Keeping up with emerging technologies is challenging for organisations of all industries and sizes. While innovation brings many business opportunities, it also creates skills gaps. This is especially true in the construction, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors where the demand for technical workers are high.
How will employers like you address this gap while retaining your existing workforce? To gain a competitive advantage in our digital world, pay attention to your company’s ability of upskilling or providing professional training for expanding the technical and soft skills of your employees.
What upskilling is
This is the process of acquiring new skills and competencies needed for the changing work environment. It’s focused on boosting either technical or soft skills, usually through professional training programs, to help employee career growth. Staying competitive means having a learner’s mindset as required by the fast-paced markets.
Reskilling is different
Both upskilling and reskilling allow your workers to hone relevant skills and bridge the gap but there are key differences between the two. The former is when you want your staff to level up in their present jobs by improving their existing skill set.
Reskilling means learning a new skill set that isn’t related to their current role. It’s meant for a change in career, like when your new hire Filipino VA has zero experience in accounting but you want them to help your auditing team.
Why upskill your workforce
Here’s why your staff need upskilling, particularly in 2023:
It’s good to learn digital skills
The pandemic likely taught you that digital skills are vital for every employee in every industry. Good for those who chose to hire remote staff in the Philippines since they’re already familiar with virtual workplaces but what about your office-based workers? They must learn about cyber security and cloud storage at least.
It saves you in resources
Before you hire a VA in the Philippines, check if your ideal candidate doesn’t already exist within your organisation. Retaining and reskilling your employees is cheaper and less time-consuming than training someone from scratch. It requires fewer people to move a current worker from one role to another too.
It boosts worker retention
Teams with more career development opportunities tend to feel motivated, satisfied, and happier than others. They feel supported in their professional endeavours so they’re less likely to leave for another employer. Plus, they find it easier to switch roles in an organisation they’re familiar with.
It appeals to new talents
Happy employees are going to be your best brand advocates, meaning they’re more likely to suggest your company to their network of friends and peers. This helps when you’re aiming to hire a virtual assistant in the Philippines for the first time or something similar.
It keeps you updated
Given how fast technology and industry trends change, it’s hard to stay up-to-date with the latest tools and techniques. By arranging upskilling and training for your staff, you give yourself an opportunity to know about what’s fresh and hot in your sector this year.
What kind of training to give
The business advantages of upskilling your workforce are many. The 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey by PwC reveals that training programs lead to more resilient workers, greater talent retention and acquisition, and higher productivity. Some even reported greater innovation and career growth.
There are numerous options for micro-courses that your employees may undergo in 2023. If you’re thinking of hiring Filipino remote workers, we recommend the following six types of professional training:
1. Social media
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms are used by companies and consumers worldwide. This underlines their value in our shared digital reality. Hence, it’s important for your people to know about personal brand marketing, professionalism, targeted recruitment, and the like when using social media.
2. Business intelligence
BI refers to the technical and procedural infrastructure for collecting, storing, and analysing data produced by company activities. It’s the broad term referring to descriptive analytics, performance benchmarking, process analysis, and data mining which are crucial for making sound business decisions.
3. Marketing strategies
Upgrade your corporate marketing by teaching your new hire freelancer in the Philippines and other staff how to think more strategically with promotions. Arrange for sessions that help them develop hands-on skills in digital marketing, e-commerce, email marketing, storytelling, blogging, roadmapping, and more.
4. Project management
Whether you’re a small enterprise or a big one, you likely juggle multiple projects at the same time. By training project managers, you ensure that every part of your operation is running smoothly. It also enables your team to focus on the tasks that matter while staying on budget and meeting deadlines.
5. Web development
If you need someone to perform back-end programming, you must hire a Filipino freelancer separately. It’s worth teaching your employees the basics of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML though, especially when you’re maintaining a company blog. Have them help you in checking comments or publishing articles in the future.
6. Conflict resolution
Conflicts, be it with clients or colleagues, are inevitable even in a virtual workplace. When you hire a Filipino virtual assistant to work with your British team, for example, there will be differences in approach or language to overcome. Train them how to properly face people and negotiate solutions when conflicts arise.
Build the best remote teams with RW
Upskilling your current employees is important, but sometimes you need to hire a VA in the Philippines to fill in the skill gap. This is where Remote Workmate is able to assist you. We’re connected to experienced and skilled candidates in the Philippines to fill any of your vacant positions.
Not only do we orient all of our candidates before endorsing them to you but also we provide additional guidance where necessary. Although we’re unable to give detailed and specific upskilling, we take care of the recruitment so you may focus on that for your team.
Ready to hire a Filipino virtual assistant? Click the button to start your Workmate hiring journey.
