Although the vast majority of Australian businesses are starting to see the benefit of internal staff training – and channel resources accordingly – 44 per cent of workers believe their own skills are being underutilised. This is becoming a problem.

"according to recent research, upskilling employees and investing in their career progression is very good for business"

Is it up to businesses to upskill their staff?

While businesses don’t have an explicit obligation to squeeze the maximum potential out of every single employee, they do have an obligation to do what’s best for the business. And according to recent research, upskilling employees and investing in their career progression is very good for business.

"The numbers don’t lie: when you stack internal training against external recruitment, it’s far more cost effective, on average, to upskill your existing workforce"

What role do employees play in upskilling?

This was the traditional corporate ethos for most of the 20th century: an employee’s personal development is really the responsibility of that individual employee. How can businesses be expected to outlay training costs with no guaranteed return? Isn’t tailored training for a large work force is impractical? And what if an employee accepts work-sponsored learning, then immediately jumps to a competitor?

So, whose responsibility is it to upskill?

As always with binary questions like “Whose responsibility is it?”, the answer comes down to: a little bit of both. Businesses have a responsibility to offer reasonable upskilling programs (if for no other reason than it’s extremely profitable to do so) and staff have a responsibility to speak up, ask questions and seek new pathways.

Upskilling should be seen as an opportunity, but also a privilege. It’s up to both businesses and employees not to squander it.

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