The hunt for qualified talent by organizations has intensified as the COVID-pandemic continues to worsen the skill-gap in the global workforce. A global report by Randstad uncovers some of the latest skilling opportunities, gaps, and trends.
A global reportOpens a new window by Randstad RiseSmart revealed that more than half of the surveyed HR professionals from organizations that undertook skilling initiatives in 2020, held they required their employees to upskill or reskill to meet the evolving business demands. Similarly, 72% of these made skilling opportunities continuously available for career development.
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Why Is Upskilling Required?
The first benefit of upskilling employees is that it allows businesses to stay relevant. However, companies are keen on investing in training as it helps with retention and overall company performance. The Randstad RiseSmart report cited a study, which maintained that organizations in which employees were not engaged in learning were twice as likely to lose those workers before they reach their third year of tenure. This risk significantly reduces when employers invest in their career development.
To put things into perspective, the report cited inputs from one of the Josh Bersin researches: “The cost of recruiting a software engineer who makes up to $200,000 can be as much as $30,000 when factoring in the cost of recruiting, job ads, and HR technology. This external hire is also as much as three times more likely to leave as an internal recruit. In contrast, reskilling an existing employee can cost just $20,000 or less, meaning the cost savings realized by skilling can be as much as $116,000 per person over the course of three years.â€
What Are HR Professionals Saying About Upskilling?
HR professionals are keen on upskilling because of the rapidly evolving business landscape. A whopping 70% of the surveyed HR respondents said they ask or require their employees to upskill or reskill in order to meet the changing business needs.
Also, 61% of respondents said that training is offered to all the employees. This means that the organizations are engaging in company-wide skilling initiatives, which are open to every employee, regardless of seniority or function. “While companies of all sizes identified the need to adapt to business changes through skilling, it’s especially true for the largest companies in our survey,†noted the Randstad RiseSmart report.
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Source: Randstad RiseSmart
When it comes to the nature of industries, software, electronics, and IT companies were most likely (77%) to believe upskilling training was aimed at staying relevant. It was followed by manufacturing, chemicals, and utilities (74%) and then healthcare and life sciences organizations (68%).
Organizations are also paying heed to the employee demands. Nearly half of all organizations offer skilling due to employee demand. Experts believe that this number is likely to go up in the near future. Unfortunately, small companies, with nine or fewer employees, cannot offer training because their employees asked for it.
What Are the Results of Upskilling?
Believe it or not, 98% of respondents noted that employees were able to fully use or at least somewhat use their new skills to benefit their organizations. Meanwhile, when employees were asked why they wanted to upskill or reskill, 55% said they wanted to update their skills or refresh existing ones, while 43% said they wanted to learn new skills to advance in their current role.
Also, almost 30% revealed that they learned new skills to advance internally, rather than finding a new job. Employees are also finding skilling useful, with 75% saying the courses they have taken were very useful, while 94% have been able to use their new skills at work.
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What Does the Future Look Like?
In today’s day and age, when automation is displacing jobs, the demand for soft skills is increasing. The report revealed that 67% of employees took a course that helped them develop soft skills. At the same time, the need for hard skills – especially those related to technology – is here to stay. While half of the companies said employees had taken IT, software or programming courses, 44% said their teams had taken business-focused courses.
It was also observed that employees are really eager to learn. 68% of respondents stated they enrolled in one to three courses in the previous year. Also, among all employees surveyed, more than 70% completed all their courses. What is more surprising is that even among the 4% who enrolled in 10 or more courses, 78% completed all of them.
It is evident from the report that in this day and age, both employers and employees know about the value of skilling and are willing to take up the required investments.