How to Upskill and Reskill Your Employees

 

In a previous blog post, we have seen the meaning and importance of upskilling and reskilling. In today’s post let see how an organization can upskill and reskill their employees.

Before creating an upskilling strategy, conduct a discovery phase to see what skills you will need from your employee base down the road. The goal must be to stay ahead of your industry’s future demands to get an edge on your competitors.

Identify Gaps in Skills

Look at current and future business requirements and determine what a future workforce may need for your particular industry. Assess the capabilities of your current workforce and identify gaps in skills or mismatched roles.

Build a plan to deal with the skills gaps by reviewing current upskilling strategies and improving the effectiveness of your learning systems.

Create a cultural shift around upskilling and reskilling that makes learning, career development, and hiring from within a priority.

Develop an Upskilling and Reskilling Plan

Create individualized learning plans and make sure your training is effective and engaging. Make training and development opportunities readily available and affordable for everyone. Accommodate different learning styles. Some employees might do best in a traditional classroom setting with a teacher. And a completely different segment might prefer walking through courses online. Others might prefer microlearning—watching 15-minute videos that cover topics in small increments. Providing something for all learning styles ensures the maximum amount of employees will want to participate.

Empower employees to choose their path. Put them in charge of their personal development plan, and help them make their own decisions around their career progression. When employees feel they have the freedom to choose what areas they develop, they take more ownership over their personal and professional development.

Ensure that employees have dedicated learning and training time and set up a reward and incentive program for completion. Ensure that employees have dedicated learning and training time and set up a reward and incentive program for completion.

Evaluate Your ROI

There’s no doubt about it—upskilling and reskilling are investments. But, tracking your employees’ engagement and measuring how improved skill sets have impacted your bottom line can make clear how worthwhile the investment is.

Building Skills for the Future

By investing in the upskilling and reskilling of your workforce, you’ll be reinforcing to your staff that even in these challenging times, their development is a priority to you. And once your company has figured out its new normal post-pandemic, you’ll be able to quickly scale up with a strong, resilient, adaptable team.

Final Thoughts

Each business must align their methods with their business objectives and requirements. Also, remember to consider different learning styles and balance these against individual employee needs.

Continued learning and development in the workplace have always been vital for businesses to grow and succeed. A stagnant workforce that does not move with the times will inevitably find itself lacking in the skills necessary to advance in the marketplace.

 

 

 

The Importance of Upskilling and Reskilling

The world is changing at a rapid pace. Regardless of whether the change is brought on by technology or societal shifts, learning has become necessary to stay competitive in the job market. According to the World Economic Forum, over half of all workers in India, will require upskilling and reskilling to meet the talent demands of the future.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a virtual conclave on World Youth Skills Day organized by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The Prime Minister presented “a new mantra for the youth to skill, reskill and upskill” in order to remain relevant in the rapidly changing business environment and market conditions.

What exactly are Upskilling and Reskilling?

Upskilling is the process of teaching current employees’ new skills that will help them in thriving in their job and help them in becoming more efficient.

Reskilling focuses on teaching employees new and upcoming skills to do a different or more advanced job.

Benefits of Upskilling Employees

Improves retention-  Upskilling ensures employees' skillsets won’t become obsolete and shows the people you care about their careers and their futures. The best candidates will consistently move towards companies that offer upskilling and reskilling benefits. Talent is looking for employers who offer career development through on-the-job coaching to evolve their career in ways such as applying the skills needed to be a business analyst to transition into the role of an enterprise architect. Learning opportunities can, therefore, become a significant employer branding advantage.

Boosts morale- Employees who have training and development opportunities are happier in their roles and have a brighter outlook on their future with the company. Reskilling your workforce helps them see the path to career advancement in front of them, and gets them excited about what could be next. Knowing they’re working toward something that will better their lives creates a deeper sense of purpose.

