During a Talent Shortage, Reskill and Upskill Your Employees

There is a serious and persistent talent shortage in many of the industries ECI Software Solutions serves, and that is consistent with a broader global crisis. 69% of U.S. human resources departments said their organization has a skills gap, up from 55% in a similar survey in 2021. And the skills gap isn't just widening across organizations, it's getting worse within them as well. Most surveyed companies had 10% of their open roles unfilled, but if they already had a skills gap, that number doubled.

The talent shortage is especially troubling for many small-to-midsize businesses that cannot compete with larger firms on salaries and benefits. Filling that skills gap is a project that many learning and development professionals are prioritizing; 64% say that reskilling their current workforces to fill those gaps is a priority now. Workers want to reskill too; 77% are ready to learn new skills or completely retrain according to PwC Global, further increasing the onus on employers to provide skill development opportunities.

If reskilling and upskilling isn’t yet a priority in your organization, plan for valuable employees to be lured away by lucrative opportunities and prepare to execute on the following steps in order to move current employees into important positions that may become vacated.

Consider impact and need for key skills

Take inventory of the key skills that are most impactful to your bottom line. From your experience and/or exposure to the talent market, note the availability level of these skills in your area so that you can determine which skills will be hardest to replace with new hires. If hiring remote workers is an option, consider that you may have access to workers in geographic areas with lower average salaries than in your area.

Analyze impact of training for these skills

Consider the number of employees who can benefit from developing the hardest-to-replace skills, as well as those who would indirectly benefit. Consider all of the key stakeholders in addition to employees (investors, partners, etc.) that can benefit from training in these skills, as well as benefits to your company, such as ability to continue innovating.

Get buy-in with leaders and stakeholders

The above steps comprise an informal skill gap analysis that you can use to make the case to stakeholders for an upskilling or reskilling program. Before you can begin devising a plan, you will need a cross-functional group of leaders to support the initiative, so make the effort to get everyone on board.

Define training objectives

Clearly define which skillsets are to be developed and whether you want to have employees making lateral moves through reskilling or upward moves in your organization through upskilling.

Consider available training options

Depending on your industry and the roles you will need to fill, you may be able to utilize any combination of the following resources:

• Assign internal experts to conduct group or individual training
• Bring in outside consultants to conduct group or individual training
• Curate online content, webinars, and training resources for low-cost/free training
• Utilize digital or in-person learning and development partners
• Research industry-specific learning management systems with built-in resources

Compare the costs of upskilling/reskilling with a lengthy hiring process

Factor in everything including time from current employees who will assist with the training, external resource prices, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding. When you consider the high rates of employee attrition during the first two years in many industries, you may determine that the best investment you can make in acquiring the skills you need is in the people you know best: your current employees.

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