Reimagining the workforce: ‘Upskilling & reskilling most effective tools to bridge skills gap amongst employees’

“Upskilling and reskilling are the most effective tools to bridge the skills gap amongst employees,” they noted. (Representative image)

For closing the skills gap, companies must focus on workplace education, and tuition reimbursement/scholarships, university-sponsored discounts, along with industry certificates, are the most effective methods for upskilling/reskilling according to 70% employers. This was found by the Wiley report “Reimagining the Workforce 2021”, which highlights opinions of CHROs, L&Ds along with CXOs. “Upskilling and reskilling are the most effective tools to bridge the skills gap amongst employees,” they noted.

The report also brought to light the fact that companies increasingly prefer to offer tuition assistance and support programmes to address this talent-skill gap.

In current times, the workplace landscape is undergoing major transformations. Covid-19 upturned the existing unbalanced hiring sector as many professionals lost their jobs, while others were struggling to prove their capabilities and deal with the global pandemic crisis. While some businesses were forced to lay off their employees, various others resorted to internal mobility as a viable option. However, what goes unnoticed is that organisations have to let go off their quality talent since they do not possess the required skills to cope with unpredictable times or crisis situations.

Owing to these unstable times, businesses are moving beyond traditional routes and are incorporating new-age strategies of reskilling and upskilling their employees. “Introducing workplace education is not only helping businesses cope with the challenges, but is also ensuring the seamless continuance of their operations,” the report said.

Key highlights:
—What started out as a trend in the market is now becoming the dire need of the hour. Reskilling and upskilling are emerging to be the ideal solutions to bridge the talent-skill gap in the hiring market;
—About 60% of the HR and L&D employers believe that there is a major talent-skill gap;
—About 70% of them are of the view that upskilling and/or reskilling are the most viable way-outs to bridge this gap;
—Also, 87% employers give preference to tuition assistance and support programmes and believe that they are the most effective and impactful upskilling/reskilling tools;
—However, only 45% of the HRs and leaders representing their respective companies stated that they offer tuition assistance programmes at their firms.