Upskilling Employees: The What, Why, and How

Upskilling employees is more important than ever if businesses want to improve employee retention rates, attract new talent, and stay ahead in the age of AI.

In this post, we’ll explore what upskilling is, the benefits of upskilling, and ways to upskill your employees.

What does upskilling mean?

Upskilling refers to the process of enhancing your employees’ existing skill set. This could be to teach them more advanced skills within their current role (like a marketer learning more advanced SEO techniques), learning a new tool (like that same marketer learning Google Analytics 4), or complementary skills (like a marketer learning to write HTML and CSS).

What is reskilling vs upskilling?

While upskilling refers to enhancing existing skills, reskilling refers to employees learning entirely new ones. This can be a precursor to them moving into a different department or role, like a salesperson becoming a software developer.

Both reskilling and upskilling can be useful ways to show employees that you appreciate what they bring to the company, reward their efforts, and keep internal knowledge.

Is upskilling the same as training?

Training is one way to upskill your employees. There are lots of other ways, including mentoring and coaching.

What are the goals of upskilling?

The goals of upskilling involve improving employee retention and engagement. It can also support employee well-being because it demonstrates to them that you want them to stay because you’ve invested in their development.

From a business angle, it also helps you stay ahead of your competition because your employees have a more advanced, diverse skillset.

Who needs upskilling?

Anyone can benefit from upskilling. The employees who can benefit the most are those early in their career, or whose roles are at risk of being discontinued due to AI and automation.

However, it doesn’t matter how long someone has been in their role, there’s always something new to learn, whether that’s a new technique, tool, approach, or something else.

They may benefit from new soft skills like communication or giving constructive feedback, or more practical skills like a new programming language.

What are the benefits of upskilling?

The benefits of upskilling include increased employee retention, greater employee engagement, attracting the right type of candidates when hiring, and a boost to employee well-being.

It can also help your business grow and develop, with employees using their newfound skills in your organization.

Upskilling employees can have a ripple effect throughout your organization, too. It isn’t just the employee who received training that benefits; the people around them can also benefit from their new skills, whether that’s through improved communication, greater psychological safety, learning about new tools, or something else.

One way to improve your employees’ skillset is through coaching. In a recent white paper, coach Valentina Passoni shared her insights. Check out her summary below and download the white paper on the rippling effects of coaching for more insights.

According to PwC, 60% of CEOs whose companies have advanced upskilling programs said that upskilling led to a stronger company culture and improved employee engagement. 43% said that it improved productivity, and 51% said it led to greater innovation and accelerated digital transformation.

For the companies just beginning their upskilling journey, they found improvements of 15-23% on these metrics, which are still significant numbers that will only improve over time.

Why upskilling employees is more important than ever

According to the World Economic Forum, in the next five years, 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted, and 60% of employees will require training by 2027. That doesn’t leave us with long to upskill employees.

Many employees feel worried AI will come for their jobs. And based on the stats above, it just might. This makes identifying skills gaps so that you can reskill and upskill employees more important than ever not just from an employee well-being angle, but also to ensure you retain the internal knowledge and the skills of your top performers.

Many employees leave because they feel unsupported in their roles and like they’ve hit a wall. Upskilling offers them opportunities to flex and build their muscles, which can encourage new ways of thinking and problem solving.

How to upskill your employees

There are lots of ways to upskill your employees, depending on who you want to upskill and what you’d like them to learn. Let’s explore some options:

One-on-one coaching

One-on-one coaching allows employees to receive tailored support. They can work on specific skills at their own pace, helping them develop faster than in a group program that may not be as adaptable to their needs.

Sanctus Coaching offers drop-in coaching sessions that can help employees at all levels of their career with everything from improving their communication skills to handling grief. Our unique wholebeing model means we can support anyone wherever they’re at, whatever barriers they may face.

Group coaching

Group coaching can support teams who feel disconnected or want to get to know each other better. It’s a way to enhance your company culture so that everyone feels like a valued part of the team and can express how they feel. The group can work together toward shared goals.

If you’re struggling with company culture, or want to help a team connect, our Connect & Reflect sessions could be just what you need. These create a safe space for group members to express their emotions and have honest discussions about how they’re feeling.

It leads to a greater sense of psychological safety, more openness among colleagues, and greater employee engagement.

Leadership coaching

Leadership coaching supports your current and future leaders across your organization. It can prepare employees for managerial roles, help existing managers juggle their own workloads alongside supporting employees, and support them to lead with empathy and understanding.

Our Connected Leadership program is a series of coaching sessions designed to specifically help your employees develop or enhance their leadership skills.

Check out our video below where Dr Albert Viljoen explains our Connected Leadership program in more detail:

Executive coaching

Executive coaching is different from leadership coaching because it’s designed to focus on the skills your executives need, like strategic and big-picture thinking.

Our leadership coaching is both tailored and scalable, making it the perfect fit for leaders looking to enhance their skills in the next stage of their career.

Mentoring

Mentoring is another way to fill skills gaps within your organization. More experienced employees and leaders can support mentees to make connections, learn new things, and progress to the next stage of their career.

Sanctus Mentoring, powered by Pushfar, can help your organization pair mentees with the right mentor for them. It uses a unique mentor matching algorithm to find the right fit from an internal or external mentee.

Conclusion

Employee training is no longer a benefit or a perk: it’s a must-have for companies to stay competitive and for employees to stay employed.

Whatever upskilling path you choose for your team, Sanctus can help. Get in touch to discuss how our coaching, mentoring, and listening packages can support you in upskilling your employees to achieve your company goals.