Bosch to Spend €2.2 billion on Retraining Workers

Retrain and retain your workforce for the future

Bosch has committed to a €2 billion (£1.6 billion) investment in its European operations to retrain some of its 400,000 employees as the shift to electrification. The parts supply giant has spent €1 billion on programs to reskill its legacy technology employees in the last five years. It plans to spend another €1 billion over the next half-decade.

Why are we talking about this?

Retraining and upskilling employees is the next significant digital transformation that businesses of all types and sizes are looking forward to shortly. It is a well-known fact that in late 2019, CEOs were restless due to a lack of skilled and updated workforce. Upskilling or reskilling programs are the only way to close the skills gap. According to research, it has been discovered that:

• After the coronavirus outbreak, 42% of employees are self-trained.
• 68% of companies invest in reskilling/upskilling to handle changes and 65% train employees on new technologies.
• 50% of employers upskill/reskill both hard and soft skills.
• Companies say workers lack communication/collaboration, leadership, and proactive thinking.
• 91% of companies and 81% of employees say upskilling/reskilling boosts productivity.
• 62% of employees hoped reskilling and upskilling would improve their job and salary.
• Only 33% and 35% say compensation and growth have changed significantly.
• 74% of employees think their managers need training.
• 66% of employees cited the joy of learning new skills as the top upskilling motivator.
• Upskilling/reskilling has boosted employees’ confidence say 80%.

What does Reskilling or Retraining mean?

Retraining refers to acquiring new skills, refreshing current skills, and developing them in the workplace through ongoing training programs. It’s common to be required to do so regularly to keep up with technological advancements, regulations, and skill development. Changing laws and policies necessitates frequent retraining in the banking, healthcare, and finance industries.

Employee age and career stage may affect company interest in upskilling/reskilling training. Younger age groups have the most upskilling and reskilling. Since the coronavirus outbreak, more 18-44-year-olds have sought additional training. Employers see only business benefits, but employees love it.

Is it worthwhile to invest in workforce upskilling and reskilling training?

Overall, an employee training program can only be beneficial to businesses. This is why most employers claim that upskilling and reskilling training has improved performance, employee retention, company goals, and reputation.

72 % of companies say they ask their learners to rate their training program to gauge employee satisfaction, and 51 % believe their employees like it. Another 26% of employers say their employees would benefit from upskilling/reskilling training if they had the time to do so.

In today’s automated world, workers must be retrained and reskilled

As a result of digitization, automation, and advancements in artificial intelligence, up to 375 million workers may need to switch occupations by 2030. The types of skills that companies require will change, which will significantly impact the career paths that people will need to take. Over the next five years, 63 % of executives at companies with annual revenues of more than $500 million expect technological disruption to affect more than a quarter of their workforce.

According to 82 % of executives at companies with $100 million in annual revenue, retraining and reskilling must account for at least 50 per cent of the solution to their skills gap. In addition, one-third of executives believe their current HR infrastructure needs to be rethought and upgraded.

In a nutshell

• Many businesses are also trying to figure out how job roles will change over the next five to ten years and what kind of talent they will need.
• Cracking the reskilling code is partly about retaining a company’s “license to operate” by empowering employees.
• Successfully managing this transition is not only a social good; it is also a competitive necessity.
• The overwhelming majority of respondents stated that “increasing employee productivity” was why they were willing to invest in retraining.

The reskilling challenge will almost certainly be on a grand scale in the coming decade

• First, create a detailed map of how technology will alter your company’s skill requirements to be successful.
• Once this is established, the next step will be to determine whether to use new online and offline learning and training models or collaborate with traditional educational providers.
• Finally, policymakers will need to consider new forms of unemployment income and worker transition assistance and foster more intensive and innovative public-private collaboration.

Conclusion:

As skills gaps threaten businesses, upskilling/reskilling training has become critical. Employees use upskilling and reskilling to advance in their company and earn more, while employers address missing skills to boost performance. Companies claim reskilling/upskilling has increased productivity and performance.

In addition to skill gaps, employers and employees have different beliefs. For example, 74% of employees believe their managers need upskilling or reskilling training. This suggests that companies measure skill gaps to determine which skills to focus on.

Bosch has made a giant leap, and it is time for major companies to be visionaries and take steps in reskilling and upskilling their workforce to be future-ready to be successful in the competitive environment, where being late would lead to failures.