What Are 6 Strategies for Upskilling and Reskilling?

In a competitive employment landscape, organizations can set themselves apart from competition by offering employee upskilling and reskilling opportunities. A 2023 employee survey from VOX/Atomik bears this out; in it, among those who say they feel incomplete, stagnant, frustrated or uninspired at their current job, 69% believe they would feel better about their current job if their employer paid for workplace training or continuing education.

There are many upskilling and reskilling examples, but let's explore larger strategies of both concepts below.

What is upskilling and reskilling of employees?

Upskilling and reskilling are both learning and development processes that center on the acquisition of new skills. While related, they’re not interchangeable: 

• Upskilling meaning: Upskilling is the process of building on existing skills and knowledge to advance or grow in a current job. 
• Reskilling meaning: Reskilling is the process of developing new skills and knowledge to move into a different job. 

Why upskilling and reskilling is important

In a world of rapid change, the skills needed to remain competitive are always evolving. One of the only ways to stay current with these emerging skill sets? Continuous skills development. 

This is especially true for people who work in fields impacted by technology—which, in today’s world, is most people. Reskilling and upskilling for a digital workplace involves staying abreast of the latest technological developments and discovering ways these advancements can make work more efficient. 

How to upskill and reskill employees

To help employees with this continuous skill development, many employers offer upskilling programs for employees. These programs offer structured opportunities for employees to upskill or reskill, benefitting employees and employers alike. Such programs are quite common; in fact, according to the SEI 2024 Consumer Survey, 74% of U.S.-based full-time employees report their current employer provides and/or supports opportunities for upskilling, such as tuition benefits, in-house trainings or third-party conferences and seminars.

So how do you actually go about upskilling and reskilling employees? Here are six strategies that can help: 

1. Identify future skills gaps. To do this, you’ll need to stay on top of emerging trends and issues—not only in your industry, but in your region and even globally. You can’t arm employees with the skills of the future until you’ve identified what those skills will be.
2. Assess your employees’ current skill sets. To identify the areas where your workforce needs to upskill, you first need to assess their current skills. Then, you can determine where there are skills gaps between the skills they have today, and those they’ll need tomorrow. The good news is that many employees may already know what skills they need to develop. According to the 2024 SEI Consumer Survey, more than 8 in 10 full-time employees in the U.S. know what skills are needed to advance in their current job.
3. Retrain employees for hard-to-fill roles. Looking for “perfect” job candidates can be both resource intensive, and, for difficult-to-fill roles, even fruitless. If your company struggles to fill certain roles, consider allocating the resources that would’ve gone into the hiring process into retraining existing employees instead. 
4. Offer education benefits or tuition assistance. Tuition assistance isn’t a new concept, but more and more companies are implementing them. Employees are using these benefits, too. Among U.S.-based full-time employees whose employer provides upskilling opportunities, 85% currently or have previously taken advantage of them, according to the 2024 SEI Consumer Survey.
5. Develop career pathways. Career pathways can help employees visualize their growth trajectory within your organization. These pathways lay out the skills they need to attain to unlock new job opportunities, providing motivation that can encourage ongoing skills development.
6. Encourage internal mobility. Employees who see opportunities to grow in your organization are much more likely to stick around, which can be helped by continuing education. Another finding from the 2024 SEI Consumer Survey was that 49% of U.S.-based full-time employees report that employers supporting their continued education or the opportunity to cross-train/explore other areas of interest at work motivates them to stay with their current employer.

What are the best practices for developing a workforce?

Before you can develop your workforce, you first need to develop an upskilling strategy (and, if it fits your organizational needs, a reskilling strategy). When creating these workforce development techniques, here are a few best practices to keep in mind:

• Develop pathways for internal mobility—and give employees visibility into these pathways. 
• Provide employees with ongoing development opportunities (e.g., tuition assistance, cross-training, mentorship).
• Consider reskilling workers whose jobs have changed or been made redundant due to changes in the market or organizational strategy.
• Stay on top of changes in your industry and proactively seek ways to develop emerging skills in your workforce—before it’s too late. 

Still not sure how to develop an upskilling or reskilling program of your own? Connect with us to learn how Workforce Edge can help your organization develop a strategy that fits your unique needs.