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New Reality: Upskilling & Reskilling Become Commonplace Necessities in Workplaces

Nevada Business Magazine recently featured an outstanding article by Rick Benbow, Regional Vice President of WGU Nevada. In his article, he encourages businesses to consider upskilling & reskilling their workforce in order to adapt to the changes American businesses face.

Upskilling is the process of learning new skills or teaching workers new skills that will help them become better at a job they already perform. Reskilling is the process of teaching new skills to employees so that they can do a different job. Studies have shown that in both cases, everyone benefits. (source) To learn more about how to reskill and/or upskill your workforce or to get the most efficient outcome from your team, contact the experts at HRinDemand, Your Total People Solution.

“Companies that invest more in digital transformation actually outperform their peers over time. These companies are more prepared for disruption, better able to monetize new digital channels, and better build a bigger user base. What’s more, this phenomenon exists regardless of industry.”

Geoff Cubitt, CEO, Isobar US

The digital transformation, coupled with an organization’s need to increase shareholder value, drives the rapidly changing business environment, transforms business models and, by default, the skills, competencies, and knowledge needed in a post-pandemic workforce. The transformations within the American—and global—business worlds have been nothing short of breathtaking over the last several years. Digital innovation has touched every industry, from publishing to retail to logistics.

New technology changes business models on a daily basis. In what seems like “overnight,” Amazon went from delivering books to delivering groceries and managing cloud computing services. Technical talent needed to complement new business iterations, on the other hand, is slow to bloom. A return to normalcy with low unemployment and economic growth will depend largely on the current workforce’s ability to acquire new skills (or upskilling) at scale in a rapid fashion. As companies invest more in digital technology, it makes good business sense to simultaneously invest in their current workforce, through upskilling and reskilling efforts, to avoid the bidding war for talent and the costly process of hiring and training new employees. 

The benefits associated with upskilling and reskilling are not only received by employees. There are tremendous benefits for companies/employers that align their business objectives with employee development. In rapidly changing post-covid business. companies committed to developing their employees can recruit and retain skilled employees; address a skill shortage through the development of new talent pipelines in the existing employee base; and, align employee development with organizational objectives.

Many of the world’s most successful companies have recently made significant investments in upskilling/reskilling segments of their workforce. Amazon and AT&T have announced multi-year investments totaling over $500 million in reskilling/upskilling employees. McKinsey & Company recently estimated that up to one-third of the entire American workforce would need to change/evolve their occupations by 2030.

While quantifying the value of education can sometimes be a challenge, especially for businesses making significant investments in that area, a Lumina Foundation study confirmed what most successful businesses already knew; there are real bottom-line benefits reaped by investing in employees’ education. The study found that healthcare giant Cigna Corporation saw a 129% return on its employee tuition benefit program.

There is also little doubt about the need for such educational programs.  Telecommunications giant AT&T analyzed its workforce of 250,000 employees and found only about half of all of its workers had the requisite technological, scientific, engineering, and mathematical skills for their positions. The AT&T workforce audit revealed that approximately 100,000 employees were performing hardware-related duties that would be obsolete within a decade.    

As we enter the second year of the current pandemic, one of the many business lessons learned has been a dramatic illustration of successful businesses’ need to adapt to change. While it may not be possible to prepare for all the changes that will confront American businesses this decade of even the next year, reskilling/upskilling their workforce to prepare for inevitable changes and evolutions in the workplace will almost certainly remain a key component of continued business success and creation of shareholder value. (source)

Melissa Marsh, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is a human resources consultant and founder of HRinDemand, a human resources company in Reno, NV, offering expert guidance and easy-to-use tools to help small businesses with employment regulations, compliance, employee relations, and company growth.

The article shared here was originally posted on NevadaBusiness.com. See it here: https://www.nevadabusiness.com/2021/05/new-reality-upskilling-reskilling/