Boosting Employee Skills: Upskilling and Reskilling

Posted on 06/08/23 By Guest Contributor

Right now, labor is at a premium. With a shrinking labor market and a quickly evolving landscape, the business world is discovering that the professionals already on the team are ever more valuable. Even if your current employees lack the highly specialized skills needed by your advancing business model, they can learn. The fact of the matter is that technology is moving so fast that almost everyone is new to the platforms and processes that businesses are migrating toward.

The AI-driven solutions and mobile-enabled workflows are new to old hats and new hires alike. This, however, presents a unique opportunity: upskilling and reskilling. The World Economic Forum's Future Jobs Report predicts that 50% of all employees will need reskilling as early as 2025 simply because solutions are moving so quickly. So why not get ahead of the curve by optimizing the skill value of your team today?

What are Reskilling and Upskilling?

Reskilling and upskilling involve training your current team members to meet the skill demands of advancing business models. 

Upskilling is a form of professional development where you help your team gain the experience they need with new platforms, methods, and tools instead of hiring someone who received the same experience in a previous role. Reskilling is training your team to change directions and take on new roles and capabilities outside of their original skill path.

These methods work because your team is made up of intelligent, adaptable professionals who are just as much a part of the evolving technological world as your business and customers. In fact, many are likely ready to upskill or reskill and may even be seeking opportunities to upgrade their skills before your program begins.

The Benefits of Reskilling and Upskilling

The benefits of reskilling and upskilling are rooted in bringing your team into the new era of automation and efficiency through professional development.

Creating the Cutting-Edge Talent Your Business Needs

• Your business needs people who can operate cloud platforms, mobile applications and automate once-manual systems. Your team is ready to become that talent and fill those vital roles while also moving forward so that you are not held back by old processes.

Rewarding Employee Loyalty With Professional Development

• Upskilling gives your most loyal and reliable team members a chance to upgrade their titles, value, and skills through professional development while also helping the company to move forward into a new era of business.

Saving on Hiring Costs, Time, and Effort

• Hiring is a costly and time-consuming process made all the more challenging by the short labor market. But you don't have to hire to meet growing skill demands when you grow those skills inside your existing teams.

Making Your Workforce More Efficient With High-Tech Integration

• Embrace automation and cutting-edge platform integration by training your staff in the latest technology for your business model and sector.

Strategies for Implementing Reskilling and Upskilling

How can you bring upskilling and reskilling into your workforce? There are several strategies that work well for both systematically upgrading your team's skills and helping them upskill through self-directed study.

Schedule Routine Team Training Sessions

• Like the weekly meeting, set aside time each week for routine training sessions where your team gets the opportunity to study and work with the latest systems and grow their professional skills together in shared workshops.

 Make Self-Directed Online Training Available

• Provide the means to upskill and reskill independently through online courses available through business logins or systems.

 Provide Time for Training On the Clock

• Allot a certain amount of time each week to skill training on the clock, for example, near the end of the day, at the end of each week, or once specific project milestones are met.

 Incentivize with Opportunities

• Give your employees a reason to dive into training with promotion, pay increases, title upgrades, and desirable project opportunities for those who complete upskilling and reskilling certifications.

Training Your Team with Lorman

Lorman Educational Services has been providing professional training since 1987. We cover over thirty professional skill areas that can be incorporated into your company's upskilling and reskilling training initiatives. We can connect your team with live and on-demand courses to aid in their learning experience.

Lorman Education Services is proud to provide continuing education and compliance-focused courses/resources in several fields of work. Contact us or explore the website for further information on how Lorman can enable upskilling or reskilling for your team.