Upskilling staff is key to maintaining edge in the current environment

With the economy at or near full employment and the pace of change in industry accelerating, the war for talent continues to intensify. The challenge facing most employers at present is the lack of options open to them. They can’t simply hire in new people with the skills required unless they are prepared to pay a very high premium, and the supply of graduates and other qualified people is barely enough to meet demand.

It’s definitely a seller’s market and companies are being forced to look inward for solutions. This means doing more with what they already have and investing in the skills of their existing workforce.

“Upskilling and reskilling are critical not only for the business but also for the employees – allowing them to feel more empowered, ensuring their skills are fit for the future and thereby providing an opportunity for them to add greater value to the organisation,” says Gerard McDonough, partner, PwC People & Organisation. “Nearly seven out of 10 Irish employees in PwC’s 2022 Workforce Hopes and Fears survey said that their job needs specialist training.”

The need to upskill goes beyond training for specific workplace functions or applications, according to UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School academic director Prof Joe Peppard.

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“Organisations need employees who are equipped for and capable of functioning productively in a digital business,” Peppard notes. “We are seeing leaders shifting the focus to ensuring employees have the capability and knowledge to perform roles, at the same time as empowering them to solve the problems that will arise in future. People will still need problem-solving skills and critical thinking capability.”

That emphasis on the so-called softer side of skills development is very much in evidence at Three Ireland.

“Upskilling is seen as an investment rather than a cost here at Three,” says Keavy Gorman, Three’s director of people development UK & Ireland. “We need to be prepared for the future and prepare our people for future jobs and so on. In many ways, the future is here already. We break it down into a number of different areas. We look at it from a personal perspective as well as from a career-management perspective. Interpersonal skills are really important and we run leadership programmes that are available to everyone in the organisation.”

Practical skills are important as well, of course. “People need skills to keep up. Our learning academies offer a variety of skills-development courses to employees from basic level all the way through to masters programmes. Our Digital Academy focuses on digital and data skills, for example.”

Offering in-house training for employees is easier said than done, however. The majority of organisations are not blessed with the resources to host their own training academies – but there is a wide range of options open to them.

“The skills space is quite crowded and companies are well served,” says Skillnet Ireland chief strategy officer Mark Jordan. But companies need to take a measured approach before deciding which options suit their needs best.

A strategic response to address a demand for new capabilities is to reskill and upskill your employees

—  Sneha Patel

“They need to investigate how to put a talent development plan in place,” says Jordan. “They can work with Government agencies like Skillnet Ireland to look at that. That can help identify the types of programmes they need and can demystify and clarify the options available. We can provide the guidance needed to develop a talent development plan.”

Sneha Patel, chief HR officer with PepsiCo Ireland, recommends a two-stranded approach. “A strategic response to address a demand for new capabilities is to reskill and upskill your employees,” she says. “This will enable your company to remain competitive. Examples include building capability internally, partnering with local universities to hire graduates and working with Government-funded agencies such as Skillnet Ireland.”

PepsiCo has a culture of continuous learning where it supports employees’ career opportunities, Patel adds. The company provides a combination of on-the-job training, career conversations and developmental plans for every employee, as well as formal and informal mentorship programmes for students, interns and PepsiCo employees, all with a focus on both leadership and technical capability.

Companies can also turn to the Ibec Academy for management training needs. “Attracting people and keeping them is a challenge for a lot of businesses,” says Jenny Hayes, head of the Ibec Academy. “They need their people to want to stay. One of the key ways to do that is by having a line manager who knows what they are doing and cares about the people they lead. Upskilling frontline managers is hugely important, now more than ever.”

Changes since Covid have had an impact on that. “People have readjusted their priorities,” Hayes notes. “Work-life balance is more important to them and having managers who understand that is key. We focus a lot of our time on upskilling managers in core skills such as emotional intelligence, communicating with teams and leadership abilities, as well as digital skills and so on. Coaching skills have also grown in importance. ESG (environmental, social and governance) is a really big pillar now as well, and our newly created accredited four-day continuing professional development (CPD) certificate in corporate sustainability was oversubscribed. We also have a four-day accredited CPD certificate in managing diversity and inclusion in the workplace to help managers to attract more diverse talent.”

Ultimately, reskilling and upskilling are an absolute necessity for organisations, according to PwC’s McDonough. “The skills of today will not be enough for organisations to survive tomorrow,” he says. “In order to succeed and ultimately thrive in the future, organisations need to understand the skills and capabilities they will need and work to close the gap on where they are today. While we are seeing a willingness from employees to upskill or completely reskill, organisations need to take the steps to provide these opportunities.”

Preparing for tomorrow’s unknowns

The rapid pace of change presents severe difficulties for organisations when it comes to skills strategies. How do you prepare employees for roles that don’t yet exist?

“Companies need to scan the horizon and see what’s happening in the sector,” Skillnet Ireland’s Mark Jordan advises. “They need to understand the impact of change on skills and jobs and take a view on what that change looks like and how to keep their workforce in pace with it.”

Gerard McDonough of PwC believes a data-driven approach is required. “A mature approach to strategic workforce planning that leverages scenario-based modelling, coupled with meaningful people analytics, will help leaders make informed decisions about their workforces for the long term. In preparing people for the future of work, recognising that there will be roles and jobs that do not yet exist, organisations need to create an environment of continuous learning. Recognising that the skills required in the future will be different from today, companies need to be proactive in identifying what these skills will be and in providing opportunities for employees to upskill and reskill in relevant areas.”

One way for companies to prepare their employees for roles that do not yet exist is to invest in capability building, according to Andre Nascimento, head of funded projects with Ibec.

“As an example, training individuals in critical thinking and systemic thinking enables employees to question business hypotheses and their assumptions in a way that is beneficial to the businesses,” says Nascimento. “By applying both modalities of thinking in their way of working, individuals become more comfortable to operate under ambiguity, and thrive in it. Since new roles are a result of a constant process of change, permeated by ambiguity, these employees will be more prepared to identify and shape the new required roles. Employees and employers benefit from it.”