Last year has been very challenging, least to say, for both employers and employees. Employees have been on the edge about their jobs, increments and growth, as industries were going through many unexpected and unparalleled shift. However, interestingly, many employees considered this as an opportunity and focused on their learning.

"More than 75% of the employed people whom we surveyed took at least one up-skilling program during the pandemic," shared Shantanu Rooj, Founder and CEO, TeamLease EdTech.

There is a clear recognition amongst the employees that investment in upskilling helps being productive and resilient. These numbers are revealed by “Impact of Upskilling on Performance Management” a detailed survey by TeamLease EdTech, a flagship of TeamLease Group. The survey was conducted with 1039 employees across entry, mid and senior levels, from across 11 sectors.

If we further look into the findings of the survey, it can be observed that majority of the respondents are expecting a sizeable hike owing to the upskilling efforts and 73% believe right up-skilling does give an aspirant better bargaining power.

More than 73% of the respondents believe that upskilling leads to better roles. From the 48% respondents who shifted to a new job role, 83.6% attribute the movement to a better opportunity to their upskilling efforts. Additionally from amongst the 48% who switched jobs, 77.5% also received a salary hike between 25% and 35%.

Why are employees motivated to upskill?

The increased interest amongst employees had been largely influenced by their aspiration to get better opportunities/salary upgrades (23.8%), shift to new job roles (19.3%), improving technical and soft skills (28.2%) and fear of job loss (20%

The gaps in the learning ecosystem

While overall the learning ecosystem has improved, the study also directed that there are still some gaps.  From the 25% people who did not up-skill, 49%, either did not want to invest money or did not think it is necessary, however, 65.7% did eventually believe that they missed the opportunity to up-skill and grow in their career. 73% of these respondents are planning to focus on learning new skills and the rest focused on domain skills (14%), soft skills (8%) and technical skills (4.2).

Speaking on the emerging upskilling trends, Neeti Sharma, Co-Founder and President, TeamLease Edtech says, "There is a clear interest amongst employed professionals for reskilling and upskilling themselves; people are observing industry trends, doing their own research and are also being advised by their employers while they make their course choices - this is a reflection of the positive shift in the learning ecosystem, where employees are taking ownership of their upskilling and have started moving on the path of lifelong learning. It is heartening to see that majority of the aspirants (91.8% of 48% who switched their jobs) got increment in package of up to 35%."