The era of top-down, one-size-fits all training and development is over. Painfully outdated compliance videos from the 80s? No way. Rigid LMS systems that require a full-time consultant to manage? Nuh-uh. Executive-driven “initiatives” that change with the seasons and have no basis in actual business reality? Try again.
Companies have discovered that when they start with their employees first and put them in the driver’s seat of their own professional development, everyone benefits.
In this article produced in collaboration with our friends at Hacking HR, we present 8 of the top reasons to use an upskilling marketplace, whether you’re new to upskilling or looking to replace an existing, outdated platform.
1. Employee-Centric Learning and Development.
Employees own their development and choose AI-powered learning paths based on career goals and preferences.
Employees know what skills they need to advance their careers, especially when incorporating recommendations from managers and peers and following AI-powered learning paths.
When workers choose their own upskilling programs, they’re more engaged and they learn more, which translates into greater impact for their companies. Upskilling marketplaces take an employee-centric approach to learning and development that aligns with the way employees want to learn today.
2. Integrated Training in One Place.
Employees access all learning resources (including the company’s foundational training) in one place.
When employees are required to access multiple different platforms to complete compliance training, review company policies and procedures, and engage with upskilling content, their learning process becomes fragmented. They bear a higher mental load and increased switching costs that can leave them feeling fatigued and less engaged in learning,
An upskilling marketplace integrates all training and development in one central location, which simplifies tracking and creates a clear, cohesive experience for users.
3. Flexible and Inclusive Upskilling for All
People can learn anytime, anywhere, in multiple formats and languages that suit their diverse needs.
if your upskilling program isn’t flexible, then it’s not inclusive. An upskilling marketplace that enables employees to choose from multiple types of experiences, including courses, books, conferences, subscriptions, and coaching, has the best chance of ensuring that every employee at every stage of their career can find the right resource, at an intensity and duration that fits their schedule and lifestyle.
4. User-Friendly Workflows
Employees find the best skills-building resources, request approval, and pay using the company budget.
Some of the biggest barriers to upskilling are the logistical hurdles that individuals have to navigate before they can even start learning: requesting and gaining approval for upskilling resources, or paying and receiving reimbursements for expenses, to name just a few examples. By simplifying workflows, upskilling marketplaces enable individuals to get to the learning faster, without having to jump through hoops.
5. Maximized Benefit Utilization
Companies maximize their L&D budget, as they only pay for what employees use.
By implementing an upskilling marketplace, companies maximize their budgets in two ways. First, organizations boost overall learner engagement. This means upskilling budgets are more effectively utilized for their intended learning purpose.
Second, by selecting an upskilling marketplace with a pay-as-you-go model, companies ensure that every dollar is spent on learning, and no budget is wasted on unused subscription fees.
6. Employee-to-Resource Matching
The platform evaluates business and employee upskilling goals and creates tailored career pathways.
It’s not enough for a platform to lump upskilling resources into broad categories and then let employees loose. The best upskilling marketplaces tailor the learning experience, using AI and automation to recommend specific resources to each individual based on role, level, team, skills, manager recommendations, and business goals and objectives.
Businesses can input information about role rubrics and desired skills and competencies to create career pathways, or series and sequences of resources that help employees level up and achieve their goals. This AI-powered, employee-to-resource matching is a gamechanger for creating impactful, personalized learning experiences.
7. Higher Retention and Stronger Employer Brand
Organizations build a stronger employer brand and see eNPS rise exponentially.
A lack of opportunity for growth and promotion is one of the top reasons that employees consistently (and emphatically) cite for leaving their organizations. Businesses that invest in their employees’ professional development through upskilling experience greater employee satisfaction and an enhanced employee experience (EX). This leads to a stronger employer brand – externally and internally (eNPS) – as well as higher rates of retention, and even eLTV, or the total lifetime value (think: productivity) of an employee over their career with a company.
Upskilling marketplaces consistently have the highest rates of employee engagement and satisfaction when compared with traditional professional development and training programs.
8. Streamlined Approval, Tracking, and Analysis
Managers review and approve requests in seconds. They can track spending and improve ROI with targeted insights.
Companies that are serious about investing in upskilling as a strategic imperative know that data is critical to their success. For far too long, well-meaning businesses have run upskilling programs as a nice-to-have benefit, with little to no information about the actual impact it has on the metrics that matter most, such as job performance and improvement.
An upskilling marketplace captures data about upskilling resource requests, budget utilization, and engagement in one centralized location. This enables leaders to see what learning is happening where, and then use targeted insights to improve their learning programs and track the return on their upskilling investments over time.
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Convinced yet? Request early access to OneRange’s soon-to-be-released small business platform (self-serve) so you can experience the transformative power of an upskilling marketplace with zero commitment and insanely simple setup.
