action for the Future of Work, some 1.4 million workers in the US are likely to see their jobs taken over by technology in the next ten years. However, it also found that ninety five per cent of these workers can be found new positions with similar skill sets. Even better, these new roles are likely to be higher paid – if the workers are properly reskilled.

Your business will be better off financially, too, because the costs of reskilling colleagues already part of your agency’s culture is significantly lower than those associated with recruiting new people.

There’s never been a better time to future-proof your business – and the people who make it great. Talk to us about how we at The Industry School can equip your people with the skills they need in an ever-changing workplace. Alternatively, seize the moment and book yourself and/or a colleague onto our Digital Delivery Workshop today.

It’s for anyone – agency as well as client side – responsible for managing digital communications projects of all sizes. The next one is on 6th February in central London and there are still a few places left.

Alternatively, to discuss your wider or longer-term up-skilling needs, contact us at The Industry School by telephone on 020 7323 1966 or by email at [email protected].