How upskilling employees strengthens your business

The news about hiring and the difficulties filling positions is everywhere.

The Great Resignation is affecting companies of every shape and size across industries. Because workers are in short supply, business leaders should rethink their talent development strategies and invest more heavily in upskilling an existing workforce.

Upskilling employees allows companies to move workers up the ladder and into new roles, which can excite workers and make them feel invested in. Three key benefits of upskilling employees are:

A well-rounded team primed for future success
Better worker retention in a post-COVID labor market
A solid means of closing the digital skills gap

Upskilling prepares your team for new challenges

With technology moving at a rapid pace across most sectors, the workforce must learn new skills. In just a few short years, it’s predicted that nearly a third of all jobs globally will be transformed by tech. You can help future-proof your organization by first preparing your people.

Proactive leaders are training their existing staff to move into new roles rather than hire from the outside. Your current worker knows the company and that institutional knowledge allows them to absorb training within your organization more quickly than a new hire.

Upskilling allows your team to be more nimble in the face of both industry and technological disruption. Equipping your people with new skills makes them more productive, makes your entire organization more efficient and contributes to developing a learning culture that fosters innovation.

Upskilling can boost retention rates

Employee turnover can be expensive. Depending on the size of your organization, the costs of worker attrition could add up quickly.

The pandemic has sparked incredible churn in employment metrics. Initially, unemployment shot up, but a lot of workers also switched careers. Workers have proven they’re ready to learn new skills. They just need the opportunity. And they’re willing to jump ship to get them.

In September alone 2021 alone, 4.4 million Americans resigned and 65% of US workers admitted they were looking for a new job.

The good news? More than a third of job-seekers say they’re willing to sacrifice salary in exchange for skill-building opportunities. Be the standout employer who asks, "how do I upskill my employees?" And then deliver those learning opportunities. Think of upskilling as the new 401(k). In a tight labor market, you can use upskilling as a perk and talent strategy lever that can boost engagement and company stickiness.

Identify, and then close, your skill gaps

Whether you’re an established enterprise or looking to upskill your startup, upskilling workers can be daunting. And figuring out how to upskill when working remotely provides its own set of challenges.

Upskilling the workforce for the digital economy has become a priority with as much importance as recruiting and developing talent. Identifying your skill gaps is the first order of business. Ideally, look for a robust upskilling solution that can use employee skills data to see where your organization falls short. Aligning individual skill development with the business goals is also key to getting the most ROI from your upskilling dollars.

ProEdge can help your efforts. It’s an end-to-end upskilling and citizen-led innovation platform that helps businesses identify and close their skill gaps through customized learning pathways. It offers scenario-based, function-specific learning that’s scalable, repeatable and adaptive.

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Invest in tomorrow

Stay ahead of the curve with PwC ProEdge, the revolutionary way to upskill your people and prepare your organization for tomorrow. This unique platform allows you to pinpoint critical skill gaps and effectively help close them with automatically generated personalized learning pathways. Leading curated content, coursework and hands-on learning empower your workforce to make an immediate impact at scale. ProEdge enables your people to perform at their highest level—giving them the power to help transform your entire organization.