Inorder to change our world and the way we work, it certainly requires people to evolve, and adapt technology to upskill and reskill themselves. So to say, the skills which we have learnt in the past years are becoming obsolete rapidly today. This means, there is a huge potential to reskill or upskill, especially in these times of pandemic as the world is going through disruption of various sorts.  

Moreover, when it comes to India, many organizations are betting big on investing in upskilling their workforces to make them future ready and stay relevant with the digital revolution taking place across the globe. India in recent years has become a significant market for many businesses today. Billions of dollars are being invested by the foreign investors and organizations due to the market potential of India in recent years. Moreover, 2020 has been a significant year for India as the Make in India movement and Atma Nirbhar project is slowly coming to the actual frame. 

There has never been a perfect time to reskill and upskill ourselves than today in the midst of pandemic. Thus, there are numerous programs that are popping up in the market today which concerns reskilling and upskilling programs for working class people across various industrial segments.  

“Forecasting needs for jobs that haven’t been created yet, or are still being developed, isn’t always easy to do,” says Scott Dettman, CEO of Avencia. “Make a game plan for your upskilling initiatives — aside from answering core questions about logistics, make sure to answer questions about the larger goals of upskilling,” he added. 

Bridging the Gap of Knowledge and Skills

Indian organizations today are consistently trying to identify businesses’ emerging skill requirements to bridge the gap between employees' know how and evolution in the market trends. “HR departments can partner with stakeholders throughout their organization to assess what types of skill gaps exist today and what type of knowledge employees will need to have in the future to keep moving the organization forward,” Dettman suggests. 

Furthermore, if we talk about Indian market, it is a very price-sensitive one. Hence, businesses must come up with cost-effective ways to remain competitive and provide employees with various growth opportunities through upskilling and reskilling.  So, an internal development initiative must be started in these times of pandemic and make business future proof and ready respectively. 

Professional Development

WIth a competition in the Indian market, organizations have to incentivize retention through learning so as to capture the needs and desires of one’s existing workforce. Hence, this would be taken as the opportunity by employees to upskill themselves and bring the required professional development. Also, hire for learnability and not learned skills as organizations don't have to be stifled by the talent crisis. Hence, it will be a breather to hire talent outside of traditional sill sets.  

According to a survey by Mckinsey in February this year, almost 87 percent of companies have stated that they have been experiencing skill gaps.  Hence, it has been the utmost requirement for organizations to lean towards upskilling and reskilling initiatives so as to support the overall demand of technical skills that one must muster to survive in today’s highly competitive and disruptive market.