Upskilling, Reskilling, and Employee Retention

Attracting and retaining high-quality talent with upskilling and reskilling

Before the hiring process even begins, organizations should focus on strategies to attract high-quality talent and improve retention rates. The benefits you offer can enormously impact your ability to attract the right workers. Plus, it will help you keep them long-term in today’s competitive job market.

One employee benefit—online workplace learning—has an outsized influence over employee hiring and retention and could maximize your business’s ROI.

In this piece, we’ll explore why learning and growth opportunities are crucial benefits for today’s employees. We’ll also review tactics for businesses to effectively achieve these offerings with e-learning. For more tactics and insights, read our full e-book: The $1 Trillion Turnover Problem and How to Fix It.

Today’s remote and hybrid work environment

For many employees, the workplace today looks dramatically different than it did even a few years ago. Workers are adapting, evolving not only their skills but also their perception of the ideal employer and work-life balance.

Perhaps most notably, remote and hybrid work has become much more commonplace. According to a survey by McKinsey, 58 percent of respondents say they work remotely at least some of the time. These remote and hybrid workers face different challenges and opportunities than traditional on-site workers. 

Naturally, they also have different priorities. To attract and retain today’s top performers, employers must differentiate themselves beyond salary. One key way to stand out is through workplace culture and benefits. When it comes to the latter, learning and development opportunities may impress future and current employees more than anything else.

Why learning and development is the key to retention: advancing career paths and employee technical skills

Opportunities for learning and development matter deeply to today’s workers—not only when applying to jobs but also when deciding to stay with a company. An employer’s ability to meet these needs has a powerful impact on both hiring and retention.

To understand this impact, let’s first clarify the difference between upskilling and reskilling. Upskilling means expanding a worker’s skills to enhance their performance in their current role or preparing them to advance. Employee reskilling involves learning new skills to prepare an employee for a different role or career path within the organization. 

Both upskilling and reskilling efforts are crucial for talent retention and internal mobility. A study by Boston Consulting Group and The Network found that more than two-thirds of workers want to learn additional skills to feel more secure and fulfilled.

Investing in e-learning software is one major way to meet the needs of today’s increasingly remote and hybrid workforce. After initial training and onboarding, companies can leverage e-learning for reskilling and upskilling employees. Building on existing skills improves job satisfaction and helps employees advance their career. What’s more, these reskilling and upskilling efforts boost employee confidence, adaptability, and overall value to the organization.

By allowing employees to choose their own learning and development paths—and providing the infrastructures and opportunities that allow them to do so—companies offer an incredibly compelling benefit that can significantly improve employee engagement and retention rates.

So, how can you choose the right e-learning software to set your business up for retention success?

3 factors to consider when choosing your e-learning software

The e-learning software you choose can majorly impact your onboarding, upskilling, and reskilling opportunities. While there are numerous factors to consider when building your tech stack, start by considering interactivity, speed, and accessibility.

1. Interactivity

Interactivity is crucial for keeping employees engaged with your e-learning courses, whether they’re onboarding or learning new skills. Consider the creative ways you can incorporate interactive elements into your courses with your chosen software. Think beyond assessments and final exams and consider flashcards, practice scenarios, and more.

2. Efficiency

How quickly and easily does your e-learning software allow you to build new courses and share information with your workforce globally? Consider tools that allow you to find quality course assets, review and approve content with stakeholders, and customize templates for greater agility.

3. Accessibility

Website accessibility isn’t just a legal requirement—it can have an incredibly positive impact on the effectiveness of your courses for all learners. Consider how easily your e-learning software allows you to engage learners with closed captions, keyboard shortcuts and commands, screen reader accessibility, and more.

E-learning: A positive-sum game

To attract and retain top talent in today’s work landscape, companies must prove to their employees that they are invested in their job satisfaction and success. Promoting internal mobility through upskilling and reskilling initiatives keeps employees engaged and motivated, reducing turnover and helping your organization remain competitive. 

E-learning benefits are a powerful way to walk this walk and can have an enormous impact on the success of both individuals and the company as a whole. By providing these opportunities for employees to learn new skills and potentially move toward a different path within the company, you’re investing in their future and the future of your organization.

To learn more about attracting top talent through e-learning opportunities and how upskilling and reskilling employees helps retain talent, download our full e-book.