Upskilling and Reskilling – The Future
of Workplace
Recent
surveys indicate that new skills and organizational knowledge sharing are
critical for tackling the skills revolution. HR leaders will need innovative
solutions for upskilling.
The post-pandemic, 21st century workplace demands a new strategy
for HR. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The novel coronavirus pandemic
led to a reworking of the economy unlike any other since World War II.” This
requires an innovative response from HR professionals in business.
Innovative strategies are needed in order to address these
issues. New strategies should include previously under-explored options. What
follows are four strategies for
consideration. They are not prescriptive, rather these recommendations
are meant to spur further thought. In
order to adapt to these unavoidable shifts in the workplace, talent upskilling
to keep up with digitalization trends is becoming more important than ever
[Ramasamy, 2018].
1. Variety is the key to career
growth
Upskilling and reskilling help employees to break the monotony of work
and help them add a variety of skills to their resume. This keeps them
encouraged and increases their productivity, which ultimately leads to faster
growth of the organization.
2. Job security
Research suggests that a majority percentage of the employees who stand at a loss of their job have limited the necessary qualification for growth. Upskilling and reskilling at a job will help the employee with job security and a faster growth rate.
3. Better utilization of resources
The competition has increased, and it has decreased the lifespan of certain skills. The fast-growing industry demands a constant upscaling of operational techniques in the workplace. An organization cannot afford to go through a fresh process of rehiring an entire department that has now become obsolete. Upskilled and reskilled employees will help in a better internal system and, thus, in a more optimal manner of functioning.
4. Builds a learning culture
Research suggests that over 54% of employees will require crucial upskilling by the end of the year 2022. Learning is an integral part of the workspace. If the employees are facilitated with the opportunity of upskilling or reskilling, not only will they have the motivation to grow but will also be comfortable with a learning culture of work. This will help the organization in the long run.
5. Better scope of growth
The sooner one gets on board, the better. Upskilling and reskilling will enable a higher scope of growth both for the employee and the organization.
Experienced employees, on the other hand, have a difficult time learning a new skill, especially when it comes to technology adoption. Similarly, experienced employees with valuable expertise can find their skills becoming increasingly obsolete. This could result in a lack of participation on both sides [Oztemel and Gursev, 2018]
Conclusion
With skills gaps threatening the business world, upskilling/reskilling has become an essential stage in HR. However, while employers are looking to address missing skills to increase performance, employees are trying to use upskilling and reskilling to grow within their company and achieve greater compensation. Although, according to companies, productivity and performance have increased due to reskilling/upskilling , employee advancement rarely happens.
References
-Upskilling and Reskilling - The Future of Workplace (jaroeducation.com)
Available at : (online) Accessed on 19th August 2021
https://www.jaroeducation.com/blog/upskilling-and-reskilling-the-future-of-workplace/
-UPSKILLING AND RESKILLING REQUIREMENT IN LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN INDUSTRY FOR THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (researchgate.net)
Available at : (online) Accessed on 19th August 2021
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Siti-Wahab-2/publication/353261168_Upskilling_and_reskilling_requirement_in_logistics_and_supply_chain_industry_for_the_fourth_industrial_revolution/links/60f00fe20859317dbde303d1/Upskilling-and-reskilling-requirement-in-logistics-and-supply-chain-industry-for-the-fourth-industrial-revolution.pdf
-2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Report | Deloitte US
Available at : (online) Accessed on 19th August 2021
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/deloitte-global-human-capital-trends-report.html
-2019 future of learning & development: Upskilling, reskilling | Deloitte Insights
Available at : (online) Accessed on 19th August 2021
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends/2019/reskilling-upskilling-the-future-of-learning-and-development.html

Upskilling is when workers gain new skills to help in their present roles; reskilling is when employees adjust current abilities to take on different or entirely new functions. Organizations will require people with the right skills to develop, manage, and maintain their knowledge to do the jobs that machines cannot.
ReplyDeleteUpskilling is the process of learning new skills, and Reskilling refers to adjacent skills’, that are close to the new skills your company requires (talentguard, 2018). Both upskilling and Reskilling need to be incorporated into organisation by creating a proper career pathing system as it facilitate the career development of employees that is mutually beneficial for the staff and the employer. Thankyou for sharing this interesting article Kanchana.
ReplyDeleteWell discussed, Simply Upskilling, or reskilling, is a smaller investment than hiring and training a new worker. As you reskill your employees, you create a more well-rounded, cross-trained workforce, and increase your team's effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteReskilling means learning new skills in order to do a different job or role, usually within the same organisation. For example, you can reskill an accountant into a web developer. This is critical for employers if they need to redeploy staff. Upskilling means learning new skills to grow in your current role, to fulfil a specific organisational need. Very good article Kanchana about fulfilling skill gap within the organization and opportunities for employee career growth.
ReplyDeletePeople with the necessary skills will be needed by businesses to create, manage, and retain their expertise to perform tasks that machines can not. Investing in current talent is one of the most important investments a company can make. Employers should actively invest in employee upskilling and reskilling to meet changing needs. Employees should be expected to learn regularly.
ReplyDeleteReskilling is to learn completely new skills sets that will lead to new occupation positions while Upskilling is to learn new skills that will support to improve your current position. As an example, an employee has been working in an automotive industry for years and hopes to move to higher education as an educator. Although he or she might have the knowledges and qualification but chances being employed in higher education is still a 50/50. Therefore, the employee needs to be prepared to be reskilled by learning totally new set of skills that is required to perform his role at the higher education institutions (Sivalingam & Mansori, 2020).
ReplyDeleteWith a program of reskilling and upskilling, many greater employees can have brought task safety, and employees may have less want to fear approximately skill gaps must modifications need to be made. Uncertainty is about to end up embedded permanently inside the way we create and deploy mastering reports.
ReplyDeleteAs well explained as upskilling is the process of teaching workers new skills and reskilling is the process of learning new skills which enable the organization and people to develop the skills needed to remain competitive.
ReplyDeletevery good explanation.Ups-killing is when employees gain new skills to help in their current roles; reskilling is when employees adapt current capabilities to take on different or entirely new functions. Companies will require people with the right skills to develop, manage, and maintain their knowledge to do the jobs that machines cannot.
ReplyDeleteUpskilling is when employees gain new skills to help in their current roles; reskilling is when employees adapt current capabilities to take on different or entirely new functions. Companies will require people with the right skills to develop, manage, and maintain their knowledge to do the jobs that machines cannot. And Upskilling or reskilling is a smaller investment than hiring and training a new worker. As you reskill your employees, you create a more well-rounded, cross-trained workforce, and increase your team's effectiveness.
ReplyDelete