Benefits of Upskilling

Upskilling employees is a win-win proposition in which employers and employees both benefit. Employers can get a more future-ready workforce that’s equipped to handle the rapidly changing world of work, can be better able to attract and retain talent, and can develop future leaders. Employees, meanwhile, can get the chance to grow their skills, can be more likely to advance at work, and can be better poised to adapt to the changing nature of work. 

The problem? There’s a gap between what employees are looking for when it comes to upskilling and what employers are actually providing. A 2022 Amazon and Workplace Intelligence survey revealed a disconnect between what employees value and what employers provide. While a little over half of employees have access to benefits like tuition assistance (51%), cross-training programs (55%), and networking opportunities (55%), the vast majority (over 80%) consider these benefits to be crucial.

In other words, there’s a demand for employee upskilling that isn’t always being filled. The following are some reasons why organizations should upskill their employees and how they can go about doing it. 

What is upskilling and why is it important?

Upskilling refers to the process through which people deepen their existing skills and knowledge to grow and advance in their careers. 

Employees might upskill for a number of reasons: because they’ve identified something they want to get better at, because they want to move into a more senior position, or because they value lifelong learning. Whatever their motivation, the result is the same: employees who upskill are making an investment in their future that can pay dividends for them and their employer alike. When employers offer their employees opportunities to upskill, they’re highlighting the importance of continuous learning in the workplace and the commitment they have to investing in their employees. 

You may be wondering: why is it good to upskill a job? The answer is multifaceted, as there are a number of reasons why it’s good to upskill. For employers, one of the main reasons to upskill is to build a more future-ready workforce. For employees, one of the main benefits of upskilling is that it’s a way to develop skills that can open up new pathways to advance in their current role.  

Why upskilling is important for employees?

The benefits of upskilling for employees are many; employees upskill to advance in their current careers, grow more confident in their skills, and increase their earning potential, to name a few. 94% of Workforce Edge users surveyed are using their education benefits to improve their opportunities for future promotion, career advancement, or higher salary.

Many also upskill not just for the possibility of gaining something tangible, like a promotion or pay raise, but to satisfy a personal goal for themselves. When offered the chance to go back to school, many employees will use that opportunity to fulfill an education goal, like going back to school to finish a degree they had to put on hold earlier in life. Upskilling employees provides them opportunities not just to advance in their careers, but to achieve personal goals, too. 

What are the problems with upskilling?

While there are a litany of benefits associated with upskilling, it’s natural that organizations considering an upskilling program might have some concerns. They may worry about the cost of implementing an upskilling program, how to measure its impact, getting employees to take advantage of the benefits, and if it could lead to employees taking their newfound skills to a different employer.

These are valid concerns, so let’s tackle them one at a time: 

• The cost to implement and maintain: There can be costs associated with developing in-house upskilling programs or partnering with third parties to offer things like tuition assistance. Despite these costs, 85% of business leaders agree the positive outcomes from offering tuition assistance benefits outweigh the costs of paying for employees’ education.
• Tracking success metrics: Among companies that offer tuition assistance, a common challenge is not having enough insight into how and if those benefits are being utilized. Nearly 40% of business leaders report they lack the metrics to understand how their tuition assistance program is performing. Partnering with an education benefits provider can ease this challenge, however. When they partner with Workforce Edge, organizations get access to an easy-to-use platform where they can view real-time reports, manage employee requests, and view completion requirements—all in one place.
• Getting employee adoption: It’s not enough to just offer upskilling to employees; you also need to get employees to use them. This requires socializing the benefits so employees are aware of them and encouraged to use them. Many tuition assistance management platform providers can help with this. If you’re vetting a new solution, be sure to ask if the provider offers marketing support to employer partners. This can take the burden off of HR and marketing teams to produce that content.
• Employees taking skills elsewhere: Some companies worry that if they offer upskilling opportunities, employees will develop new skills—and then take them to a new employer. While it may be true that some employees will move on after developing new skills, employers also risk losing employees by not offering any upskilling opportunities because this shows a lack of investment in employee development. Also, offering continued education can be a motivating factor for employees to stay with their current employer: according to the 2024 SEI Consumer Survey, almost half of full-time employees in the U.S. say they are motivated to stay with an employer that supports continued education or the opportunities to cross-train/explore other areas of interest at work.

What are the goals of upskilling?

What are the goals of upskilling in the workplace? When people upskill in the workplace, it’s less about teaching them the processes or procedures needed to do their job today. Rather, it’s more focused on what they need to do the job they may have tomorrow. The goal of upskilling is to identify the skills, competencies, and knowledge employees need to be successful in the changing world of work and provide them with training and development that helps them gain those things.  

