As the workforce evolves — and shrinks — employers must focus on retaining and developing skilled talent. Here’s a simple framework for supporting your employees through upskilling and reskilling.
Key Takeaways
- Meeting your employees’ growth needs will help develop and retain skilled workers while boosting business outcomes.
- Tuition assistance programs and on-the-job learning opportunities quickly remove barriers to upskilling and reskilling your workforce.
- Starting with career conversations helps employers of any size identify pathways for employee growth.
In today’s fast-changing world of work, continuously upskilling and reskilling your workforce has become essential to stay competitive and drive long-term success.
According to Indeed Hiring Lab data, labor force participation is set to decline as more people retire and fewer new workers enter the workforce. Yet demand for labor remains high, creating a looming shortage that companies must address.
Compounding this, AI is rapidly reshaping skill requirements, pushing many workers to adapt on the job. The latest World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report reveals that employers expect the disruption of 44% of workers' skills within five years, with six in 10 needing training by 2027. Currently, however, only half of workers have access to the necessary training.
But upskilling and reskilling your workforce (helping employees both enhance their current knowledge and learn new skills altogether) is not just a smart business strategy — it also helps your employees thrive.
As a senior manager on Indeed’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Landscape & Regulations team, I think a lot about breaking down barriers to better work — particularly by promoting economic mobility for the global workforce. Put simply, that means ensuring people have the opportunity to improve their socioeconomic standing rather than being confined to their current circumstances. And it just so happens that key methods for enabling economic mobility for workers — upskilling and reskilling — are good for both people and businesses.
Here are five strategies to help grow your team’s skills for future success.
Five Ways to Upskill and Reskill Your Workforce
1. Identify your company’s skills gaps
Identifying the core skills your organization will need to thrive in this evolving landscape is a critical first step.
While businesses acknowledge that certain abilities are becoming increasingly important, corporate upskilling and reskilling strategies often don’t reflect the most in-demand skills. To close this gap, proactively assess the future talents that will be essential for your company. For example, those in the technology industry might value artificial intelligence and machine learning skills, while healthcare companies might require more data analytics and telemedicine proficiency — and map them to existing and future roles. This strategy will equip your workforce to meet today's demands and tomorrow’s challenges.
Collaboration is vital if you’re uncertain about the most critical abilities, so partner with industry associations or other local employers to gain insight into the emerging skills essential for success. These partnerships enable companies to better understand market trends and adjust their talent strategies accordingly.
2. Create opportunities to learn on the job
Offering on-the-job learning opportunities is a highly effective (and cost-effective) strategy for upskilling and reskilling workers. Pair employees with projects outside their usual roles to help them develop new abilities while advancing company goals.
For example, PepsiCo created a platform that allows employees to apply for stretch projects in key areas. These “learning-by-doing” opportunities provide extra headcount for high-priority business areas and help employees build valuable skills. This program also helps PepsiCo repurpose talent across the business and transition more seamlessly into its future workforce.
Although PepsiCo co-created a platform, a company of any size can develop a similar approach ad hoc. For instance, create a one-pager outlining how a team needs support and allow employees from across the organization to “apply” to support that work for a certain percentage of their time (in addition to their current workload and remit).
3. Establish clear, personalized pathways for career growth
Employees frequently leave when they aren’t gaining new skills or seeing growth opportunities, but this is avoidable. Regular career conversations can help you understand their goals and communicate clear pathways for advancement within the company.
If your organization lacks a structure for upward mobility, consider nontraditional options like department transfers or even allowing employees to create new roles. Personalized growth plans can keep employees engaged and invested in the company.
Start by discussing potential career paths, helping employees identify the roles they aspire to next and building a plan to achieve those goals. These conversations foster trust, deepen loyalty and align their strengths with business objectives.
4. Remove financial barriers to upskilling and reskilling
Opportunities for training and earning advanced degrees can play a major role in workers’ ability to enhance their skills and gain economic mobility. While employers typically offer tuition reimbursement after 12 months of employment, this creates steep barriers to participation, especially for low-wage and frontline employees.
The one-year cliff means months of missed skill-building opportunities. In addition, the reimbursement approach requires employees to pay for their tuition upfront, which can be a significant financial burden, especially if their salary doesn’t cover their basic expenses. One study even found that the average employee accrued $5 in debt for every $1 of reimbursement, an indicator of the financial stress individuals and their families can face as they grow their skills to better serve the business.
Instead, consider offering your employees tuition assistance from day one. This approach can enable workers to start learning immediately — and it helps more employees take advantage of this perk. Companies such as UPS, Amazon, and Disney are leading this shift away from tuition reimbursement to tuition assistance as more organizations realize the benefits.
5. Design apprenticeship programs to address skills gaps
After identifying areas for growth in your company, consider building an internal apprenticeship program to bridge skills gaps in areas such as software engineering, data analysis and project management.
For example, BOOST, Indeed's year-long apprenticeship program, helps employees without coding experience transition into entry-level engineering roles. Program administrators fielded 170 applications, interviewed 76 people and ultimately filled 10 apprenticeship positions. The rigorous vetting process took into account not only the applicants’ technical skills but also factors like drive, grit and alignment with Indeed’s DEIB+ values. Participants came from across the organization, including client success and people management, while over half have been with the company for more than five years.
Apprenticeship programs like BOOST provide structured, hands-on learning. They help workers develop new competencies while tapping into the vast experience of your existing workforce and addressing specific business needs.
What’s good for your people is good for business. Implementing these five upskilling and reskilling strategies will help future-proof your workforce by creating more engaged, loyal and skilled employees amid rapid technological and global labor shifts.