Increases customer satisfaction- Upskilling keeps your workforce up to date on industry trends, allowing them to offer the best recommendations and insights to clients and prospects. Clients are willing to pay more to work with a more knowledgeable, proactive team. And when clients are happy with the work you do, they become stronger brand advocates for you.

Attracts new talent - Of course, when business is successful, chances are you will need new talent to add to your experienced, upskilled workforce. When employees feel a sense of purpose with their company and clients are happy with their work, they become stronger brand advocates. That means they’re more likely to recommend your organization to their network of friends, past colleagues and family members. Suddenly you have a wide pool of diverse talent to choose from when it comes time to expand your team. business models change and technology gains more prominence, employees equipped with the most necessary skillsets – both hard skills and soft – can steer organizational success in the right direction.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is a complicating factor, it’s important to think of upskilling as a key factor in the long-term stability and growth of an organization so that it can pivot in the face of challenges large and small. COVID-19 accelerated trends already in place and highlighted what companies already knew: the organizations you’ll be hearing about as success stories in two or three years are the ones who actively committed to retraining their workforce for business challenges ahead. Because of the pandemic, companies just have to evolve at a faster pace. And to do that, both they and their employees need to be smarter.

 

How to Stay Productive During the COVID-19 Crisis

 

As we discussed in the previous blog Work from Home is not unusual anymore. It has even become the new norm now. Indeed, millions of employees around the world were asked to work remotely to protect themselves from the pandemic.

In such a situation, the question arises how do you keep yourself motivated and be productive?

Here’s I’ve picked up form many leaders, these seven strategies now serve as a roadmap that helps to stay productive. I hope they help you! If you’re feeling the need to be productive during the COVID-19 pandemic…

1. Focus on Priorities

Location shouldn’t matter as long as the work gets done, especially now. Employees should think about what work needs to get done, in what order, and how they should tackle that work. Managers, on the other hand, should think about the work that must be produced today while keeping an eye on what’s on the horizon. Combined, this strategy helps set realistic priorities while reducing stress and burnout.

 

2. Boost Communication

For a remote workforce to be successful, strong communication is key. So, managers must integrate communications technology like Slack, Trello, Basecamp, and Zoom. By leveraging these tools effectively and in a balanced manner, managers can easily check-in with employees – perhaps even more often than they did when sharing an office. The win-win: this boost in communication builds even stronger working relationships across the organization.

 

3. Adopt New Approaches

As the world of work changes, managers must change their approach. True, we’re no longer in the same office. But that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to build mutually-beneficial, one-on-one relationships. One example is making remote work feel more human. Other approaches range from more informal meetings (just to connect), to co-created checklists and to-do lists (to build autonomy). Bottom line: The same rigid approaches to work we used to rely on may not work well now.

 

4. Set Clear Expectations

Clearly stating expectations and setting common goals is more important now than ever. Just as vital: A clear of understanding of how work will be measured. This will help ensure everyone understands what productivity looks like. At this time, being autocratic may not be the right answer. So welcome input and questions. After all, when managers encourage curiosity it naturally empowers each of us to do good work.

 

5. Offer Respectful Radical Candor

Managers and leaders must lead by example. So, no more excuses to others — or ourselves — as to why we can’t get work done. To excel, we must be honest about why we can’t be efficient during these times. Let’s accept responsibility and ditch the lies to hack productivity. Let’s consistently offer respectful radical candor. We can then co-create solutions to the challenges we face. By working together, we can overcome whatever keeps us from being productive.

 

6. Use Stress to Your Advantage

Not all stress is bad stress. Some stressors actually motivate us to better maintain our focus, stimulating a better work performance with goals and deadlines at the forefront. Of course, sometimes stress becomes too overwhelming. When that happens, take a deep breath. Refocus on the highest priorities. Where possible, reset expectations. By focusing on an employee’s strengths rather than what feels like a weakness during stressful moments, managers can help reduce the bad kinds of stress. And use the good for good.