Does upskilling increase productivity?

A question that many organizations rightly ask when considering adopting an upskilling program is whether it will improve productivity. Increased productivity can indeed be a benefit of upskilling because of the connection upskilling has with talent retention. 

When good employees leave an organization, replacing them can be both costly and time consuming—which takes a hit on organizational productivity. Companies are being affected by a "training treadmill," where an increased focus on hiring and training for positions vacated due to turnover reduces the amount of time and energy available for focusing on productivity. 

When an organization experiences less staff turnover, they can in turn experience less of those productivity losses. And companies that offer upskilling are more likely to retain employees. In fact, 76% of Workforce Edge users surveyed agree that they see themselves working at their company two years from now.

What are examples of upskilling skills?

Just about any skill can be honed and improved over time. When you think of upskilling, you may think of someone learning how to use a new computer program or a piece of machinery. While upskilling may involve developing these kinds of technical hard skills, it’s just as often about developing soft skills. These are the kind of skills that describe the way a person thinks, communicates, leads others, solves problems, and adapts to new situations. 

Today’s employees worry not just about keeping up to date with new and emerging technologies but with developing their soft skills too. The 2024 SEI Consumer Survey found that U.S.-based full-time employees most frequently indicate feeling they could improve their technology skills (49%) to advance in their current job, followed by hard skills (46%) and communication skills (45%).

Here are just a few examples of skills a person might develop through upskilling:

• Public speaking
• Learning how to use drafting software
• Data visualization
• Writing clearly
• Customer service
• Active listening
• Project management

How to upskill employees

There are many benefits of upskilling in the workplace from increased employee attraction and retention to a better-developed workforce that’s poised to tackle the work of the future. But the question remains: How do you actually go about upskilling employees? 

Employee upskilling can happen formally and informally. An example of informal upskilling could be two employees meeting so one can teach the other how to do an advanced function in a spreadsheet. This often happens organically in the course of a day’s work. 

A lot of upskilling happens more formally, though. For example, a company might offer a tuition assistance program to its employees so they can access educational opportunities such as certificates or degrees for a lower out-of-pocket cost. At some companies, these programs are aligned to career pathways, allowing employees to move into more advanced positions as they achieve educational milestones. 

Here are examples of some other formal methods employers might adopt to upskill employees:

• Mentorship programs
• Cross-training opportunities
• Leadership development programs
• Providing funds for employees to attend industry conferences 

What is the value of upskilling?

All companies have their own reasons for offering upskilling programs. A company with high employee turnover may implement a program to improve retention and internal mobility while another may do so to better prepare its workforce for shifts brought on by new technology that’s disrupting its industry.  

That said, there are many common reasons companies choose to upskill employees—and a company may do so for one, a few, or all of these reasons combined: 

• Upskilling helps organizations stay competitive. Over half (51%) of business leaders say that building the workforce skills needed for the future is among their organization’s primary motivations for offering a tuition assistance program.
• Employees feel valued when employers invest in their skills development. Employees who feel that their skills are not being put to good use in their current job are 10 times more likely to be looking for a new job than those who feel that their skills are being put to good use.
• Offering upskilling opportunities helps develop the leaders of tomorrow. Half of business leaders believe their education benefits program develops high-potential talent.
• Employees worry about not having the skills needed for the future of work. A Workplace Intelligence study from 2022 found that upskilling is a concern for employees. The survey showed that 78% of workers feel they lack the skills, and 71% are worried about their education holding them back from getting ahead. Furthermore, 70% of respondents expressed feeling unprepared for the evolving workplace.
• Offering upskilling and career advancement opportunities can help with talent attraction. A 2022 survey by Amazon and Workplace Intelligence found that employee development is key for attracting talent. Nearly 90% of respondents said strong skills development programs (87%), ample career advancement opportunities (88%), and paths to different career tracks (87%) were important when considering a new job.
• Offering career development to employees can make them more likely to stay with the company. 60% of business leaders believe their education benefits program improved employee retention.

And so we come back to the original question: what is the value of upskilling in the workplace?

When employees upskill, they’re making an investment in their future—one that pays dividends for them and their employer alike by developing the skills they need to be successful in the changing world of work. For organizations, there’s real value in showing employees you care about their development. 

If you’re ready to get your workforce prepared for the work of tomorrow, contact Workforce Edge today to learn how easy it is to develop an upskilling program of your own.