The short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about what was arguably the single greatest disruption to work in human history. Millions were furloughed or laid off, and many of those still working were doing so from home. Office for National Statistics data found that in April 2020, nearly half of UK workers did some of their work from home. Meanwhile the U.S., some 27.6 million employees were primarily working from home in 2021.
During the pandemic struggle, a new era in work was forged that was so radical and transformative that even some four years later, many are still trying to figure out exactly what the future of work will look like. While arguments continue in the great office vs. home debate, strengthening your workforce in a post-pandemic world dominated by digital transformation means ensuring your organization has the right skills inventory.
Predictions about the future of work and the proliferation of technology that many saw unfolding over several years prior to the pandemic were suddenly accelerated when March 2020 rolled around. By acting now, you can foster a more resilient workforce that’s equipped to weather the unforeseeable challenges that are yet to come.
Why are skills the future of work?
We’re in the middle of what has been dubbed the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. Technology is dominating everything, and business is no exception. This presents a clear opportunity for organizations that are prepared to invest in reskilling efforts and match their workforce to emerging and future skills.
Why? According to McKinsey, one in 16 workers may have to switch occupations by 2030, while IBM says that 40% of workers will need to reskill in the next three years due to the impact of AI alone. Those figures should ring alarm bells for any organizational talent leader because they point to one inevitability: workers must adopt new skills to effectively manage the organizational transition to the future.
5 tips for facilitating organizational reskilling
1. Analyze the labor market at a granular level
Understanding the labor market at a granular level plays a big role in developing effective reskilling strategies. Traditionally, labor market analysis relied on job postings, professional profiles, payroll records, and census data to gather insights. However, the changes brought about by the pandemic rendered traditional methods insufficient. Nowadays, the labor market experiences millions of movements within supply and demand factors, which have been further exacerbated into the billions due to the impacts of the pandemic.
Manually tracking and interpreting this data in real-time is virtually impossible because once you’ve finished analyzing it, it’ll already be outdated. Organizations can overcome this by leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to capture and analyze labor market movements as they happen. One example is quantum labor analysis, an emerging methodology that applies AI to examine the labor market at its most granular level—skills. This allows organizations to see real-time changes and adapt quickly, ensuring quick responses to evolving market dynamics and challenges.
Real-time labor market information is essential for understanding the current state of the market and minimizing the workforce impact of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, should such a disruptive event ever happen again, and the ongoing skills shortage.
2. Connect workers to future skills and jobs
Utilizing real-time labor market intelligence alongside forecasting future skills demand enables organizations to efficiently connect their workforce to reskilling pathways. Digital transformation is reinventing entire industries and changing the core nature of work. Many workers occupying roles now may well find that they’re underemployed in just a few years, as digital transformation changes the skills needed in the marketplace.
The solution here is to leverage the transferrable skills that workers possess to re-skill them for internal mobility or adjacent career paths. In a labor market intelligence report by SkyHive, for example, we saw a decrease in demand for frontline customer-facing skills, coupled with a rise in higher-level digital skills. This shift towards digitization in customer service underscores the need for targeted reskilling.
This is something we’re going to see across all sectors as the skills needed for the future of work are disrupted by emerging technologies. By aligning workers with future skills and job opportunities, organizations can minimize layoffs and make their workforce more robust in general.
3. Understand workforce reskilling and upskilling
Differentiating between reskilling and upskilling is essential for effective workforce planning. Reskilling involves acquiring new skills for different career paths, while upskilling focuses on enhancing skills within the same career trajectory. Innovative reskilling technologies can identify hidden and adjacent skills and skills gaps, and create targeted learning pathways to bridge these gaps. Automated skills-mapping processes drastically increase the speed of response, transforming what used to take months into days.
With the proliferation of online learning platforms, individuals have ample opportunities to pursue reskilling pathways. Governments and organizations must work together to reskill at-risk workers, reducing unemployment and lowering social costs. Accelerating the reskilling process can help fill skill gaps and prepare individuals for the post-pandemic economy. Reskilling is a continuous effort, requiring ongoing adaptation to labor market conditions. By laying the groundwork for reskilling pathways and skills-based job matching now, organizations can ensure a robust and resilient workforce ready for future disruptions.
4. Accelerate skills-based workforce planning
Skills-based workforce planning involves integrating skills requirements into strategic planning processes to ensure an agile and future-ready workforce. This shift from traditional role-based planning to a dynamic, skills-centric approach leverages advanced analytics and workforce management tools, which help organizations monitor and update their skills inventories continuously. This makes it easier to identify emerging skills needs and the proactive development of targeted training programs.
By incorporating skills-based workforce planning, organizations can quickly respond to market changes and ensure their workforce possesses the necessary skills to meet evolving business objectives. For example, during the pandemic, companies that swiftly identified and addressed skills gaps in digital competencies and remote collaboration tools were better positioned to maintain operations and thrive while others struggled to stay afloat. Very much an ongoing effort, talent leaders should establish a continuous feedback loop to gather insights from employees and track the effectiveness of training programs to ensure that their skills-based workforce planning is successful in the long term.
5. Promote a learning culture
If any organizational reskilling effort is to be successful, there needs to be leadership buy-in for promoting a learning culture. This begins by embedding continuous learning into the organization’s core values. Executives and managers should actively endorse and participate in learning initiatives, demonstrating the importance of skill development at all levels.
Offering incentives such as learning stipends, professional development allowances, and recognition programs can motivate employees to continue their education. Additionally, providing access to a diverse range of learning resources—such as online courses, workshops, and professional development programs—empowers employees to pursue their learning paths. This holistic approach ensures that learning is not seen as a one-time event but as an integral part of the organizational culture.
Plan your organizational reskilling with SkyHive
Recognized by the World Economic Forum and Gartner for our contributions to the future of work, our AI-powered technology helps talent leaders prepare their workers for the future with market-leading skills inventory and skills-based workforce planning solutions.
We’ve helped organizations including Best Buy, the Government of Canada, and Collège La Cité to Unilever and Zinnia transition from jobs to skills, backed by strategic partnerships including Accenture, SAP, and Workday. Learn more about how to unleash human potential at SkyHive.ai.
