But while both parties are thinking of themselves, there’s often a mismatch of priorities, and when a business overlooks its workforce’s desire to upskill, the consequences are immediate. Turnover increases, recruitment costs rise and high-potential employees leave, weakening capability, increasing risk and damaging the organisation’s reputation as a place to build a career. This can all be devastating for the success of a business, but using HR technology to catch this ball before it’s dropped is the best way to stay on top of the game.
Using HR Technology for consistent and structured training
HR technology can directly impact workforce retention, productivity and long-term cost control, and plays a critical role in supporting upskilling in a way that is structured, scalable and genuinely aligned to individual business needs.
Learning Management Systems are getting smarter and much more engaging, supporting shorter, bite-sized learning, integrating with HR systems and working seamlessly on mobile devices. At the same time, increasingly intelligent technology is making it easier to spot skills gaps across the workforce, helping employers identify where upskilling is needed and where investment will deliver the greatest return.
Your workforce wants to know they are evolving with their role, and the evolution of HR tech to upskill your staff means moving their learning away from being a one-off activity, or six-monthly tick-box task, and towards something that supports continuous workforce development. It means learning can become more specific, relevant, easy to access and clearly connected to roles, skills and progression. By adopting smart HR technology, employees can upskill as part of everyday work rather than it being an additional job on their do-do list. Further to this – and key – is that their achievements will lead to higher job satisfaction rates and a happier workforce which is crucial for business success.
Easy to adopt HR technology
For many organisations, the bigger risk isn’t getting started but continuing with fragmented learning and disconnected systems that fail to deliver measurable business impact. We see the greatest success for our clients at Silver Cloud HR when these technologies are selected thoughtfully, integrated effectively and aligned to a clear workforce strategy. A joined-up approach treats upskilling as part of the HR operating model, not a standalone system implementation.
Here are some stand out examples of easily integrated platforms to upskill your workforce:
- Learning Experience Platforms such as Degreed and Viva Learning make development easier to access and more relevant, bringing learning into the flow of work and helping people see how new skills link directly to their role and future opportunities.
- Platforms like Dayforce take this a step further by bringing skills, roles and development paths together in one connected view, helping organisations move from simply offering learning to actively building workforce capability.
- Performance and talent systems like HiBob, Workday and SAP SuccessFactors then reinforce this by connecting development to progression, career pathways and internal opportunities, ensuring learning leads somewhere meaningful.
Using Data to Shape Future Capability
And for HR teams to stay on top of skills shortages and workforce needs, data tools allow for big picture understanding:
- Workday Skills Cloud and Cornerstone’s skills framework can help you build a clearer picture of current capability and identify skills gaps so that you can shape your teams more effectively.
- Workforce analytics tools, including Workday People Analytics, SAP SuccessFactors Analytics and Visier, add further insight by showing where upskilling investment will have the greatest impact on performance, retention and long-term workforce resilience.
Upskilling for business growth
Upskilling is no longer just a learning initiative, it’s a strategic priority, and with the right HR technology in place, employers can turn New Year reflection into a meaningful business action. For business leaders, this is about far more than engagement scores; it’s a business imperative.
When learning, skills, performance and workforce data are aligned, upskilling becomes a measurable business lever, and while upskilling means organisations get more value from their people, employees have a clear reason to stay and grow.
About the author:
Helen Armstrong is the Founder and CEO of Silver Cloud HR, a leading HR and payroll technology consultancy. With over 15 years of experience in HR and HRIS, she is a Chartered member of the CIPD and a recognised thought leader in HR digital transformation, automation and change management.
