Employee Upskilling: Importance, Advantages, And Recommendations

Describe about the Upskills.

“Upskilling employees is one of the most crucial and integral processes of organization”. This research will focus on the topic "corporate on employee Upskill”. In this context a case of IBM which is one of the giant multinational has been highlighted. This research has shown that how upskilling of the employees can help in improving the performance of the company. Up skilling the employees is a process of training of the employees so that they can acquire additional skills to perform their work effectively. It has become an integral part of many of the successful companies. Up skilling the employees will help IBM in competing and surviving in a highly volatile and dynamic market. This research will also provide deep insights about how to implement the plan of upskilling of the employees in a way that all the needs of employees can meet in the most effective manner. This research will firstly define the actual problem that the company is facing along with the action that can be taken by the organization. Then the advantages and disadvantages of upskilling of the employees will be discussed along with recommending the ways in the company can upskill its employees. An implementation plan will also be discussed. This research will be one of the major contribution in understanding the importance and role of “employee upskilling”.

“Lack of skills among the employees is one of the major concerns of the organizations”.  The skills of the employees are one of the most important elements of an organization that helps in attaining productivity and increased revenue. IBM, one of the business giants is experiencing a dip in the revenue since the year 2015. The senior management of the organization realized that the employees with lack of additional marketing skills that are essential to compete in a highly dynamic and competitive market. The marketing and sales professionals were not able to plot and implement different strategies that were essential in context of surviving in information technology business. The company is facing huge losses despite of offering some of the best products and services. Moreover the sales and marketing professionals of the company are also de motivated by the fall in the company’s revenue because of their performance. The company soon has to realize that it is a big problem that needs an immediate action (IBS Center for Management Research , 2016).

Company Profile

“IBM is one of the companies that focus on the development of the employees”. International Business Machines Corporation referred as IBM is an American multinational technology company that is headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. The company operates in more than 170 countries.  The company was founded in the year 1911 as CTR (Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company). In the year 1924, the company was renamed as "International Business Machines". The company manufactures and markets the hardware, middleware and software along with offering the hosting and consulting services in all the areas associated with mainframe to nanotechnology. In addition the company also known is to be one of the major research organizations that hold the record of number of patents. The major inventions of the company include floppy disk, hard disk, automated teller machine (ATM), the magnetic stripe card, the SQL programming language, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and the UPC barcode (IBM, 2016).

“Upskilling is particularly important for improving the performance and productivity of employees”. To meet the challenges associated with dipping revenue because of the level of skills of the employee’s leaders must look for the solutions that develop the skill base of the employees. The ultimate solution is “building the skills internally” or “up skilling” the employees. The best practices associated with fostering the continuous learning have to be adopted so as to create an environment where intellectual capital can be easily diffused and shared among the employees. Despite the costs involved in up skilling the employees, it has become one of the most valuable processes that can help in improving the productivity, revenue and engagement level of the employees (Huddleston, 2015).  Upskilling the employees directly contribute in the bottom line. For example: if additional skills are provided to the sales team in context of the closing techniques can eventually help in increasing the closing rates of the company. The benefits of upskilling the employees will extend to middle office positions (Bort, 2016).

There are number of upsides of upskilling the employees. The degree of employee productivity can be improved. The performance and engagement level of the employees can also increases. Also, company can achieve a higher degree of employee retention is achieved. In addition, more skills offer the employees a rewarding career and it fosters positive relationship between superiors and the subordinates. Company may also be benefitted by increased revenues and better position in the market (Noe, 2002).

However, as “every coin has two sides”, upskilling the employee’s is also associated with some negative aspects. The cost involved in upskilling the employees is often high therefore many of the organizations choose not to upskill the employees and use their existing skills. Also, return on investment of upskilling the employees if often unknown. In addition, finding a right provider of the skill is another important concerns of upskilling the employees (National Industry Skill Commitee, 2014).

Action Defined

“The result of upskilling the employees will extend from personal development of the employees to organization development”. The pool of skilled employees of the organizations will be able to compete in the dynamic corporate world by achieving the complex targets and objectives. The value of upskilling is very high as the employees will be able to perform in the most effective way along with gaining a sense of accomplishment. The impact of upskilling the employees are for long term and the employees will be continuously motivated to contribute in the overall success of the organization. Employees are the major assets of the organization, anything done to improve their skills will benefit the organization in number of ways (Resilium, 2016).

