Upskilling and Reskilling—What’s the Difference?

Upskilling and reskilling are terms that are typically used in the workplace and sound like they mean the same thing—improving the skills of a worker. While it’s true that both employee upskilling and reskilling involve upgrading their skill sets, they are not the same concept as they target different aspects of an employee’s capabilities. Both categorizations benefit the organization and the employee, and they need to be prioritized at different times to help the business thrive.

If you’re trying to wrap your head around the concept of reskilling vs upskilling so you can determine which is better for your workforce, let us help make the differences clearer. 

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Understanding the Differences Between Upskilling and Reskilling

Stagnancy is never ideal, least of all within the workplace. An employee enters the workforce with a specific set of experiences and skills and they use these qualities to the best of their abilities. With each project and assignment, or each day of work, they naturally improve their skills or pick up new ones that are relevant to their work. 

Occasionally, an employee will start to find it harder and harder to keep up with the shifting nature of their job. Every decade is defined by its own advances in technology, and standard workstyles and systems evolve just as frequently. Upskilling and reskilling become more and more important with every year the employee spends in the workforce, as new trends become more unfamiliar to them. 

This is why it’s essential for employees to take time out from their busy schedules to assess the changes in their respective industries. With the limited free time they have, it can be near impossible for workers to keep up on their own, so it’s in the employer’s best interest to support employees. 

Whether the employer chooses to begin by upskilling the workforce or prioritizes the re-skilling of employees, an employer’s involvement is critical for progress.

What is Upskilling the Workforce?

Upskilling refers to the process of improving on existing skill sets and growing pre-established abilities and knowledge reserves. It includes training on how to do existing jobs better by updating the individual’s understanding of the role and the way it has evolved to meet more current standards. 

When additional responsibilities stack up but they stay in line with the same structure and requirements that previously existed, employees don’t need to pick up new skills to understand the changes and adhere to them. They merely need to bring their skills up-to-date to ensure they perform to the best of their abilities and meet the expectations of the organization. This is what we refer to as upskilling the workforce. 

For example, an HR manager may be an expert on conflict resolution, but they still need to keep an eye out for new techniques to achieve the same goal. Here, the focus isn’t on expanding to oversee new areas that will require them to learn from scratch. Instead, the focus is on developing a skill they already have, to perform their same role better.

What is Reskilling in the Workplace?

Reskilling refers to the process of adding new qualifications and skill sets to the employee’s roster of abilities in addition to the ones they already have. The purpose of reskilling is to expand an employee’s abilities to take on a different role from the one they originally had. As employees move from subordinate to manager, they might require training to switch to a supervisory role. 

Similarly, an employee might shift to a new role or career path that doesn’t fall within the natural progression of their current career. In order to be able to make the switch successfully, they’d require a detailed introduction to their new responsibilities and the qualifications that come with it. 

A marketing expert who has been with a company for years may be elevated to a senior leader position or even moved to the product design team as a result of their familiarity with the company and its product. For both moves, the employee will require a whole new set of skills that they may have never used in their existing role. 

Summarizing the Difference between Upskilling and Reskilling

Once you understand the terms upskilling and reskilling, the differences become self-evident. 

Reskilling vs Upskilling—What Should You Prioritize?

At the end of the day, both upskilling and reskilling are essential in any organization. If you prioritize upskilling among your workers, they will be able to perform their current jobs better without any fall in their performance. 

you focus on reskilling in the workplace, you will be able to move employees out within your organization without having to rehire frequently. Internal ascension of talent eliminates all the time that may have to be spent on familiarizing the worker with the company. These employees are already used to the work culture and have their own ways of working with the different teams. 

Upskilling needs to occur within the organization regularly for all the existing employees. Reskilling can be prioritized for specific employees who have the ability to perform better in a different role or express interest in making the switch. Employers need to regularly reassess their employees’ performance and potential in order to understand where they stand and how better they can be integrated into the business. This is the best way to ensure that the organization continues to thrive.

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