Sharpening Skillsets: Many turn to upskilling and reskilling to retain workers

Businesses everywhere are experiencing fundamental shifts due to automation and technology, including artificial intelligence. Back in 2016, the World Economic Forum declared the Fourth Industrial Revolution underway.

Some call it Industry 4.0. Regardless of the buzzword, the underlying theory has since made its way to offices and factory floors in the Springfield area, where across industries, people are recognizing they may face an urgent need to expand their skillsets to meet revolutionary challenges and keep pace with their industries.

Employers are faced with the need for upskilling and even reskilling members of their workforce. Upskilling refers to gaining new skills to enhance a worker’s current role, while reskilling is the process of learning totally new skills to transfer into a different job entirely.

Asked how they are responding to the tight labor market, some business leaders taking Springfield Business Journal’s annual Economic Growth Series survey report that they are focused on education, with 34% offering continuing education or professional development. Automation is another strategy being employed by 23% of respondents.

There is a labor shortage in the United States. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that 6.7 million jobs will be added to the economy by 2033, but there will also be a decline in the labor force participation rate, from 62.7% in August 2024 to 61.2% in 2033.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce notes one overlooked talent pool is a company’s current staff.

“By investing in their existing workers through upskilling and reskilling initiatives, a business’ current workforce can develop the skills necessary to perform the jobs the business needs now – and the ones they will need years from now,” writes Stephanie Ferguson Melhorn, the U.S. Chamber’s senior director of workforce and international labor policy.

Skills strategy
Strafford-based manufacturer Amprod LLC is taking a multipronged approach to ensuring employees have the skills they need to meet Industry 4.0 challenges, according to Mary Ling, director of people services.

Ling says Amprod recently implemented task forces for high-turnover positions within its six locations.

“We learned that our team members wanted to have a progression plan; they wanted to know how they could get better in their position and how they could make more money,” Ling says.

This matches the experience of Economic Growth Series survey participants, 71% of whom report employees or prospective employees say “better wages/benefits” is a barrier to accepting or keeping a job.

Leadership in each Amprod location worked with team members to create progression plans, Ling says. As one example, new welders would be brought in at Class C, and from that point they could work up to Class B, Class A and Craftsman. A learning management system is available to guide them with specific requirements they can check off. Passing an end test enables each employee to progress to the next level, Ling says.

Amprod also offers development plans that allow team members to seek out educational opportunities – say, improving proficiency with Excel spreadsheets. A training and development specialist helps create a plan to take each worker where he or she wants to go, according to Ling.

Additionally, Amprod pays tuition expenses for any team member at the IRS maximum tax-free level of $5,250 per year.

“What I love about it is it’s in their hands,” Ling says.

If team members say they want to earn more money, they are shown how they can advance their skills.

“Some people are fine with not changing, and that’s OK, because we need people of all skills to do the job,” Ling says. “A lot of people are really excited to get a little bit better and do a little bit more.”

According to Ling, the program also helps with retention, with turnover declining where progression plans have been established. She says the welding department at one location had very high turnover, and now there is barely any.

“We’re extremely competitive in compensation,” she says. “We truly want to take care of our team members the best and the most that we can, so we’re constantly making sure we’re competitive in the market.”

AI changes
Jarad Johnson, founder and CEO of digital agency Mostly Serious LLC, has been doing a lot of work in training companies for the changes AI will bring across industries.

Johnson says plenty of people are touting the job creation that will come from AI, but a lot of jobs will also be threatened – like tens of millions of truck drivers who could be replaced by automation.

“We’re going to see completely new roles, like AI architect – but are millions of truck drivers going to become AI architects? I don’t think so,” he says.

AI is expected to fundamentally transform the global workforce by 2050, according to reports from PwC, McKinsey and the World Economic Forum. Estimates suggest that up to 60% of current jobs will require significant adaptation due to AI.

The challenge for employers and society as a whole will be to reskill people in jobs that have no relationship to the jobs that will be created.

Where it’s all heading is hard to predict, according to Johnson.

AI can quickly accomplish basic tasks for workers, Johnson says, while acknowledging that this is a mixed blessing. In an eight-hour workday, he says, half of the time might be spent on mundane tasks, while the other half is spent on intensive, strategic or creative thinking.

“If you replace those four hours of mundane work, now you’ve got eight hours of very hard work,” he says. “We’re seeing already some of the burnout rate starting to creep when people are expected to do hard work all the time.”

When giving AI trainings, Johnson says he teaches people to build their own tailored solutions within the tools that are available to them.

He notes a lot of people are fearful of AI, with 39% feeling it will limit their opportunities in the future and 59% viewing it as a threat to humanity.

“We confront it and say these are issues,” he says, “but there’s really no way to not ride this wave. If you don’t, as an organization you’re going to fall way behind the competition, and as an individual, you’re going to have a hard time finding another position.”

Johnson believes businesses need to be very clear on what AI adoption means to them, so that employees can understand the goals and track their progress with reskilling.

“If you leave employees with a mandate to adopt AI and absolutely no clarity on what AI adoption means in your organization for them personally, that’s a recipe for disaster,” he says.

Role for education
Clarenda Phillips, provost at Missouri State University, believes learning can be joyful.

“I believe that most people want to experience professional satisfaction and joy,” she says. “Most of us want to feel good about the work we do and know we’re making a difference.”

That’s the benefit of upskilling and reskilling, according to Phillips.

“It allows individuals to ensure they have the competence they need to do the work and to meaningfully engage in their profession,” she says.

Phillips herself is in a period of learning, as she moved to the area to begin work at MSU July 1 after working at Texas A&M University.

She says any kind of lifelong learning is an investment in the self.

She notes that a Gallup poll released in the past month shows that public confidence in higher education is rebounding. Now, 42% of people expressing a high level of confidence in it, up from 36% in each of the past two years. Those with little or no confidence have gone down from 32% a year ago to 23% today.

“We are starting to understand that education and training are a benefit, not just to individuals, but to families and communities,” she says. “I hope that confidence in post-secondary higher education continues to climb.”

Phillips says all kinds of educated people are needed, whether they have trained in a trade or have a liberal arts background.

“Innovation requires that we continue to learn – that we continue to improve,” she says. “We hope what we’re doing is when people earn a college degree, we’re equipping them with the skills that allow them to pivot when necessary. We want people to have the knowledge and skills that will let them be continuously employed.”

Phillips notes MSU offers certificates at bachelor’s and graduate levels in areas that are relevant to the workforce. Certificates are typically three to four courses, though some students may find they’re interested in investing more time and energy in those areas and earning a degree.

Many certificate programs have been identified as needs by community partners, Phillips says, adding that a popular certificate right now is project management.

“Our community partners are letting us know where the gaps are,” she says. “Missouri State would love to partner more in terms of identifying what those sorts of needed areas are. We want to be a provider for individuals to live their best lives.”