The Rise of Cross-Training in the Post-Pandemic Marketplace

Revolent is a Business Reporter client.

How cross-training could be the solution to the growing skills gaps in tech, health care, manufacturing and beyond.

Long before the pandemic and the major workforce shifts it has caused, the US labor market was already in the grip of a major skills shortage across a range of sectors.

As far back as 2017, analysis of the US skills gap has revealed some major pipeline issues, with the health care, education and technology sectors experiencing skills shortages nationwide. Indeed, as many as 375 million workers (14% of the global workforce) may have to acquire new skills by 2030 due to automation and artificial intelligence replacing manual human labor.

Since then, the rapid shift to online services and remote working brought about by the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. Covid-19, global lockdowns and the existing skills gap created a perfect storm that has added huge pressure to an already strained labor market, as many companies try to pivot and undergo digital transformation to keep up in the new, post-pandemic marketplace.

Another survey shows the early pandemic accelerated the skills gap to such an extent that by May 2020, 87% of executives either acknowledged it or expected one to arise in the next few years. Yet less than half of those executives had a plan to reskill or upskill their workforce to overcome it.

Cross-training as a solution to the global skills gap

In candidate-short markets such as tech, health care and manufacturing, it’s clear that innovative approaches are needed to tackle the skills gap and ensure that businesses have the in-house skills they need to compete in the modern marketplace. Cross-training is one of the best and brightest of these new approaches .

Cross-training, when done correctly, can be an extremely powerful tool for organizations looking to solve internal skills gaps. At an organizational level, it identifies any major tasks or skills that are lacking in a particular department and trains employees from other departments until they can effectively support that area of the business.

This can work across any number of departments within an organization, from accounting to administrative duties, or even building and maintaining online infrastructure. It not only allows a company to flexibly respond to rapid changes in demand or fluctuating workflows, but also enables organizations to repurpose redundant resources, meaning they’re less likely to lose people as marketplace demands change. In both cases, cross-training can be extremely beneficial to any organization.

Beyond that, reskilling and cross-training can also help organizations future-proof their workforce against skills gaps, which is critical for both global economic recovery and the long-term sustainable growth of any sector or company facing a skills gap.

The ability to future-proof workforces will be of vital importance to businesses that work in sectors where skills demands can shift rapidly. And with research highlighting that 33% of skills listed in the average job posting in 2017 were no longer necessary four years later, it’s clear that this strategy could impact many sectors.

A solution to the tech skills gap

In this age of the internet and remote working, the tech sector is perfectly placed to benefit the most from cross-training.

Online training platforms have the potential to be a real game changer, as they enable individuals to learn much-needed skills that could land them sustainable and reliable work while simultaneously increasing the talent pool of people trained in these in-demand services. While training platforms may be enough for some organizations to cross-train their teams, there are also companies that offer customized training programs for teams and can handle everything from recruitment to training and certification.

Revolent takes IT professionals and cross-trains them into in-demand cloud technologies before placing them with organizations that have a skills gap in that area. The companies it works with have access to the skilled professionals they need to undergo digital transformation or keep up in online-first marketplaces, and individuals get to start a new career in a rapidly growing technology sector, with great job security and financial rewards. It’s a win-win.

And it’s working: Revolent’s business model has allowed it to flexibly plug skill gaps for companies around the world, when and where they need it. And that flexibility comes from its ability to tap into broader IT talent pools, underrepresented groups and people from diverse backgrounds, and cross-train individuals into emerging cloud technologies.

Cross-training is set to play a huge part in closing skills gaps across multiple sectors as more and more organizations adopt the practice. It’s truly an exciting prospect.

To learn how Revolent’s cross-training career programs are closing skills gaps for its partner organizations, visit revolentgroup.com. 

This article originally appeared in Business Reporter.

Header Image Credit: iStock id1323851976

Author's Image Credit: Courtesy of Revolent