Many businesses would be familiar with upskilling throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, in which a shift from in-office to at-home work accelerated the rate of digitalisation. This resulted in the need for new skills to be learnt across industries.
Even outside of a pandemic, education doesn’t end when somebody graduates from university.
For executives and employees alike, acquiring new skills and further improving existing skill sets is a great way to get ahead.
Online courses are a convenient way to access professional training which can ensure proper development.
Why is Upskilling Important?
Technological and social advancements are always occurring in the modern world, thanks to countless research and development projects. In order for someone to work to the best of their ability, it’s important to stay up-to-date with these developments.
If there are gaps in a business, an existing employee can be upskilled for necessary positions, rather than hiring a new employee.
Upskilling is applicable to many employees. Whether a business is looking to promote an employee to a new position or just increase output, there are always benefits to expanding the skills of employees.
Investing in employees is also great for staff morale. Seeing value and committing to employees will increase value and commitment in return.
For organisations or businesses to be successful, they need to be willing to adapt and change with future developments. Upskilling is a practical way to do this.
Upskilling and Reskilling
Upskilling refers to the process of learning or teaching new skills to improve an employee’s ability in their current position. Conversely, reskilling is the process of learning or teaching skills with an explicit purpose to perform a new position.
Reskilling is applicable when existing positions become redundant, or when a new position must be created. Rather than letting an employee go, or hiring a new employee, you can reskill a worker into a new position. Not only can this process retain the employment of a committed worker, it can also cut down on the time and costs associated with interviewing and hiring a new employee.
In 2020, The World Economic Forum estimated that by 2025, 50% of existing workers would require reskilling.
As the field of research and development (R&D) evolves and those concerned with its outcomes become better skilled, more people will require knowledge around R&D. This extends to the accounting of R&D costs for internal reporting and for claiming R&D on tax.
This is why it will continue to be important for various businesses to upskill and reskill their employees to understand the complexities of R&D.
What Skills to Upskill
The most important part of upskilling is to evaluate current skill sets and determine what areas are the most relevant to upskill in. Naturally, these will vary depending on your business type, and the existing skill sets of your employees.
Perhaps the most obvious skills to upskill are those relating to technology. As new technologies are introduced to the workplace, employees will require the skills to properly utilise them.
Research and accounting software is always changing. That’s why the Global Research Institute’s online courses are constantly assessed for relevance. We cover the most up-to-date technology and techniques for claiming R&D on tax.
Upskilling is also a great resource for improving R&D. It can be used for adapting to changing market trends, the employment landscape, and to get an edge over your competitors.
Upskilling with Online Courses
The most efficient way to upskill is through online courses. There is an abundance of online courses out there, and these vary greatly in quality.
While free online courses can assist in learning new skills, they are a one-sided affair, and offer no personal feedback.
Once they are created, they are left on the internet without being updated or modernised. They frequently lack the professionalism and scope that only a specialised course can provide.
This is not the case with GRI’s online resources.
Our specialised upskilling courses cater to the heads of businesses and organisations, as well as small business individuals.
Just remember, it is more convenient when upskilling to gather a range of employees at the same time.
The Global Research Institute
The Global Research Institute was formed to help businesses invest into research and development in order to attract government incentives like grants and tax-breaks.
Since 2015, The Global Research Institute has been providing training programs based on the Frascati Methodology. This methodology has been adopted by different governments around the world and has been acknowledged as a standard for research and development studies globally.
If you are looking to upskill research and development skills that will help any business prosper, find out more here.
