Staying competitive and up-to-date can be challenging. One of the keys is to upskill and reskill your employees. A report from Citrix found that 82 percent of employees and 62 percent of HR directors said workers would need to reskill or upskill annually for an organization to maintain a competitive advantage.
Results from a LinkedIn Learning report found there has been a 15 percent increase in the number of organizations that are investing in upskilling or reskilling programs over the past couple of years. Clearly, the pressure to prepare for the future of work is starting to translate into formal policy and programs.
What is the difference between upskilling and reskilling?
Training Industry defines upskilling as the process of building an employee’s existing skills and strengths to enhance their skill sets. In other words, upskilling your employees involves training to help them perform better in their current jobs. Doing this can help an organization stay competitive and flexible as the industry changes.
Reskilling, also called retraining, has been defined as the process of training employees to complete tasks not related to their current job. This means you’re training the employee to take on a new position within the company. The reality is that companies need to engage in both upskilling and reskilling training for employees.
Why is it important for organizations to upskill and reskill their workforce?
The need for organizations to upskill and reskill their employees has never been more evident. Researchers from McKinsey have said that companies who want to come back from the COVID pandemic stronger will need to reskill their workforces. In addition, the World Economic Forum warned that over half of employees around the globe will need to reskill or upskill by 2025 to stay competitive.
The global reality is that there is a labor shortage in almost every industry, and those numbers are not likely to get better. Gone are the days when you could hire new staff who were skilled and ready for future challenges. According to skills gap research by SHRM, 83 percent of HR professionals have recruiting difficulties. And 75 percent of those surveyed said there was a shortage of skills in candidates for job openings. Organizations can’t find the talent they need so they need to turn inward and develop it themselves.
Businesses that want to continue will need to have a plan for reskilling and upskilling their employees.
Scenario-based training to upskill and reskill
Once you have established the skills gaps among your new or existing employees, it is important that you upskill or reskill them effectively and efficiently. You also need to ensure that the training is ongoing in order to prevent any future skills gaps.
Scenario-based learning, or SBL, is a learning method where the learner is presented with a situation or scenario and is then asked how to go forward from this scenario. Scenario-based learning works better than fact-based learning in most modern jobs. Memorizing a list of facts becomes less and less valuable as a skill, now that computers have taken over much of the memory capability we used to possess. Scenario-based training is a practical, active learning solution to upskilling and reskilling.
Added to an asynchronous, e-learning platform, scenario-based training is also the solution to scheduling and travel challenges. The options for e-learning are vast, and deciding on the right one for you shouldn’t take more time than the training itself. Custom scenario-based training allows companies to upskill and reskill workers for their specific skill gaps.
At Allarium, we know how to help companies and employees grow. Our simulation-based training empowers you to start and run a workplace training program with ease. Allarium works with experienced industry professionals to recreate realistic situations that teams often encounter and struggle to overcome. These custom-curated scenarios will give your team the opportunity to take risks and make big moves without worry of consequence. Contact us today to find out how to begin building a training program to help your employees reskill or upskill for the future.
