Upskill | Meaning and Definition

What does it mean to Upskill?

Upskill means providing an employee with advanced skills in their domain to upgrade their abilities through additional training and education. Upskilling nowadays is a fruitful trend in workplaces that enables and supports consistent learning by delivering development and learning opportunities to workers. It intends to enrich a person’s repertoire while minimizing skill gaps substantially and is done to advance them in their roles and help them move up through the organization.

Introducing new technology promises in an enterprise augurs immense possibilities and creates job positions. It becomes highly crucial to get these positions filled with the best talent. Companies look for candidates with the most germane skillsets. Through upskilling, an organization strives to fill the digital gap without having to hire new people. Examples of upskilling methods commonly used today would be virtual or online programs and courses, lunch-and-learn sessions, microlearning, shadowing and mentoring, etc.

Why is upskilling so important?

Upskilling helps companies save a lot of money by enhancing the competencies of their existing workforce rather than having to invest in hiring new people. Furthermore, the existing workforce expects more from the job than a comfortable working environment and guaranteed pay. Other employment benefits that employees anticipate nowadays include professional training, healthcare, paid holidays, etc. By availing the employees of diverse upskilling opportunities, an organization makes them feel valued, and thus, they readily dedicate themselves to their role and manifest higher productivity. This directly and positively impacts the workplace culture. In addition to this, a company’s employee turnover also plummets significantly. As the requirements of job change demand new skills, enterprises are compelled to either grope about for new talent or level that gap through different upskilling methods.