Reskilling is becoming essential in the next decade. If you check the latest industry stats, you’ll be surprised at how much reskilling and retraining your workers will need to stay relevant in the job market. Recent GO-Globe statistics show that 70% of current workers could be out of a job by 2026 if they don’t reskill, as their positions may disappear. By 2022, about 54% of employees will need to upgrade or change their skills to remain competitive in the job market. This is due to machines increasingly replacing or supporting human labor. In other words, automation is likely to cause significant changes in skills and jobs. Another study by Qz suggests that if automation continues at its current rate, we could see around 15% of the global workforce replaced by machines by 2030.
The need to reskill or upskill is more urgent than you think
Business owners and company leaders are beginning to realize the urgent need to upskill or reskill their current workers, particularly their most productive employees. The skills that companies will need in the next decade will require a significant change. This poses a major challenge, similar to the industrial revolutions from 1760 to 1840. However, this time the shift will happen faster and will be harsh on workers and companies that are slow to embrace change. In other words, time is running out.
To fire or to reskill?
From the employer perspective, which is cheaper? Do you phase out existing employees and either outsource or hire a new set of employees with the required skills? Or do you take the route of reskilling, retraining or upskilling the existing employees to equip them with the skills you require?
Honestly, there is no straightforward answer to this. There are several factors that come into play. First, how much time do you have? Some skills require 6 months, 3 months or even a month to upgrade. About 35% of skills will require less than 6 months to reskill. In this case, a more pragmatic approach would be to reskill or retrain your employees. Other skills or occupation may need to undergo wholesale changes, hence you might find yourself in a situation where your current employees have become redundant or it is not possible to reskill them within a short time. About 10% of skills will require more than 1 year to reskill to required needs.
41% of employers say they are refocusing their efforts towards reskilling their workers, especially the high performing employees. It is important that companies emphasize on retraining and reskilling rather than firing employees in order to create a healthy work environment.
From the employee perspective, it critical to form continuous learning as your habit in order to continuously stay relevant in the ever-shifting workplace. There is always space for employees with the right skill-set.