Workforce for the future – Upskilling and Reskilling

Image I – Upskilling & Reskilling

Source: (www.talentlms.com)

Providing current employees with additional skills is called as Upskilling. In other words, upskilling is the process of developing employees with new set of skills with modern technology which will aid them to carry out their routing functions in a smoother manner. With the changing world and the technology, upskilling has become an essential part for the workforce to continue their work without interruption. Workforce upskilling immensely helps the employers and business investors to uphold their businesses in the top of the list while facing the competition in a successful manner (Barnes, et al., 2006).

Learning new skills is called as Reskilling and the employees will be able to do a different job. Workers who anticipate to move forward in the same organization could get use of this method of talent management. Reskilling may be a good solution for the firing of employees and hiring new ones with different set of skills. Sometimes the employees could reskill their talents and end up in a whole separate section or a department of the same company (Boston Consulting group, 2019).

With the ever-changing technology and the world economic environment, workforce all around the world have faced modern problems which require absolute modern solutions. Workforce upskilling and reskilling have become more popular topics in the world specially with the dawn of current pandemic situation. Companies can retain their current workforce with these two types of talent management and also maintain the cost of new recruitment at a moderate level. Companies can use these methods to ramp up the skills of current employees and there may be several reasons for the same:

  • To manage the workforce cost at a moderate and an acceptable level
  • To boos performance, moral and motivate the current employees
  • To reduce the employee turnover
  • To generate or improve the expectation of the employees for opportunities in the company
  • To reduce the training and hiring cost
  • To retain the company knowledge and secrets within the company (Siebel, 2020)

How to create a proper upskilling and reskilling program

1. Determine the Knowledge gaps of the organization

In each and every company in the world, there are weaknesses and strengths related to knowledge of the workforce. In order to move the workforce forward or to different section of the company, first the management need to understand and identify the knowledge gaps. Employees will look for opportunities to advance internally based on what they learn.

2. Create a list of potential vacancies of the company where the selected workforce could be re-located

Based on the forecasted shape of the future of the company, management need to develop plans for the short run as well as for the long run of the company. Meanwhile designing and developing of new roles for the organizational structure need to be done, thereby the management could evaluate the positions of the company which need to be re-located

3. Build training programs and offer incentive schemes to encourage employees to learn new skills

If the company is able to provide a valid incentive scheme for the employees to develop themselves with modern technology and improve their talents through upskilling and reskilling, they will be more motivated to learn new skills. The management could offer financial incentives such as educational rebates, increased development and training budgets, employee grants to attend training and conferences. It's important to have external training to contextualize new skills as they relate to the business (Partridge & Sinha, 2020).

Example for Upskilling and Reskilling

John’s data analysis role is taken over by new software. However, many of his managers see his talent for communicating with customers and his fellow employees. He is also seen as very persuasive, and so the company trains him to take over a sales role (Insperity, 2020).

Conclusion

Upskilling and Reskilling both runs together to groom the current workforce of a company in order the face the future goals of the company which are being shapes with the change of modern technology and skills in the segmented market. Both upskilling and reskilling through employee training has a positive income of the investment made by the management of the company. These processes may involve a cost up to some extent but it could eliminate the need of the management to look for hiring people from the outside for a higher cost. Invest in upskilling, improve employee capabilities, and reduce the need to recruit to fill skill gaps in the organization.


Video I - Upskilling & Reskilling
Source : (www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYFbVEzkSxw)


References

Barnes, S. A., Bimrose, J. & Brown, A., 2006. Older workers’ careers: upskilling, reskilling and transitions, UK: European Conference on educational Research.

Boston Consulting group, 2019. owards a Reskilling Revolution. 1 ed. Geneva, Switzerland: World Economic Forum.

Briggite Lawyer, 2021. Youtube. [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYFbVEzkSxw
[Accessed 24 08 2021].

Insperity, 2020. Inperity.com. [Online]
Available at: https://www.insperity.com/blog/reskilling/
[Accessed 22 08 2021].

Partridge, A. & Sinha, G., 2020. Upskilling and Reskilling essentials: How to address the Emerging Challenges of the Future of Work. 1 ed. NY: Adobe.

Siebel, J., 2020. Empowering adults through upskilling and reskilling pathways, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
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27 comments:

  1. Rukmali FernandoAugust 22, 2021 at 9:06 AM

    Upskilling and Reskilling strategies can be incorporated into Organisations by introducing a career pathing system. The benefits of career pathing include: help to meet future demand, recognise hidden skills, and create a culture of talent mobility. Thankyou for sharing this interesting article Wathsala.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nadun AbeywickramaAugust 23, 2021 at 12:27 AM

    Addition to that Wathsala, Amazon launched its Upskilling 2025 initiative as part of its commitment to get ready employees for a more digitized office in the future. “We think it’s important to invest in our employees to help them gain new skills and build more professional options for themselves,” says Beth Galetti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology at Amazon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fayaz SadiqueAugust 23, 2021 at 5:24 AM

