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Guest Blog: How are you aiming to upskill your employees as we approach the future of work?

With the prospect of a new, forward thinking changes to how people work – ensuring that employees are sufficiently skilled is critical. As organisations begin to innovate, it is important that employees are not left behind. The following guest blog highlights three key ways in which you can upskill your workforce – keeping them ahead of the curve of a perpetually changing world of work.

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What Skills Are Most In-Demand?

According to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report, the top five digital skills in demand for 2021 were:

Cybersecurity
Network Engineering
Analytical Skills
Scrum
Information Security

It’s safe to say that many current employees either don’t possess these skills or aren’t up to date with the latest innovations.

The Widening Skills Gap

A report by WorldSkills UK found that 60% of businesses believe that their reliance on digital skills is set to increase over the next five years. Whilst employer demand for digital skills continues to grow, the skills gap is ever-widening. The same report revealed that participation in skills training has declined. The number of young people taking IT subjects at GCSE has fallen by 40% since 2015, with the number taking A-Levels, further education courses, and apprenticeships all declining.

The Importance of Upskilling

With the skills gap growing ever wider and roles changing with the adoption of new technologies, it’s crucial we ramp up plans to equip employees with additional skills to better perform their roles for the future.

For continued success, your workforce needs to be ready to face any future challenges. Deloitte’s Upskilling Imperative reinforces this idea by explaining that organisations have looked to university graduates to close their talent gaps in the past, but this is no longer enough as colleges and universities can’t produce enough graduates to meet the growing demands. This isn’t an issue that recruitment can solve.

Providing employees with access to ongoing skills will also make them more engaged, too. Get Smarter’s Future of Work Report shows that 92% of employees feel more engaged with their employers when learning opportunities are offered. This means that upskilling benefits both your business and employees.

You can read the article in full online: Licence to Skill: Why Upskilling Is Essential to Future-Proofing Your Business.

Make sure to explore Inspiring Workplaces for other content and insights about Productivity and Performance.