The Importance of Upskilling and Reskilling In The Pandemic
Tags: Importance Of Upskilling, Reskilling, Skills, Skills Development, Upskilling

2020 has been a difficult year for the world in which our lives have changed drastically. Social distancing norms and extensive lockdowns have come into instantaneous existence, which didn’t leave any of us enough time to prepare for what’s coming next or even to say a quick goodbye to our old lives. But, here we are, now slowly accepting, adapting, and living life in the Corona era!

These days have been unparalleled and unpredictable, something that none of our subjects back in school has prepared us for. The pandemic has brought in significant stress in our day-to-day activities, the way we seek education, handling day to day relationships, the routine of employment, managing a balance between personal and professional life

Since many businesses hit a huge drop due to the pandemic, organizations have been compelled, many with a heavy heart, to lay off their employees. But sharp-witted employers like Nokia, Amazon, Microsoft realized that layoffs are detrimental to their own businesses in the current circumstances. According to research, ‘HR resilience planning pandemic impact and preparedness’ showed that around 70% of the organizations believe that the single biggest concern for continued remote working is a fall in productivity. Instead of laying off, many employers preferred to empower, reskill, and upskill their employees.

In regards to employees, they are facing various challenges worldwide. With grim employment situations, professionals are preparing themselves for the future by what they can do best, and in this case, the answer lies in, consciously upgrading existing skills and proactively learning new skills to prepare and adapt themselves for the times to come.

What is Upskilling and Reskilling?

Upskilling is the process of learning and upgrading the existing skills that will assist you and empower you professionally to do a particular role at your best capacity.

Reskilling is the process of learning a new set of skills to prepare yourself or employees to take up a different role. Many organizations prefer to reskill their employees and prepare them to perform multiple roles more effectively and efficiently.

In 2017, the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that as many as 375 million workers — or 14 percent of the global workforce would have to switch occupations or acquire new skills by 2030 because of automation and artificial intelligence. As competition grows, employees are required to meet the expectations and they should adapt to the dynamic environment.

Why is Upskilling and Reskilling Important?

More than 80% of talent development professionals report a skills gap in their organization, and 78% anticipate a future skills gap. In recent years, upskilling and reskilling has become the top priority of HRs.

Many organizations focus on training and retaining their employees.

According to the Work Institute, the cost of losing a worker in the US is around $15,000.

Keeping up with disruptive technological tools is a challenge for organizations. Technology creates opportunities but it also creates skill gaps. With such high competition coupled with a dynamic scenario, employees are expected to adopt technology at an ever-increasing rate. Upskilling and reskilling are a smaller investment compared to hiring and then re-training a new employee. For employers, training their employees is always an added advantage. It improves their retention, boosts their morale, increases team effectiveness, and provides opportunities for their career advancement.

Reskilling and Upskilling Employees During the Pandemic

According to McKinsey, to emerge stronger from the pandemic crisis, companies should start reskilling and upskilling their workforces. If your organization implements a hiring freeze to prevent layoffs, how would you manage your workflow and get an edge on your competitors? The best way is to upskill and reskill your employees so that they can maximize their potential, learn new skills, and in turn perform better!

Remote working has certainly disrupted our existing working environment and employees’ productivity as well, but training and providing career advancement opportunities will encourage them to take over work responsibilities and perform successfully.

By reskilling and upskilling the employees with collaborative learning opportunities like LMS training, cross-training programs, mobile learnings, and courses your organization can still achieve goals with minimum investment. Retaining the talent should be the priority so that when you are back on track, existing talents in the organization can help to build the business, maximize your profit, and serve your customers loyally.