The pandemic completely changed our lives. Everything from how we interact with one another to where we work is drastically different. It is also inevitable some of the changes are here to stay.
Although the pandemic is mostly associated with negatives, we have learned some positives about the way we can work more efficiently in the future. Here are some of the trends you can expect in the post-pandemic workforce.
Focus on Upskilling
One of the quickest ways to learn the skills you need to succeed in the workplace is learning on the job. Upskilling does not only focus on improving the skills to help you fulfill your current role, it also provides learning skills used across other roles.
The need for having an upskilled and flexible workforce increased during the pandemic where there were massive layoffs across all industries.
With these layoffs, employees who kept their jobs found themselves having to wear multiple hats to make sure all the tasks the organization needed to get done were still completed even with a limited number of employees.
Many companies have found they can upskill their employees in adjacent skill areas.
This trend will continue past the pandemic as employers realize the advantages of having a flexible workforce. Nevertheless, the transition to hybrid work challenged teaching employees the skills they needed for growth. Teams will have to figure out how to teach, how to manage relationships, and how to use machines virtually.
Advances in technology have allowed the shift to hybrid work to begin, but COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of a fully digitized approach to training. Finding ways to take in-person learnings and scale them to be digital will continue to be a focus in the post-pandemic world.
Digital learning will continue to serve the purpose of allowing learning efforts to become more cost-effective, and even more personal.
At CTI, we offer short-term, in-person, and online professional development modules for working professionals. We work with Ed2Go, the world’s largest provider of online modular course training, to customize specialized open-enrollment programs that keep your staff and service current in the fast-evolving global marketplace after the pandemic.
Advancing Hard Skills While Addressing the Need for Soft Skills
Workforce training is more than just learning how machines work and how to use them safely. Throughout the past year, we have learned how important it is to be able to communicate effectively in the workplace. To be truly successful, you have to master both hard and soft skills.
Hard skills are also known as technical skills. These are the skills and expertise required to do the actual work of the job, whether it is physical or digital, especially with digital becoming more essential as the workplace looks different with hybrid schedules and the increased preference for remote work.
No matter what industry you and your employees are in, knowledge of technical skills is required to fulfill day-to-day performance. Hard skills are where CTI typically comes into play, offering specialized training to give your employees the technical skills they need to succeed. CTI specializes in training to keep your employees and services current within the fast-evolving global marketplace.
Soft skills are communication skills that allow you to create interpersonal relationships and effectively work with others. Soft skills are the number one training priority among CEOs and are ranked even higher in priority by more senior roles such as manager and directors, which makes sense, as 75% of long-term job success depends on soft skills mastery.
Soft skills can be more challenging to develop and learn than technical skills because they have little to do with traditional education and training and more to do with character, relationships, and personality.
However, in a time where we are no longer able to interact in person, it is becoming even more difficult to develop effective people skills. This means businesses will invest more in making sure their employees maintain those skills so they can guarantee success in their workplace.
A Shift Away from Four-Year Degrees
The pandemic was an extremely tumultuous time for students, as they quickly had to shift to remote education. Graduating students had their ceremonies taken away, and many seniors in high school questioned whether or not going to college was the right choice for them.
With the change in the workforce due to COVID-19, many individuals are beginning to realize a four-year degree from a university is no longer essential for success. Many students can gain the skills they need outside of a traditional four-year college.
The major shift to special training programs over traditional education will continue to grow post the pandemic as fewer students are entering four-year schools, and turning to institutions that can offer them the same skills in a different format.
Institutions like NEIT address these students’ needs by tailoring training programs, choosing the best instructors, and creating a flexible need-based schedule, thus providing a specific, targeted, and customized education that gives them the edge.