COVID-19 has fast-tracked the digital revolution. Businesses across all sectors are in dire need of new talent, but employees are struggling to keep pace. Compounding the problem is a worsening skills shortage that means key roles are going unfilled – according to NAB, nearly 90 per cent of businesses reported a lack of labour availability constrained their outputs in the April to June quarter this year.
If your organisation favours a constant cycle of new hires to fill talent gaps, you’re likely already on the hunt for a solution. But, in a market that’s short on new blood, repeatedly poaching from your competitors is an expensive activity. Foreign labour shortages mean the talent pool is likely to stay shallow for some time.
So, where to from here? It’s probably no surprise that the answer is upskilling – that is, investing in training and developing your current workforce to build the professional capabilities your business needs.
While it’s tempting to see upskilling as the poor cousin of fire-and-rehire, it can be a highly strategic – and financially savvy – approach: a recent report from the UK Financial Services Skills Commission shows that re-skilling individuals can save you significant money – up to £49,100 (that’s $85,000 AUD) per re-skilled worker.
Beyond the financial benefits, that same report shows that re-skilling maintains institution knowledge, maintains staff morale (which is strongly linked to productivity), creates the potential for new revenue streams, and positively impacts business reputation by avoiding large redundancy programs.
Enterprise learning solutions for your business
There’s more than one way to skin a cat – or, in this case, to help talented employees gain the skills they need to keep pace with change. University short courses and microcredentials, like those on offer via UTS Open, are great options if you’ve got a particular capability in mind: they provide a short, sharp dive into a highly specific study area, and some even come with credit towards ongoing postgraduate study.
But if you’re looking for learning solutions that are more relevant to your specific organisational goals, or if you’re looking to build capacity across an entire team or division, enterprise learning solutions have your name written all over them. At PLUS UTS, the corporate training arm at the University of Technology Sydney, we’ll work with you to develop targeted, immersive professional development and learning solutions that truly meet your needs, whether you’re a business, government agency or community organisation.
You’ll be a partner – not a bystander – in the journey, which means everything your staff learns will be relevant to your organisational context. The result is fast, flexible programs with a focus on skills acquisition that offers true value to your team.
Find out more about our corporate training solutions here.
