Continuous skills upgrading, a panacea for skills obsolescence

What will tomorrow bring? That's part of the uncertainty we have to learn to tolerate. But it can also complicate matters when it comes to preparing for the future. In theory, the educational pathway should give the younger generation all the tools they need to face the various professional challenges that lie ahead.

However, in a context where all the specialists say they don't know what the world of work will look like in 20 or 30 years' time, it's hard to adapt your program to your needs.

The only thing all the experts seem to agree on is that it will be essential to overcome skills obsolescence.

Skills that stand the test of time

As far back as 1974, author H.G. Kaufman theorized the idea that workers' skills could become blunted over time. He defined the phenomenon as follows

[...] the insufficiency of up-to-date knowledge or skills necessary for a worker to continue to perform perfectly in his present or future professional activity.

A person is bound to be overtaken one day by new techniques that render the methods of yesteryear obsolete. In 1987, the OECD estimated that technical skills had a lifespan of 30 years. This meant that the mass of workers had enough time to stay in the same job for most of their working lives before things changed. Today, the organization calculates that skills have a lifespan of just under 2 years.

It's hardly surprising, then, to see departments such as Pôle Emploi claiming that the majority of jobs in 2030 and beyond don't yet exist. We're left with most of today's workers being overtaken by technology, skill requirements and so on. The advent of algorithms and artificial intelligence was seen as a blow to the population, which had already had to relearn ways of working with the pandemic. Former French Education Minister and philosopher Luc Ferry even speaks of a third industrial revolution.

To better understand what's going on, researcher Dominique Bouteiller theorized the phenomenon in 1997, calling it the "crocodile syndrome". The wider the gap between the skills required for a position and the relevance of the skills mastered by a candidate, the more unsuitable he or she becomes. They are then devoured by changes in their professional environment, and end up losing their job. This is particularly true of the lower-skilled and older workers. They find themselves tossed about by uncertainties and at the mercy of the jobs they are offered.

Are we in the age of upgrading?

Specialists are adamant that the 2020s should be a decade of upskilling. With the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies and the need to develop more eco-responsible industries, many new jobs will be created or transformed.

The solution lies in internal and external training. This may seem obvious, but what is less so is defining the right approach.

There are thousands of training modules available online or elsewhere... in which companies are investing, particularly since the pandemic, and yet the question of obsolescence is still present in human resources discourse around the world.

While some suggest that people skills are more important than technical ones, others point out that it is also essential to focus on "cognitive", technical and sector-specific skills. An employee who knows how to work in a team and demonstrate creativity is a tremendous asset, but if he's unable to use the company's latest development platform, he'll still feel inadequate in his position.

In fact, there are 3 training approaches to better prepare workers:

• Upgrading or "upskilling": this is probably the most fashionable and in the mouths of training and human resources managers. The idea is to develop existing positions by offering more responsibilities and improving existing skills. It's a specialization that generally takes place over short periods.
  
  
• Retraining or "reskilling": here, the process is longer, since the worker must acquire new technical skills in order to perform a new trade. For example, day laborers could acquire skills for jobs related to the eco-responsibility of machinery or other equipment.
  
  
• Cross-skilling: the learner will learn and carry out tasks that normally fall outside his or her job definition. This makes for greater flexibility and versatility within the company.

Which approach to adopt? It all depends on where the company stands in relation to current technologies, the jobs as they are defined, and future needs.

In fact, many companies would do well to use tools such as the Gestion prévisionnelle de l'emploi et des compétences(GPEC). This method provides an opportunity to anticipate the consequences of current developments linked to the external and internal environment, and to determine the actions to be taken in the short, medium and long term. It's best suited to large companies, but smaller ones could at least take inspiration from it to develop a plan with their employees to ensure that no one ends up with outdated skills.

Image: rawintanpin / DepositPhotos

References:

Alberu, Viviana. "The 2020s will be a decade of upskilling. Employers should take notice." World Economic Forum. Last updated: January 10, 2024. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/the-2020s-will-be-a-decade-of-upskilling-employers-should-take-notice/.

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Blons, Emmanuelle. "Upskilling: engaging our collective responsibility in the face of skills obsolescence." Forbes France. Last updated: May 10, 2023. https://www.forbes.fr/management/upskilling-engager-notre-responsabilite-collective-face-a-lobsolescence-des-competences/.

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Lacroix, Philippe. "Faire de la formation, le meilleur rempart contre l'obsolescence des compétences." The Digital Learning Academy. Last updated: January 11, 2023. https://digital-learning-academy.com/obsolescence-des-competences/#.

"Skills obsolescence: the scourge of the 21st century?" WOM. Last updated: November 20, 2023. https://wom-recrutement.com/lobsolescence-des-competences-le-fleau-du-21eme-siecle/.

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