{"id":4002,"date":"2021-10-21T14:30:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T14:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rtgsolutionsgroup.com\/?p=4002"},"modified":"2021-11-18T09:19:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T09:19:54","slug":"3-reasons-companies-are-rushing-to-upskill-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rtgsolutionsgroup.com\/3-reasons-companies-are-rushing-to-upskill-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"3 reasons Companies are Rushing to Upskill Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_single_image image=”4009″ img_size=”1110×500″][vc_column_text]As companies around the world push through one disruption after another, employee development is more important than ever. Efforts to upskill your teams is a crucial piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

Upskilling is the process of providing employees with new, more advanced, or enhanced skills and knowledge. And, as it turns out, it may hold the key to overcoming all sorts of industry disruption and economic turbulence.<\/p>\n

Economic disruption \u2013 whether it\u2019s driven by technology, a global pandemic, or a supply chain crisis \u2013\u00a0tends to exacerbate the need for new skills.<\/p>\n

Think about it: business disruption, by definition, involves some sort of unforeseen event or development. If the event is truly unforeseen and unprecedented, employers and educators would have had no reason to equip their employees with the skills to respond to said development.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic is a perfect example of a disruptive event that worsened the gap between employees\u2019 skills and employers\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

Most organizations had not prepared for an event that would force them to transfer nearly all operations and services to the digital sphere.<\/p>\n

As a result, many businesses found that their employees simply did not have the skills to keep the business thriving in a remote setting.<\/p>\n

But if disruption is unprecedented by definition, is there any way for companies to prepare for or grapple with it? The answer is yes \u2013\u00a0if they focus on upskilling their teams.<\/p>\n

In this article, we explain why forward-thinking companies are rushing to upskill their employees \u2013 and why you should too. Specifically, we cover these three reasons why businesses should upskill their employees:<\/p>\n

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    1. Employees and employers are concerned about the skills gap<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. It is more cost effective to upskill (and reskill) than to hire a new employee<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
    3. Upskilling and reskilling helps businesses keep up with technological innovations<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      But, before we jump in, let\u2019s cover some basics on what upskilling is.[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”RESKILL, CROSS-SKILL AND UPSKILL: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]To understand what it means to upskill an employee, it\u2019s helpful to understand what upskilling is not. <\/em><\/p>\n

      Reskilling, cross skilling, and upskilling are three related strategies in employee training<\/a>. However, they represent different ideas and serve different purposes in a training plan.<\/p>\n

      A successful organization must understand how to do all three.<\/p>\n

      Reskilling: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      Reskilling involves training employees to move into a new role with significantly different responsibilities. In a reskill strategy, employees are equipped with a new set of skills.<\/p>\n

      For example, if a company moved an employee from customer service into a sales role, they would have to be reskilled. This means they would have to be equipped with all of the skills and knowledge needed to perform in a sales role.<\/p>\n

      Cross-skilling: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      Cross-skilling, also known as cross-training, involves diversifying an employee\u2019s skillset. In a cross-skilling strategy, new skills are intended to complement existing skills, not necessarily replace them.<\/p>\n

      Cross-skilling is useful when an employee is taking on new responsibilities but remaining, for the most part, in their current role. You can cross skill employees within and across departments.<\/p>\n

      For instance, within an accounting department, you might cross train your accounts payable specialist on payroll duties. This way, the department would have another employee capable of processing payroll.<\/p>\n

      Upskilling: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      Upskilling involves enhancing employees\u2019 skills in order to improve performance in their current role.\u00a0 In other words, to upskill an employee, you train them to do their current job more efficiently and effectively.<\/p>\n

      For example, suppose a company introduces a new CRM in order to increase sales. Training the sales team on the CRM platform would constitute upskilling.<\/p>\n

      Now that we\u2019ve covered exactly what upskilling is \u2013\u00a0and what it\u2019s not \u2013 we can move on to why it\u2019s so important.<\/p>\n

      Here are the three reasons why you need to upskill your employees:[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”1. Employees and employers are concerned about the skills gap” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”4007″ img_size=”1110×500″][vc_column_text]America\u2019s skills gap<\/a> is real \u2013 and it worries employers and employees alike. Just check out these statistics:<\/p>\n