WorkastWhat is Retraining & Why it's Important for Your Business?
ByJulian Gette
on April 22#business-tipsJulian Gette
Workast publisher
Retraining means learning new skills to re-enter the workforce or make a career shift within your company. There are various reasons why someone may need to retrain. For example, numerous tourism and travel industry workers lost their jobs during the pandemic. Retraining helped them gain new and relevant skills to restart their careers. The same may be true for people working in technical profiles when there is a sudden technological change.
This article describes retraining, its benefits, and some tips to retrain your employees. Understanding the difference between retraining, reskilling, and upskilling is also essential. Here's a look at the distinction between these three concepts –
Difference Between Retraining, Upskilling, and Reskilling
Retraining – Retraining is done to teach people new skills on an entirely new subject. If you hire new people who do not have the required skills for the role, it is called retraining.
Reskilling – Reskilling employees adds to the existing skillset for someone who wants to take up a slightly different role. Redundancy of functions often renders talented employees in need of reskilling. Reskilling helps employees gain additional skills to take on new responsibilities.
Upskilling – When a business takes the initiative to teach their employees new skills to enhance their performance in their current role, it is called upskilling. Upskilling does not involve changing a career path or a new position.
Benefits of Retraining
Every business can benefit by retraining new employees. Here is a look at some prominent benefits of retraining –
1
Benefits to Employees – Retraining is not just helpful for employees in dire circumstances but for anyone looking to gain new skills or knowledge.
1
Retraining helps employees improve their skills and add to their existing skills. Even if they are learning something unrelated to their previous job, various soft skills development training and hard skill training are helpful in multiple profiles.
2
Retraining often comprises the latest skills in high demand in an industry. It sets people up for quick career progress and opens up new opportunities for future employment.
3
Going through retraining for a new job sets an optimistic tone for new employees. It creates a sense of purpose and value, especially if they are starting afresh.
2
Benefits to Employers – Retraining is an investment in a business's future and benefits organisations.
1
Bringing more employees up to speed with industry best practices and the latest technical knowledge can make your organisation more productive and efficient.
2
Investing in your employees using retraining can help you build trust and loyalty among your workforce. Happy and contended employees equal a low turnover – saving you time and money in the future.
3
Organising retraining allows you to reevaluate your business processes and refine the procedures wherever necessary. It will enable you to make your organisation more efficient and save time.
Tips for Retraining
1
Define the Retraining Job and Set a Budget – The best place to start retraining is to define the job you want to retrain people for. Then, set a retraining budget that you can track and report.
2
Prepare a Training Strategy – Define the goals and objectives of the retraining exercise. It will help outline the best strategy to get the best outcome of the retraining.
3
Review Training Material – If you already have training material prepared, it is best to review it in the light of retraining. Get rid of redundant information and retain the valuable parts for retraining.
4
Evaluate Training Results – Towards the end of the retraining program, review and evaluate the program results. Get feedback from the trainers and trainees to improve the program to offer the best value.
5
Prioritise Leadership – Do not forget that leaders need most retraining. They should constantly evaluate their skills and retrain to stay up-to-date with industry developments.
6
Build a Learning Culture – Learning is best when it is self-motivated. If learning new skills is a culture in your organisation, it can help build a growth mindset among your employees. They will welcome an opportunity to retrain and quickly adapt to change.
The modern world of business is dynamic and wrought with disruptive changes. Organisations should have sustainable strategies to help them adapt and grow in this fast-paced business environment. Building vital retraining initiatives and creating a learning culture will enable you to create a workforce that adapts to change with agility.