Upscaling is a hot buzzword today that is being met with mixed reviews, and I think it warrants a little bit of explanation.
What the heck is ‘upskilling’?
I know. Upskilling hasn’t quite made it to the realm of common terminology…as proven by my computer’s insistent autocorrect to ‘upscaling’, but it’s something that’s happening a lot more lately.
Upskilling is essentially a professional development opportunity for employees within an organization to enhance their current skill set by learning new skills. Opportunities for upskilling can enhance an employee’s opportunity for promotion, may enhance their competitiveness within the industry, and will help keep employees current with changes to a given industry.
However, employees and organizations alike have met the concept of upskilling with mixed reviews. Why? Well. From the employee perspective, some people don’t have a desire to learn new skills, and others may view upskilling as a means for their employer to provide professional development and employ these new skills without having to appropriately compensate employees for changes in their roles. From an organizational perspective, some organizations aren’t ready for lateral movement and tend to operate in a more linear environment.
From a prospective employee standpoint, upskilling may be viewed as taking away opportunities; by upskilling internally, these prospective employees may need to start at the bottom and work their way up instead of moving directly into the role for which they’re qualified.
Whichever camp you’re a part of (for or against upskilling), upskilling is a necessary evil in today’s economy for several reasons:
- There is increasingly more competition for the jobs that are out there, and to have the potential to be successful candidate for a position, employers may want to see that you’re comfortable with continual learning;
- Baby boomers are retiring, and there is a huge influx of jobs for which individuals aren’t formally qualified for – this is a great example of where upskilling could benefit employers: less time spent searching for a qualified candidate, and being able to refocus those HR hours on training internally;
- It’s a lot cheaper to train someone internally than hire someone new; and
- Technology means that we are in a constant state of change – if it isn’t one thing, it’s another.
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