The Cost of Ineffective Upskilling Programs

Irrelevance. That’s what everyone is implicitly trying to avoid when they speak about upskilling. The conundrum is, employees fear being laid off in favor of new talent, or robots, but companies need to constantly innovate or risk falling behind their competitors.

The pandemic and its catastrophic effects on the economy have only further stoked these fears. More than ever, employees are attending courses, whether on their own volition or their companies’, to keep themselves and their organizations ahead of the pack. As a result, demand for upskilling is at an all time high.

Yet, it seems HR departments are failing to capture their colleagues’ attention with their in-house training programs. According to an article in Singapore, most employees prefer attending courses outside the workplace. Which shows there might be a disconnect between what companies are offering, and what employees expect.

The cost of ineffective upskilling programs

According to The Industry Report, companies spend an average of over $1,000 per head on training programs. As with most business expenses, this high level of expenditure only makes sense if companies get back their dollars’ worth in terms of increased productivity. This is especially so for larger organizations, where larger headcounts can lead to escalating costs. And money’s not the only concern.

When you’ve invested that level of resources into your employees, it can be discouraging to hear research in Singapore that shows 46% of employees are not interested in courses that are offered to them. This is despite 86% of millennials saying that they would stay in positions where training and development programs are offered. What gives?

Employees don’t have access to skills that they want

The picture becomes clearer when you take the current job market into account. We live in a time when formal qualifications are depreciating in value and demand for candidates with practical skills and proven track records are high. There’s also the looming threat of A.I. threatening to make many jobs redundant.

Training programs that are given the green light don’t engage employees because they do not equip them with the skills that they wish to learn. Because of limited budgets, companies are often only willing to invest in skills that directly relate to the employee’s job scope. On the flip side, employees want to expand their horizons by exploring new areas.

But multi-disciplinary and multi-skilled individuals can bring much value to companies, especially during a time when remote and hybrid work is proliferating. With limited in-person guidance, employees who can pick up new skills and manage cross department issues independently are incredibly valuable.

Upskilling requires more time and commitment than companies can afford

Companies don’t realize just how much employees wish to upskill.

The reality however is that learning new skills takes time – far more than many companies are able to spend. 1 in 2 employees also find themselves too busy with increased workloads impeding their ability to find time to focus on improving themselves.

Here’s a breakdown of what it takes to pick up some of the more in-demand skills:

• Most software programmers agree that it takes three to six months of practice to grasp the basics of coding.
• Attaining basic fluency in a foreign language can take anywhere between 480 to 720 hours of study depending on how close it is to your native tongue.
• To become a licensed attorney, students have to spend 400 to 600 hours studying to pass bar exams.
• The average CFA candidate takes 4-5 years to pass all three levels of the exam, spending an average of 300 hours for each level.