The modern workplace is constantly evolving, making it essential for employers to stay on top of trends and new technologies. Investing in the upskilling of employees is one surefire way to keep ahead of the curve. This blog will explore the many benefits of upskilling employees, from increasing productivity and efficiency to improving employee satisfaction and retention levels. Understanding these benefits can help any employer achieve their goals and have a more successful business operation.
Increased productivity
Undergoing training and learning new skills increases employees’ confidence as they can complete tasks more efficiently and effectively. Improved productivity results in better workflow and employee engagement and will benefit your business in the long run.
Fill skill gaps
As industries evolve and technology advances, it’s likely that your business will encounter skill gaps within your workforce. Your existing employees may already have, or have the potential to acquire, the skills you’re looking for in order to grow.
Your current employees already understand how your business operates, your goals and your customers. Creating an effective upskilling strategy will allow you to identify any skill gaps that have emerged and identify employees whose current capabilities coincide with the requirements of a new role.
Investing in your employees and allowing them to expand their skill set and progress in their careers improves attrition rates and will save you time and money.
Improving employee retention
The recruitment process can be difficult and expensive, and you’ve already invested a considerable amount of time, money and resources in training your employees to be proficient in their current positions.
What’s more, workers are often looking for development opportunities. Learning new skills and retraining are considered important objectives for employees as it improves their career prospects. Providing your employees with opportunities to upskill in areas relevant to their roles and supporting their career progression can encourage company loyalty.
When equipped with the right skills to master new technology and methods to streamline processes and drive growth, employees will feel valued and supported and can confidently manage any challenges they face. Additionally, they’re likely to tell others outside of the organisation that they feel supported at work, and word of mouth is an invaluable aspect of talent acquisition.
Brand reputation
Organisations that invest in employee learning and development are innovative and ready to adapt to changes. Continually offering opportunities to upskill builds a channel of tech-smart talent that can answer future demands and keep your business competitive. In addition, improving employee experience will magnify your brand’s appeal; happy employees are likely to have commendable things to say about working for you, which is especially beneficial with the existence of sites such as Glassdoor.
Solutions
You might be thinking about how you can implement upskilling into your business or how you can increase employee engagement.
Firstly, evaluate your organisation’s current situation and determine what skills are needed or missing. This will enable you to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based) goals and create upskilling initiatives that will genuinely contribute to the business.
The methods you use to upskill your employees will depend on the nature of your business, the identified skill gaps, your existing resources and your long-term objectives. You can use a combination of approaches to upskill your workforce, including:
- Digital and e-learning courses
- External courses
- Upskill coaching
- Peer Mentoring
Once you have a clear plan of what skills you want your employees to attain, develop a personalised approach that they will engage with. For example, you could create specific development programmes for each department within the business to ensure they’re gaining relevant and beneficial skills.
Increasing employee engagement with training and development programmes will rely on making them accessible. The rise of e-learning has made learning opportunities more available than ever before. As a result, employees can learn when and where they want and save time and resources – no travel time and less paper waste.
Additionally, digital learning allows you to analyse how effective a programme is and monitor employee progress, so if something isn’t working well, you can discuss any issues with employees and use their feedback to make adaptions moving forward.
In conclusion, upskilling employees is a beneficial and necessary practice for companies to stay competitive in the ever-evolving business landscape. Not only does upskilling help an organization stay ahead of the technological curve, it can also boost employee morale and satisfaction, leading to greater productivity and collaboration. Furthermore, upskilling employees reduces costly turnover while providing them with more meaningful career opportunities.
Bluestones Staffing
Looking to fill open roles with skilled candidates? We work with industry recognised awarding bodies to recruit, induct and train candidates throughout Northern Ireland. In addition, we can simplify the recruitment process with our bespoke client services, designed around the needs of your business.
If you’d like to find out more about our client services, you can contact us by calling us at 028 95 219 313 or emailing us at info@bluestones-staffing.co.uk, and a member of our team will be happy to help you.
