Why Businesses Should Invest in Digital Upskilling?

In this fast-paced digital world, businesses need to continue to adapt to developments and innovations to remain competitive. A piece from Silicon Republic on the importance of upskilling highlights how continuous development is beneficial for workers as it keeps them motivated. This is especially true for employees working in the same company for a long time.

As organizations everywhere struggle against an ongoing talent shortage and digital skills gaps throughout the workforce, businesses that invest in learning and development plans for their employees stand out. By investing in digital upskilling, both employees and companies can avoid being left out of constant innovation and digital transformation. Below, we’ll look at some more reasons businesses should invest in digital upskilling:

Diversification of skills

As new technologies are developed and introduced into the workplace, employees must adapt and develop accordingly. Investing in digital upskilling can help diversify employees’ skill sets. This is especially valuable if businesses lack the budget for recruiting new talent. By investing in current talent, present employees won’t feel left out or anxious about being replaced in the future.

LHH’s insights on upskilling highlight how training employees in high-demand digital skills such as data analytics, data science, and software engineering can help businesses plan for the future and make smarter, data-informed decisions. Diversification of skills can also broaden employees’ avenues for future career transitions and moves, essentially acting as future-proofing their career resilience. Employees also benefit from having added value to their employers, as many organizations today seek talent that can bring fresh perspectives and versatile skill sets.

Retain competitive advantage

As explained in our introduction, investing in digital upskilling is as beneficial for organizations as it is for employees. In our “How to Reskill Your Workforce for Artificial Intelligence” post, we discussed how 800 million jobs are likely to be automated by 2030 — and that up to 73 million US employees will be replaced by machines.

One of the ways to prevent this bleak forecast from manifesting is by investing in continuous learning and development for employees. Aside from helping employees stay up-to-date with the latest technologies and tools, upskilling employees will allow them to work more efficiently, reducing operational costs. This helps businesses retain or increase productivity and output, keeping a competitive advantage over other organizations on the market.

Boost talent retention

Finally, digital upskilling is a great way to retain talent in the long term. In a time of constant transformations and changes across sectors, investing in talent retention can provide some much-needed consistency and stability.

Above, we mentioned how continuous development can help keep employees motivated. EnGen’s survey of American workers found that 90% of employees were more likely to remain with the company when training programs are included as an employee benefit. As business needs and employee expectations change over time, businesses must expand the benefits they offer — including upskilling opportunities.

Ultimately, digital upskilling should be considered a necessity in these modern times rather than a mere additional benefit or bonus.

From an organization’s perspective, digital upskilling initiatives can help foster a learning culture where employees can thrive through different skill sets. At the same time, having more digitally skilled employees can help bridge the skills gap while boosting business operations, workflows, and overall productivity.

Meanwhile, from an individual standpoint, employees also significantly benefit from digital upskilling as it helps position them as more valuable to current and future employers. Adapting to new technologies and developments can spruce up one’s resume and broaden career opportunities in the long term.

Also Read: A Guide for Business Owners: How to Get the Best Out of Your Workforce