Future-Proof Your Workforce with Digital Upskilling and Reskilling
Nearly a quarter of U.S. employers are facing a major skills gap in their company, and another 42% say it will hit them within the next two years.1
Is your workforce prepared?
In this guide, we’ll cover how leading employers are designing digital upskilling and reskilling programs via education benefits that both anticipate their business needs and prepare employees for the jobs of tomorrow.
Digital transformation and the need for upskilling and reskilling
Digital transformation is driving rapid change in the job market and in-demand skills. New job opportunities will emerge while others will be displaced.
How can employers equip their workforce with the skills necessary to succeed?
First, it’s essential to recognize that your talent strategy is your business strategy. In order to stay competitive, your organization will need to fill in-demand roles in areas facing critical skills gaps.
Just one example of this is AI skilling for employees. McKinsey Global Institute predicts that activities that account for up to 30% of hours currently worked across the U.S. economy could be automated by 2030— a trend accelerated by generative AI. And what’s more is this rapid change of pace is expected to have an outsized impact on low-wage earners.
Low-wage earners are 14x more likely to need to change jobs by 2030 than the highest earners because of AI disruption.2
-Axios
Offering education benefits — or in other words, employer-funded upskilling and reskilling programs — is a key strategy for employers looking to train their workforce quickly and equitably. Filling in-demand roles is imperative for business success, especially for industries facing an acute skills shortage. And providing upskilling and reskilling programs not only addresses talent gaps but is also more cost effective than hiring externally.
Education benefits are a powerful tool for equipping employees — your internal talent pipeline — with digital skills. Discover how leading employers are leveraging education benefits to proactively address their evolving talent needs and equip employees with the skills necessary for career advancement and long-term success in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Leveraging education benefits for digital skills
Learn four essential strategies employers are deploying to future proof their workforce for continuing digital transformation.
1. Offer a variety of flexible, online learning programs.
Employers should offer a variety of flexible, online programs designed to support the needs of working adult learners. As many employees are juggling the responsibilities of work, life and school, flexible, online programming is essential for success.
Programs should be flexible both in terms of class structure and delivery format. Offering part-time coursework with opportunities to participate in asynchronous learning opens the door for participation. Plus offering online courses creates a more feasible path for completion for working adult learners that are often pressed for time.
Plus, employers should think beyond the constraints of traditional degrees and offer a full range of course formats like short-form certificates in combination with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. While degrees remain a critical component of education, offering multiple pathways to digital skill development is imperative for building a program that meets the needs of your entire workforce.
2. Align programs to career pathways.
While offering a variety of programs is key, designing or selecting programs with designated career pathways provides a clear path to what employees seek most –– opportunities to advance in career.
72% of surveyed Guild learners cite career advancement as a motivator to return to school.3
-Guild internal data
Plus, aligning education and skilling courses with employer-funded career pathways helps companies incentivize what they need most –– filling in-demand roles.
Here’s one example of this in practice. Guild works with employers to build pre-packaged skilling bundles that align to in-demand career pathways. Some common examples include AI Skilling, Frontline Management, Data Analytics, Software Engineering, Cybersecurity, and more. These bundles are designed to serve career pathways and help companies offer employees the training they need to succeed including experiential learning, expert instructors, skills assessments, and community support.
3. Invest in digital literacy initiatives
Digital literacy describes a person’s ability to find, evaluate and communicate information using digital platforms. It includes a broad range of skills like how to navigate the internet, use email, engage with social media, and create digital content.
However, it’s estimated that 1 in 3 Americans lack the digital skills needed to engage in the modern economy.4 This gap can have substantial costs for businesses, including decreased productivity and the risk of falling behind the competition.
Employers seeking to stay ahead of the curve should invest in digital literacy programs to support the evolution of their workforce needs.
Employee-centric approaches to digital education
Employee-centric education benefits are designed for equitable access, offer professional coaching support, and foster cultures of lifelong learning. As a result, companies can boost program participation, engagement, and internal mobility rates.
Remove cost barriers with tuition assistance
Many education benefits programs offer tuition reimbursement –– a policy that requires employees to foot the bill for their courses before applying for reimbursement upon course completion. This creates an inequitable barrier to entry, especially for hourly, frontline employees who can’t cover the upfront costs.
Now, many employers are beginning to offer tuition assistance –– opening access more equitably as employers pay part or all of tuition directly to the learning provider. For the 30M U.S. entry level employees in food prep, retail, and healthcare with a median pay of less than $15/hour, tuition assistance removes a key financial barrier to growth and career advancement.5
3 out of 4 employees who do not hold an undergraduate degree select tuition assistance over tuition reimbursement programs when their employers offer both funding options, increasing to 9 out of 10 for employees with no college experience.6
-Guild internal data
Learn more about the benefits of offering tuition assistance vs. tuition reimbursement in our education benefits guide.
Encourage persistence with mentorship and coaching
Pursuing an additional certificate or degree while working is no easy feat. Offering professional coaching or mentorship programs can go a long way in helping employees take the next step in their career.
