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September 20, 2022


Reskilling and Upskilling: the strategic response to change

There is no end to the demand for new capabilities and only continuous training will ensure that our organization has the necessary resources to remain competitive.
 
According to the World Economic Forum, approximately 40% of workers will need to retrain, and 94% of business leaders expect their employees to learn new skills on the job.
 
So, what should we do so that our knowledge does not become obsolete? Which option will help us achieve our goals? Let's see the differences between Reskilling and Upskilling:
 

What is Reskilling?

 
Reskilling means acquiring the necessary skills for a completely new job role. Typically, these abilities are taught to those employees who have the skills to adapt to that new role. For example, an administrative who is trained in customer success does reskilling.
Reskilling can be a good alternative to avoid rotation, as there is no need for new workers if we train current employees.
 

What is Upskilling?

 
Upskilling refers to learning new skills to be better equipped when carrying out our tasks. By teaching employees additional and more advanced skills we can close the talent gaps. For example, an experienced marketer today must learn digital marketing skills to adapt to changes in the industry. Thus, although the employee already has some basic knowledge, he needs to learn some more skills to do his job better.
An upskilling culture means keeping your team members involved in continuing education and help them advance in their career path. Did you know that 94% of workers would choose to stay longer in organizations where you help them continue to improve and grow?
 

What is the difference between reskilling and upskilling?

 
The difference between reskilling and upskilling is that reskilling refers to learning new skills to adapt to a new position, while upskilling refers to improving certain skills or learning additional skills to be better prepared and optimize your performance.
 

Benefits of reskilling and upskilling

 
Some of the most prominent benefits of embracing a culture of reskilling and upskilling are:
  • Performance improvement.
  • Increased job satisfaction of employees.
  • Decreases rotation.
  • More flexible and agile organization and team.
  • Greater adaptation to change.
  • Improves Employer Branding and Employee Experience.

 

How to implement reskilling or upskilling?

 
These are some of the steps your organization can take to carry out a reskilling and upskilling plan:
  • Conduct a training needs survey. It is the basis for knowing what training plans we will need to implement. The first step always has to go through the vision of each employee.
  • Design an action plan. After analyzing the results of the training needs survey, we will be able to get started with new improvement, mentoring and training challenges.
  • Conduct performance evaluations. Continuous evaluations allow us to measure the progress of each person and, thus, know if the strategies we are taking are working or if we should change them.

 

Half of all employees will require training by 2025 due to the advanced technology. Do you want to know what skills your employees should improve? Or know which ones they would like to improve? Download this Training Needs template for free or create your own!:

 

Training Needs Template