The greatest investment you can make is in people. The people who work for you and with you are the actual drivers of progress than the profit margins you keep on counting. A Businessman has options to invest in people or papers. One who trusts in the sustainability of skills goes for the people and the progress on papers also follows.
Great Companies are the results of Great Leadership. Great Leaders have been the Creators of Great Team. A Leader is not the one who gives commands; a Leader is a magnet who brings the best out of people he works 'with' and 'for'.
In May 2017, the NASSCOM said that new jobs are being created in the IT sector despite automation. It has become evident that in the BPO and the IT sector, layoffs are becoming a regular act of survival. Companies have their own reasons and they can always do such things as business development necessities. However, one silver lining missed is that the lower level, or to say the LINEAR nature jobs are coming under attack and new avenues are emerging. Those who have been able to survive the repeated recessions in the IT and other associated sectors can testify that being upskilled and re-skilled saved them.
Saving jobs is not a concern of the company. But, retaining a dedicated and skilled workforce is the need. Through UpSkilling, the company opens new avenues of learning for the employees. It is different from the routine HR Happiness Training Sessions. The plan starts with a focus on Asset Creation through Investing in People. Sharpening the Axe and Providing new Tools and Skills to Excel further is the motto of ReSkilling and UpSkilling.
Now we need to understand what do we mean by UpSkilling and ReSkilling? Each organisation which plans to stay in the business and wish to grow will always focus on the performance and competence enhancement of the workforce. This applies to the leadership of the organisation as well. Though the leaders in some sectors are not that ready for the up-skilling or re-skilling as in education, in the established corporate sectors it is seen as a solution to many problems.
An organisation offers 'Skill Enhancement' by providing exposure to the emerging technologies, thoughts, strategies and trends. It can be in-house or an outsourced exercise but the employees are trained to keep themselves 'at par' with the global trends. Enhancement of Skills is related to UpSkilling. It is like upgrading them to the next version of skills in their domain.
Up-Skilling, therefore, is more of a present concern than tomorrow. We have seen a rise in the effects of the Skill Gap and companies all over the world are fighting with this giant devil. Employees are to be retained and to be trained as well.
Reskilling, on the other hand, is about rejuvenating the idle skill-sets. We know that the employees do know certain things when they join and tend to keep these activities for some time. But, the focus and engagement in ONE Task kill the known skills' expertise level. ReSkilling helps in refreshing and ReCovering the Skills which have been a part of the person's skill-sets in the past.
Brigette Hyacinth says that Employees are a company’s greatest Asset!
The article with the same title presents some significant observations:
“Employees are a company’s greatest asset. Yet many companies treat their employees poorly. Sadly, our system has fallen into a self-reinforcing command loop construct as follows: Increase shareholder value at all costs without regard for the human factor.”
Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to. - Richard Branson
It is left to the mind of the leader what is done. However, Upskilling and Skill Development give certain dividends to those who plan these meaningfully.
