Resources for Upskilling Employees

What Is Upskilling? ↓

What Are the Benefits of Upskilling Employees? ↓

What Is the Process of Upskilling? ↓

Steps to a Successful Upskilling Strategy ↓

Improved Employee Retention

Not only does providing growth opportunities show that an employer cares to invest in its employees’ career development and future, it also ensures that those employees are able to envision a path to career advancement. According to a 2022 Workplace Learning Report, when a company excels at internal mobility, they’re able to retain employees for an average of 5.4 years—which is nearly twice as long as companies that struggle with it.

Stronger Work Culture

When provided with a solid learning culture, employees will feel prioritized and supported along their career journey. According to research, the number one driver of a strong work culture was “opportunities to learn and grow.” This, in turn, boosts morale, teamwork, and overall satisfaction when upskilling the workforce.

Increased Customer Satisfaction

Happy employees and happy customers often go hand-in-hand. When employees are current on industry trends, they’re able to provide customers and prospects with better insight. Top performing organization’s performance (those in the top 25%) depends on 4 business outcomes: exceeding business goals, responding quickly to marketplace changes, innovating faster than its competitors, and more satisfied customers than its competitors. High customer satisfaction can help to increase brand awareness and loyalty by creating strong advocates in the real world.

Expanded Talent Pool

When business is successful, a company’s reputation among job seekers and recruiters will reflect in parallel. When it comes time to expand your team, there will be a wider pool of diverse talent offering their expertise.

Prioritize Areas & Future Skills

Management and company leaders should take the time to identify which areas and skills are needed based on the organization’s goals. Whether implementing a new marketing strategy or adopting the latest software, understanding each department’s future needs is an essential part of upskilling.

Utilize Current Workforce Experts

When looking into gaining more employees with a particular skill set, take a look around your existing workforce. If there’s an employee with expertise in a specific area, you could offer a mentor-based upskilling program. Through one-on-one coaching, a novice can learn tricks of the trade from someone they’re either already familiar with or who may have a relatable career path from the same company. In fact, 52% of the world’s workforce is expected to upskill employees by using internal resources.

Group Training Sessions

If more than one employee needs upskilling, companies can hire external specialists for group coaching sessions. These trainings can be focused on areas such as upskilling managers in a remote landscape or educating the team on the latest productivity software. By doing this, a larger portion of employees will be skilled in an area of expertise and be part of the company’s future goals and success.

Circle Back for Progress

Following up on progress is a great way to keep track of whether or not your upskilling strategy is effective. By measuring outcomes and milestones, a company can identify which opportunities work best to help employees gain new skills, and which underperform.

Employee Enrollment in Courses

While employers can collaborate with local universities, as they may provide flexible schedules and opportunities to work on a particular area of focus, there are also great benefits to upskilling via online courses.