One thing that pandemic taught everyone is – we need to keep upskilling ourselves to stay employable. Some businesses coped with the situation by moving to video conferencing to communicate and other applications for delivery. Collaboration tools for project management and emails were replaced by instant messaging service. Inevitably, to survive in the current situation, digital skills were mandatory.

Businesses that couldn’t keep up with the demand of the situation had to shut down. Employees who were laid off or furloughed, were primarily because the business couldn’t adapt to the present situation. As businesses continue to allow employees to work from home, digital skills are the number one priority for businesses and enterprises today.

The need for digital skills among employers will be even more next year, as companies will continue to let employees work from home in 2021.

Filling the skills gap

Education and training institutes were affected badly due to the whole pandemic situation, forcing many institutions to come to a halt. As we move to recovery, the demand for digital skills will only increase. Not as a contingent skill, but a mainstream skill to work effectively in 2021 and beyond. To stay in business and boost productivity, companies will invest in digital skill development.

The ILO (International Labor Organization) estimates the pandemic forced one in six people to stop working. Those who were able to keep their jobs faced a 23 percent reduction in working hours. Unemployed and furloughed people used digital platforms to upskill or reskill themselves and improve their employability. Young workers, whose livelihoods have been affected, can find side hustles and generate additional income.

In the post-pandemic economy, new skills will be mandatory, to improve productivity, increase employment opportunities, and reduce competition. For businesses to recover fast, a strategy should be in the place that will focus on equipping their employees with the latest digital and other necessary skills. This requires dialogue and collaboration between business and education leaders to chart out an effective strategy.

Increased reliance on technology

During the pandemic, businesses moved to the work-from-home model. This required companies to hire for IT and technology job roles. Thereby, increasing the demand for IT and technology jobs. Many of these jobs require a degree, but employers are questioning the lack of real-world training at university. Plus, the fact that the cost of a degree is high, will make education inaccessible to people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

On top of the exorbitant cost of degrees, the quality of education is a concern too. School and college education has still not come at par with the demand of the industry. Talent in emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, IoT, and data science is still in short demand. The pandemic has thrown light on the need for new skills and a pressing challenge to prepare the young workforce for the jobs of tomorrow.

Affordable and quality education is the way to go

The gap in skills isn’t new. The pandemic has simply thrown light and brought it to the attention of businesses. The recent wave of upskilling and reskilling among young professionals is a clear sign that people are aware of the need. However, reskilling and upskilling programs bear a hole in the pocket of people especially lower and middle-income working people.

Traditional methods of teaching are ineffective in learning new skills, especially technological skills. Going back to school isn’t an option either for employed people. Education companies will play a significant role here, by providing ways to acquire skills affordably. As a large percentage of the future workforce will come from undergraduate and lower –the level of education, innovating education at the primary and secondary levels is highly important.

The surge in the number of tech start-ups offering ways to improve education at the primary and secondary levels is proof that the industry is slowly coming to terms with reality.