Upskilling: More Than A Buzzword

Have you been reading about “The Great Resignation”? Yes, this is the trend that stayed steady over 2021 and continues through 2022 as more and more Americans are quitting their jobs. In February of 2022 alone, around 4.4 million people left their positions, and this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. With so many people leaving their jobs, employers are desperate to find ways to retain their talent.

But that’s not the only challenge CEOs are facing. When feeling the inevitable impacts of the Great Resignation, empty jobs must be filled. Industry leaders are finding it difficult to find people with the right skills. Known as the digital skills gap, this has been a top disruptor for 59% of CEOs. For example, 83% of workers from this same survey claim to have  “advanced” or “intermediate” everyday social media skills, yet only 25% of respondents feel they have “advanced” skills with the collaboration technology used in the workplace.

So, with two major problems for employers, what is the answer? How can employers make their workplaces more desirable in order to retain talented workers and, when hiring, find people with the right skills to fill empty positions? Here at Moser Consulting, our answer is simple: implementing a culture of upskilling.

What Is Upskilling?

Upskilling refers to the process of teaching your employees new skills that relate to their current positions. Often this is viewed as creating a culture of continuous education, where employees have access to learning opportunities like online courses, mentoring, “lunch and learns,” or microlearning.

What Is Reskilling? 

Reskilling refers to the process of teaching someone new skills so they can do a different job, not related to their current position. While this is similar to upskilling, this is most often undertaken by individuals who want to change careers rather than by companies who are looking to fill positions.

Upskilling and Reskilling Examples

Imagine you have an empty position to fill for a project manager. Your company uses Slack as the internal communication platform, and the job posting lists proficiency with using Slack as a requirement. One of the applicants is a young woman with plenty of experience managing projects, but she has never used Slack before as her previous job used Google as their internal communication platform. A perfect example of upskilling would be to hire her and give her training on how to use Slack, providing her with the skills she needs to do her new job.

A great example of reskilling would be a tech company that is looking to hire a junior UX designer in the next two years. Rather than spend an exorbitant amount of time, money, and effort finding candidates for this position, they looked at their roster of employees and identified one of their junior project managers as a potential fit for upskilling. As someone who is detail-oriented, able to handle multiple projects at once, and has expressed interest in learning additional computer skills, this person is an ideal fit. The company paid for this individual to take a ten-week UX design course and then smoothly transitioned them to their new position.

Why Should You Upskill Your Employees?

There are many benefits of upskilling your employees, but primarily upskilling provides a solution for retention and recruitment issues. In terms of retention, providing upskilling opportunities gives employees concrete ways to improve their knowledge and gives them the ability to be internally mobile. In a study done by LinkedIn, companies that excel at internal mobility retain employees for an average of 5.4 years, nearly twice as long as companies that struggle with it.

With recruitment issues, upskilling is a clear win. Rather than wasting time and money on job postings, interview processes, and onboarding, providing employees with opportunities to increase their skills and fill in skill gaps is a clear win. And the experts agree: in that same LinkedIn study, 79% of professionals surveyed agreed that it is much less expensive to reskill a current employee than to hire a new one. And, on the rare occasion when you do have to hire from the outside, keep upskilling in mind. Look for strong candidates with a growth mindset who can easily be upskilled rather than getting focused on finding someone who checks every box.

How to Upskill in Technology: Future Proof With Moser Consulting

Not sure how to upskill employees? Worried about putting together a comprehensive upskilling strategy that works for your business? Here at Moser, we specialize in training programs that address the issues found at the intersection of human development and IT technology. We design and deliver business learning solutions, particularly for project management, leadership, and teams. With a wide range of services and products, like the TTI Success Insights assessment tools, we’re ready to help you upskill your employees and future proof your business. Contact us today to learn more or explore our website to see our offerings.