Many organizations devote significant resources to recruitment, often at the expense of upskilling and reskilling their existing staff. However, reduced hiring costs are just one of the many advantages of nurturing talent within your organization. If rolled out correctly, upskilling and reskilling can inspire loyalty, drive resilience, and ultimately, enhance company performance.
Such benefits cannot be realized overnight. Not only does it require a dedicated L&D strategy, but it also calls for a company culture that’s based on continuous learning and development within the organization – a true learning ecosystem.
Counting the costs of recruitment
Low unemployment rates and a rising demand for new digital-based skillsets has made recruiting skilled candidates more challenging than ever. According to a 2021 report by mthree, 87% of business in the US and 78% of businesses in the UK experience issues when it comes to finding replacements.
Couple this talent scarcity with the cost of recruitment, and you have a perfect storm of skills deficiency and high overheads. Expenses such job advertising, recruitment fairs, and recruitment agency fees all impact an organization’s bottom line. Onboarding and training new hires presents an additional and often-overlooked financial burden. According to a Bersin by Deloitte study, it costs $3,000 on average to onboard each new employee.
The cost of ineffective onboarding is not solely financial. According to recent research by US software company BambooHR, employees are more likely to question their decision to join an organization because of poor onboarding processes, with 31% of employees leaving a job within the first six months. The morale of remaining employees is also likely to be affected, as there is often increased pressure on them to fulfill the work of missing staff until replacements are found.
How upskilling and reskilling can help
To mitigate these issues, organizations must turn the lens inward to source new skills and talent. Upskilling and reskilling existing staff can have a huge benefit on the business, far beyond the reductions in costs.
Improved engagement and loyalty
When organizations establish a strategy to recruit talent internally, employees feel more valued and respected. This builds a culture of trust and a feeling of belonging, which in turn encourages staff to contribute to the success of the business, while remaining loyal, even during times of change and uncertainty. Also, by continually nurturing and strengthening new skillsets, employees are more mentally stimulated, and therefore more motivated during their work. These employees are committed to forging a long-term career within the business.
Improved agility and resilience
As well as supporting employee personal and professional development, the acquisition of new skills internally drives agility and resilience. This not only makes the workforce more proficient and adaptable to change, but it also ensures the organization is more competitive as a result of new business knowledge and insights.
Improved company reputation
The influence of a positive learning environment inside the company can reach far and wide. By improving an organization’s reputation and brand image, L&D can enhance both employee retention and acquisition. But more than that, it can inspire customer loyalty and purchasing behavior, which are critical to sustained business performance and long-term profits. Now more than ever, consumers want to feel a connection to companies that “live” their corporate values and care for their employees.
How to promote learning in your organization
- Establish a dedicated upskilling and reskilling strategy in tune with your company objectives
- Encourage current employees to apply for new roles and skills paths
- Reduce any friction in the learning experience, making it as seamless and rewarding as possible
- Match learning content with specific roles and business needs
- Personalize learning experiences, building on existing skillsets to fill specific skills gaps
- Get employees to immediately apply what they’ve learned in practice to reinforce new skills
- Advocate collaboration and support requests for role and training transitions to maintain employee confidence
- Review data and staff feedback to improve future training
It can be challenging for many businesses to develop and implement the necessary strategies, culture, and training to upskill and reskill at scale. This is where the CrossKnowledge Learning Suite can help.
By examining your unique challenges and corporate culture, and combining our engaging learning technology and expert content, we can deliver effective and efficient global-scale learning. As well as offering 31 languages, our platform includes multiple measurement and monitoring capabilities. For a faster rollout, we also offer ready-made, in-demand guided training paths that can be recommended to each individual learner in a personalized learning experience and based on their individual strengths and challenges, through CK Connect.
By tailoring your L&D training program to specific roles and business needs, you can maximize the upskilling and reskilling opportunities that lie underutilized within your business, while reducing the risk of skills gaps in the future.
Scalability is the key to effective upskilling and reskilling of your workforce. Find out more about CrossKnowledge Learning Suite and start delivering effective and efficient training at a global scale!