Overcome the Great Resignation with an Upskilling and Reskilling Business Solution from Goodwill of the Heartland

Workforce has become the bane of most business owners' existence. With a lack of qualified candidates, ongoing talent shortages and ever-present job openings due to high turnover, many businesses are searching for alternatives to their traditional workforce strategies.

Goodwill can help!

Businesses ready to move from short term survival strategies to longer term, sustainable management practices should utilize and enhance their existing talent pool. Reskilling and/or upskilling a current workforce boosts employee confidence, attracts new talent, engages workers and, most important, improves retention.

In fact, performance-management platform 15Five's 2022 Workplace Report shows nearly half of workers say clear career growth fueled by learning and development provided by an employer is one of the most important factors related to their continued employment. About 76 percent of workers in the U.S. say they work harder for an employer that cares about their professional growth.

Clearly, people want to grow and organizations that cultivate a learning culture are best positioned to satisfy this need.

Proven Business Solutions

Through Upskilling – advancing an existing employee’s core competencies for better job performance – and Reskilling – teaching employees new skill sets – local business leaders can create a culture of learning that won’t go unnoticed by their team members and the broader community. It can also help prepare the business itself to face future challenges outlined before the onslaught of the pandemic by the World Economic Forum.

A group of happy workers after experiencing upskilling

And, according to data gathered by McKinsey’s 2022 American Opportunity Survey, which confirms a recent large-scale churn in the labor market, Americans remaining unemployed are having a difficult time finding a job that matches their existing skill sets. When asked about barriers to finding a new job, 28 percent who actively searched for a job during the past 12 months reported a limited pool of jobs aligned with their skills and 25 percent said existing opportunities required different skills, credentials or knowledge they didn’t possess. These were the two highest barriers to employment listed by the job seekers, outpacing transportation, housing and health issues.

In addition, a quarter of the employed survey respondents indicated a lack of skills as having a major or moderate impact on their current job performance.

Workers across industries must figure out how they will adapt to rapidly changing conditions, and businesses must plan to match existing workers to new roles and activities. The answer lies in how leaders reskill and upskill their workforce in relation to critical digital and cognitive capabilities, flexibility and resilience as well as social and emotional skill sets.

Critical Value Proposition

Goodwill, locally and nationally, partners with employment and workforce organizations across the spectrum in order to provide local businesses with the upskilling and reskilling services necessary to their bottom line.

Our Certified for Success programs offer key industry-recognized national certifications as well as introductions to technology. We provide a variety of occupation-specific courses that help workers gain the skills and resources to improve productivity and confidence. As your workers evolve, so do our programs, offering them and you the ability to chart a clear, sustainable path forward.

Because we partner with a variety of organizations who value local businesses and the American workforce and because we operate a series of donation-fueled thrift shops, all of our programming is provided with no out-of-pocket cost to the business or worker. Our mission is to help others reach their full potential through education, training and the power of work.

Let us know when you’re ready to get started.