As we discuss further in our blog, coaches can help:
- Work with employees to identify personal and professional goals
- Deliver a high-quality program experience with consistent support
- Prepare learners for the next step in their career journey
Coaching is an effective tool to drive employee engagement and surface growth opportunities.
Promote a culture of lifelong learning
The concept of reskilling as lifelong learning emphasizes the importance of continuous education. This is especially important as roles and business continue to rapidly evolve along with technology.
Employers should meet the moment by building a culture of lifelong learning that supports employees’ personal and professional development goals. Emphasize the value of continuous skill development, adaptability, and innovation by building an engaging education benefits program.
Read more about the five key hallmarks of education benefits frameworks that drive employee engagement.
Measuring the impact of digital upskilling or reskilling
So how do you know if your digital upskilling program is working? Employers should measure program success based on metrics that support both employee and business success.
Employee mobility
Today’s employees are looking for more than just a job –– they expect a career with opportunities to grow. Employers investing in education benefits should ensure their academic programs are aligned with in-demand roles and that there is a way to measure how course persistence and completion impacts opportunities for employees to advance in their careers.
On average, Guild learners are 2.6x more likely to experience internal mobility or change roles within their companies compared to their colleagues who do not participate in the Guild benefit.8
-Guild internal data
And, as we’ve seen, employees stay when they’re free to grow. Career advancement opportunities feed into talent retention efforts.
Learn Spotlight
Leveling up with education benefits
Hear Keisha Owens, Guild learner and Send Us Feedback Analyst at JPMorgan Chase, share how she used education benefits to level up her career.
Talent retention
In Guild’s survey of companies with 1000+ employees, 67% said that retaining top talent is an urgent priority in 2024.9
And it’s no wonder as training and reskilling existing employees are more cost-effective than hiring new staff. According to The Josh Bersin Company, it can cost up to 6x more to hire externally than to develop talent from within.
Employers should be sure to measure employee retention in relation to education benefits investment and course persistence.
On average, Guild Learning Marketplace learners were 2.3x less likely to leave their employer in the last 12 months relative to non-members.10
-Guild internal data
Often the savings from employee retention alone is more than enough to cover the investment. Between 65% and 85% of the average ROI on education benefits can be attributed to employee retention.11
Learn more about how leading companies are designing employer-funded upskilling programs to support talent retention and development.
Talent attraction
What’s more is offering upskilling through education benefits provides a powerful boost for your employee value proposition.
Several Guild employer partner surveys have shown significant gains in hiring goals since implementing innovative education benefit strategies.
1 in 4 applicants cited Disney Aspire as their primary reason for applying to hourly roles at the Walt Disney Company in 2022.
LinkedIn found that employers with a strong talent brand spend, on average, 43% less to make a hire than employers without a strong brand.12 And while we’ve mentioned how retaining employees is imperative for cost savings, building a strong talent brand can make backfilling the roles that do turn over more cost effective as well.
The bottom line
Clearly, education benefits are worth the investment. Employers see an average $3 savings for every $1 invested in education and upskilling through Guild.13
For more tips and best practices on how to measure education benefit and digital upskilling success, download our report, “Bottom Line of Investing in Employee Education".
Case studies and success stories
In June 2022, Tyson Foods partnered with Guild to launch an expanded education benefits program –– a $60 million investment for more than 120,000 eligible employees –– focused on delivering skilling and career mobility opportunities.
The program marked an expansion of Upward Academy, an onsite education program that has provided free ESL, GED, citizenship, financial, and digital literacy classes to Tyson’s frontline workers.
Learner Spotlight
Hear from Sherry, a Guild learner and recent high school graduate.
Since starting at Tyson Foods, she has been promoted three times. She currently works as a production supervisor and hopes to earn a degree in human resources.
Open access to digital upskilling with education benefits.
Today’s pace of technological change demands an upskilling program that both anticipates your business needs and produces exceptional employee outcomes. Successful education benefit programs should support digital upskilling and reskilling programs by anticipating the evolving skills needed for your business, proactively curating the best programs, surfacing them to the right employees, and delivering the resources needed to support skills attainment –– and ultimately –– career mobility.
Discover how Guild helps leading employers provide tuition-free education, skilling, and career mobility to their workforce. Talk to our team to learn more.
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Footnotes
- Guild’s survey responses from random and representative Guild learners (tuition assistance and tuition reimbursement) over the last 12 months as of 01/01/2024.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2021.
- Guild’s internal data over the last 12 months as of 01/01/2024.
- Guild’s internal data over the last 12 months as of 01/01/2024 from employers who have provided the required data for at least 13 months post launch.
- Guild’s internal data, 2024.
- Guild’s internal data over the last 12 months as of 01/01/2024 from employers who have provided the required data for at least 13 months post launch.
- Average of all Return on Investment analyses conducted by Guild for employer partners as of 01/01/2024.
- LinkedIn Data Proves the Impact of a Strong Talent Brand. LinkedIn Talent Blog.
- Average of all Return on Investment analyses conducted by Guild for employer partners as of 01/01/2024.