The Changing Nature of Work: 30 signals to consider for a sustainable future

SIGNAL 19. Reskilling and upskilling

As changes and disruptions increase in frequency and scale, countries might not have time to improve the skills base of workers through common, lengthy upskilling and reskilling programmes. Skills and innovation gaps should be addressed by a combination of measures where formal qualification programmes are combined with lifelong learning, on-the-job experience and staff involvement in creating the way organizations create value.

Digital innovation and its exponential speed of change is the main trend that defines shifts that will take place with regard to keeping workforce skills up-to-date. Adult education and learning has long been on the agenda; however, recent publications highlight a disparity between the number of people among the low-skilled and high-skilled workforce who participate in continuous learning activities – highly skilled and young employees often participate twice as much as low-skilled employees. This creates another gap in skills development that should be addressed. As mentioned above, common reskilling programmes tend to be far too long and are often not accessible for employees due to work commitments, which is one of the barriers for participation in reskilling. In this regard, let’s highlight an interesting case that emerged from Sweden’s response to COVID-19 disruptions. A consortium of private sector organizations implemented a rapid reskilling experiment: many of the laid-off employees were offered the opportunity to receive the appropriate training and, in a matter of weeks, placed into sectors that became understaffed due to the pandemic (healthcare, schooling, etc.). This case serves as solid proof that countries can accelerate reskilling programmes and facilitate a faster movement of labour across industries.

Another gap, and hence a barrier to reskilling, is digital literacy of the workforce, which in the first half of 2020 proved to be one of the essential factors for a successful transition to telecommuting and ensuring quality work results. But digital literacy is more than the ability of employees to use software: it is also about understanding how to apply technology and innovation in order to achieve desired results. Hence, 34 .The Changing Nature of Work societies are experimenting with ways to ensure a sufficient level of digital competencies in a short time, ranging from voluntary programmes to mandatory certification of skills.

Can changes in cultures and management approaches, often linear, keep up with exponential changes brought by numerous disruptions? In order to rise to the challenge, organizations need to multiply their cognitive capacity by devolving decisions on how value is created and what changes in functions are necessary for staff. In this regard, ‘job crafting’ may be the answer, allowing employees to reconfigure the elements of their jobs for greater and more meaningful engagement, and fostering an environment for continuous learning.

Check out the next signal, #20: A shorter work week and the life-work balance.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Changing Nature of Work: 30 signals to consider for a sustainable future

Work helps sustain livelihoods and largely determines the quality of life. Its changing nature is at the frontier of development. This report is the result of a broad horizon scanning by six UNDP Accelerator Labs across Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.  They reveal 30 signals that shape the “where, who, how, and why” of the changing nature of work. From the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce to new work models and entrepreneurial ecosystems, the authors explore opportunities and threats, as well as solutions from local contexts that can be scaled up into positive answers to the challenges people around the world are facing.  Download the full report here.