Upskilling

Objectives:
Continued skills advancement at all levels is absolutely important, to have a learning organisation it's
constantly learning and growing and achieving the targets, you need to have learning employees, so
everyone needs to be constantly growing, right from the CEO.

We all know employee turnover is expensive. Further it does not factor in costs associated with
interviewing and hiring a replacement; and then, of course, there’s time and money that goes into
the training and development of a new hire.
Upskilling, or reskilling, is a smaller investment than hiring and training a new worker. As you reskill
your employees, you create a more well-rounded, cross-trained workforce, and increase your team’s
effectiveness.

Benefits of Upskilling Employees

 Improves retention: No one wants to work at a company that doesn’t invest enough in its
employees’ career development. Upskilling ensures employees' skillsets won’t become
obsolete, and shows your people you care about their careers and their futures.
 Boosts morale: Employees who have training and development opportunities are happier in
their roles and have a brighter outlook on their future with the company. Reskilling your
workforce helps them see the path to career advancement in front of them, and gets them
excited about what could be next. Knowing they’re working toward something that will
better their lives creates a deeper sense of purpose.
 Increases customer satisfaction: Happy employees = happy customers. When workers are
happier with their company and believe in what they are working toward, they do better
work. Plus, upskilling keeps your workforce up to date on industry trends, allowing them to
offer the best recommendations and insights to clients and prospects. Clients are willing to
pay more to work with a more knowledgeable, proactive team. And when clients are happy
with the work you do, they become stronger brand advocates for you.
 Attracts new talent: Of course, when business is successful, chances are you will need new
talent to add to your experienced, upskilled workforce. When employees feel a sense of
purpose with their company and clients are happy with their work, they become stronger
brand advocates. That means they’re more likely to recommend your organization to their
network of friends, past colleagues and family members. Suddenly you have a wide pool of
diverse talent to choose from when it comes time to expand your team.

Skill Development Challenges

Although India has a range of skilling programs at the government level, including Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) of the Central Government, Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs),
Directorate of General Training (DGT) and Basic Training Centers, training programs from
departments like commerce and industry, agriculture, housing and poverty alleviation etc., the
country has merely trained over 4.5% of its total workforce, whereas a recent report suggests that
only 18% of individuals participating in vocational courses got employed.
As worrying as these statistics are, there is a growing danger of Indian organizations failing to exploit
the opportunity of benefiting from the demographic dividend if the nation’s young workforce is not
skilled as per industry standards. The answer to tackling the skill development challenges is deeply
rooted in corporate Learning & Development (L&D) and training delivery tools and solutions.
With global technology titans like Amazon, Google and Microsoft marking a larger presence across
India, the country’s corporate sector is being significantly influenced by global L&D practices.
Leading organizations across the country are now leveraging modern eLearning platforms and
innovative learn-tech tools to support a host of objectives, including employee upskilling and
reskilling.
According to Nitin Bawankule, Industry Director, Google India, “The online education segment is set
to become a multi-billion dollar opportunity in India. There are many factors driving this growth
including the perceived convenience, increased reach and personalization offered by online
channels.” There is no doubt that India’s potential for learning technology adoption and growth
remains significantly promising, given the sheer amount of Internet (and mobile) users in the
country, coupled with the rising number of employable individuals looking for the availability of
reskilling opportunities.
According to Nasscom, the increasing adoption of big data and analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and
artificial intelligence (AI) is set to drive the cloud market growth in India towards a $ 7.1 billion
industry by 2022. It certainly wouldn’t be too farfetched to include Learning Management Systems
(LMS) in this growth trend.
Learning technology solutions and eLearning programs will continue to bring key advantages to
India’s corporate sector. A country as economically, geographically and culturally diverse as India will
benefit from the wide ranging learn-tech solutions, including Mobile Learning (anytime-anywhere
learning, on-the-go learning etc.), multi-lingual support, virtual class rooms, blended learning and
social learning to name a few. And, with the availability of online learning libraries (through an LMS),
employees and organizations have access to limitless number of learning resources at their beck and
call.
It is important to note that few of these solutions are especially critical for Indian organizations’ L&D
initiatives as they help navigate the regional, cultural and lingual barriers. Furthermore, one of the
most advantageous aspects of modern day learn-tech tools for Indian businesses is their ability to
provide individuals placed in remote towns and villages the access to world-class learning resources,
at affordable prices, thus creating a sense of equal opportunity.
Considering the significant skills gap facing the country, Indian organizations need to step up their
L&D game to match the global standards. And, one of the very first steps towards achieving this aim
is to start aggressively integrating learning technology into India’s growing corporate landscape. This
means customizing eLearning approaches and online learning content delivery mechanisms to meet
the evolving needs of India’s diverse population.
On Individual side following are challenges:
 Lack of awareness
 Lack of time from daily routine
 Lack of Practical Trainings and workshops (E.g. only presentations and theory does not solve
the purpose)
 Lack of motivation (E.g. No standard recognition or certification)
Current scenario in India
Skills development is a critical aspect of any nation’s economic as well social growth and
development, especially in a country like India where the demographic transition calls for higher
employment opportunities for millions of employable youths entering the market each year. In this
blog we explore ways in which organizations can tackle the challenges of reskilling and upskilling
their workforce in the face of a looming economic slowdown, technological disruptions and the
future of work.

With half of India’s population (1.3 billion) below the age of 25 and the average age of the
population set to reach 29 by 2020 (as opposed to 47 years in Japan, 40 years in United States and
46 years in Europe), there is a greater chance of India’s demographic dividend providing
disappointing results than boosting economic growth, as the nation continues to struggle with
unemployment, lack of employment opportunities, skills gaps and technology adoption.

India’s Widening Skills Gap

As the fastest growing economy in the world, India stands to benefit largely from its employable
population. However, with 104.62 million-strong workforce set to enter the labor market by 2022,
with only 1% of the population making up 22% of national income, India’s lower skills intensity
presents a mammoth challenge, whereas Indian organizations need to focus on the development of
its workforce with relevant knowledge and skills to effectively complement the country’s growth.
However, to achieve this result, India needs its diverse industries to embrace as well as propagate
skills training programs for their existing and future employees with meaningful certifications with
effective and sustainable long-term skills development strategies.

Although it’s easier said than done, Indian organizations have long been wary of the double edged
sword that is India’s dual challenge of a lack of highly skilled labor on one hand and the un-
employability of large sets of educated population with no relevant job skills. This is apparent in the
fact that there are already severe gaps in industry demands and the skill level of the workforce.
There are many reasons contributing to this factor, including insufficient training facilities/
opportunities, mismatch between skills and education, limited industry inputs among others.

Clearly, India’s skill development ecosystem is leaning more towards formal education and rarely
accommodates vocational training. With such kind of detachment amid formal education and work
demands, the skill gap challenges will only escalate, calling for concerted efforts to ensure sustained
skills development and employability. However, to address the skills gap and transform the skill
development ecosystem to accommodate the industry demands, organizations must define and
adopt efficient, scalable and sustainable employee training programs.