Reskilling your workforce

By 2030, as many as 107 million workers, 12 million more than before the pandemic, may need to switch their occupational categories as COVID-19 has accelerated the transformation of digitization and automation, disrupting the world of work. To put that shift into context, it will have about the same impact on the workforce as the industrial revolution did. To prepare for this massive shift, organizations will have to put considerable effort and resources into reskilling their employees. 

What is Reskilling?

Reskilling refers to the process of learning new skills so someone can do a different job, or training people to do a different job.  Upskilling, reskilling, retraining, and even new-skilling are used interchangeably for the process. Training these workers requires teaching technical skills along with creativity, interpersonal skills, adaptability and the capacity to continue learning.

Organizations leading the way

• Amazon: Fulfillment-center employees can go through a 16-week certification program in classrooms located inside Amazon warehouses and, if the retailer hires them as data technicians, their wages will rise from an average $15 an hour to $30.
• AT&T: 180,000 employees so far have participated in its Future Ready program. Workers can assess their skills, then pursue short-term badges, nanodegrees taking up to a year to complete, or master’s degrees in fields like computer science and data science offered in partnership with institutions such as the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Notre Dame. 

These companies are only the tip of the iceberg. 87% of executives are noticing significant gaps in the skills of their workers due to COVID-19 and the advancement of automation and digitization. The Harvard Business Review even posits that this shift will require adding a new role to the c-suite: a chief skills and learning officer (CSLO) in the same way that the role of chief technology officer became commonplace over the past two decades. 

Want to learn more about how you can reskill your workforce? View our resources, or connect with one of our experts for a personalized, guided demo that will show you how easy it is to incorporate all of OpenSesame’s innovative tools and features into your training experience. With courses offered in multiple languages, and available on multiple devices OpenSesame helps companies like yours develop the world’s most developed and admired global workforces.

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