“Upping” Success with Upskilling
When living in a world that is fast-paced and constantly evolving, it is essential that companies do the same. Today’s workers move around more than ever from company to company; typically staying no more than three years before their next venture. While many factors play into this rapid mobility, there are ways companies can successfully keep employees longer. A key way is to foster an environment and a company culture that allows for and encourages worker growth.
What is “Upskilling?”
Many employees have discovered the benefit of upskilling to stay competitive in their careers. Upskilling helps individuals move upward and onward from their current roles. Employers who provide upskilling opportunities will allow their team to learn and grow within their company. Enhancing your employees will enhance your company.
Upskilling is the process of learning new skills or enhancing existing ones that are relevant to the current job or career. Upskilling improves efficiency, productivity, and expertise in one’s work world. The good news, it does not have to mean enrolling in college courses and paying exuberant amounts of money anymore.
People are upgrading skills without traditional degrees. Ample opportunities online are free or low cost. Non-degree programs have become more accepted and effective. A quick Google search turns up many options for upskilling such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Skillshare and hundreds more.
Some employers may be hesitant to encourage such opportunities; “What if I invest time and money into their training and they use it to move to another company?”. While a valid initial fear, it is not supported by data. Investing in employees strengthens their loyalty and engagement. As they witness your outward belief in them as a growing individual, their belief in you as a manager and as a company will grow. You may lose a few, but you will gain a strengthened majority. Investing time, energy and resources into upskilling programs may seem like a risky and daunting task, but the benefits are undeniable:
Save money – Replacing new staff is expensive. A study by the Bureau of Labor in 2017, found new employees cost a company up to two times an annual salary. Decrease the need for this costly endeavor by investing in your current employees. An employee who grows within may require an increased salary, but the result is substantially less than the investment of a new employee.
Increase productivity – Allowing opportunity for learning will instill new methods and technological advances into your workspace.
Increase productivity – Allowing opportunity for learning will instill new methods and technological advances into your workspace.
Fill work gaps – Training your own people for your specific needs is more efficient than relying on unpredictable labor markets.
Create a better work environment – Creating opportunities for growth, creates better engagement which results in a stronger and more positive company culture.
Technology changes, culture changes, and markets change. To stay ahead of these inevitable trends, employers must establish a lifelong mentality of learning and growing within their work culture. Upskilling will result in improvements, collaboration, and engagement within your team.
Plan for growth based on the aspirations of the individual. The result will be positive improvements, stronger collaboration and better engagement with your customers and clients. Create an environment and culture that workers want to be a part of and you will not only attract the right candidates, but you will keep the right employees long term.