 

7. Employ Empathy

Remote work has always meant a flexible work location, work schedule, and dress code. But now, empathy plays a role in flexibility. Today, many of us must think about the pressures of working from home. We must integrate family responsibilities, distance or hybrid learning for children, and other life commitments. Showing empathy, and specifically knowing what each of us might be going through during the COVID-19 crisis, helps maintain – and even improves – our work culture.

 

Leverage these seven strategies. Enable a positive company culture.

In all this, stay positive, stay productive, and stay healthy. Remember to never, ever give up.

I would also like to hear from you all what strategies are been adopted by you too stay productive.

Thanking you all!!

Is Work from Home NEW Normal!!

 

The novel Coronavirus changed everything overnight, the lockdown was enforced, and social distancing became the new norm. People are staying connected with friends and family through video calls and schools have started giving online classes on video conferencing apps. With the lockdown in place, more than 3 billion people, excluding the essential workers like defense and healthcare officials, have been pushed to work from home.

Corporations and authorities around the world have no other option than providing flexible working conditions including work from home. It is one of the biggest changes the world has ever witnessed, and it raises some important questions such as follows:

·       Is work from home (WFH) the new normal? 

·       Is WFH better than working at a designated workplace? 

·       Is it just a temporary measure or is it here to stay? 

·       Why are companies not keen on opening right now?

We must review the current world statistics on it. In the US, the statistics showed that 75.4 percent of employees worked on-site and only 16.4percent WFH in the pre-COVID period. However, in between May 10 - May 26, 2020, the percentages stood reversed: about 71.7percent of workers worked from home. Mark Zuckerberg made a statement that by 2030, half of the company’s workforce will not have to go to the office. Google’s WFH policy, initially, ended by 1 June 2020 but it has started to plan for an extension; Google chief, Sundar Pichai said who would be returning back to the office will be doing so with the highest safety strategies. In London, OMD closed all its offices and employees are now doing their work from the safety of their homes. A Chevron official said that the health of their employees is more important than their profit. In India, the picture is no different. 

Dr. Sumit Mitra, CEO of Tesco Global Services, ordered 1000 laptops for people working from home, transported office equipment (including furniture) to homes of employees, took permission from the Indian Government to operate an international business from home and quarantined his data service centers. TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) has informed 75percent of its staff strength that the tech major will move to permanent remote working within the next five years. Nasscom is currently reviewing labor laws from a WFH perspective and will be soon sending a report to the government. CP Gurnani, CEO of Tech Mahindra, said that in the first phase, the company may start “with 25percent employees” working from home. HCL has proposed a model where 50percent of its staff will work from home while the rest will be operating from the office and this will be on a rotational basis.

What are the benefits of Work from Home?    

·        employees are safe from getting infected

·        can practice social distancing with ease, and

·        are comfortable while working.

·        It is also preferred as the virus can reappear in patients who made a full recovery.

 

What are the disadvantages of Work from Home?

·       Compartmentalizing personal space and ensuring privacy is more difficult when homeworking; you are always “on duty” when homeworking, physically present always but mentally spent.

·       There are an issue with respect to lack of factors like recognition at work, absence of people who care and share, evaluation of progress, decreased employee engagement, and in turn, employee performance. Thus, this new WFH is a different ball game altogether compared to the previous WFH the workforce has experienced.

·       This has been imposed externally, with no specific time allocation and it was a hasty transition and not a gradual planned shift. They are completely disconnected from the workplace and organizational setting.

Here are some of the steps that can make the process easier to implement and sustain:

• Support employees throughout and be flexible; 

• Show care and trust to employees;

• Set realistic goals; 

• Review employees’ performance, always provide them a pat on their back and recognize their diverse needs;

• Pay for the hidden cost;

• Always be a role model and a go-to person for employees;

• Enhance factors of work engagement, well-being, and work effectiveness; 

• Be compassionate and optimistic;

• Keep them motivated when they adjust to the new normal; 

• Engage in dialogue with employees and facilitate the same among them and last but not the least;

• Pay heed to inclusion to create a network of teams and an atmosphere of psychological safety.

