Upskilling – An Imperative for Hybrid Teams

The concept of hybrid teams has been slowly embraced by forward-thinking businesses ever since the mid-2010s. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath have led to the idea being looked at differently. Companies were compelled to enable employees to work from home. In the case of those businesses that did not have the requisite technology infrastructure to facilitate the same, systems had to be devised to help empower employees to continue working. There had been a demand pull from the employees’ end for the privilege of working from home for quite some time. Having experienced how the added flexibility can lead to improved work-life balance, the hybrid work model has become an expectation. Businesses stand to gain through cost reduction, provided they implement the concept appropriately. Upgrading the skills of employees involved in a hybrid work set-up is the key to unlocking its advantages.

Challenges of working online

Businesses that enable hybrid work have to devise software systems, be it CRM, ERP, and so on, which will allow virtual collaboration among teams. To help employees execute their tasks effectively, they need to be well-versed with the different modules of such systems that they interact with. Moreover, as systems are continuously upgraded, employees need to be apprised of changes in processes, nomenclatures, or other aspects to ensure that their work is not hampered. This would necessitate extensive training on the enterprise systems.

Employees’ Ambition has large wings

In an era where most highly career-oriented employees seek to achieve up-gradation in their skills for faster promotions and pay hikes. While every organization would benefit from having such mavericks within their workforce, they would not stick around for long if you do not offer them what they want. As such, you must feed their hunger for having skills-based career up-moves and find a way to make them realize that they have a place within your organization’s plans.

Fostering a culture of learning and innovation

You do not want your organization to be where employees are keen to stay within their comfort zone. Such an organization will quickly stagnate and be over-run by rivals in the increasingly competitive market environment. By constantly upskilling your employees, you would be able to equip them with the skills needed to make your organization a frontrunner within your industry. Also, because employees are continuously learning, they will be able to generate innovative ideas to improve your business processes. Such improvements in the operating model will go a long way in enhancing your business’sbottom line.

The coming decade will see the power balance between employers and employees even out to a large extent, and soon, employers will also have to be on their toes when it comes to proving to their employees that they are a place worth sticking around. Moreover, as the evolution of workplaces continues, there will be a heightened demand for employees who possess social and emotional skills and core domain knowledge. This is especially important while working in a hybrid setup. For the most part, such work has tended to be impersonal and transactional, which may hamper customer experience in the long run. Therefore, businesses would be well-advised to have well-laid-out plans for employee upskilling, mainly when working in hybrid teams.