The future is moving fast, and we need to move with it as business owners and leaders. Upskilling is one of those strategies that you cannot put an exact dollar amount on.
I could say something cliche like there’s so much more to be gained with upskilling than just the monetary gains. That would be true, but there is also a significant financial advantage to upskilling beyond just instilling your employees with confidence and loyalty.
We wanted to get some real statistics, so we talked with The Site Helpers. The Site Helpers is a professional organization that has worked with businesses on upskilling and reskilling for many years.
They’ve helped countless companies future-proof their business, and now they’re going to give us some hard stats to share with you.
Many companies have decided to move to remote work, at least part-time. Does this play a role in upskilling?
Definitely! Currently, about 16% of the businesses in the world are remote, and countless more are at least partially remote. The businesses that had upskilled prior to the pandemic found themselves in a much easier spot than those that were caught completely off guard.
No one knows what the future holds, so The Site Helpers suggests that it is better to be prepared, which is what upskilling is all about.
Is automation a problem? Does upskilling protect against it?
Thanks to AI and machine learning, many jobs are being automated every single year. We are constantly being surprised by the power of Ai, and the growth is exponential.
We were just discussing it at The Site Helpers’ meeting the other day. I saw a statistic that said 14% of jobs are going to be automated in the next decade. This means that if you want to maintain your employees, they need to be upskilled.
It will be much more expensive to hire someone new onboard that understands new technology. It will take longer and be more difficult, and they will eventually lose out to technology, too, if you are not consistently upskilling and reskilling your team.
We understand how The Site Helpers feel about upskilling; how about other experts?
A recent study asking Leadership and Development professionals what the top priority for companies should be in 2022 and beyond found that 59% of them agree upskilling should be a top priority.
These are experts in the field of business planning and development who have made a career out of coaching CEOs and other executives on where to put their focus, and they are saying upskilling.
Upskilling is very important in all areas of the company. For example, if a company has an in-house web development team, they can take full control of the updates, which cannot be done if the web design process is outsourced.
I know you can’t exactly measure ROI with upskilling, but has anyone gotten a ballpark figure?
MIT Sloan School of Management ran a study and found that after a 12-month training program, the selected company managed to net a 250% return on investment from the upskilling over an 8 month time period. While it can’t be proven that every dollar of that ROI was from the upskilling, it’s hard to argue that the tech skills, focus, and techniques taught were not mostly responsible.
The company saw a massive boom in productivity and a noticeable increase in employee motivation and confidence. Continue reading for the comprehensive report: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/soft-skills-training-brings-substantial-returns-investment.
Are millennials open to upskilling?
Millennial workers are going to make up about 75% of the workforce by 2030, and they aren’t just open to it; they expect upskilling. A study showed that 93% of Millennials weigh upskilling and learning resources on the job as a huge factor of whether they will stay or leave.
The Site Helpers believes that the younger generations expect opportunities, and they strive to learn, so it is up to business owners to give them these opportunities. There are various learning opportunities online to upskill your team, just like the courses offered by The Site Helpers.