Today’s job market is evolving constantly and rapidly, so a uniform approach to workforce development won’t cut it. To keep a workforce competitive, motivated, resilient and high-performing, organisations must adopt bespoke strategies that cater to employee needs and career aspirations.
Workforce development can range from targeted individual training to growth programmes focused on enhancing specific skills and knowledge. It should also include coaching, which offers a space to give constructive feedback.
When enterprises of any size effectively leverage such development strategies, they will bolster their workforce with new skills to meet tomorrow’s business challenges. They will also improve productivity and employee sentiment, and reduce employee attrition. Furthermore, organisations that possess strong development programmes are seen as desirable by external talent, giving them a competitive hiring advantage.
While the benefits are clear, many businesses struggle to make individualised development approaches a reality. This could be due to a lack of tools and initiatives or even inadequate resources. Here are some actionable tips to help businesses create a culture of personalised workforce upskilling and growth.
Adopt digital tools to understand employees better
When companies invest in the right digital tools, they drastically improve their ability to understand employees better, thereby opening the door to better development opportunities. This is because, to tailor workforce development to the needs of a team, leaders need insights into each individual’s current skills. In the past, such an approach rolled out across a business was resource-intensive, which is why it was rare.
However, technology underpinned by AI is making it possible to access and analyse a richer dataset from across the business. This can provide clear direction based on the skills and proficiencies across an employee base and help managers identify meaningful opportunities for growth.
Unlock full employee potential by tracking success
If the first step is gathering and assessing insights from this rich dataset, step two is building them into a targeted development plan. No two career paths are the same. It’s therefore essential managers track individual successes along the way to create programmes that are tailored to unlock an employee’s individual potential.
Here, tools that develop both lateral and vertical internal career paths—boosting both the business’ skill sets and individual careers—are key. This helps accommodate workers at any stage of their career journey and helps them to realise their full potential.
Nurture all skills across the organisation
A holistic approach to developing skills across departments is necessary, too. This involves creating opportunities for employees to work cross-functionally or to take on secondments in other teams to expand skills or retrain.
Workday Skills Cloud, is an open and interconnected AI skills intelligence foundation. It enables managers to assess current skills and proficiencies, then match individuals with opportunities to develop more across the business. That means people benefit from new pathways to development, while teams also get fresh perspectives and new insights – it’s a real win-win. What’s more, with AI crunching the data behind the scenes, HR teams can manage this process at scale without increasing their workloads.
Make continuous learning a part of culture
Learning opportunities offered on-demand are another key element to personalised development. This boils down to more than just providing access to a content library—personalised pathways and suggestions for each employee need to be curated too. These empower workers to learn at their own pace when it’s most convenient. Considering how quickly technology is changing, and how such drastic changes are reverberating through global workforces, building a continuous learning culture based on tools that enable it is essential.
Encourage deeper learning via apprenticeship programmes
As a final step, organisations shouldn’t overlook apprenticeships as a way to develop relevant, in-demand skills that also enable individuals to change careers or rejoin the workforce. At Workday, apprenticeships have been a part of our workforce development efforts in the UK. They offer structured, hands-on learning experiences that enable employees to learn and develop in a real-world setting, gaining the insights, practical skills and professional network to support them to succeed.
In fact, not long ago we launched our Career Transition Programme into technical sales, which is fundamentally a degree apprenticeship. Thanks to the programme, individuals will upskill through full-time employment in our London office in tandem with a fully funded B2B degree at Middlesex University. It’s a fantastic opportunity to gain both real-world experience and relevant, impactful qualifications.
Apprenticeships are flexible and allow companies to train employees in technical skills as well as providing development opportunities for existing staff through mentorship, coaching and performance management. They’re a great option for companies looking to upskill.
A route to better skills development
No two organisations have the same skill challenges, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But building programmes to meet these unique needs doesn’t need to be arduous. Technology advances mean analysing skill sets and matching them to the right opportunities has never been easier—drastically simplifying the personalised learning pathway.
Companies should embrace the tools that make this possible. At the same time they must broaden the paths into work or new careers through any of the initiatives we’ve covered. Only then will they start building an approach to development that’s inclusive, targeted and valuable to everyone.
Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, helping customers adapt and thrive in a changing world. Workday applications for financial management, human resources, planning, spend management, and analytics have been adopted by thousands of organisations around the world and across industries—from medium-sized businesses to more than 45 percent of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.
