In today’s fast-paced, high-tech world, being able to adapt quickly and pivot on a dime has become a competitive advantage. To keep up, many companies are investing in upskilling their employees instead of relying on external hiring. This strategy has several advantages, including the ability to expand competence quickly and reduce reliance on external labour markets.
Whether it’s a lack of qualified applicants or a lack of time to invest in candidates, finding and keeping the right employees is a competitive challenge for many organisations. Upskilling your existing technical staff can help alleviate this shortage, but only if you take the right steps first.
9 Best Ways to Initiate and Manage Upskilling Programs for Tech Talent:
1. Finding the right employees
Find skill-hungry employees, and then give them the training they need to become an asset to your team. It’s a win-win situation. You get the skills you need, and the employees get the recognition and appreciation they deserve.
Start by making a list of the skills your employees most lack, and then turn to online courses, in-person training, and self-paced learning materials to plug the gaps in their skill set. You may be surprised at the results you get in the first few batches of upskilling trainees! Make it a point to recognize and thank your first batch of upskilling trainees for all their hard work. They’ll feel valued and motivated to continue with the program!
2. Bolster in-house Training
If you’re looking to invest more in training your employees, you’ll need to bolster your in-house training capabilities. This means hiring more trainers and developing training materials that are engaging enough to keep your employees interested. It also means setting aside a specific time of day to conduct training sessions and dedicating a space in the office for training materials. Most importantly, it means being committed to the long haul — because after all, training takes time to develop!
3. Reality of Reskilling
The reality of reskilling is that we are not all created equal. Some are better equipped to take on more complex tasks than others. Some can only focus for an hour before their attention begins to wane. Some are just not interested in learning or can’t be bothered to try. Many employers want trained employees but aren’t willing to spend the time and money to train them.
However, by investing in reskilling initiatives, companies can tap into a pool of talent that is more focused, committed, and ready to contribute than ever before.
4. Hiring a professional training partner
If you’re looking to invest more in training your employees, you may want to consider partnering with a third-party training provider. You can leverage a training partner to conduct employee training sessions and host workshops at your workplace to increase employee engagement. Best of all, a partnership will help you build a culture in your organisation that encourages employees to pursue professional development. The possibilities are endless!
5. Peer Mentoring
If your organisation is looking to upskill its entire workforce, then peer mentoring may be the best approach for you. Peer mentoring is a two-way exchange between an employee who is looking to upskill and a mentor who is looking to train. A mentor will provide feedback on an employee’s training materials and offer advice on how to better learn new skills, and an employee will provide feedback on a mentor’s coaching style and offer suggestions on how to improve as a teacher.
6. Job Rotation
The world of tech is constantly changing and evolving. Today, many employees are expected to be able to perform a variety of roles. It’s no surprise that a common trend in upskilling is job rotation. Employees are expected to take on a variety of roles to develop their skills and increase their knowledge of the field.
However, managing a job rotation program is no easy feat. It requires significant time and attention, but it’s worth it if you’re seeing the results you’re looking for.
7. Job Enlargement
Job enlargement is the process by which a company grows a job role to include new responsibilities and a different set of skills. An example of job enlargement is when a company dispenses with the term “Software Engineer” and calls all software engineers “developers,” regardless of their role or title. This is an attempt to upskill all engineers, not just the “high-level” ones. And it’s an approach that works!
8. Creating a Training PlanÂ
To make your upskilling initiative a success, it’s important to start by creating a training plan and setting measurable goals. You don’t have to be a perfectionist about it, but the trainees and mentors need to have some measure of success.
The feedback that you provide is critical in helping the trainees identify their strengths and weaknesses.
It’s also important to note that this is a long-term commitment, so don’t expect to see results in the short term. It could take months or even years to see the results of an upskilling initiative, so be patient and keep an eye on the metrics to see if the initiative is yielding the results that you were looking for.
9. Establishing Internship models for sophisticated skill development
Now that you’ve explored a few different ways that your company can upskill its employees, it’s time to establish a strategy for how you’ll do so. An apprenticeship model involves hiring a third-party professional to train employees in a particular skill.
Top tech employers are upskilling their employees with on-the-job training and apprenticeships. They’re establishing internship programs to build future leaders. And they’re even turning to contract workers and freelancers to meet the demand for short-term, specialized expertise.
While upskilling is an effective way to build a stronger talent pipeline, it’s not without its challenges. For one thing, it’s expensive. And with so many tech jobs available, it’s getting harder to find the right candidates. That’s why tech companies are turning to Internship models to supplement their upskilling efforts.
As the demand for technical talent continues to outpace the supply, many companies are turning to technology to bridge the gap. One such solution is to invest in upskilling their employees, often referred to as “induction”.
CodeQuotient is an online platform that offers a free coding course to employees, to upskill their entire workforce. The company believes that with the right training, anyone can become a capable developer and that offering this opportunity to their employees will enable them to meet the demand.
CodeQuotient courses are free of cost or have affordable subscriptions to help you learn better.
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