Reskilling Employees

What is The Great Resignation, and how can upskilling and reskilling employees help? Well, beginning in early 2021, the Great Resignation, AKA The Big Quit, is an economic movement in which employees willingly depart from their positions in massive numbers. According to reports, the trend is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government’s refusal to give vital labor protections, and salary stagnation despite rising costs of living. When talking about Striketober, a wave of strikes in October 2021, some economists have described the Great Resignation as a form of global strike.

Anthony Klotz, a management professor at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, had invented the term when he projected a mass exodus in May 2021.

Why Should Companies Rethink Their Skill Development Programs in This Crisis?
reskilling employees

Companies compete for talent at all levels, but with Gen Z and Millennials driving The Great Resignation, Gen X and Baby Boomers have a great chance to invest in upskilling and reskilling employees.

It’s not just about finding and recruiting the ideal people; it’s also about keeping them. Companies must consider their skill development initiatives, especially for those later in their careers, as the Great Resignation is starting and employees hunt for more lucrative job prospects.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Baby Boomer age was the fastest expanding workforce sector in 2019. Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded a substantial increase in retirements in 2020 – more than doubling from the previous year – many experts believe that Boomers have decided to retire and review their life meaning and purpose.

Although the number of Baby Boomers leaving the labor market rises each year, this does not always imply that they will quit working. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of those over 55 who are self-employed is double that of all other age groups combined. This figure supports the notion that many Baby Boomers want to reinvent themselves and work somehow.

Not only Baby Boomers, but companies should also focus on reskilling employees from the younger generation. Let’s explain why.

Why Concentrate on Upskilling and Reskilling Employees?

Employees desiring training and advancement in their careers is nothing new. And it’s been on the minds of many businesses for years. However, there are a few reasons why it is a higher priority right now:

Demonstrate your commitment to your staff

If your focus is solely on hiring during this downturn, you risk overlooking current personnel. When training is on hold, morale suffers, leading to more resignations. Preparing employees for the task they’ll be doing, on the other hand, demonstrates your willingness to invest in them and assist them in advancing within your firm.

Assist folks in adjusting to the new normal

When people are unsure how to accomplish their occupations, they experience pandemic burnout. Roles have transformed, and our working methods have evolved rapidly. Through training, people obtain the skills to succeed in their new work. And when they’re sure of themselves, they will put in their best efforts.

You can’t afford to treat training as an afterthought, a one-time event, or a luxury your organization offers. Upskilling and reskilling employees should be an active element of your staff retention strategy if you want to affect it.

5 recommendations for reskilling employees and upskilling in the workplace

Here are five suggestions to help you design a strategy for re-energizing and retaining current personnel.

Concentrate on the abilities that employees require right now

Discover what talents your staff requires right now. Whether you have a fully remote or hybrid workplace, you want to ensure that everyone is confident in their ability to do the tasks at hand.

This activity could entail teaching folks how to use the technology for virtual work. It could entail providing soft-skills training to improve collaboration. Communication, etiquette in a virtual work scenario, and diversity and inclusion training may help people do their best work and feel heard. It could also imply providing mindfulness and stress management classes to help people cope with burnout and stress.

Provide employees the talents they’ll need in the future

Employee training is a way of showing that you care about their success and advancement in their careers. It should be linked to professional advancement, promotions, and job mobility. Provide job skills training that prepares employees for future positions to invest in your people and business.

Upskill employees as soon as you hire them to help them reach their full potential. Before assigning team members to leadership positions, could you provide them with leadership training? Alternatively, provide training as workers prepare to move to a new department.

Make training more than a benefit of the job

Employee training should be a component of their overall experience. Employees shouldn’t have to argue for training or budget increases. They shouldn’t be rewarded for their excellent work with a ticket to a yearly conference or access to an online library.

Create a training strategy linked with company goals and employee requirements to display that learning is a part of your company’s culture. Connect regular training to employees’ daily tasks, and consider giving extra courses that allow them to learn new skills and expand existing expertise.

Create a training schedule that is suitable for the workplace

Employees value personal time more than ever before. By scheduling training during regular work hours, you can help to avoid burnout and promote a good work-life balance. During the workweek, set aside time for learning.

Alternatively, to avoid job disruptions, provide self-paced online training that people may take at their leisure in their spare time. For accessible eLearning that fits into hectic schedules, include microlearning and mobile material.

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Personalize your training

Gain a competitive advantage by customizing training to the needs of your staff. Individualize courses to address specific job functions or company-specific abilities. Include interactive scenarios in which employees respond to real-life scenarios they may encounter on the job.

With the right LMS features, you can also customize specific user experiences. For example, separate departments could have their training hubs or branches. Employees will then view training information appropriate to their unique career path when they log on.

