How Upskilling Your Employees Will Drive Engagement & Satisfaction

Leonardo da Vinci said that learning never exhausts the mind. This rings true in today’s workforce. Constant development is a driver for employee engagement and satisfaction. In fact, a study by Udemy found 80% of employees agreed that learning new skills would make them more engaged at work.

Upskilling and reskilling should not be limited to the beginning of a career. Constantly developing the skills of your employees builds a confident workforce. Investing in their development demonstrates that you value their growth and care about their future. The result? A satisfied, engaged team.

Upskilling & Reskilling Employees

When your employer values your development and role in a company, you feel a sense of purpose. As your motivation increases, so do engagement and satisfaction. Both upskilling and reskilling your employees offer learning and development opportunities. While the two are alike, the difference is the objective. Upskilling teaches new skills to optimize an employee’s performance. Reskilling involves training to transition to a different position in the company (or for a different job entirely).

It isn’t just technical skills that matter, either. LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning & Development Report found that today’s main priority for talent development is soft skills. The report explains, “The pace of change is fueling demand for adaptable, critical thinkers, communicators, and leaders. As technology accelerates, soft skills are in high demand to fuel people and business growth.”

As technology advances, it’s becoming much easier to develop both the hard and soft skills of employees. Learning tools include online courses, mentoring, team activities, workshops, conferences, certificates, job rotations, and job shadowing. A combination of these approaches may be the best fit for your employees.

Development Encourages Employee Engagement

Offering the opportunity to learn and grow will improve employee performance. In fact, in Udemy Workplace Boredom Study, 80% of employees agreed learning new skills would make them more engaged. By giving your employees the tools to be better equipped to do their jobs, they can work more efficiently. They may even find more ways to contribute to your organization and have the motivation to aim for senior roles.

It’s worth considering how you can tailor skills training to individuals. There may be certain skills that apply to the whole team that reflect your company’s values and mission. But each employee will have their own specific career goals.

You should become familiar with individual goals and make unique plans to develop the necessary and relevant skills. This may seem like a lot of work, but it comes with mutual advantages. Disengaged employees cost your company money through more absenteeism and reduced productivity.

Learning Fosters Satisfaction

Today’s mentality around work means that people often tie their self-worth to their jobs. The fact of the matter is, if your employees aren’t developing new skills, it can impact their confidence.

Humans have a natural desire to grow, and it’s partly the employer’s responsibility to aid that. As an employer, you can reduce the likelihood of stagnation at work through learning and development efforts. Investing in your employees will make them feel valued. There’s nothing that lowers satisfaction more than feeling unappreciated or worthless at work.

Receiving a certificate or successfully completing a challenge makes us feel accomplished. This needs to be happening throughout our careers, not just during traditional education years. Upskilling will keep employees engaged in their everyday tasks. If you reskill your employees, you’re pathing the way for infinite career progression. However growth is approached, your employees are more likely to be satisfied in your organization when they’re learning.

How Upskilling Benefits the Employer

Skills development isn’t just for the employee. Employers gain a lot when they upskill and reskill their teams. At the end of the day, it’s the workers that determine the success of an organization.

LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning & Development Report showed that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development. Any successful company realizes that retaining top talent is crucial in today’s market. Gone are the days when a decent salary was enough. Loyalty lies where employers invest in their employees. If you want to improve retention rates, consider your training plans.

Upskilling also improves the quality of work your employees deliver. In Udemy ‘s study, 46% of employees said they feel bored at work due to a lack of opportunities to learn new skills. Bored employees are less productive and that reduces output. The key is aligning company goals with employee skills development and ensuring that everyone is working towards something.

Take Home Message

Empowered professionals will perform better, be more engaged, and happily come to work every day. In return, your organization boasts a skilled workforce that is more likely to remain loyal and can even help to attract top talent.

To drive engagement and maintain a strong level of satisfaction, it’s crucial to upskill your employees. Consider how you can tailor your training opportunities to individual workers. The skills development should be valuable and relevant to their specific roles, but also done in favor of your company goals. If you leverage the power of learning, your company will have an edge in today’s tough labor market.