Instead of hiring new talent to fill these skills gaps, why not invest in your employees’ current talent? By providing and empowering your employees with opportunities to refine their skills and abilities, you’re giving them experiences and new skills that are indispensable. The key to preparing your employees for the future of work is upskilling. But what exactly does that mean?

What is upskilling? And why is it essential?

Upskilling is the process of acquiring additional skills and competencies. It focuses on enhancing current employees’ skill sets and minimising skills gap, so they can function better in these ever-changing work environments and advance in their careers within the company.  

By utilising upskilling, companies can save money by enhancing the skills of their current employees, rather than wasting time and budget looking for new workers. Moreover, the current workforce is expecting more from their jobs. Not only do they want a good salary and a pleasant working environment, but employees are now also seeking benefits and perks, such as flexible working hours, employee training, more paid vacation time, and work-from-home options.

In general, upskilling is essential because:

• It improves employees’ productivity 
• It provides better quality of service
• It boosts employees’ adaptability to change
• It fosters a culture of learning
• It helps organisation to be more competitive by minimising skills gap

By providing employees with upskilling opportunities, companies can make workers feel that they are valued and have a better future within the company.

How to upskill your employees effectively?

Providing an upskilling programme can be a remarkable asset for any business. Below are some ways you can upskill and better nurture your workforce.

1. Offer mentoring and shadowing opportunities

In most companies, there are several resource groups of people composed of talented employees and team leaders. You can find suitable trainers in-house to train other employees with real-world experiences and support. Having an in-house mentor may give your employees a sense of ease knowing that someone is on their side, sharing achievements and guiding them to develop expertise over time.

In addition, these chosen experts may have the opportunity to hone their leadership skills, obtain new professional fulfillment, and improve their communication skills. So, this could be a win-win opportunity for both mentor and mentee.  

2. Encourage mobile learning

Mobile learning is the process of facilitating and enhancing learning processes using personal electronic devices. When providing upskilling opportunities, mobile devices are practical for quick access to learning materials, no matter where your employees are.  Whether they are at home, traveling, or commuting, they can easily use their free time to learn new things. It gives your employees the freedom to learn at their own pace by allowing them to access courses and modules on their devices. Best of all, providing them with mobile learning opportunities may improve engagement and retention. 

3. Utilise personalised learning

For employees to improve skills and knowledge more effectively, the learning and development model of your company must embrace a personalised learning process. 

Personalised learning allows employees to engage with training courses based on their preferences and needs. Since upskilling addresses skills gaps across teams of varying sizes, personalised learning has given employees the chance to spend more time on areas that they need to improve. They can also choose from a wide range of training formats, such as videos, podcasts, quizzes, and more. By focusing training efforts solely on areas that each worker needs, companies can avoid squandering time or money on materials that employees don’t find useful.

4. Take advantage of online learning and training platforms

Since your employees have unique needs, a learning management system (LMS) is a must to organise and customise training materials and courses. An LMS can track and monitor each of your employees’ progress and performance, and will provide insightful analytical information in an easy-to-understand visual format. In just one platform, you’ll be able to have an overall view of where your workers stand, individually and as a team.  

For an employee, an LMS provides a platform that is easily accessible and flexible to obtain training regardless of their location. With the help of an LMS, employees are not forced to attend a specific location to acquire training. Which, in turn, can enhance employee engagement, productivity, and motivation.

Ultimately, your employees are just as important as your customers simply because they are your company’s biggest assets. Your customers may be the reason why your company continues to thrive, but without your employees’ dedication, passion, and hard work, you will not gain customers in the first place.

Remember, your employees come in with a diverse set of skills and abilities, but every person, whoever they are, can always improve. Therefore, you need to earnestly invest in your employees because if you do, they might invest in your company as well. The above methods are simple and applicable across industries and, if implemented, can help you upskill your employees and maximise their human capital.

Are you ready to upskill your workforce?

If you want to nurture your employees and maximise their full potential, we at SSA Group offer training services in Human Capital Development to help you develop and foster a culture of lifelong learning. We also offer digital solutions, such as e-Learning, management systems, and immersive applications that will help your business become future-ready. We have SSAVANT, too! Our simple and intuitive learning management system designed to streamline all your training programmes and learning processes. If you think that we have what it takes to transform your business, contact us and we’ll be delighted to help!