Upskilling can boost your brand and culture

June 1, 2017 • UpSkill America & Jaime S. Fall

Six Reasons You Should Care About Upskilling

#3 – Upskilling can boost your brand and culture.

The Deloitte Upskilling Employer Handbook, released at the April 2015 White House Upskilling Summit, includes information on how consumers and millennials think about a company’s commitment to its community when making purchases and deciding where to work:

Upskilling frontline workers is not only about doing better, but also about doing good. Many of today’s consumers evaluate a business’s commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) when making purchasing decisions. Cone Communications partnered with Ebiquity to survey 9,709 consumers worldwide in 2015 on their attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors around CSR. Just 9 percent of consumers surveyed believe businesses need to be concerned only with their bottom line, and 88 percent are eager to hear how businesses are supporting social or environmental issues in some capacity. Global consumers consider a company’s CSR commitments when they consider which companies they want doing business in their communities (84 percent), where to seek employment (79 percent), and what investments to make (67 percent). [i]
According to the Deloitte 2016 Millennial Survey, millennials believe businesses’ sense of purpose should be greater than it is at present in five areas: (1) improving the skills of the workforce, (2) providing a good income to employees, (3) being the best possible place to work, (4) providing services/goods that make a positive difference to people’s lives, and (5) generating and supporting jobs. With millennials expected to make up 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025, employers can position themselves to be an employer of choice for younger workers by showing a commitment to building the skills of their workers so they can advance. [ii]