Did you know the modern-day job market is driven by skills instead of academic qualifications? That’s right. Employers seek highly skilled and trained professionals to smoothen technology acquisition and digital evolution. Interestingly, talent acquisition is an ongoing process, and businesses must continue to help their employees upskill.
What is upskilling? It’s a workplace strategy to expand existing human resource capabilities and overcome skill shortages. Instead of acquiring new talent from the market, companies focus on helping their employees acquire new skills. Upskilling allows businesses to reduce skill gaps, preparing their organizations to embrace emerging technologies and trends.
Upskilling is promoted using numerous strategies, such as facilitating e-learning courses, training programs, microlearning, and mentoring and shadowing. Keep reading to explore practical strategies to promote upskilling in corporate e-Learning.
Facilitating Academic Advancement & Continual Learning
Corporate life is demanding and exhausting, leaving little time or energy for personal development. After completing their undergraduate, most professionals enter the job market, driven mainly by the burden of student debts. Delaying postgraduate education has emerged as a dominant trend, given the urgency to start earning and achieving financial independence.
Businesses don’t need entry-level professionals, but rather, they require corporate leaders and innovators. A master’s degree is crucial to harness leadership skills and cultivate a formidable corporate acumen with exposure to global ecosystems. Organizations can facilitate academic advancement by partnering with accredited e-learning platforms.
Companies can encourage their most talented employees to pursue accredited online MBA programs without undertaking overwhelming financial burdens. E-learning offers ample flexibility, allowing full-time professionals to learn and attend lectures at their own pace. Companies can facilitate their employees with tuition fees and lighten their daily schedules.
Ensuring all employees have access to e-learning platforms and collaborative learning spaces will encourage them to pursue academic advancement. Naturally, the company will have to set priorities to ensure upskilling initiatives don’t interfere with everyday operations and organizational goals.
Introducing Mandatory Virtual Training Programs
Pursuing an MBA or any other academic program is a matter of personal choice and initiative. While a company cannot compel an employee to enroll in a three-year degree program, it can introduce mandatory courses. Certain skills are required organization-wide to ensure smooth technology acquisition or implementing a new corporate model.
Suppose your company has recently upgraded to a new project management software powered by automation. In that case, you will need to roll out a training program to introduce all employees to its applications and processes. Companies can mandate virtual training programs by collaborating with existing platforms or hiring a trained expert. The training sessions can focus on any given skill crucial for the company, allowing employees to engage in collaborative learning.
Virtual training programs and online courses are viable solutions to maintain professional decorum and productivity. Employees can attend the training sessions online during non-work hours.
Encouraging Employees to Develop Individualized Upskilling Goals
Today’s job market is highly competitive and driven by the marketability of skillsets. McKinsey estimates that the automation industry is set to replace 14% of jobs worldwide by 2030. While some skills will become redundant, emerging technologies will give birth to new skill requirements. Corporate leaders are anxious about the burgeoning workplace skills gap, realize that e-learning solutions are the ideal recourse.
However, implementing this solution demands an organization-wide strategy driven by employees instead of managers. Businesses must encourage their employees to create an individualized upskilling plan that aligns with their professional development goals. Platforms like disprz offer a suite of tools that can assist organizations in streamlining the upskilling process, ensuring targeted skill development in sync with organizational needs. Some employees may want to harness their marketing talents with digital technologies, while others may seek IT-specific specializations.
Each employee must set personalized upskilling goals by identifying the skills required to support personal and professional growth. Business leaders can help employees identify their interests and corporate calling, but upskilling is a very personal process. It’s an endeavor that demands the learner to look within and strive for development with a personalized plan.
The idea is to adopt a learner-centric strategy and allow employees to take charge of their own upskilling processes.
Focus on Addressing Skill Shortages
Businesses rely on data analytics to identify current and future skill shortages. Upskilling provides a more promising and efficient alternative to recruitment in addressing skill shortages. Suppose your company is planning to embrace robotics or machine learning algorithms for manufacturing processes. In that case, it’s wise to initiate job-specific skill training long before the planned technology acquisition.
This strategy calls for a concentrated upskilling effort using corporate e-learning platforms to address current and future skill shortages. Employers must run detailed forecasts and use data-driven insights to understand the company’s evolving skill demands. Then, these insights will dictate the right training programs and online courses for relevant departments.
For instance, the customer service department can undertake courses on conflict resolution and managing stress. Likewise, marketing employees can focus on emerging advertising solutions and digital marketing competencies.
Final Thoughts
Companies that adopt overly ambitious approaches to upskilling often end up burning out their employees. It’s crucial to embrace a slow and steady process that emphasizes personal and professional growth. Setting priorities and goals are of the utmost significance. It’s wise to focus on one skill at a time and encourage employees to create personalized upskilling plans.
You see, the organization is the facilitator, and facilitation isn’t possible if the corporate learner isn’t on board with the process. Therefore, business leaders must maintain inclusivity and encourage employees to take charge of their learning and skill development.