 

“Together we shall overcome this hurdle” should be the mantra to win this war."

 

 

 

 

Skills Needed By HR

SKILLS EVERY HR SHOULD HAVE

What skills are needed to make a successful Human Resources Manager? Some believe it’s their expertise in the different aspects of Human Resources and advanced problem-solving skills, while others think it’s the high level of comfort HR Managers display in communicating with employees.

The truth is there are several different qualities and characteristics that make Managers successful. These are the five most essential skills that are shared amongst all good HR Managers:

Communication

When it comes to communication, one mistake many HR Managers can make is to speak more than listen. This is a particularly easy trap to fall into as you gain more experience in the position: an employee comes to you with a problem you’ve encountered many times before, so you’re tempted to try and solve the problem as quickly as possible and move on. What many in HR forget is that, often, people don’t want you to solve their problem so much as listen to them while they work it out. Dismissing them without listening disempowers people from finding their own solutions and may actually make the situation worse.

Listen and do no interrupt employees when they come in to see you, and be sure to communicate with them that they have your full and undivided attention.

Approachability

As an HR Manager, one way to guarantee you won’t be able to do your job well is to create an unwelcoming environment within your office. If employees are scared to speak with you about their problems, then there’s absolutely no way for you to resolve situations that otherwise require your expertise.

Successful HR Managers typically maintain an open door policy and create an inviting, comfortable atmosphere that encourages employees to feel safe and openly share their concerns.

Motivation

One of the primary roles of HR Managers is to help guide employees toward achieving their career goals, both internally and beyond. Every employee has different goals and objectives to achieve, and successful HR Managers are fully committed to motivating them. They know and understand what motivates different employees and strive to become a source of encouragement for them.

Organization

Proper HR management requires an orderly approach. The ability to organize files, manage your own and others’ time well, and maintain a high level of personal efficiency are necessary skills for successful HR Managers. You’re required to deal with other people’s lives and careers, so when a Manager requests help with something that’s time-sensitive and includes several different moving parts, a good HR Manager is able to handle it all efficiently.

Discretion and Ethics

HR Managers are privy to a lot of private information surrounding their employee’s personal and professional lives. They serve as the conscience of the company and are responsible for ensuring that employees are following all of the proper policies and regulations. HR Managers are responsible for finding the balance between maintaining a sense of authority while keeping their employees confident that they can be trusted with confidential information.

HR Managers must be able to keep secrets and handle sensitive information appropriately, only divulging it to authorized people while keeping the employee’s best interest in mind.

Although there are many other traits that can contribute to the success of an HR Manager, the five listed above serve as the foundational elements shared by all successful HR Managers.

Wrapping up

Well, there you have it, a concise overview of the most sought-after HR skills. Of course, if you think I missed one, please do share them with us in the comments below

 

AI in HR

 

Role Of AI In HR in 2020

Everyone knows that AI has made a great entry in our lives and now everyone is totally dependent on its services which are not less than a miracle. There is hardly any field left that is not being touched by Artificial intelligence. AI has revolutionized the way of almost all industries. Yes, all industries have started making use of AI these days in different ways.

In this blog, we will discuss how it is playing an important role in reinventing Human resources. Well, it has transformed the way of the HR department by automating tasks like hiring, onboarding, learning, and development, allowing HR teams to focus more on creative and strategic work.

According to a survey, IBM recently released a research report titled “The Business case for AI in HR.”

It summarizes IBM’s extensive experience in implementing AI into its HR processes and talent management strategies. One key insight from the report is that if HR is working with a trusted technology partner rather than developing its own AI application, “you do not need AI expertise but rather an analytical approach, the desire to understand how the technology works and how to use it effectively.”

“According to the report, what matters just as much as that analytical approach is for HR to be much more knowledgeable about their organization. This is particularly important when it comes to AI applications because they often work across functional areas to serve employees. For example, assignments overseas can now integrate with career development, so that relevant new role opportunities are flagged directly to suitable employees.”

