There are very few industries out there now, where technology isn’t evolving and changing the way in which their teams work – and even those, whose productions and processes are untouched, still find modern technology making an impact in their marketing, development, and customer service. Technology is constantly evolving, changing, and redetermining how we deal not only with the internal processes and structures of a business, but how we deal with customer expectations, delivery, and sales of products and services. Therefore, as that evolves, so does the importance of upskilling your employees.
It’s estimated that more than half of all employees around the world need to upskill or reskill by 2025, and with skill sets for jobs having changed by around 25% since 2015 (and this figure expected to double by 2027) it’s no surprise. Employees, in general, are quite open to improving their skills, with around 40% of workers improving their digital skills during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 77% saying they are ready to learn new skills or completely retrain.
Investing in new skills and training does take time, resources, budget, and effort – and there are times when it’s not financially viable to roll out large-scale retraining or training sessions, but there are plenty of very good reasons why the importance of upskilling your employees is crucial and makes very good business sense.
Training in Tech Keeps Your Team Up-to-Date
Digital transformation is something that comes to all businesses, whether that’s customer facing or in the office – the focus on using digital tools to streamline processes, replace outdated strategies, and make use of new programs will see digital being used again and again.
By having regular training sessions with your team, and helping them understand how these new functions work, you can ensure that you’re working on the cutting edge, and providing the best quality in that area.
Upskilling Allows Retention
If you’re working in an industry where training is a long and expensive process, you’re going to want to keep your staff for as long as possible, as their experience is priceless.
By offering upskilling and training sessions, you are providing your experienced workers with new tools – this allows you to retain their experience and ability to train incoming employees, and progress with your digital transformation without having to hire someone else to take on those roles.