What should businesses concentrate on: talent acquisition or skill acquisition?
The introduction of digitization has caused numerous changes in how businesses view their staff and themselves. Teams in charge of human resources (HR) and learning and development (L&D) frequently struggle to match their hiring plans to the rapidly shifting demands of the digital economy.
The three primary reskilling obstacles raised during the roundtable are listed below, along with creative solutions that have assisted other businesses in overcoming them:
Talent vs. Skill Acquisition: Should You Hire Current Employees or New Hires?
The largest conundrum firms face today when trying to fill skill gaps is deciding between skill acquisition and talent acquisition. While selecting new hires with the most recent technological capabilities has its appeal, there are some important advantages to upskilling your current workforce—which also helps with employee retention, the company’s reputation, and profitability.
The Answer
Companies all around the world are discovering that they may be able to find the talent they need for hiring by looking within their own ranks. A pure-play upskilling plan, however, may prevent you from connecting with industry talent that may change the game.
The solution is to combine talent acquisition with skill acquisition in a healthy way. The foundation of any business is a sound hiring policy that seeks out the greatest talent available, but once that talent is on board, it’s crucial to keep upskilling it (along with your other employees) in the newest tools and technology available. These include expertise in areas like cybersecurity, big data analytics, cloud computing, digital marketing, and more.
While acquiring skills internally is a fundamental policy that benefits workers and upholds the character of the company, it requires a timely dose of talent acquisition to stay current.
Taking this further, skill development on its own poses a distinct set of difficulties.
Sustainable Growth and Scalability
The main issue with implementing any kind of employee training is cost. Additionally, if the labour market is favourable to employees and there is a high demand for the talents they possess or learn, there is a chance that they may take those skills elsewhere, necessitating the training of new hires. How do you make sure that your staff are gradually upskilled, with an emphasis on long-term relevance and keeping these skilled workers in your organisation?
The Answer
Instead of having to inconvenience all of your employees by enrolling them in every training session, categorising your employees into clearly defined groups enables you to discover specific, pertinent training that is likely to be beneficial. This calls for and exhibits a high level of empathy as well as the subtle ability to analyse your colleagues’ requirements while remaining “zero-distance” from them. Investing in virtual or online training is a cost-effective alternative that also gives your employees the freedom to choose and juggle their hours, ensuring it has no impact on their productivity while they are at work.
This strategy also ensures that your staff members end up gaining the abilities that will directly advance their careers and enable them to take on greater roles and responsibilities—qualities that are crucial to maintaining job happiness.
Maintaining Employee Motivation
The typical employee has enough mission-critical work to keep them busy from Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, and beyond. There isn’t much time left over for training. It takes some more convincing to expect willingness and passion to learn new things and acquire new abilities on top of that.
The Answers
- Make Learning Interesting, Not Intimidating – Although the simplest approach would be to instil fear and job insecurity in workers to persuade them to pursue additional certifications, by making training mandatory, such unfavourable incentivization actually creates stress and dread of training, which inhibits learning and retention. Instead, start by motivating your staff by outlining the benefits of more learning for both them personally and for the business as a whole. Make training enjoyable and accessible as well. By adding gamification components and even rewards for achieving levels or certifications, you may make training even more engaging.
- Offer managerial support and visibility – Managers have access to ongoing team progress thanks to the integration of Learning Management Systems (LMS) into corporate training programmes. This ongoing supervision not only keeps workers motivated, but also enables managers to intervene and offer support or encouragement when they notice someone lagging behind.
- Promote Competition and Social Support – Using leaderboards fosters a sense of community and competition that may inspire many employees to finish their training and obtain their certifications more quickly.