Unlocking Employee Potential: The Awesome Benefits of Employee Upskilling

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Upskilling is more important than ever, with 93% of Millennials and Generation Z expecting employers to provide learning opportunities, employers can no longer afford to not offer learning, growth and development opportunities for their team.

In today's world where new technologies are released daily and processes are constantly updated, companies need to ensure that their employees are not only able to adapt to change but are prepared to face any challenges. But employee development isn't just about the organisation, it's about showing employees that you care about helping them succeed in their professional lives.

Unsurprisingly, upskilling and reskilling are top priorities for 60% of leadership and development (L&D) professionals, due to the incredible benefits that are associated with them. In this article, we'll cover five impressive benefits of upskilling your workforce, along with best practices to ensure your upskilling program is effective.

The Benefits of Upskilling Your Employees

But why should helping your employees develop their skills and acquire new abilities be a priority? Keep reading to discover some of the amazing benefits organisations are seeing when they prioritise their employee upskilling.

1. Upskilling Employees Improves Productivity

One of the biggest reasons to invest in an employee development program is the opportunity to improve your team's productivity. The simple logic is that employees who are given the right training and learning opportunities are more productive at work, with 93% of CEOs who introduced upskilling programs seeing increased productivity across their teams.

Providing your employees with the right professional development opportunities increases their productivity because it helps them build their confidence, understand modern processes and do their best work. When employees know what they are doing and how to do it well, they work more efficiently, reducing the time needed to conduct tasks, making fewer mistakes, and increasing their productivity levels.

2. Upskilling Employees Results in Cost Savings

There’s no denying that replacing, onboarding, training and recruiting employees is an expensive and time-consuming task. But if you can effectively upgrade the skills of your current workforce, you can save a lot of money.

Upskilling your workforce helps you meet the ever-changing needs of your business, close skills gaps, and keep all your employees up to date with best practices which in the long-term results in cost savings for your organisation.

3. Upskilling Employees = Increased Morale and Retention Rates

A workplace that encourages employee learning and development is a happy one. If you want your employees to be engaged and satisfied with their job, you need to make sure that upskilling is part of your learning and development strategy.

Providing appropriate professional development opportunities makes employees feel respected, valued and invested in, increasing morale and retention rates within the organisation. When employees see growth opportunities, they are often motivated to do their best if they know they can move up the career ladder.

4. Upskilling Employees Enhances Your Workplace Culture

Companies with a thriving employee learning culture are seeing benefits such as improved employee engagement, employee growth mindsets, and significantly increased motivation. Upskilling your employees is a great way to not only improve the learning culture in your workplace but also create a positive culture that values growth and progression.

When employees feel supported in the workplace, they are more likely to bring in new ideas and insights and work better in a collaborative environment. This will lead to a more innovative work culture that will greatly benefit any company, regardless of industry.

5. Upskilling Employees Provides a Competitive Advantage

When you upskill your employees, you gain a competitive advantage within your industry. The more skills and knowledge your employees have, the more likely they are to adapt to the uncertain business climate, deliver new innovative ideas and provide better customer service. Equipping your employees with the skills they need to succeed will strengthen your company's market position and prepare it for the future.

Additionally, actively promoting and showcasing the value of learning and developing within your organisation is more likely to attract candidates and top talent looking for positions that offer growth opportunities. The numbers speak for themselves. An impressive 65% of employees say training is a very important asset when evaluating potential new jobs.

Best Practices for Effectively Upskilling Employees

Employee upskilling is essential for organisations trying to remain competitive and adaptable in the fast-paced world of business. By providing your employees with the right learning and development opportunities, then you’re ensuring that as an organisation you have the right talent and knowledge to succeed. To establish effective professional development initiatives, consider the following best practices:

• Look for skill and knowledge gaps: One of the most important steps of employee upskilling is to first assess employee skills and identify knowledge gaps. This can be done through skills assessments, surveys, and so on. When you identify areas where your employees may have potential weaknesses, such as leadership skills, strategies can be tailored to meet each employee's specific skill and knowledge needs.

• Create a comprehensive professional development plan: If you want to successfully upskill your workforce, you need to take the time to develop a detailed and comprehensive plan. Once you have seen the knowledge gaps in your organisation and identified your employees' wants and needs, you can start writing a plan on how to fulfil them. When creating your plan, remember that you should add as much detail as possible, from the type of training you plan to use to the resources needed to reach your business goals.

• Use a variety of training methods: Learning and development isn’t a one-way street, all employees have unique learning needs and preferred preferences for how they learn. For this reason, it is imperative to use different training methods to meet the needs of different learners. From e-learning and job shadowing to implementing mentoring programs, you need to find the best methods that work for your business and its employees.

• Provide feedback and support: Upskilling is an ongoing process, so you need to provide ongoing support and feedback to keep your employees motivated and committed to learning. There are many ways to effectively provide feedback and support, from checking in with your team regularly to utilising performance reviews.

• Measure the effectiveness of programs: Many organisations create plans but neglect to measure results, which is essential for growth and improvement. To ensure that your professional development program delivers the results you expect and helps you achieve your business goals, you must regularly evaluate and measure its effectiveness to identify areas for growth.

Conclusion

In summary, upskilling your employees provides a huge range of benefits. From increased productivity to improved employee retention, there are incredible benefits for companies that value learning and development and want to help their employees grow. If you want to stay ahead of the competition and adapt to the challenges your business may face, you need to make sure that upskilling your workforce is a top priority.

If you're interested in learning more about how mentoring programs can be an incredibly powerful way to develop your employees and how you can use them at your company, book a free demonstration with a member of our team today. PushFar is the world's leading career progression and mentoring platform, helping hundreds of companies support their employees' growth and advancement.