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Learning & Development

5 innovative reskilling ideas to help your team level up

By 2026, up to 1.4 million workers will need reskilling. For 70% of those people, it will be because their jobs have become obsolete.

Those are some pretty scary numbers, particularly for those of us who are wary about the rise of AI.

But alongside that comes opportunity. Learning new skills is good for our physical and mental health.

Reskilling also provides businesses with the opportunity to retain internal knowledge and maintain company culture. It enables them to keep employees whose jobs may become obsolete but who can be reskilled to work in other areas.

41% of employers plan to focus reskilling on high-performing employees, showing how much their attitudes and knowledge are valued despite the changing world of work.

However, just 30% of employees whose roles are most likely to become obsolete have had training in the last year. Businesses need to act sooner rather than later to stay ahead.

What’s more, 74% of employees are ready for reskilling or retraining, providing businesses with the perfect opportunity to avoid needing to rehire when the time comes.

What is reskilling?

Reskilling is the process of teaching an employee an entirely new skill set, unrelated to their current role. It’s in contrast to upskilling, where people learn skills related to their current role.

For example, reskilling would be a graphic designer learning to become a software developer.

Upskilling would be a software developer learning a new programming language. 

For millions of workers though, upskilling is no longer enough.

Skills now have an average half-life of less than five years. That half-life is even lower in some tech areas at just 2.5 years. 

Reskilling is going to play a pivotal role in the future of work as industries become more reliant on AI and new jobs are created as old ones become obsolete.

Reskilling ideas

So what can you do to reskill your employees? Let’s look at some things to consider:

Identify key skills

What skills do you need to retain?

Consider technical skills your organization can benefit from, but don’t forget soft skills. These are vital to helping leaders support employees during times of change. They take time to learn and implement, and therefore should be core to your reskilling program. 

Skills like communication, giving and receiving feedback in an empathetic way, providing a psychologically safe workplace, and setting positive examples will all help employees feel supported and valued as they learn new skills.

Leaders’ soft skills are also what influence your company culture far more than their technical skills, so it’s vital to ensure that you retain employees who have these abilities so that your business doesn’t suffer in more ways than one.

Set up a mentorship scheme

Mentoring is a really good way for employees to learn new skills from someone with existing knowledge. It can be more hands-on than returning to a classroom, providing networking and growth opportunities in a real-world setting.

Internally, you can connect employees via employee groups, mentoring platforms, or via HR.

Alternatively, you could connect employees with people from outside of your organization. This can be helpful if you want to support underrepresented employees but don’t have the internal tools to do so.

Providing culturally competent reskilling opportunities is important.

Bring in outside support

Outside, objective support can help you spot internal knowledge gaps and avoid groupthink.

An external trainer or coach can tailor advice to your business while bringing in their own expertise that may still be relevant.

External support could come in the form of a one-off session, or long-term support like coaching or a structured program. 

It could also mean working with an external consultant who can identify areas for reskilling within your organization. Then, they can help train your existing employees in those areas.

Collect employee feedback

Some people don’t adjust well to change. Listening to your employees is key to keeping them engaged in times of change or challenge.

You could do this through feedback surveys, employee listening platforms, focus groups, or open-door policies. Different collection methods will appeal to different people. More introverted employees are less likely to talk to someone even with an open-door policy in place, for example, but they might feel comfortable answering a survey.

The more options you provide, the more likely you are to tap into different types of employees and opinions. This will give you the most well-rounded feedback that you can then act upon.

Set up ERGs

Employee resource groups are powerful tools to connect employees. They don’t just have to be for social reasons, though: you can use them as reskilling tools, too.

They’re a way for employees to find mentors, discuss what’s happening at work, share learnings, link to resources, and connect with people focused on reskilling in the same areas. All this support contributes to a sense of belonging in the workplace, reducing the worry that can come from AI taking people’s jobs and offering a sense of security instead.

Conclusion

Reskilling employees is more important than ever. It will help you stay ahead of your competition, provide a psychologically safe workplace, and prepare your business for the ever-changing landscape that we now live in.

Offering training opportunities supports employees’ wellbeing too, with all the benefits to mental health and brain power that come from learning new skills.

Support your employees’ reskilling needs and goals

What do your employees really think about reskilling? What do they want to learn? How can they connect with others who share their learning goals?

With Workrowd’s all-in-one platform, you can easily connect employees with an array of reskilling opportunities. Plus, with our automated surveys feeding into real-time analytics, you can maximize the ROI of every one of your reskilling efforts.

Workrowd empowers you to spend less time collecting data and more time taking action based on what your employees need. Get in touch to book your demo. Visit us online or reach out directly at hello@workrowd.com.

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