Industry Research: Reskilling: HR Buzzword or the Future of Workforce Development?

42 days. That’s how long it takes on average to fill an open position nowadays. But recruiting a new employee is just the beginning of the process. How long does it take for them to become a meaningful contributor to your organization after they come on board? Weeks? Months? Years? And then there’s the bigger question: how much ground is your company losing while you wait for them to get up to speed?

 

In a business world rife with disruption, organizations simply can’t afford the risk of waiting for performance. A modern workforce development strategy must therefore be focused on agility, enabling the business to make nimble, strategic shifts based on the prevailing needs of the marketplace. HR teams have to get creative when filling gaps in the operation more quickly while protecting against any loss of employee capability. For example, some organizations have increased their use of contract/gig workers for specific roles. These workers come to the table armed with specific desired skills. However, because they aren’t part of your company culture, they tend to lack the organizational context that is often needed to perform at max potential. This multifaceted challenge has led to a new buzzword in the talent development space: reskilling.
 
“Reskilling has become a growth imperative for organizations, many of which have seen positions go unfilled for months or years for lack of the right talent to fill them,” according to the 2019 Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report. Rather than defaulting to an external search, management is looking for ways to build it internally. While this will still take time, reskilling is also shown to cost as little as one-sixth as much as hiring an external candidate. Right-fit talent with an understanding of company culture developed faster and cheaper sounds like the HR holy grail. But what does an effective approach to reskilling look like?
 
Before jumping into a reskilling effort, innovative HR professionals must help their peers and stakeholders overcome a critical misinterpretation. Reskilling isn’t just a project with a set start and end. The knowledge and skill requirements of the modern workplace are just as fluid as the business’ priorities. Therefore, management cannot accurately predict their talent needs very far ahead. For an organization to become “future-proofed,” learning must be embedded in the work. Employees should be provided with opportunities for continuous development alongside their everyday responsibilities. This requires not only an evolution in how training content and technology are designed but also buy-in, alignment and prioritization at all levels of the organization—from frontline employees to the executive team. Learning must be viewed as an ongoing strategic priority, not a timely compliance requirement or nice-to-have for employee engagement.
 
This will not be an overnight adjustment for most organizations. Unfortunately, many people still think employee development should look and feel like traditional academia with dedicated times and places for learning. Thankfully, recent advancements in data and technology are significantly improving HR’s ability to embed learning within the working experience. Artificial intelligence is transforming learning technology by using employee data to personalize and adapt training experiences. Rather than search through overstuffed catalogs of generic online courses that require hours to complete, employees can now automatically receive targeted training that fits nicely into available moments in their workday. This training may include a range of online and real-world activities, such as watching videos, reviewing reference articles, engaging in a coaching conversation with a manager, identifying a new mentor or practicing their skills within realistic scenarios. By leveraging existing workplace technologies, such as point of sale systems, time clocks or mobile devices, employees can quickly access training without stepping away from their workspace. Management can continuously reprioritize training topics that are of the greatest importance to business growth while working in the background to match development opportunities with individual employee needs and goals.
 
Learning is the ultimate competitive advantage. The faster an organization can learn, the more effectively they can innovate and get ahead of disruption. But as the business evolves, its talent needs will also change. A reimagined approach to employee development can help an organization continuously maintain its capability while fostering the engagement benefits that result from offering existing employees more opportunities to grow. Reskilling is more than just a buzzword or temporary measure. It’s a powerful mindset shift regarding the value of learning and development as a critical, everyday part of the job.