Strategic Upskilling That Aligns With Industry Trends

The pandemic shifted a lot in the labor market. We’re experiencing skills shortages and high unemployment rates. The speed at which technology is advancing is impacting the way we work, too. So how do you keep up to date with industry trends and best practices?

Your skills and competencies initiatives hold a major role. Not many companies can afford to just lose and hire new talent whenever they experience a skills gap. You must invest in building an adaptable workplace that can remain aligned with industry trends as things change.

Companies Who Have Invested in Upskilling

Investing in upskilling employees isn’t a new concept. Technology is transforming workplaces as traditional roles become automated and new positions emerge. Remote, or at least hybrid, work is the new norm. Some major companies understood the value of upskilling even before the pandemic.

Amazon has invested $700 million into upskilling its staff. Amazon’s Career Choice program pays up to 95% of tuition, encouraging workers to move into high-demand occupations. Most of these upskilling programs focus on tech, coding, and cloud skills.

Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) invested $3 billion to upskill and retrain every single employee. Business Insider explains, “The $3 billion will be split among four sections: the investment required for taking employees away from clients and putting them in classrooms, the further development of digital training tools, the deployment of employees to community projects that spread the same techniques, and leveraging existing partnerships with the United Nations and World Economic Forum to help adapt the training to each of their markets around the world.”

Mastercard uses the platform Degreed to upskill its employees to compete with start-ups. The company quickly embraced AI fraud protection, biometric security tools, and touchless technologies. 96% of their workforce regularly engages with Degreed for learning opportunities.

The Importance of Upskilling & Reskilling

Just because the pandemic has passed, doesn’t mean that employers don’t need to bother with upskilling anymore. In fact, upskilling and reskilling is the most valuable driver for a productive and loyal workforce. Investing in employee development will improve engagement and satisfaction, increase retention, and even attract new talent. Let’s break these down further.

• A company that upskills its employees continuously holds a competitive advantage. It keeps you relevant so you don’t sink behind your competition. Industry trends and the workforce are shifting faster than ever – companies must be flexible.

• When you give your employees the opportunity to grow, they’ll have less reason to look for work elsewhere. Read our article “How Upskilling Your Employees Will Drive Engagement & Satisfaction” for facts on employee engagement and increased retention directly linked to learning and development opportunities. With improved retention comes less need to hire new talent. Hiring is an expensive and time-consuming process.

• The most obvious benefit of investing in upskilling and reskilling is that it overcomes skills gaps. Skills gaps are causing major issues for many industries today. When you can train your workers to be flexible and learn with the changes, you can overcome such talent shortages.

Current Market Trends

Different trends affect different industries, but a few things are consistent across the board.

Technology is advancing rapidly. It’s replacing people in roles that have become automated, particularly in manufacturing, retail, and admin work. With this digitalization comes new roles that didn’t exist a few years ago. Most of these roles require talent that is familiar with brand-new technology – hence the ‘skills gap’ we’re experiencing.

There’s also more of a focus on soft skills. When you’re upskilling and reskilling your staff, don’t limit training to hard skills. With AI doing much of the groundwork nowadays, employees should be developing skills that help them think outside the box. McKinsey stated that the following skills are in the heaviest demand:

• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Mental flexibility
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Digital fluency

The Great Resignation is significant, too. Various industries have seen huge numbers of talent resigning. People aren’t satisfied with their pay, they’ve felt disrespected and overworked, and there haven’t been enough career development opportunities. According to the BLS, the US had the highest ‘quit rate’ in 20 years in November 2021. Skills development is now an expectation and employers must incorporate this into their talent management priorities.

Monitor Industry Trends

Industry trends and best practices are ever-changing. As technology advances and we shift the nature of how we work, companies need to implement strategic skills and competencies practices. Investing in employee skills development fosters a supportive and innovative workplace, gives you a competitive advantage, and increases retention and talent potential. Monitor industry trends and regularly upskill your workers to give your company the best chance to succeed in the market.