    Insightful article, thank you Wathsala,
    The topic is more relevant for current situation as there have been massive layoff by many companies due to Covid-19. Elfond (2020) says Upskilling and Reskilling not only will help companies to survive in this pandemic but also benefits in terms of employee engagement, retention and improve cross-functional relationship in the long run.
    Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/12/21/why-employee-upskilling-and-reskilling-is-so-important-right-now/?sh=74b7039d3302

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pradeep RajapakshaAugust 23, 2021 at 7:14 PM

    Interesting article Wathsala.
    Upskilling and reskilling are absolute modern solutions for companies during ever-changing technology and an increasingly advanced world economic environment, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic which is a lot of human resources do not meet the standards required by the company

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oshadha BandaraAugust 24, 2021 at 7:05 AM

    Re-skilling is the process of learning new skills or teaching employees new skills. Re-training equips employees with new skills to equip them for a different position in the organization. Upskilling is preparing employees for major changes in their current environment. Many companies face incompatibility with the current technology of their employees and what will be needed in the coming years.

    Capacity building and rebuilding power should bring significant returns on investment. By encouraging further learning and development as part of the company's policy, the business can increase job satisfaction, continue to compete and increase its goal by maximizing the full potential of existing employees.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tharindu DassanayakeAugust 25, 2021 at 12:06 AM

    This is very important topic Wathsala. This is an extended part of performance appraisal and talent management, filling the skills gap is the responsibility of human resources and will never go away. As social, business or macroeconomic conditions change, HR professionals must reinvent the workforce of the future because the terrain under their feet is constantly changing. Today, the HR department must develop the speed of skill upgrade plans so that the company is ready for future work, no matter what it looks like, it will only accelerate in times of crisis like pandemic.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mihirani BalasooriyaAugust 25, 2021 at 8:22 PM

    Generally, the effect of upskilling and reskilling employees has been hard to screen. Singular chiefs might see an expansion in usefulness inside their group, yet association-wide outcomes could require a very long time to come through. The aftereffect of this is that choices on the best way to adjust or further develop preparing materials or strategies have consistently been postponed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. D.I.KanchanaAugust 26, 2021 at 10:19 PM

    If the organization wishes to remain competitive, it must have employees who are productive, innovative, and ultimately profitable. Reskilling is a method of ensuring that employees have the skills they require to thrive and transition into new roles. I enjoyed reading this article to find out more about reskilling and how to successfully reskill a workforce.


    ReplyDelete
  9. Thilina D JayasekaraAugust 27, 2021 at 11:17 AM

    Interesting article. Today the organizations are facing the ongoing changes caused by the digital revolution and the current epidemic. It is important for organizations to play a role in rehabilitating staff and empowering their employees by developing new skills and improving their careers and filling critical vacancies, a major HR burden. thank you wathsala for sharing article

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bhashitha Dissanayake August 27, 2021 at 9:29 PM

    in the long run, upskilling and reskilling applications can enhance worker engagement and retention, appeal to new skills, growth collaboration between departments and accelerate the adoption of new tendencies within the organization.

    ReplyDelete
  11. blogs of UMESHAugust 28, 2021 at 3:48 AM

    In this situation, reskilling and upskilling are becoming two great allies for organizations that want to guarantee their survival, as well as boosting their results in an increasingly competitive environment.

    When companies apply both of these concepts, they can:

    -Create confidence.
    -Promote talent retention.
    -Close the digital gap.
    -Attract professionals of all ages with the proposal of constant growth within the organization.
    -Simplify selection and onboarding processes.
    -Offer employees better mobility within the company.
    -Improve employees’ daily performance.
    -Adapt the company culture to a changing work environment.
    -Foster continuous learning.
    -Increase professionals’ participation, motivation, and productivity rates.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wathsala SiriwardhanaAugust 28, 2021 at 4:53 AM

    Thank you for the value addition Umesh.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nadeeshan MadusankaAugust 28, 2021 at 12:11 PM

    Businesses will require people with the requisite abilities to generate, maintain, and keep their knowledge in order to accomplish activities that machines can not. One of the most essential investments a corporation can make is in current talent. To satisfy shifting needs, employers should actively invest in employee upskilling and reskilling. Employees should be required to continue their education on a regular basis.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mohamed AmjadAugust 29, 2021 at 3:07 AM

    As well explained as upskilling is the process of teaching workers new skills and reskilling is the process of learning new skills which enable the organization and people to develop the skills needed to remain competitive. Investing in this, organization never going to get loss and it is an added advantage.

    ReplyDelete
  15. D.Gangani BandaraAugust 29, 2021 at 7:11 AM

    Upskilling is the way of mastering new skills/abilities or of showing laborers new abilities. Reskilling is the way of acquiring new skills/abilities so you can make an alternate showing, or of preparing individuals to make an alternate showing.
    Both are presently compelling methodologies for managers to overcome what is generally anticipated skill deficiency.

    ReplyDelete

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