 “The skill advancement of the employees should follow some important aspects”. There are some recommendations that can be useful for IBM in context of upskilling the employees and improving the overall performance of the organization. The recommendations are discussed below:

The company should identify the area that needs to build additional skills among the employees, so that the upskilling programs can match the actual need of the employees. This step is the first and most crucial step of the overall action plan.

The company should then focus on finding the skill providers. These will be the trainers who are actually involved in the process of training and educating the employees. The right skill provider will help the company in training its marketing professionals and sales professionals effectively. The company should however find the skill provider only after the skill development needs of the employees are identified.

The company should prepare the employees for the development of additional skills. This is done so as to ensure that employees do not lose interest in their present job. This step is essential in context of keeping the employees active along with encouraging them to clear their doubts and questions associated with skill development (Upskill America, 2014).

The company should explain and demonstrate the skill development tasks and activities. The skill developers should explain the importance of the skills along with demonstrating the skills so that employees can effectively involve in the overall process of skill development. The repetitive practices will help the employees in acquiring more skills in a fast pace.

The company should at last take the feedback of the employees in context of acquiring the marketing and sales techniques that can help them in improving the closing rates of the company. This is the last step of upskilling the employees at IBM. The feedback of the trainees is important in context of determining the effectiveness of overall program.

Upside/Downside

Nestle, one of the food giants has followed the recommendations and the steps mentioned above to improve the sales. Nestle focused on upskilling its marketing and sales professionals when most of the market was captured by Cadbury. The recommendations mentioned above proved to be highly effective for Nestle after upskilling the employees the performance of the marketing and professionals was improved comparatively in terms of targets (Nestle, 2016).

“An implementation plan helps in implementing the skill advancement plan effectively”. In order to upskill the employees IBM will be requiring an effective implementation plan.  One of the best implementation plans for IBM is given below:

Identifying the needs of the employees in context of skill development is one of the most important steps of the implementation plan that has to be followed by IBM. The open communication sessions and performance reviews will help the company to identify the needs. Then the company should focus on finding the training provider along with scheduling the sessions. After the company schedules the session it should then focus on running the classes and ensuring that employees clear their doubts and questions associated with the skill development. At last IBM should focus on colleting the feedback from the employees (Bickerton, 2015).

Conclusion

The process of upskilling the employees has become one of the most important and integral processes of the most successful organizations. Upskilling the employees will  help in improving the overall performance of the employees along with increasing the success rates of the organization In order to improve the sales of the company IBM must develop the skills of its marketing and sales professionals. The recommendations and action plan given in this paper will help IBM in upskilling the employees effectively.

References

Bickerton, P. (2015, September 5). How Upskilling Your Staff Saves Cash In The Long Run. Retrieved sept 5, 2016, from Saxons Group: https://www.saxonsgroup.com.au/blog/human-resources/how-upskilling-your-staff-saves-cash-in-the-long-run/

Bort, J. (2016, September 5). IBM Is Using An Unusual New Tactic To Retrain Its Employees Instead Of Laying Them Off. Retrieved september 5, 2016, from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.in/IBM-Is-Using-An-Unusual-New-Tactic-To-Retrain-Its-Employees-Instead-Of-Laying-Them-Off/articleshow/42913135.cms

Huddleston, T. (2015, April 20). IBM's sales decline for twelfth straight quarter. Retrieved September 5, 2016, from Fortune: https://fortune.com/2015/04/20/ibm-earnings-sales-decline/

IBM. (2016, September 5). About Us. Retrieved september 5, 2016, from https://www.ibm.com/ibm/in/en/

IBS Center for Management Research . (2016, September 5). Training Employees of IBM Through e-Learning. Retrieved september 5, 2016, from https://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Human%20Resource%20and%20Organization%20Behavior/Training%20Employees%20of%20IBM%20Through%20e-Learning.htm

National Industry Skill Commitee. (2014). Good Practice Workforce Strategies. National Industry Skill Commitee.

Nestle. (2016, September 5). Case Studies. Retrieved sept 5, 2016, from https://www.nestle.in/csv/case-studies

Noe, R. A. (2002). Employee Training and Development. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Resilium. (2016, September 5). Will upskilling staff improve my business? Retrieved september 5, 2016, from https://www.resilium.com.au/advice-centre/staff-resources/will-upskilling-staff-improve-my-business#.V805Nlt961s

Upskill America. (2014). A Guide to Upskilling America's Frontline Workers . Upskill America.