Upskilling to retain your top talent.

According to the World Economic Forum, by 2025, 50% of employees worldwide will need to be reskilled as the adoption of technology continues, whilst LinkedIn’s ‘2022 Global Trends Report’ reveals that upskilling and development opportunities were top priorities for employees.

As we move into 2023, in the UK economic uncertainty, and a competitive labour market means businesses face an on-going talent shortage. The pandemic changed job requirements and left many people feeling unprepared as businesses quickly reorganised and traditional learning and skills development tried to adapt.

The global labour market is also changing. A report from the McKinsey Global Institute says 14% of the workforce will have to change their careers by 2030. With so many employees looking for new jobs, employers have to be creative in their retention strategy and upskilling is an effective way of retaining top talent in the organisation.

Acquiring new skills or knowledge in order to improve job performance or career opportunities is advantageous to both employers and employees. For employers, identifying skills gaps and then investing in training initiatives to upskill the current team moves the priority to talent development rather than recruitment. This helps the business to remain competitive, increases the efficiency and productivity of the current team, boosts employee motivation and job satisfaction which results in improved employee retention. From an employee perspective, it not only offers the opportunity to develop or learn new skills, but also to increase their value and enable them to take on more responsibility or higher-level, better-paid positions within their organisation.

As we move into 2023, it’s clear that employees need to be prepared for the ‘future of work’ and that businesses will need to be resilient to the economic problems ahead. Upskilling can become an important part of a businesses workforce planning, talent acquisition and retention strategy and those that show a commitment to employee growth and implement better learning and development opportunities will be the ones that attract and retain top workers.