According to a LinkedIn report, job skill sets have changed by 25% since 2015. This creates a skills gap that employers are finding hard to fill. In addition, most candidates will not have the right mix of hard and soft skills for a given role. Furthermore, organizations are facing economic headwinds and need to build resilience, especially in the aftermath of the world pandemic. So, what is the solution to both recruiting woes and building resilience? Upskilling the workforce.
Upskilling
Upskilling consists in helping team members gain new skills so that they can improve their performance and be more effective, as well as taking advantage of opportunities for advancing their careers. As a result, they will be more effective and stay relevant, and the organization will become resilient to change.
The process of upskilling can take different forms, like formal education, a stretch assignment, online courses, or mentoring within the organization.
Agility and Resilience
Agility is essential for people and organizations. It bolsters career growth and relevance and gives companies the ability to survive and thrive in adverse economic conditions. As this key attribute is achieved by constant learning, building a culture of learning within the organization that empowers development should be a priority.
Learning, in turn, bolsters resilience. If leaders invest in training their workforce and building a culture of learning, they will be creating a resilient organization that can bounce back and adapt quickly to change. According to the LinkedIn survey mentioned above, 89% of Learning & Development professionals think that building employee skills will help companies and individuals adapt to the ever-changing future of work.
Benefits of Upskilling
Upskilling helps your organization improve talent retention. Career development tools and internal mobility opportunities not only help expand skill sets but also address employees’ desire to grow within the organization. This, in turn, makes them want to stay in their current job for longer.
Allowing your workforce to learn the competencies they need to carry out their job effectively helps increase productivity.
Upskilling allows your company to reduce talent acquisition costs and close the skills gap because it is less expensive than hiring new employees to fill vacant positions and you can redeploy existing talent with the right competencies.
Finally, by supporting employee satisfaction and engagement through upskilling, you are effectively improving learning and work culture within the organization.
English Services
English Services can help your talent learn highly demanded skills like communicating in English, or soft skills like teamwork, with our double-impact programs and blended Business English classes. Also, our Points of You® and Lego Serious Play® workshops help students communicate at a deeper level.
Give us a call today to find out more about our language services.
