Upskilling and Reskilling
Transformations will be about the talent not the technology
The future of work is more uncertain than ever. However, according to BCG´s Decoding Global Trends of Upskilling and Reskilling report, almost all current employees of all industries and locations agreed already in 2019 that at some point will have to either reskill or upskill.
What is the difference between upskilling and reskilling?
Upskilling involves teaching team members new, advanced skills to close talent gaps. The employees work on their continuous learning heling advance their career path.
On the other hand, reskilling is a lateral learning process to teach new skills that the company requires to people with adjacent skills with the purpose of performing a different job. Half of the employees will require reskilling by 2025 due to technological advancement according to the World Economic Forum.
Businesses have long battled to obtain the competent personnel they require for years. In PwC's 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey, for example, three-quarters of all respondents felt that obtaining the proper talent was a danger to their companies. However, companies believe that by 2024, roughly 40% of workers would require up to six months of reskilling. According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2020, 94% of company executives want employees to acquire new skills on the job, up from 65% in 2018.
To contribute to the company´s success, employees will be required by the companies to acquire the rights skills. In the long run, upskilling will boost productivity as digital transformations advance where more humans will be working with machines in both manufacturing and service sectors, where AI replaces the monotonous daily tasks. Siemens is actively working towards upskilling of its people in the organization. Have a look at the case study here.
In the short term, however, reskilling is required for the new jobs that have emerged due to disruptions such as COVID-19. For example, the employees working as cashiers had to be re-skilled to do the jobs of remote customer service, as the requirement of physical cashiers became obsolete.
How to approach the teaching of new skills ?
Focus on people
The technology is only effective when paired with the right human skills to use it.
People should be at the center of the strategy of upskilling and reskilling. Both ability and motivation are needed to successfully retrain employees.
The starting point of each employee in relationship to the skills to develop will be unique. In that sense, the program will need to cover all levels down to each individual and their pathway.
Data from BCG´s Decoding Global Talent shows that 68% of workers are ready to retrain to stay competitive. People can be empowered to shape and decide over their reskilling journeys with the right tools, flexibility and supportive context.
Identify the skills
Implement a way to predict the skills that are going to be needed in your organization
As stated above, the journey for each employee can be substantially different. However, it is critical to have some direction to acquire successfully the skills required for the next role.
Tools to diagnostic the next technology, processes and roles in your organization will be pivotal to make available the right tools for the employees. Inevitably, there is going to be a reactive component of finding and training. However, it starts to be evident that skills such as resilience and change readiness will apply to all roles and industries.
Below figure illustrates Future Oriented Skills according to HR Forecast.
Leverage your capabilities
The technology is only effective when paired with the right human skills to use it.
Most of organizations already have talent that will facilitate and create inertia in expanding and bringing new skills.
One strategy is identifying and using skills adjacencies. This helps building shortcuts to in-demand skills by stepping-stone skills from skills employees already have. This process will facilitate upskilling for employees with adjacent skills in the desired area.
Another example of leveraging the existing talent are the programs of internal exchange. Reverse mentoring programs have shown to be successful in teaching experienced workers with newer ones that usually have a higher digital literacy.
How to Reskill: As per an OECD research paper on Returns to different forms of job related training: Factoring in informal learning, the reskilling can be done in various settings:
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Formal learning: Learning by returning to a college, university, or training facility.
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Non-formal Learning: Learning activities offered by a training provider or an employer that do not lead to or count towards a recognized certification or certificate
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Informal learning: Occurs when employees learn from their coworkers and managers, as well as during leisure activities.
Informal learning is by far the most popular type of workplace learning. According to the research study, workers spend roughly 80% of their non-formal and informal learning time studying informally. Formal training lasts substantially longer than other types of learning, although it only includes a small number of people.
References:
1. https://www.talentguard.com/blog/reskilling-upskilling-strategic-response-changing-skill-demands.
2. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/decoding-global-trends-upskilling-reskilling
3. Goel, S., Puckett, J., Claver, P., & Kovacs-Ondrejkovic, O. (2022). 6 Strategies to Upskill Your Workforce. Harvard Business Review.
4. Gratton, L. (2019). New Frontiers in Re-skilling and Upskilling. MIT Sloan Management Review.
5. Frankiewicz, B., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2020). Digital Transformation Is About Talent, Not Technology. Developing Employees. Harvard Business Review.
6. Zavyiboroda, M. (2022). A guide to future-oriented skills: skills in demand to watch in the next five years. HRForecast.