For some needs, one-size-fits-all training works, while custom learning demonstrates more robust support for individual employees’ goals.

Returning to Reskilling Employees From Gen-X

According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), corporations spent more than $165 billion on training and development in 2020.

“How much of that is spent on senior workers?” is the query. Age discrimination arises not just in the hiring process but also in the internal career growth of employees. When employees reach pre-retirement ages, there is a common notion that they will not learn and retain new skills. Another assumption is that a corporation would not want to invest in individuals nearing retirement because they will not be in the job for long.

The truth is that this can happen to employees of any generation. It should always begin with a career chat for those employees who are further along in their careers. “So when are you intending to retire?” is an undesirable question to ask an employee. “Let’s chat about your career and chances for continued progress,” you can say.

“Are your staff playing to win, or are they planning to stay?” as we like to say. To put it another way, “playing to win” personnel is those that want to continue growing and expanding their talents, as opposed to “playing to remain” employees who are merely counting down the days till retirement and believe that increasing skills is pointless.

Companies should assist employees who are “playing to win” in upskilling and reskilling employees, as they are vital to the organization’s diversity and inclusiveness. According to research, there is no link between age and job skill or performance. In reality, older employees are more likely than younger employees to be better communicators, more self-aware, and have a stronger work ethic.

There has been a lot of research done on the advantages of training and developing older personnel vs. letting them leave and hiring new people. Reskilling employees have a far higher return on investment in diversity, productivity, retention, and the bottom line.

Many businesses have implemented training programs for older employees, such as reverse mentoring and coaching. Information technology, digital, and computer skills are still in high demand in the workforce. Thus reverse mentoring is a fantastic way for Boomers to learn new skills from their younger peers.

Employees will leave the employment and follow their leisure, travel, and relaxation aspirations with no desire to work, despite firms’ efforts to identify and teach those employees wishing to defer retirement and continue working.

Companies are offering phased retirement programs as early as a year before retirement for those individuals, including lowering office hours, focusing on knowledge transfer, and assisting the retiree with life planning. This type of change can have a significant impact on an employee’s well-being, mental health, and, as a result, their level of engagement and productivity in the workplace. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Immersive Learning May Be the Answer

A new era of work necessitates the introduction of cutting-edge training tools. Immersive training platforms including augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), mixed reality (MR), 360-degree video, and interactive 3D desktop or mobile experiences offer the potential to close skill gaps and boost employee engagement, productivity, and retention. Companies can use these technologies to immerse their staff in highly realistic virtual training settings, giving them hands-on experience and learning jointly with colleagues all over the world.

To prepare businesses for a highly uncertain future, we need a substantial training makeover. According to the majority of employees, the introduction of immersive technology would make training entertaining for the first time. These platforms also can tackle significant corporate problems: on-demand immersive training could be the key to resolving the workplace productivity dilemma and providing safety training in high-risk situations.

But how should businesses go about implementing this game-changing technology on a large scale? To get started, use the suggestions below.

Creation

Organizations may be concerned that they lack the technical skills to create bespoke immersive training content. Still, as tools and templates become more widely available, these obstacles are being torn down. Organizations may develop effective programs in-house fast and quickly with the right technology partner without sacrificing quality.

Management

Training platforms must be easily integrated into existing company systems and procedures. It’s not only about technical integration; it’s also about how the platform will function in business operations. After you’ve demonstrated the platform’s worth to your company, you’ll need to overcome integration challenges like access control, audit logs, versioning, and data protection regulations. However, you may easily overcome these challenges with the appropriate companion by your side.

Improvement and evaluation

The critical data that immersive platforms produce is their main selling point. The granular level of insight — which combines objective and subjective performance measurements — is instrumental in personalizing training to specific employee needs and the ongoing evaluation and development of training programs and business practices.

In the Face of the Reskilling Employees Ultimatum

Traditional training methods are running out of time; according to Immerse’s research, two-thirds of HR professionals believe that firms that do not use cutting-edge training technologies would struggle to attract and retain top personnel. However, on average, enterprises do not expect to have fully implemented immersive training solutions until 2028.

When recruiting is in crisis mode, a lack of training innovation leaves the door wide open for more departures. Employers are facing a choice: alter their training programs or risk losing their most exemplary employees.

Conclusion: Increase Employee Retention by Focusing on Training

Employee development has always been an essential component of a thriving, growing company. It may also be the key to thriving in the post-pandemic corporate landscape.

The Great Resignation is not a one-time or short-term event. Your approach for upskilling and reskilling employees should be ongoing as well. Make sure it’s a part of your employees’ daily routine. Also, be flexible as the labor market shifts. Current employees and job seekers alike will find your organization appealing if you provide relevant learning and development opportunities.

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