Now, it’s time to discuss the benefits of Artificial intelligence in HR. but before that let’s have a look at the compact definition of Artificial intelligence.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

AI is the latest technology which makes machines to perform the task with intelligence. These machines do not perform like traditional machines which were used to program for some specific, repetitive motion. Instead, these machines are capable enough for adapting to different situations.

Let’s take a deep dive into the fact through which we can get to know what actually are the benefits of Artificial intelligence in HR:

Automation

Well, automation is one of the most important advantages of Artificial intelligence in the field of HR business. With the help of Artificial intelligence, things like repetitive and time-consuming tasks can be done easily and quickly. With the help of AI-based software, you can analyze numbers of job networking sites by scouring through candidate’s online presence via social media platforms and predict how likely they are to accept the role if offered to them. You can find an amazing tracking system in these AI-based HR tools which run on algorithms and are really helpful in decreasing the burden of HR acquisition and management tasks.

Resume Screening

We can understand that going with resume screening is not that difficult and it does not require rocket science or other super skills but at the same time it could be said that it is hectic work. There is only a simple requirement that every candidate needs for the resume screening in order to get shortlisted and plenty of time.

So, this is the place where AI places humans equally. The only thing that is required is to provide the information to the AI platform and then it will do all things itself. Besides the screening of the resumes, this AI can be moved into the database in order to find those candidates who are looking for new job openings.

Chatbot

There is no doubt that the Recruitment process is very hectic and it becomes very difficult to find the right requirement for the job placement. AI can lower the burden of recruitment in the form of chatbots. Yes, chatbots are really helpful in lifting up the burden of the Recruiters by handling the work of social media platforms and company pages so that the necessary information could be assembled properly. So, this is really helpful for the HR staff to have much focus on the interview process instead of hectic technical and repetitive tasks. You might have seen that customer support chatbots have become so common and are being widely used in all industries. And this can somehow do amazing work in the field of HR for the staff members. This may be really helpful in the HR department in order to get feedback, queries , and reports of the whole organization with the help of a centralized support system.

AI in Streamlining Employees Onboarding

After the completion of the hiring process, AI tools can be used to streamline and improve the subsequent onboarding and training. New employees usually require a lot of HR’s attention, but much of this attention can be greatly reduced by using AI programs to introduce them to various aspects and take them through routine procedures of the organization.

Calendar & Schedule Maintenance

This is obvious that there are multiple tasks in the organization and it is also very complex to handle and schedule those tasks depending upon the complexity of the particular task. Well, this is usually for those employees who are stuck with personal problems and are not that much particulate in scheduling and maintaining the company’s calendar regularly. At this time, AI can play a a crucial role in maintaining all these tasks like an individual staff member’s personal calendar and alert them of upcoming duties, meetings, and deadlines for good measure.

Retention Boost

AI is also very helpful in alleviating the retention issues of the company. Staff members with access to a support system that can redirect them to any manager or development opportunity at the touch of a button are far more likely to be content with their job placements. The only thing worse than absent HR ear is a lack of attention towards the staff – these can be amended by AI implementation.

Final words

So, this is how AI is revolutionizing and reinventing Human resources. Well, I have tried to explain this on the basis of certain parameters. Ai is contributing to almost all the fields and similarly like it is making its best contribution to the HR department. AI-based HR applications have strong potential to raise employee productivity and help HR professionals become knowledgeable consultants that boost employee performance. HR applications empowered by AI have the ability to analyze, predict, diagnose, and become more powerful and capable resources.

 

 

HR Trends 2020

Emerging HR trends in 2020!!

Today let see HR trends. As we near the end of this year, it’s time to watch out for emerging HR trends in 2020.

 

According to Forrester, more than 47% of interviewed executives believe that by 2020, technology will have an impact on more than half of their sales as well as the future workplace trends.

 

Organizations will focus on embracing HR technology to their advantage, strengthening workforce capabilities, ensuring data security, improving candidate and employee experiences, and more.

