Avoid 'quiet quitting' with upskilling says Chief Learning Officer

Buying in talent is costly and there’s no guarantee that fresh blood is the answer. Increasingly L&D is turning to upskilling to grow their talent internally. It can save money, garner loyalty when a career can still be a possibility within the same business, and save vital funds that would ordinarily be spent on expensive and time-consuming hiring.

Gigging is a means of driving upskilling

Chris Ernst is Chief Learning Officer at Workday. He says that skills-based talent strategies can provide new growth opportunities for employees, particularly through short-term assignments.

Ernst explains that by giving employees ‘gigs’ they can gain exposure to different parts of the business, and the results can be tracked to keep hold of where new skills have been acquired.

“Our data shows that those gig participants have 42% more likelihood of being able to move into a new role internally,” says Ernst who adds that when the employee retention data is analysed there is also greater employee retention 12 months later.

“It’s a real win because you’re helping people to solve real, immediate business problems and creating new pathways to opportunity for talent.”

Ernst refers to this as an ‘untangling’ from being embedded within a certain role and being more fluid and flexible around a business.