Employees and organizations are currently present in a time that requires rapid adaptations for the job market. After the COVID-19 pandemic a lot has changed when considering remote jobs along with flexibility in jobs and change in consumer behavior. Due to significant effects of recession and rising costs, employees are looking for jobs with better pay and benefits.
Such a shift in the mindset of the workforce is making organizations overwhelmed with retaining skilled individuals. The pandemic also provided the world with a transparent picture about skills gaps which brings us to the critical juncture about the emergence of artificial intelligence.
Business Outreach Magazine has been carefully studying the impacts of artificial intelligence and the interesting conclusions being drawn from it. We are living among an immersive version of the internet, where the search pattern is going through a transition. Certain sectors are now extremely challenged when it considers jobs being replaced by artificial intelligence.
The widening of skill gap-
In a period of automation and fast-paced technological advancements, the corporate structures are looking to upskill employees by embracing any new learning curves. With artificial intelligence, new jobs are getting created along with several promising opportunities.
We need to understand that artificial intelligence and automation is an innovation, which should be deeply studied by the skilled workforce in order to stay productive in a competitive market. Skill gaps are widening and global businesses are worried.
A report from the World Economic Forum indicates that by 2025, about 50% of the workforce could require upskilling and reskilling in order to fully understand the digital economy. When a company offers upskilling and reskilling, it indicates that employees should cater their profile with existing skills and expertise along with knowledge about any evolving job roles and industry.
Upskilling programs offer immense developmental opportunities for employees to develop a learning mindset. Understanding new skills while working at a job showcases the personal productive mindset of an individual which comes beneficial in the long run for career growth.
Also by providing timely upskilling and reskilling programs for employees will help the organization stay versatile with the market trends and foster a collaborative learning culture within the company.
The benefits of upskilling and reskilling-
When an employee invests time in upskilling and reskilling, it could open doors to diverse career opportunities. The initiative of an employee in upskilling and reskilling also enhances job security as it sends a positive impact to the company regarding a curiosity to grow in career.
A company that builds on a workforce who are engaged in upskilling their knowledge aligns with better innovation and focused towards collaboration. An earlier report by McKinsey indicated that by 2030, about 375 million workers could switch their jobs and reskill themselves.
There is a strong objective towards pro-active learning among organizations which supports the purpose of employee upskilling and reskilling. When a company looks forward to upskill their workforce, they can receive support from both internal or external resources. In internal upskilling programs, employees experience mentoring events, academies for internal training, job rotations and several other aspects.
When it comes to external training programs, there are several options like certifications, skill based online courses, collaboration with educational institutions. In this case, employees get to network with industry experts and peers where they can understand about the evolving job market.
- Being a major multinational company, IBM trained about 30% of its workforce according to emerging technologies. With this step, the company ensured better engagement among employees along with a much stronger business model.
- There are pivotal transformative advancements upon investing in skills development for an employee. It adds confidence to the individual on understanding the self-learning potential while doing a job.
With a comprehensive setup of upskilling and reskilling programs, companies can encourage an optimistic approach towards new industry developments. The human and technology bond gets further strengthened which drives innovation and progress in career.
A report from 2021 suggested that organizations and HR professionals have been noticing a widening skill gap from 55% to 69%. The widespread media highlights have mentioned about the need to upskill for a workforce. But there are still deficiencies being experienced by managers and high-level executives.
- But why does a skill gap occur in the first place? Experts say that in an organization, retaining about 40% of employees is getting tougher by the day. Also hiring about 26% qualified individuals is overwhelming from a competitive market.
- It gets difficult for the remaining 32% of the employees to fill in their shoes with additional duties.When an organization offers training programs to the employees along with support from senior leadership, there is an immense potential for growth, in terms of productivity and reduced expenses.
For any skill, that includes hard, soft or technical, there are an approximate shelf lives between 2 years to 4 years. Employees need to update their skills from time to time in order to be efficient in the current job market.
Deep-diving into upskilling and reskilling-
Data analytics is an important duty in today’s AI market. Companies are facing a skill shortage in the workforce in order to work with artificial intelligence. Upskilling programs related to machine learning can be of considerable help to an individual, if they know how to analyze data generated by these technologies.
An interesting concept to look into, where a salesperson is involved in an upskilling program which shows how to work in an AI powered CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool. With such skills, that individual not get to safeguard his or her career in the emerging AI market, but also understands future consumer buying patterns.
- Upskilling and reskilling for the future market is not just about automated operations. Artificial Intelligence will help developers and IT experts to innovate around algorithms for implementing it to their projects. Such upskilling methods allow solutions to be generated in the job market.
- Living in the digital economy, we have to equip ourselves with digital literacy. As technologies are getting advanced, there are challenges in every aspect starting with retaining a fulfilled job, securing one’s internet information from hackers, understanding new learning concept for upskilling and reskilling and knowing to be a people’s person.
With every new experience and knowledge, it is essential for a professional to become a go-getter and doer. Higher management in a company prefers employees who takes accountability along with handling stressful situations themselves and ultimately coming up with a solution. We need to learn to communicate properly and show gratitude towards peers and seniors.
Employees need to feel that their company wants to retain them. Thus offering a reskilling program from a company puts in a good amount of support towards career development and opportunities. If a customer service associate is provided a training program in communications and leadership skills, this can help them understand the knowhow of management duties. A clear trajectory of career growth can be noticed by the employee which will enhance current productivity.
Upskilling and reskilling programs are strong efforts towards personal development. If a company offers coding classes to employees, who are from non-technical backgrounds, there can be a diverse potential for gaining new areas of interest.
At the end there has to be some sort of reward or appreciation. We often seek purpose in what we do and upskilling programs can portray a morale boost to employees looking for new career paths. For learning new skills, if a company offers learning stipends, salary increments, extra paid leaves, employees should push themselves to go above and beyond to provide value from their end.
Frequently Asked Questions-
- What is upskilling and reskilling?
Ans: Upskilling refers to learning new skills along with the existing skills. Reskilling is learning an entire new concept.
- How to manage skill gaps?
Ans– Skill gaps can be managed by offering digital literacy, upskilling and reskilling training to employees.
- What are the benefits of upskilling?
Ans– Upskilling helps an employee gain current knowledge that is in demand in the market. It boosts morale of the employee along with saving time and money for the company.
- Is upskilling necessary?
Ans- Upskilling is necessary for a company to stay equipped for future demands of the market. It also helps a company stay productive in a highly competitive market.