  

HR trends-

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In the year 2020, AI-driven solutions will provide immense innovation across industries. Recruiters can be reliant on them. However, robots cannot replace human tenacity entirely but it is sure to add on to their abilities. AI Powered recruitment solution will help in filtering the high volume of resumes and pre-qualifying candidates based on the job description and skills. Such solutions will be more in demand in the coming year as recruiters would be able to identify a candidate’s personality traits and predict their suitability for a job role. This would not only reduce the hiring efforts but also encourage unbiased candidate assessment.

Rise of freelancing or on-demand hiring

Freelancing the structure will dominate the HR industry in the near-term. Recruiting on an hourly basis or project basis drops the cost for the employers and gives higher flexibility to employees. When the candidates are hired on a temporary or part-time basis, he/she is required to be compensated with a smaller amount as compared to a full-time employee. On-demand hiring also boosts the in-house talent acquisition of the company. Indeed, freelancing has generated an ecosystem for talent with temporary jobs focused on proficiency.

Use of chatbot

Chatbot is software that conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. It uses natural language processing and can initiate a human-like communication. Candidates can get their all FAQs answered through this tool. Implementation of chatbot in the HR industry ensures 24*7 availability and 'on-demand' availability.

HR analytics/performance analytics

HR analytics or performance analytics can help recruiters to improve employee engagement and retention. These run on machine learning algorithms and aid in gathering, organizing and analyzing the data related to HR. Overall, that would add to the expansion of the organization. HR analytics will play a prominent role in:

·        Implementing best, proven recruiting practices

·        Reducing employee turnover

·        Increasing employee experience and satisfaction

·        Managing task automation and process improvement

·        Increasing workforce productivity and engagement

·        Improving workforce planning and talent development

Employee Experience Platforms

Today, employees expect a lot more than just good pay and an ideal work environment. Employees do not hesitate to review and rate their company culture, work policies, growth opportunities, compensation, and more on employment review websites like Glassdoor, Indeed, etc.

Employees share their experiences on these platforms publicly that can impact the reputation of their company. Thus, improving the employee experience is the need of the hour. Global HR experts suggest taking the help of advanced HR technology solutions to enhance employee experience.

With the rapid digital transformation, multiple HCM platforms have come up in the market, yet there are very few which provide the desired employee experience. These enterprise HR solutions are highly customizable and configurable, yet lack in employee engagement and development capabilities.

The year 2020 will see a shift of focus to employee experience platforms (EXP).

The EXP will provide an integrated solution to manage coaching, career development, benefits administration, onboarding, performance management and payroll on a single platform in an intuitive manner. With the evolution of EXP in the upcoming years, we will see a dramatic shift in the way organizations embrace technology and manage processes to empower employees.

 On the Job Training

Employees require continuous mentoring, training and skill development to perform well in their jobs. Continuous learning improves employee skills, making employees more adaptive to the work environment and preparing them to take up different roles in their company.

The year 2020 will see organizations investing in Virtual and augmented reality, gamification, geofencing, and other techniques to impart on-the-job training to their workforce.

Feedback Tools to Improve Engagement

Organizations will move forward with well-thought strategies to improve workforce engagement through HR technology innovations.

The emerging HR trends in 2020 will encourage the use of employee engagement tools and survey platforms to capture employee opinions and feedback.

Employee satisfaction surveys would help you to connect with your employees and promote engagement and profitability. These feedback tools will help management understand employee concerns and take corrective action plans to retain the best talent.

Final Thought

Each year, global HR leaders come up with predictions on emerging HR trends. Their predictions are based on an entire year’s study and analysis of human resource practices and evolving technology.

Though trends may come and go, don’t make an uninformed decision to follow these blindly. Experts suggest that HR should study yearly predictions, analyze what works best for their organization, and then implement these in a phased manner.

If there are any more trends that you would like to add to the list of these emerging HR trends in 2020, please share your thoughts in the comments below.